If you could design you home again

Sketch-Up is great (and free), and once you get the hang of it, you can design every aspect of the house. I went a step further, and built foamboard models of my house designs, and bought cheap dollhouse furniture to really get a feel for it.

We're building our dreamhouse now, and, given the same budget, i wouldn't change anything. What we like-

ICF construction and heavily insulated attic. Strong, energy-efficient house.
Master suite on the main floor, with a huge closet, big enough to set up the ironing board. The laundry is in there, too. No hauling laundry anywhere.

Dry, fully insulated walk-out basement. Full bathroom down there, too.

Lots of quality windows.

Beautiful woods in all directions.

Large kitchen with two sinks, and two distinct work zones for two cooks. The kitchen has one huge window and two smaller ones.

Lots of custom interesting touches. The windows have tapered returns to minimize the tunnel effect of the thick walls. Antique lighting fixtures. Antique doors. Antique pulls for the kitchen drawers. The powder room door rolls on antique barn door rollers.

Mini-split HVAC. Amazingly quiet and efficient.

Last, but certainly not least- It's paid for!

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"What one generation tolerates, the next generation embraces." -John Wesley

My little house is paid for and I like my little house, but if I could snap my fingers I would have a basement/storm shelter/place to store root crops.
Rocky

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A small Goat farm in East Tennessee
http://www.freewebs.com/rockytopsis/

I think this is so important, as we age.
Think about it...so many folks are in great health, but FALL, & that's it...

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My book is out! Go 'like' it on FB:
http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Goo...83553391747680

I would have a home with 7" walls, triple pane windows, and very high and dry all the time. And maintenance free!

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How to Patch Large & Small Holes, Build & Finish Drywall Arches, Tape & Finish Corners and Joints, How to Texture and Repair Texture
Drywallinfo.com

We are drawing up our new house right now. We currently live in a 3600sf house. Its far to big for our needs. We recently listed it and are expanding to a larger farm. We are gonna build our house ourselves. Right now it will be a 40x40 cabin with cathedral ceilings and 12 x 30 lofts on each side. The other 10 feet of loft space will be storage. Downstairs will be all one room. Living, dining, kitchen. Then we are putting a 12 x 20 room off the southside for bathroom and utility room/washer/dryer. The other 12x20 is going to be an all glass growing room for winter time veggies. Im pretty excited about it!

A wise old contractor told me every family needs to build three houses.

By the time they build the third one, they get what they want.

I don't know if you need to BUILD that many, just LIVE in a few.

I've had 17 homes, 11 just since getting married. Consequently, our new house going up is nothing more than a mish-mash of things I've loved about all of my previous homes. (And an abject avoidance of things I've hated. Who in their right mind would WANT their laundry in the basement??)

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~*~Erin~*~
SAHM, ranch wife, sub and quilt shop proprietress
the Back Gate Country Quilt Shop

I would do many of the things that others have already mentioned with the addition of the following (at a minimum):

1. A summer kitchen, so that I do not heat up the house when I want it to be cool inside.

2. Bidets in most, if not all, of the bathrooms.

3. Multiple root cellars off of the basement with different temperature/humidity levels.

TRellis

I wouldnt change a thing. I like my original design even after living in it for several years.

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"Nothing so needs reforming as other peoples habits." Mark Twain

I have one question.

How do you keep your rubber boots from filling up with water?

There isn't much in the way of rain on a clear blue sky day. We do have a solar boot drier which is where the boots normally hang up side down. See:

http://sugarmtnfarm.com/2010/10/22/launch-tubes/

Cheers,

-Walter

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SugarMtnFarm.com -- Pastured Pigs, Poultry, Sheep, Dogs and Kids

Things change over the years so we moved on. Also as we got older we wanted our home to be smaller, with less upkeep. We built our 1212 sq. ft. town home in 1992. Our DD lives there now and says she will never sell, she loves it. We have built 14 different places, some from existing buildings, some new. Many are rentals. We have lived in half. They all had a purpose at the time. All still have the original footprint as when I rebuilt or built them. I think I have a good eye and could figure out what worked for what we needed at the time. The 7 rentals built new were built for elderly use and ease of upkeep. Ground level, no steps, wide doors, no halls and use passive solar gain, both to heat and cool. Only the town home had/has air conditioning for DDs bad allergies. All are comfortable living spaces....James

no second story. Spray foam insulation. metal roof. Most of the house under ground.

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http://lownfamilymaplesyrup.com/ max@lownfamilymaplesyrup.com
Professional Tool. 1220 Woodmere Ave,Traverse City, MI. 49686. 231-941-8003. http://professionaltool.com/