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I was watching House Hunter and realized every single home buyer on the show wanted a space that's great for entertaining. Is this so important to people nowadays? I get it that people sometimes have visitors, but why would anyone buy a house with a specific purpose of entertaining?
We host game nights, book clubs, dinner clubs and our big annual Christmas party at our house. As such, when we renovated our eat-in kitchen (adding 12x20 to the space as well) in 2012, we planned it SPECIFICALLY for entertaining up to 30-40 people at a time. At the first party post-construction we at one point had 18 people in our kitchen (I took a picture to show my husband) and it did not feel crowded AT ALL. It was wonderful.
So yes, if we ever move out of our current house, you can bet a focus for us will be on entertaining space much more than bedroom size or the fanciness of the master bathroom.
I guess the same people who need an open floor plan "so they can keep an eye on the kids while they're cooking"...because heaven forbid the kids play or do homework in their rooms
Babies and toddlers don't, as a general rule, have all that much homework. Although, of course,it may be different where you live.
Babies and toddlers need to be supervised in the living room from the kitchen and older kids in the back yard from the kitchen. And yes, you really do spend that much time in the kitchen.
Babies and toddlers don't, as a general rule, have all that much homework. Although, of course,it may be different where you live.
Babies and toddlers need to be supervised in the living room from the kitchen and older kids in the back yard from the kitchen. And yes, you really do spend that much time in the kitchen.
Really??? I wouldn't know....I'm just the mom of 3 kids.
People tend to be fairly short-sighted when buying a home. Yes, little kids/toddlers need supervision. But sadly, they don't stay little all that long. And the time will come when they don't need or want to be within your line of sight at all times. Just like with bedrooms...lots of people with young kids want all the bedrooms on the 2nd floor (of a 2 story house) because they don't want to be far away from them at night. I get that. But when the kids are a little older, you will want a little separation from them at night . Plus, it's more convenient to have the master (or at least a bedroom) on the main floor for a variety of reasons....a guest visiting that can't navigate stairs; an injury that makes going up & down stairs difficult.
We currently have a teen, a tween & a toddler at home. In the house we're building, the master is down, along with a 'library' that we will use as the toddler's room until he's old enough to want his room upstairs.
I guess my point is....your needs change as you & your kids get older. No need to get all wrapped up in needing to see them at all times, etc. because that won't always be the case.
Really??? I wouldn't know....I'm just the mom of 3 kids.
People tend to be fairly short-sighted when buying a home. Yes, little kids/toddlers need supervision. But sadly, they don't stay little all that long. And the time will come when they don't need or want to be within your line of sight at all times. Just like with bedrooms...lots of people with young kids want all the bedrooms on the 2nd floor (of a 2 story house) because they don't want to be far away from them at night. I get that. But when the kids are a little older, you will want a little separation from them at night . Plus, it's more convenient to have the master (or at least a bedroom) on the main floor for a variety of reasons....a guest visiting that can't navigate stairs; an injury that makes going up & down stairs difficult.
We currently have a teen, a tween & a toddler at home. In the house we're building, the master is down, along with a 'library' that we will use as the toddler's room until he's old enough to want his room upstairs.
I guess my point is....your needs change as you & your kids get older. No need to get all wrapped up in needing to see them at all times, etc. because that won't always be the case.
Yep, totally agree. Last year, I sold the house that seemed absolutely perfect when my son was 3, but no longer worked for us at 10. And while my new house does work perfectly for us now, it might not have when he was 3. But I do think I did a better job of projecting into the future this time, and this one should see us easily into his adulthood without problems. But of course in many ways, the difference between 3 and 10 is far greater than it will be for 10 to 21.
I was watching House Hunter and realized every single home buyer on the show wanted a space that's great for entertaining. Is this so important to people nowadays? I get it that people sometimes have visitors, but why would anyone buy a house with a specific purpose of entertaining?
They're told what to say by the show's directors and producers.
He's a neat freak, I'm not. He likes his closets tidy and organized. I'd like that myself, but it's not my nature.
Our last house had double closets in our master, and that worked for a while, but we lived there for almost 20 years, and once I started using just part of his closet, it didn't take long for him to move his stuff to the guest room....
Our house now has just one large closet, and us sharing it didn't last long either.
We'll be moving soon to a house with double closets in the master again. I just cleaned out my closet and donated a ton of old clothes to charity. I should have no problem fitting everything into my new closet with room to spare.
Here's hoping I can keep my stuff contained this time...
With regard to the thread topic, we bought the house we're in now because we expected to be having some dinner parties for the people he works with from time to time. Didn't happen for a number of reasons, so we've been rattling around a too large home for a few years.
We're moving soon, we'll be closer to family, so we expect to see more of them. So having enough room for a big family gathering was a consideration this time around.
I am sorry, I think this is very wasteful, and rude towards your husband. No one needs THAT many clothing items.
Seriously? I'm just imagining a world in which I have so little to do and so much anxiety that I sit around watching my kids play in heir own backyard.
Not "anxiety", it's called RESPONSIBILITY. A child is not a garden ornament.
Not "anxiety", it's called RESPONSIBILITY. A child is not a garden ornament.
Do you follow them to school too? Are you going to move with them for college? Eventually you need to start letting them take risks and make decisions or they'll be behind the wheel in a new city and not have the judgement to put shoes on before moving rocks. Where better to learn independence than the safety of their own backyard? I'm assuming you don't have any rusty farm equipment or rabid pets out there, of course.
Entertaining space was a HUGE consideration for us. In fact, it was also a major reason why we sold our former house (lack of the type of entertaining space we prefer).
We host a lot of gatherings of family and friends at our house - in fact, our house is sort of the "hub" for family. We look specifically for a floor plan that's "circular" - not an open floor plan but one that allows people to circulate, literally walk in a large sort of circle from the kitchen, to the DR, to the den, to the living room and back into the kitchen, with plenty of nice nooks for people to be able to sit down with a few people and talk without being drowned out by the sounds of revelry (big issue for us when we had an open floor plan).
We also were adamant about a formal dining room. We use it at least once a month, sometimes several times a month.
We also wanted a big patio area and a big porch across the front so that people can congregate there as well.
We wanted a big, friendly kitchen with plenty of room for people to gather - something that seems to be inevitable regardless of the size of the gathering.
And finally, we wanted two guest rooms because we host guests from out of town often - at least once a month.
We got it all and since the house is so well suited to our entertaining needs, we plan to be here for a long time. With that in mind, we're going to invest in an outdoor room a few steps from the patio, complete with an outdoor fireplace and really good outdoor furniture. I am excited about that addition - hopefully we can start on it this fall.
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. Plus, it's more convenient to have the master (or at least a bedroom) on the main floor for a variety of reasons....a guest visiting that can't navigate stairs; an injury that makes going up & down stairs difficult.
