Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
An extra garage..........if you have a 2, build your next one as a 3 car. If you have 3, build a 4 next time!
Stuff I've seen I'd never built in my own house:
Fish tanks, my uncle spent 100K on a huge one then spent $800 a month for 10 years maintaining it. No way
Home Theater, big room/expensive equipment never used
Home Gym, see above line.
Workshop/craft room - if you aren't a workshop/craft person never build it thinking you will change and become one. Waste of space.
Coolest idea I've seen:
Elevator to service 2 floors in the house. The designed the elevator to go up to the attic so you could essentially use it to bring your Christmas stuff right up into the attic. Great idea but you would think that you would have enough room elsewhere in the house that you wouldn't need the attic space also.
Now, we have a home theater and use it nearly every night. It's been especially useful while we've been cooped up. Shows and movies in reclining seats, we'll probably never go back to an actual theater.
An elevator? What a waste of space and requires a specialist to maintain. No way.
Screen porch
Side entry garage (I hate it when the garage doors are the first thing you see)
Lots of counter space in the kitchen
Curbless walk-in master shower
Hmm, in answer to your question, I was thinking 'perseverance', 'fortitude', 'kindness towards your partner', 'a pile of cash and good financing' and other such things.
For me, and in regards to built items, I'd say
1. closets & storage
2. ease of living
3. ease of maintenance
4. low cost of maintenance
Figure a daily regime and how well does the house help your daily life? Starting from when you wake up. If you want to sleep in, putting the bedroom on the sunrise side of the house may not be your best option. If you want to wake up when the sun comes up, then choose the East side for your bedroom.
Some folks like the laundry in or near the master bath along with the clothes closet near there as well. A 'Jack & Jill' laundry may be an idea to share the laundry area and yet keep it very accessible to where the clothes will be put on and taken off.
The kitchen should be able to have the groceries and supplies easily brought in. The trash and rubbish easily removed as well. Supplies stored and yet easy to remove from storage when wanted. Figure the food path which frequently is something like cabinets/refrigerator to the counter to the sink to the cooking appliances to the plates, eaten, then plates back to the kitchen, cleaned and stored. Set things up so that path can be easily followed without too many excess steps and it will be an easy to live with kitchen.
Same thing for the living spaces. Just follow your daily life - or what you want your daily life to be - and shape the house around it.
I just looked at the list I had when I bought this house. Once I removed the items that involved location and typical bed/bath requirements, my important items were a 3 car garage and high ceilings.
1. Three car or extra wide garage.
2. Garden tub for her. Big shower for me. Preferable her/his bathrooms.
3. Private toilet room.
4. His and her walk in closets. Floor not carpeted.
5. Plenty of windows for light.
6. Screened in patio/porch.
7. Hardwood floors in all area except bedrooms/kitchen.
8. Quality flooring in bath rooms and kitchen.
9. Direct entry to kitchen from garage. Via utility/laundry room OK.
10. Plantation shutters on windows.
11. Access to patio/porch area from house and master bedroom.
12. Space saving pocket doors to and in bathroom attached to master suite.
13. At least one guest room with a private, full bath.
14. Jack/Jill guest/kids rooms as in a direct entry to a full bathroom from both.
15. Kitchen island.
16. Counter height seating facing kitchen.
17. Comfort height toilets.
18. Lever type door knobs, not the turn type.
19. Separate room for office/computer room, not a bedroom.
20. Cathedral ceilings.
21. Ceiling fan in each room/area including porch/patio.
First determine how your lifestyle dictates the orientation of the house - do you like the sun coming into a certain room in the morning? Do you like afternoon sun in a family room? How will you use the yard and where does the sun need to come from for that? Lots of windows, lots of natural light - they're easy to cover for privacy but tough to add after the build is complete. But make sure there's a wall in the bedrooms so the bed is not in front of a window - why do people do that?
What do you want to separate from or screen out? That's where your garage needs to be whether to block the cold north wind, traffic noise or something you don't want to see every time you're at the kitchen sink.
Speaking of which, that sink needs to be big enough to hold the biggest baking pan you own, flat, so it can soak. While we're at it, the purpose of a backsplash is to put an easy to clean surface behind the sink, stove and other areas that are subject to splatter. That means things like grout should be minimized. Big tiles, narrow grout lines or something impervious that has no grout at all. And then seal it a few times; and then do it again. Countertops will last forever, putting in the latest fad could be really disappointing in a few years. Granite, marble and soapstone have been around a long time and will be for a long time to come. And a real hood with a real exhaust fan over the stove that absolutely positively vents to the outside.
Flooring: Hardwood; real, finished in place hardwood will last almost forever; but I still wouldn't put it in a bathroom, eventually something will leak in there and you might not find it until it causes enough damage to need to be replaced. Medium width, not too dark, not too light, not at all red or yellow.
Ask yourself how many rooms do you really need to sit in. Formal sitting room with a living room next to it adjacent to the family room across the kitchen from the playroom with a den near the bedrooms? I don't think so. And if your situation calls for more than one or two of these spaces do you really want the room where your kids are going to be throwing Legos around now and tearing it up when they're in their teens right next to the place where you like to sit and read?
Don't forget a closet near the front door, and the back door, and probably near the door to the garage too.
We are starting the journey of building a house. Right now we are finalizing plans and I’m curious to know what other people consider “must haves” in their homes. Some things I want are a walk-in pantry and his & hers walk-in closets. But I’m not interested in formal living or dining rooms. I’m considering future resale of the home, so I want to check the boxes. What are the must have items if you were building a home?
Also, what type of cabinet, counters, and flooring would you choose?
I would not go with white cabinets in any room which was popular last time I checked. Give me real wood. I personally like a medium shade of wood verses blond or dark cabinets.
For counters, I did not go with granite because of the environment and at some point another owner will surely rip it out. I picked a pretty neutral countertop that had a nice design. Everyone loves my countertops.
We went with linoleum in the kitchen, whoever configured my house 1st used wood flooring in the powder room which is not grand kid friendly when they're potty training!
Our fixtures are brushed nickle or brushed chrome I believe. When we bought in 2008 there was gold available, glad we didn't go with that. Reminds me of the 70's or 80's.
Our master bath is mostly tile and is very cold! It sucks in the winter, I have to have a space heater to shower.
They also put the upstairs thermostat in the master so the rest of the upstairs can be colder in winter and hotter in the summer due to it.
Get quality windows. If you're building in a development, upgrade the windows. We also had a home "entertainment system" installed in the basement back then which is where all of the internet is. Our router is down there too.
We saw a few setups where you had to walk thru the closet to get to the master bath or walk thru the bathroom to get to the closet which made no sense to me.
We have a "bonus area" in the master that has a fireplace separating the master from the bonus space. My hub has his office there plus a recliner and TV. Some had it made into a kitchenette area or use as a nursery.
I like my laundry room, not too big and not too small. Fits the washer and dryer side by side with a shelf over it that I can put hangers on so that when shirts come out of the dryer, they go straight on hangers. I can also fold on top of the washer. I have 2 large baskets on the shelf to store toilet paper, paper towels and extra towels
I also use baskets on the shelves in the master. We can store excess food or whatever. We didn't do a closet system because we didn't need one. It's so large that we keep a file cabinet in it. It's L shaped
1. Three car or extra wide garage.
2. Garden tub for her. Big shower for me. Preferable her/his bathrooms.
3. Private toilet room.
4. His and her walk in closets. Floor not carpeted.
5. Plenty of windows for light.
6. Screened in patio/porch.
7. Hardwood floors in all area except bedrooms/kitchen.
8. Quality flooring in bath rooms and kitchen.
9. Direct entry to kitchen from garage. Via utility/laundry room OK.
10. Plantation shutters on windows.
11. Access to patio/porch area from house and master bedroom.
12. Space saving pocket doors to and in bathroom attached to master suite.
13. At least one guest room with a private, full bath.
14. Jack/Jill guest/kids rooms as in a direct entry to a full bathroom from both.
15. Kitchen island.
16. Counter height seating facing kitchen.
17. Comfort height toilets.
18. Lever type door knobs, not the turn type.
19. Separate room for office/computer room, not a bedroom.
20. Cathedral ceilings.
21. Ceiling fan in each room/area including porch/patio.
Most of the must haves are on this list. The spa tubs are now out--in favor of oversize free standing soaking tubs.
The orientation of the house is important. My master suite gets full southern sun and is too hot in the day. Actually needs a mini-split system to keep it comfortable. The room actually has too many windows.
I still like hardwood floors in kitchens and full tile baths. We have 10' ceilings down and 9' ceilings up. But that 19' ceiling through the entry hall and living room echoes something terrible. Rugs and drapes have helped, but I can hear every word a floor away spoken down there.
We are starting the journey of building a house. Right now we are finalizing plans and I’m curious to know what other people consider “must haves” in their homes. Some things I want are a walk-in pantry and his & hers walk-in closets. But I’m not interested in formal living or dining rooms. I’m considering future resale of the home, so I want to check the boxes. What are the must have items if you were building a home?
Also, what type of cabinet, counters, and flooring would you choose?
A back deck or large front porch (think farmer's porch) are nice to have. Grilling on the back deck and hanging out with family & friends is something most people do. On a quiet street (or if you have a large front yard), a farmer's porch to sit on and relax is good.
Most of the must haves are on this list. The spa tubs are now out--in favor of oversize free standing soaking tubs.
The orientation of the house is important. My master suite gets full southern sun and is too hot in the day. Actually needs a mini-split system to keep it comfortable. The room actually has too many windows.
I still like hardwood floors in kitchens and full tile baths. We have 10' ceilings down and 9' ceilings up. But that 19' ceiling through the entry hall and living room echoes something terrible. Rugs and drapes have helped, but I can hear every word a floor away spoken down there.
One of my biggest gripes about this house, the high ceiling in the foyer, the steps to upstairs are there too. If the kids are playing in the foyer or formal living room (we don't use it, their toys are there) my hub can hear everything while he's sleeping. I'm not sure if the kids rooms are like that too. Their rooms are to the left of the stairway, master is a few feet from the stairway on the right. Poor design.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
