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

This is the first house I've ever lived in with a utility sink and I don't know how I lived without it! Around here they are not very common. Give me a utility sink and a sprayer and I can clean up anything from paint to my dog or small child without dirtying my house.
 
I am not a homeowner, yet, but after 18 years as a military wife and living in many different types of homes, I know what I am looking for when I buy next year (DH is retiring!).

First I want a good size kitchen with a center island. I would also like a pass through in the wall that goes to either a family room or dining room. I want my kitchen to be eat-in and I want a seperate dining room. I have always thought a laundry room on the second floor would be great, but after reading some of the posts here maybe a laundry chute that goes directly to the laundry room off of the kitchen (with a mud room too), I hate carrying dirty laundry down the stairs (in my currrent house it is two levels down in the basement). I would like a large master bedroom, big enough to accomodate a comfy chair near the window for reading and a large walk-in closet. In the master bath a his/her sink is a must, a jetted tub and a seperate stall shower....I hate taking a bath in a tub that is also a shower. Beyond that, I can't think of anything that is on my current want list, but those are some of the things I have decided on over the years.
 
Stainless steel kitchen cleans easily and wears well.

Main level half bath with laundry room...make it on the large side.

Walk out basement is nice if possible.

Master suite on main level. Makes resale really good in the case of someone who may not be able to get up steps.

Ceiling fans/light fixtures.

Whole house fan in the attic area!!!

Great room...kitchen/dining/family with fireplace.

Hardwood floors but use area rugs.

Deck...good sized one.
 

The best thing about our house is our kitchen/greatroom area. If you plan on doing entertaining the one big space is very condusive to that. I love our stainless steel kitchen, love the island, but for me the best thing we did with the kitchen is have
2 dishwashers installed. One for pots and one dishes. Makes clean up a breeze. Also a deep double sink is wonderful and lots of pull out cabinets. Our countertops are tinted concrete and looks so cool. And the floors are hardwood and also clean up well.


In the master bath we had a bidet installed, which I will now NEVER live without. As well as a seperate tub and shower.

We also put the MB on the first floor. And install hardwood floors even if you are going to carpet. Good for resale



Good luck.
 
definitely laundry on the main floor. we've had it upstairs and in the basement, too. Upstairs I worried about flooding, the basement was so inconvenient. I loved our last house that had it on the main level. It was a bright, sunny room that had a door that could close out the noise.

Hmmm...lets see what else...will have to think about it.
 
We don't have these, but I think they would be wonderful features.

The first is where you have a small little place along the baseboard area (under the sink) that can sweep trash into and it just sucks it away like the central vacuuming system. It has a little swinging flap, so there's no huge gaping hole. My kids are always playing with and losing my dustpan, so it would be WONDERFUL to not have to deal with finding it everytime.

The second thing is called a Christmas package and is perfect if you are a big decorator for the holidays. The builder installs an outlet right under each window so that you have easy access to plugs when plugging in your lights, but the neatest thing about these is that there is a switch somewhere in your house that you use to turn them all on or off at the same time. No more going around to each and every window.

I also second having a mudroom w/a utility sink.

Lori P. :)
 
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Things about my house that I like (had it built)

Fireplace...what can I say, I love a great fire

A three season porch instead of a deck...we use it so frequently, even in the winter, that it's just like a regular room

Painting the interior white until I had a chance to see how the light patterns from the windows worked for a full year...seasons really do make a difference on the way light works the room and I'm so glad I waited

Making public rooms bigger and private rooms smaller...I'd rather have a bigger living room and smaller bedroom since I spend more time in my living room (with my eyes open)

Closets and storage...figure out how much you really need and multiply it by 2 :)

Spend money on the windows...it pays off in your heating/cooling bill

Spend money on the carpet pad but not the carpet...especially if you have children. It's going to be replaced sooner than later so spending big bucks initially makes no sense.

Recessed lighting...worth every penny!

You can never have too many electrical outlets.

Multiple spouts for water on the outside of your house. I have one on each side of my house and it's terrific! No more lugging a hose half way to the moon to set up the slip and slide!

And hot and cold water spigots in your garage...a godsend for washing the salt off your car in the winter. And a central vac outlet in the garage for the car as well.

Having ceiling fans in each room even though we have central air...has really been great in keeping the air circulating and the house cool with or without the a/c on.

Less grass and more flowers/shrubs and trees. Lower maintenance and prettier view in your yard.

Leave as many trees as possible on your lot. It's easier to cut them down once you are there than to wait for them to grow to what they once were.
 
We have a 2 story colonial, plus finished basement, 4 BR, 2.5 bath, 2 car garage house. It's about 6 years old. We love it! But they are 3 things I would change that would make me love it even more. :p

1) Our laundry room is in the basement, I would LOOOOOOVE to have it on the 2nd floor with all the bedrooms (and where most of the laundry comes from!!)

2) Our garage door comes right into our nook (kitchen table) area, so no mudroom. I would love to have a mudroom so there'd be a place for all the shoes and coats to get tossed!!

3) We have an "office" (more like a nook) for our pc down in the basement. I would rather have an actual office on the first floor.

Things we have and love: gas fireplace, walkout basement (which we don't use to get in and out, but the sliding door lets lots of natural light in). We also had a deck and screened porch put on a few years ago and love that!! :)
 
Laundry room downstairs and master bed downstairs, open floorplan, and having the guest bedroom on the opposite side of the house with a guest bath right next door.
 
things I love:

kitchen: one big room divided in half - one side for cooking one for eatting. It is very light and airy. I've had more people comment on the kitchen than anything. The cabinets are white washed pine, as well as the furniture. I have a bay window with lots of plants. Very relaxing.

library: oak bookcases covering two walls, one corner a big leather chair, other corner cabinet. Fireplace on one wall. Nothing beats getting cozy in a big chair next to a fire with a book when it's 30 degrees outside.

yard: very open but completely surrounded by trees. This girl likes her privacy and if I want to sit outside in my pj's and watch the stars, it's nobodys business. :smooth:

garage attic: my husband cut out the wall on the second floor and installed a door. Now if I want to store anything, I just open the door and there it is. Nothing like a huge walk-in closet in your house.


things I wish I had:

mudroom: kids, dogs = washing the floor alot!!!!

laundry shoot: trying to get my husband to use some of his handy work to get this done.

deck: another thing to get my husband working on


- hardwood floors are beautiful but my friend has them and her kids and pets have ruined them. I would only get them if I had older kids and no dogs.


p.s. - if you've never built before prepare for the worst time of your life - I've never known anyone who hasn't had builder horror stories.
:earseek:
 
If we ever build a house, I definately will consider a laundryroom UPSTAIRS! We only have two levels in our home (no basement), and still, I hate to carry those baskets up and down the stairs! We have a nice walk in pantry, which is definately a must!!
 
It looks good, but we have to move when we get older! Our kitchen and dining room are on their own floor together. DS and DD are up from them and we are down on the same floor as the living room. Our laundry is on the fourth level in the basement- pain in the you know what. We also have an open floor plan and DH warns me that DS will probably jump two levels from his hall to the couch in the living room below, because Dh fights the urge to do it on a daily basis!

One thing I like is the Kitchen is in the front of the house and the living room in back. That way you are not on display from the street except when you are eating!
 
There was a similar thread a few months ago that I saved copies of for future reference. This one will be the same. Things I find important are:

Mudroom - with cubbies for mittens and boots and hooks for coats.

Upstairs laundry - I like all the bedrooms upstairs, and DW doesn't like carrying the clothes up and down. Also would like a counter to fold clothes on; a tub to soak or wash things in; and a place to keep an ironing board set up.

Big kitchen - because we live in the kitchen

Three car garage - one space for DW, one space for me and one for the kids bikes and all the yard stuff.

Central Air and Vacumn

Lots more, but I must go to lunch. Jay
 
I agree with adding the things that go behind the walls -- they're much harder to add later.

We didn't get the option for the fire sprinkler system -- now our suburb requires that all new homes have one and we really wish we had done it.

Also, if you have children and one or more computers, a local area network wired into the walls is a good idea. I know you can get wireless networks now, but for security reasons, we prefer having the wired kind.
 
I agree with the cental vacuum, but I am biased since I work for a company who makes them :teeth:

Steps from garage to basement, if you have a basement, are great!!

If the house is big enough, two sets of steps to the upstairs.

Heater in garage, if you live in cold climate!!

In ground irrigation system LOVE THIS ONE!!!!

Home theater.. all I can say is WOW.. Also built-in speakers in every room, with individual volume control...

Walk out basements are nice, but you have to have the right lot for this. At least have good size windows installed in basement if walk-out is not possible. Make sure the basement is tall enough when/if you finish it, that the ceiling height is at least 7'0"
 
One thing I love about our house is the three bathrooms. They each have "two rooms", separated by doors. In each one the tub/shower and toilet are in one room, then the sinks are in the other. That way one person can be taking a shower in one bathroom, and another can be shaving, doing their hair, etc. at the sink. It was especially nice when the kids were at home.

I also love our big 25'x25' family room that we built on in '87. It has a bay window (with seat), a bay entrance with tall side windows and French doors that lead to the 3-level deck. In one corner we have a round oak table and chairs. Great for kids to do their homework and still be in the family room with the rest of the family, or to play games, or various other uses and we can still all be in the same room together.
 
I hate carpet. My new house is all ceramic tile or wood. No carpet in the bathrooms. My current house has vinyl in the toilet area, but carpet in the sink/tub/shower area. I can't get it clean. Never again.

I love my utility sink in the laundry room. I'd prefer if it was in the garage. I'd like somewhere to hang things in the laundry room.

Our current and new house are both ranches. We love them. Our current house has a game room in the basement with bedrooms for the girls. Wish we had a bathroom down there. There's a rough in, but never actually finished the bathroom.

I hate the gas fireplace. When it's on, the rest of the house we freezing. We opted not to get one in the new house. If we finish the basement, we may put one down there.

I love stainless steel sinks. Porcelain gets chipped so easily. Also the pull out hose/faucet is great. Regarding the sink, I like the little tilt outs in front of the sink, it makes keep a hold of SOS pads, plugs and stuff. Make the pantry big enough for the freezer. Why do they always want to put the freezer in the basement? I don't cook down there!

We got ceiling fan prewires, but installed all our own. It's a lot cheaper. We also had ac installed after we moved in. Will do the same with new house. I also agree with attic fan. We installed this after too.

Our new house we upgraded very little. It costs so much more to have the builder install hardwood, and we can do this ourselves. We got the cheapest flooring, then will put in ceramic and wood prior to move in.

Outside I love my brick patio. Easy install, easy upkeep. The new house has to have a wood or trex deck because it is a garden level, but it will be small.

My main suggestion is if you use a builder that makes a ton of house, i.e. Richmond, Centex, Pulte, etc., get very few upgrades, and then upgrade after you purchase. We did the math and it's much cheaper. We have the extra cash, but you can also get a second or immediately refinance. Even if you don't do the work yourself, it's cheaper.
 
1. storage is a must, be it attic, basement, or tons of closets
2. wish I had laundry room on same floor as bedrooms!
3. we love our rec room...it's in addition to family room and formal living room....it's where we have the computer, craft tables, another TV, etc
4. guest room with own bathroom....we live away from family so have frequent visitors and it's SO nice that they don't have to share a bathroom with the kids :)
5. wish I had smooth surface cooktop....how I hate pulling out the burner liners to clean them all the time...
6 get extra tall cabinest to the ceiling...no shelf to collect dust and you have tons of extra storage :)

more later :)
 
Exterior -
1) we have Fiber Cement Siding vs. real cedar and you can't tell the difference - it will outlast just about anything.

2) Any porch/deck rails that you do, look into fiber-rail or fypon over wood (even if you go with a Mahogany/IPE deck floor) - looks/feels better than vinyl and has less maintenance than wood - mine is 2 years old and the paint looks horrible.

3) even if you don't plan on doing exterior lighting for a while (holiday lighting etc) at least run the switch for it and "kill" it in the basement or attic, so you can run the "real" lines when you are ready. Additionally you can run a "holiday" package which puts an outlet right under all of your "street-facing" windows - controlled by a central switch or timer.

Interior-

1) Central Vac is nice - make sure it is vented/exhausted to the outside (low to the ground)

2) No Support Poles in the garage - use steel beams instead it makes a WORLD of difference.

3) Paint/stain the basement and garage floors (if cement) - looks much better and has lest dust.

4) Run a few "drops" for electrical/home theater & entertainment system/computer network upgrades - your electrician will know what that means.

5) Hydro-Air heat/A/C - I cannot recommend this highly enough. Even when we hasd hotwater-baseboard heat in our old house it would dry out the house in the winter - with the Hydro Air no issues at all, the humidty stayed reasonable and the temperature was more consistent.

6) Make sure you insulate/soundproof any water/drain lines that will be run above or below any "quiet rooms" or home theater rooms - my master bath is directly above my family room and anytime I am watching TV late (which is nightly) and DW goes up to shower or use the jacuzzi - I have to turn up the TV way too loud to hear it - loud enough that the kids will hear it too.

7) As for laundry room upstairs that will depend on where you fold/iron your clean laundry - DW wanted it upstairs originally, but the house we bought has it on the main floor (mud room) and we normally do laundry at night - so upstairs - bad due to slleeping children, downstairs good, because I fold clothes in front of the TV. Think about it before you jump into this decision. Laundry chute could be a good idea if your layout allows.

That's all I can think of right now -Lots of LUCK with the design and new home!!!
 














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