Your Texas Dream Home (Austin, Fort Worth: appliances, tile, tornado)

[blueskies49]

Wow, momof2, you really thought this out! I would like a ranch style home, maybe 2000-2200 ft. with a big wrap-around porch. Do the two styles go together? Anyway, some kind of a porch. A few acres but not isolated. I want some neighbors around me and be able to get to the city within an hour or less. Preferably less! I want lots of trees. A pool. Four bedrooms, one of which would be a den or computer room. A fireplace. Oh, and the rooms don't have to be very large but not cramped either. Brick with some stone. As to where? I wouldn't mind out by Weatherford where my husband would prefer but I was thinking maybe East Texas.

[CaliforniatoTexas]

My husband and I have purchased 10 acres in Laredo (north side) and as soon as we sell our home here in California, we are (God willing) building our DREAM HOME !! Infact it sounds almost like momof2, but I would love a Meditteranian Style Home, A foyer with a sitting area that feels very comfy at the entrance, I want a Gourmet Kitchen with pull out drawers, a walk in pantry, a counter top bar, an island with an extra sink, a 6 burner stove with a big gridle on the side so when I make my home made tortillas and pancakes!! Also a built in T.V. and CD player in there. A big mud room/laundry room big enough to have an extra fridge- close to the kitchen, about 5-6 bdrms big & spacious with big closets (we have 5 boys & 1 girl) so the home must be about 4000 + sq.ft., a family room with a fire place with high ceilings for a 10 foot X-mas tree, a game room, a study with a computer to do homework in, a formal dining room big enoigh to have a table for 10 and then some, a reg. dining room for a good size table for every day eating, a 1/2 bathroom to be used by guest only so it can stay CLEAN! a master bdrm with a huge walk in closet and a sitting room, a bathroom with a sitting area to do my hair/ make-up if I choose to, a door out to the covered patio/veranda and a nice sitting area with a big TV b4 u get to the patio area for the pool. A pool/jacuzzi is a must with a cabana and outdoor kitchen and built in Bar-B-Q and bathroom with a shower so the guests can shower after swimming, a water mister around the porch, we will add lots of trees to the back. Maybe I should hire momof2 to help design, we have alot of the same ideas!! My boys want an area for Horses with a barn and coral/ arena , and a Motorcycle trail/track, an area for playing baseball and of course a hideout club house!! As long as I get my pool area they can have the rest of the back yard..

[Canine*Castle]

I would like a sweet and unpretentious home away from the maddening crowd and noises of all kinds if they aren't related to nature. The countryside must be beautiful and viewed from all the windows in the home. It isn't much to ask for, but it is often hard to find.

[changeofpace]

Our dream home will be finished Dec 28th and we close on it Jan 2nd. We custom built a brick ranch on a corner lot, 3 car garage (one single and one double both side wrap garages), 3,139 sq ft, with 21 X 22 master suite, media room, living room (with wood burning fireplace of course) 2 guest bedrooms, 3 1/2 baths, formal dining room, covered patio/porch along the entire back (east side), 2 zone heat and a/c so each side of house has separate thermostats, small pool in back yard and walking distance to the beach, within 5 miles of shopping and mass transit.
We cant wait to start our new life in our dream home in Corpus Christi after exactly a 1 year search and research to find what we personally believe is the perfect spot to spend our golden years.

[Cathy4017]

Originally Posted by leorah

would be in far west Texas, near Alpine. It would be high on a hill, with a 360 degree view of the mountains. Adobe, of course, with each room having French doors opening to a central courtyard. The courtyard would have a fireplace and outdoor kitchen, and large doors that would open to frame a beautiful view of Cathedral Mountain or Mt. Ord. Inside, lots of natural wood, saltillo and slate. Big windows to let in natural light. A water catchment system and passive solar design. Kiva fireplaces. I'd want at least 10 acres and a good road. A terraced hillside with bird houses, feeders and hummingbird-attracting flowers.

Of course, when we finally do retire to Alpine sometime within the next two years we probably won't build. We'll look for something as close to the dream home as we can find. We've spent enough time in Texas to know that as long as we are in far west Texas, any home will be our dream home.

Thanks for asking. This was fun!

You have pretty much described what and where I would custom-build in Texas (with a few differences).....the Alpine/Ft Davis/Marfa/Marathon area is my favorite in the whole state. The only thing that kept me from moving down there is the sheer isolation--and having to drive all over the place for things!

But I am still close enough to drive down when I feel like it!

It is great fun to dream!!

[case44]

Originally Posted by Cathy4017

You have pretty much described what and where I would custom-build in Texas (with a few differences).....the Alpine/Ft Davis/Marfa/Marathon area is my favorite in the whole state. The only thing that kept me from moving down there is the sheer isolation--and having to drive all over the place for things!

But I am still close enough to drive down when I feel like it!

It is great fun to dream!!

That's what this thread is all about. I'd like to see what everyone else wants to be able to build if they had the chance.

[notmeofficer]

Originally Posted by Canine*Castle

I would like a sweet and unpretentious home away from the maddening crowd and noises of all kinds if they aren't related to nature. The countryside must be beautiful and viewed from all the windows in the home. It isn't much to ask for, but it is often hard to find.

Dont I know.. Ive been searching for the right place

I would build an environmentally friendly steel home.. 1500-1800 sq feet open floor plan single story... passive and active solar.. 100 acres or more.. would consider off the grid.. water from well... hopefully live water on the place so I can do microhydro...

neighbors that dont shoot guns/ hunt and kill animals or ride 4 x 4s all the time...

dont want to totally boil.. dont want to totally freeze



I know.. tall order for Texas... but ..perhaps not... definitely interested in areas with conservation restrctions

[jcp123]

Somewhere either in the Dallas/Ft. Worth Metroplex, or in the W. Texas high desert, I'd love to have a simple, post-modern Frank Lloyd Wright or Mies van der Rohe-inspired house. I know the high-pitched roof is popular here, but that's never really appealed to me, and as we don't get much snow there's no reason for it to even be here. Would love to have a sod or solar panel roof. I'd like it either to sit on a small ~2-acre tract of land, or a massive one I don't have to worry about keeping up.

For a great example of what I'd love to live in, look at the Stahl Residence in Los Angeles, Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater in Pennsylvania, Mies van der Rohe's Farnsworth house outside of Plano, IL, or imagine a really big Eichler home.

For a second choice, I'd want something built underground. Our neighbors have just such a house, and their heating/cooling bills are about 1/4 of ours. Plus he got out of work early to mow his roof! Not much cooler than that...

[Kaligirl]

Wow Momof2,
You just discribed my dream home. The one that's been in my head for years and years, ever evolving. It is my passion too. So if you find the one, order two and I'll pack my bags and bring my family out there right away. hee hee.
Sign Momof3
aka Kaligirl.
LOL

[neddy]

Build it in the Hill country for me, no doubt about it. Somewhere around the Boerne area so as I get older I can get to the Medical Center in SA easy enough! Not sure of the style yet since I have moved from SA up to north Austin I see a lot of the French plantation style house and like that also but love the mexican style with courtyards,love ranchs also though so not sure....