If you could custom-build your home, what features would you incorporate

into the design? Say, at least five "gotta haves" that would make it your dream home. You can include size of lot as one of the features.
I think mine would be (at least):

1. Built-in bookshelves around large picture or bay windows in an all-purpose living room area

2. Sauna

3. Lap pool

4. Laundry/utility/pet stuff room

5. Walk in closet in all bedrooms (however many there are, probably 2-3); in the master, a closet with chair, mirror, table/dresser etc. for jewelry & stuff. I don't have a lot of things, but it'd be nice to not have them crammed together in a jumble and have an area to get dressed

6. Master bedroom w/French doors onto nice deck

7. Midsize kitchen with lots of windows, counter space and cabinets. Doesn't have to have all the latest gizmos, just convenient for cooking w/alcove for dining (all meals, not just breakfast)

8. Lot size, at least 5 acres

9. Hardwood (environmentally sound, recycled wood), tile and/or stained cement floors

I'm a big fan of Sarah Susanka's "Not So Big House" house series, I don't want or need a lot of space, I just want a few niceties and good construction. A girl can dream, right?

very important. Definitely solar!

efficient window system that is used in Europe. recycled hard and soft construction materials reduced use of wood framing. computor monitors of heating , cooling, and lighting systems

1. Double story living room, with fireplace, all picture windows, with six or more all glass doors opening out onto the large deck, and preferably overlooking water (even if it's a long way away) or with some kind of phenomenal view.

2. Built in bookshelves everywhere.

3. Living room, dining room, and kitchen all one big open space

4. Hot tub on deck

5. Instead of a walk in closet, I will just make the bedroom bigger.

6. Every bedroom has its own bathroom with shower.

7. No carpeting; all wood floors (except tile in kitchen and bathrooms)

must have bath with shower in every bedroom. Master has a nice bathtub, too.


Lots of open space. Definitely kichen/dining all one space, perhaps some sort of partition or "feeling of space" between kitchen and room with all the books...

And lots and lots and lots of windows. House designed/situtated to make the most of passive cooling/heating systems. Perhaps have the back of the house built into a hill for the cooling, the front/sides with lots of windows.

and you look at 'em, and they have, let's say, 500-600 square feet of outside wall space on side (like 10-20 feet high and 40-50 feet long), and they have maybe 15 square feet of window (2 little 2x4 windows). And not because it's a garage - you know the entire wall has rooms, and I wonder, "Who the fuck puts that much wall and wants only two dinky windows in it?"

Fuck that - I want windows! And the new triple pane windows are, as far as I know, just as energy efficient as a wall full of insulation.

I know windows cost more, but come on - what's the point of a ginormous house if you can't see out of the goddamn thing?

Also, a room set up in a semi circle and leveled like a movie theatere... with like a 60 inch tv for watching sports with like 15 buddies.

Oh, and a bar behind that

the bidet.

with

1. Great room with fireplace and prow windows overlooking a lake
2. 10 acres, with space for windmill/solar energy
3. Loft overlooking the great room
4. Bathroom in every bedroom (3 bedrooms)
5. Big (not huge) kitchen with an island, and open dining area (no separate dining room), and tile floor
6. Hardwood floors (with underfloor heating in cold climates)
7. Master bath with large shower and dry sauna
8. Media room with couches and big screen TV/sound system
9. Utility/laundry/pet stuff room
10. Wine refrigerator

all in a house of around 2000 sq ft. Having lived in houses with 4, 5, 6, 9, and 10 (unfortunately not the same house), I can say once you have those, you will never want to do without them.

You're right, a guy can dream...

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only if they don't have iron rings in the walls and chains hanging from them, though :scared:

in the kitchen. Once you got one you can no longer do without that. Mine is small so my custom house would have a large one, large enough so that their would be no need for upper cabinets in the kitchen (I'm only 5'1"). Lots of windows instead.

That laundry/pet room is a dream.

1. Farmhouse style with lots and lots of windows on the east and south sides.

2. A combination food pantry/freezer room.

3. A laundry room next to the bedrooms (source of the majority of items destined for the washer and dryer).

4. A sun room.

5. Computerized windows, lights, etc.

6. My own personal orchard.

7. A swimming pool.

8. 80 to 100 acres.

9. A separate housekeeper/handiman house with staff living in it.
(You didn't say this had to resemble reality, did you?) :eyes:

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#2.

Solar back-up, if not complete Solar power capabilities.

#3.

360 degree outside view from favorite sitting spot, including skylights.

#4.

Own water supply, well or spring.

#5.

Large lot, minimum 25 acres, 100 preferred, house not visible from road.

BTW

I have all the above, a "homemade" camp so to speak, a handyman special - created out of necessity, but not "designed"

Solar is only back-up capability, can run fridge, computer etcetera if power fails, - upgrading yearly

Lot size is 40 acres(rented - prefer to own) well wooded and enough suitable for firewood indefinitely if managed properly

Dug spring fed well, uphill, gravity feed to dwelling.

Salvaged thermal panes from a renovation - 5 - 5 feet by 4 feet, one thermal pane skylight facing East, one non-thermal in roof, 32" x 8 feet north/south.

Acquiring the funds to "build" - I would incorporate all of the above features, albeit with better materials and planning.

'Tis a bit of a dive - but it's got character!

lots of light
great interaction between inside and outside
privacy
screened porch
storage and more storage
location, location, location
adjoining conservation land
interesting architecture
natural building materials (stone, wood, granite)
separate "function" rooms (e.g. family room, den, office)
quiet area .. not on a main street
slight slope to the south for solar
broadband access available
spacious rooms
multi-cook kitchen
central a/c
one or more welsh terriers

conservation area that * doesn't have his greedy sights on.

enough land to support about 3 horses

old trees to shade the house

a deep porch that wraps around the entire house


bath and big closet for each bedroom

room in the master br for a reading/sitting area

not too huge kitchen but very well equipped; gas cooktop and double wall electric ovens, self cleaning of course and a super quiet range hood that vents to the out side. room for a freezer and a really huge refrigerator.

family room /dining that blends in w/kitchen. Room for a desk, comfy sofa and chairs for reading and TV watching

no fireplace

garage that is at least attached by a covered walkway

laundry area in the bedroom portion of the house

Tile floors in the kitchen/family room/dining area and baths

Wood everywhere else.

sometimes I think I want a nice formal room that is a combo parlor/dining area. I have a "front room" that could be either right now, but don't have the right furniture in it yet. I could have dinner parties.

bay windows with cushioned seats for reading, storage under neat

as many built in book cases as can reasonabley be placed.

skylights to compensate for the shade created by the big porch

definitely a hot tub and possibly a dry sauna

Master bath would have a jetted tub and a separate steam capable shower

pantry in the kitchen. intelligent design so there is plenty of uninterrupted counter space and very durable counter tops. Undercounter lighting, plate racks,

an abundant supply of cats

a maid and a yard man

maybe a pool so also a pool man


at the horse lot, a stable for the equines and a nice 2 bed apt for my daughter and her best buddy so they could live there and have their horses and dogs.

on edit. If the house is in Kentucky, the land must have a cave

definitely a small cottage on-site for guests, family, whomever

No fire pole?

from Tenchi muyo, its such a beautifull design

brain cells.

A house-wide Guiness/Milk/Orange Juice/Vodka dispensing system.

Flat-Wall televisions, that's right, I said flat-walls televisions.

Outside noise suppression systems.

One click cat-feeding device

My own server farm.

Outside racetrack, with 24 hour fully staffed pit crew and Medi-Lift Helo available should I decide to take a corner at 200mpg while drunk off my ass.

Race Chauffer, in case my common sense gets the best of me and I demand he drive me around that same corner at 130mpg in the custom 2 seater F1 car.

And I mean FULL of whores.

Keg cooler, taps, 4 shelves. Soda/tonic dispenser, faucet and sink. Fridge for the limes, freezer for the mugs.

Oh, yeah, and a stage and a pole, for, you know, when the ladies wanna get up and dance. j/k

other than that, I'm not picky

nt

I would also enjoy a study/den/office with a 360 degree vista in some sort of tower/cupola. A big pantry and root cellar. A hot tub and pool in the back yard. A large shop/garage outbuilding.A basement with a shelter area (tornado proof).
I would also like a house with exterior style, I don't want a "McHouse" look to it.

I would build it on a 1000+ acre tract if I could but would settle on the 15 acres I have now.

I want to build a 1920s era Craftsman-style house with hardwood floors everywhere, and a built-in hutch in the dining room. It'll be a one bedroom house with a den. There would be two windows in the living room, one large window in the dining room, two windows in the kitchen area, two windows in the bedroom area, and one window in the den area.



The living room will have a microsuede green sofa with huge, fluffy pillows, and an ebony coffee table with art books everywhere, a low-slung TV stand like that in IKEA, with a huge flat screen TV. A bench against the wall to put stuff on like books, or bags next to the doorway. From the doorway to the start of the dining room area, there'll be a longish carpet, like a tan shag color. Above the TV will be beautifully framed black/white photos with a black frame and a white matting.



The dining room will have an extremely long square dark cherry wood table with six chairs. The walls in that dining room will have red wallpaper with a light pattern over them. There will be old paintings in gold frames with small lights on top of them all over the living room like that in an old-fashioned salon. In the corner, there will be a long vase with willow branches.



The kitchen is going to be the major highlight of the house with a steel electric oven/stove range with an electric grill, a steel refrigerator, and a steel dishwasher that is partially hidden by the island bar with the three breakfast chairs. The countertop will be a sort of a darkish/bluish color to match the green and blue tile backsplash. The glassed-door cabinets will be made out of cherry wood. In the back of the island bar, there will be a side buffet table with extra dishes saved for special occasions. The table next to the hallway door will hold recipe books/magazines.



The bedroom will have two dark cherry wood nightstands, a tall dark cherry wood dresser, and a low-slung cherry wood dresser, along with a dark cherry wood TV stand. The bed will be a low-slung platform bed with a fluffy matress pillow-top, and a heavy white comforter. On the bedroom will be old-fashioned movie posters in black frames and white matting. The bathroom will have a blue-greenish tile in it, with a white clawfoot bathtub, and a great sink. The den will have built-in bookshelves on all walls, with a huge leather club chair with an ottoman.

That's the house of my dreams. How does it sound to you?

My husband and I got to build our dream home; we've been in it for 3 years now. The planning and building took almost 2 years. What we wanted and got: More space than we've ever had (4200 sq.ft.) Enough built-in bookcases to hold our 1000+ books. My kitchen with nearly endless storage, the ovens built-in and up, granite countertops, 6 burner cooktop, huge island, pocket door to the dining room for sound and smoke control. Whole house sprinklers for safety. A dumb waiter. Laundry room upstairs near the bedrooms. A window seat in my study. Decks and balconies. Garages as part of the house. Reeded glass in several doors. Intercom to answer the front door with. It is so amazing and we plan to live out our lives here! The first year we were in, the AIA had us on their local home tour! We are still friends with our architect and our builder; they are such lovely people. It's like living in a work of art...

60,000 acres minimum

House about 20,000 square feet

15 guest bedrooms, each with private bathroom with jacuzzi, and each bedroom with it's own girnormous fireplace, large desk filled with stationery (all Amalfi paper) with my estate's name imprinted on it, intercom to the kitchen and the laundry so they can call the servants; all bedrooms have private decks, and bedrooms all arranged so that no one is looking into anyone else's rooms and/or decks. Each guest room also has its own bar incredibly well stocked, and it's own valet designated just for that room to fluff pillows, change sheets, shine shoes, get ice, mix drinks, press clothing, etc.

Master bedroom just like the guest bedrooms, but also with desk for doing business

Separate office space with gigantic desk, large meeting table

Two story separate library room with wall to ceiling shelves and balcony running around; one end of library wall is solid glass, facing north, so that sunlight comes in but not direct sunlight

Billiards and gaming room with built-in walk-in humidor

Dining room with table to seat 50

Living room, 2500 square feet

Kitchen big enough to handle everything, for the servants

Servant's quarters

And a den/movie watching/friend entertaining room with large kitchen attached, which is where I would do the intimate personal entertaining and cooking for friends

Horse stables for 50 horses

1,000 acres of manicured, but still natural looking, garden walkways and zen meditation paths

Absolutely no three-wheelers, four-wheelers, or snowmobiles allowed, except for use by greenskeepers and rangers as necessary

Intra-estate phone system

And everything computerized, with each guest getting a special badge so that the computer can route all phone calls and pages to whatever room that person is in, and through which the person can communicate with any staff member or other guest (totally like Star Trek: The Next Generation has it)

Huge ass swimming pool in amorphous blob shape, artfully blended into the landscape

organic garden,isolation tank,huge room for meetings and partys,library. Not big and wastefull ,just right and energy efficient.