All of you home owners...tell me.....

[tinatark]

we're in 3200 sf on one level. Ooops, let me clarify, the master bedroom is about 4 feet higher than the rest of the house (3 steps going into it).... coming from a split level, do everything possible to plan it as one level! There are zillions of house plan sites out there - you can input sf, floors, # bedrooms, etc and get the plans that fit your needs.

In our split level, the laundry room was on the 2nd floor, with the bedrooms. Wonderful! I really love the kitchen "desk" in our new house... don't know how old your children are, but one of my requirements was that my boys' rooms be away from the garage (they'll be teenagers soon enough!)...

That said, the best online source of homebuilding I've found is the "Building a Home" forum on thathomesite.com It's so worth the $10 annual subscription to post there!

Good Luck!

 

[Pugdog007]

We just finished building in Dec. Things I love:

It's a 2-story brick with full basement, high ceilings in basement with poured concrete walls (not block)
All stainless steel appliances in Kitchen
Dark, various colored tile in kitchen (with black grout) It NEVER looks dirty!
Hardwoods all downstairs, except tile in kit & MBA
2nd floor is teen's area (3BR + 2BA)
Laundry on main floor
Love my 2-story foyer!
Love the screened in porch
Coffered ceiling in DR

Things I would change:
MBA needs a linen closet, or more storage space
Wish laundry room was larger
Wish front porch was more than a stoop

Good luck!

 

[ScarlettO]

Instead of one huge Living room, we opted for a smaller family room/den and a small sunroom-one wall of windows looking out on the deck...this is our relaxing/music/computer room and we love it!


Instead of a formal dining room, we have an "eat-in dining/kitchen so used the extra space for a seperate "office".both DH and I do a lot of work there.

 

[DVC-Don]

We built in 1991. In hindsight we wish we had gotten a larger hot water tank and bought the central ac AFTER we moved in. Found out from a neighbor we could have saved about 50% by buying it after.

 

[soccerchick]

Spend your money on things that can't be done later (at least not easily or cheaply). Add the bumpouts, larger rooms, covered porches, etc. You can easily finish basements later; adding a morning room later will not be cheap.

I love my full front porch.

I love my main level laundry. Neighbors have theirs on the 2nd floor and have had leaks, blocked dryer vents that require a service call to get cleaned out since the vent exits their house almost at the peak, and she can't do laundry after her kids are in bed bc of noise.

I love my main level office/study. We are getting ready to put our house on the market and our real estate agent said people want this feature.

We did trex decking on this house and it is great. No splinters, kids can crawl, walk on it w/o any problems.

We don't have a true mud room here. It is a combo w/our laundry room. Our new house has a true mud room (yeah!!).

I like my SS sink and have also had porcelin. Like SS better. We are doing granite in the new house, have laminate here.
I like the look of SS appliances, but co-workers complain about the fingerprints. Also costs more. Not doing this in the new house.

Good luck! Moving and building is stressful, but fun!

 

[SyracuseWolvrine]

My parents have a very large kitchen. Large enough that they have a commercial range and a commercial "griddle" cooktop in there, plus an island in the middle of the kitchen, all of which are nice. Granite counters are nice, but a bit expensive. Our laundry room is in the basement, but we have a clothes chute running down from a closet on the 2nd floor.

 

[bigbabyblues]

My laundry room is in the basement, and I HATE, HATE, HATE it!!!

Steph

 

[tommysmom]

One thing i always need is for when you come in from the garage, to come in to a utiliy room or kitchen.. I cant stand having to walk through you whole house with groceries .....

 

[shep]

basement--walk-outs are a must... ..if basement is finished have a bathroom installed, if not make them put a 'rough-in' in case you finish it so you can have a bathroom down there later..

I would have liked our showers to have a separate hot/cold knob...This was one thing I miss from my mom & dad's..

Wider driveway for extra parking

Wider garage for your extra stuff & that you are not cramped getting in & out of cars(2 car garage a must)

Tell them not to install light fixtures..(I heard it would be cheaper for you to buy light fixtures & put them in yourself--if you know someone that could do that)

Closet size--make sure you are happy with that..Our closet is great, the girls bedroom closets are too small

All I can think of for now...

 

[Talking Hands]

Snoopy do you live near Georgetown going towards downtown? That picture looks very familiar from when I was growing up. I actaully lived on the other side of Georgetown off Foxhall Rd.

 

[Kallison]

Our favorite is location, on a quiet street with a field next to us - no chance of houses ever going in. My next favorite feature is lots of mature trees.

In the house, I love our big laundry room with our old refinished kitchen cabinets and two bit coat closets. Love our screened in porch out back, very quiet and private.

 

[CyranoJones]

Land, land, land. As much as you can afford unless you like neighbors looking in your windows.

My laundry room is off the kitchen but the best thing is the laundry chute from the upstairs.

Windows and lots of them.

 

[Pin Wizard]

Central vac is GREAT! My parents had it put in their house. And that's somethiing I've missed ever since I left!

I like my washer/dryer on the main floor. Don't want it on the second floor in case of flooding. People keep saying to just have the steel (?) hoses and it should take care of it. I still don't trust it. LOL!

My master bedroom...from what I can tell...is on the 2nd floor. It's the one with the nicer ceiling, the larger bathroom. But I don't like it being over the bedroom downstairs. What the heck are these builders and designers thinking??? LOL!

I have a loft and LOVE it! Great for the computer and craft area.

SS sink is okay. It doesn't impress me. But I hate the sprayer! It's on the right side, and I'm left handed. Never use it. I replaced the thingy on the faucet with a spraying one. Much easier. Just adjust for spray or regular flow.

I miss my ceramic tile floor! I do not care for vinyl at all.

I like the looks of my gas fireplace, but I haven't a clue how to use it.

 

[Wish I lived in Fl]

We have large skylight in Masterbedroom. In winter water condenses on inside overnight. Then in the morning it rains on us!
The problem is excess moisture from Masterbath.

Also we had to put cardboard over skylight so we could sleep during the day or later than 5am.

 

[arminnie]

STORAGE STORAGE STORAGE

One time I had a house with 5 huge walk in closets, a big walk in pantry, separate laundry room, built ins everywhere, big floored attic and an oversized garage. Boy do I miss that. It was so easy to be organized when there was a place for everything. Every one of my closets was a walk-in (except for the coat closet).

I loved having granite counter tops (don't have them in this house). Ceramic and stainless steel sinks both can get scratched but the ceramic ones become porous and can look stained.

I couldn't live without my hot water dispenser. It is great for cleaning pans, etc. If you are going to have an electric stove top I recommend the flat surfaced ones - much easier to keep clean.

I prefer an attached garage - much easier to get in the house when raining, etc.

Put in electric outlets EVERYWHERE! That's one thing that is so much easier to do when you are building. I have several places in my current home that have no access to electricity - while the very formal dining room has about 8 outlets.

If you are going to have any ceramic tile be sure that you seal the grout on a regular basis. You have to wait a little while after installation so the builder rarely does it. Trust me you do not want to deal with cleaning grout that has not been sealed.

If you are really into cooking - think about a second sink for prep work in the kitchen and a water dispenser over the stove. I've never had these but think they look cool when I see them on TV.

You also should plan a place for a freezer - comes in very handy.

I like a big front porch but that is a personal preference.

 

[clh2]

In my house - I hate the location of the fireplace - it takes up too much of the wall...I wish the previous owners would have put it in the corner. Our options on where to put the TV are very limited.

I wish we had a mud room. The first place to drop stuff off is the island in the kitchen - which accumulates "junk" throughout the week.

I am wanting granite countertops in the worst way. Wish I also had hardwood floors too.

It would have cost about nothing to have vent fans in all bathrooms...but since it is not code where I live - they didn't do this.

The things I love are: the big island in the kitchen with eating space for 4, a 3 car garage, the oversized shower in the master, we have tons of storage in each bathroom, ceiling fans in just about every room, crown moulding in the family room and the living room, and the desk in the kitchen.

Good luck planning this!

 

[Crankyshank]

laundry shutes in the bathrooms, if you have your washer and dryer downstairs. it makes things so much easier.
closets and lots of them! and counter space!

my parents have a drawer in their island that's a 3/4 size folding pull out ironing board. i spent almost every night using the thing growing up and boy I miss it. it's much easier to open a drawer than to haul out the ironing board.

 

[slo]

I don't know exactly what you mean by "upstairs" but I would definitly have the laundry room on the main level.

 

[Disney Doll]

~Ranch style(I prefer a Cape perosnally, but if you want to be able to stay there for a long time, a ranch is ultimately better)
~If not a ranch, then MBR on main floor
~Mudroom
~Laundry room on main floor, big enough to have a good sized hanging rack
~Closets...lots of them and big!
~Electrical outlets...lots of them
~Ceiling fans...do it during building
~Master bath with separate shower and tub
~Footrest in MBR shower for leg shaving
~Double kitchen sinks both full-sized...not one bigger and one smaller
~Sink sprayer
~Garbage disposal
~LR fireplace
~Built in corner hutches in DR(I love built ins!)
~Family room
~Small separate room for computer/home office
~Did I mention lots of closets and electrical outlets?????
~Basement with storage system of some sort(shelving or cabinets)

 

[Snow_White]

Things I love about my house:

1. Master Bedroom on main floor
2. Laundry Room on main floor
3. Convenient location, but still in a very rural area (about 2 minutes from the grocery store and gas station, and about 10 minutes from the mall)
4. LOTS of closets (we have 2 walk in closets and 2 large regular type closets for clothes)
5. We got a TON of phone and cable jacks....VERY convenient.
6. Ceramic tiles throughout the main floor...so easy to clean, I love it.

Things I don't love about my house:

1. SUPER high ceiling in family room (over 25 ft high). When we first bought the house, we loved this, but now we don't care for it as much because we realize it's going to be impossible for us to do things like paint the ceiling, change light bulbs, and clean the ceiling fan!!
2. Textured ceilings....I would have preferred we have gotten the regular flat type ceilings, so it would be easier to paint them.
3. No Fireplace....I wish we would have gotten one installed when we built the house. We were trying to save money by not getting one, but now I wish we would have just gone ahead and gotten it.