Your dream home

Time for a little Friday fun.

If you could design your dream home, what would it look like? What special features would you include?

Me: I would have two ‘guest cottages’ on the property, both fully self-contained – two bedrooms, a lounge, a kitchen etc. Rose would stay in the one (Rose is not going anywhere, ever) and the other we would use as a guest cottage for when friends / family / you come to stay. I hate that we currently don't have anywhere for guests to stay.

Then, I would have a ‘wing’ on the home just for the children. It would contain the kid’s bedrooms, bathrooms, plus a huge play /games room.  The play room would have different ‘corners’ – a craft corner, an activity corner, a TV corner, a library etc.

There would be ‘his and hers’ studies. I would have my own study, full equipped with broadband internet access, fax / copier / video conferencing etc. 

A HUGE main bedroom with an ENORMOUS bed. An area (beautifully sunlit) with a comfy couch for reading. His and hers en suite bathrooms. A walk in closet with itemized cupboards.

The kitchen would come with a personal chef (obviously). It would have a table and chairs in it, so that the kids could eat their meal in the kitchen if they wanted. A big walk in pantry.

There would also be an entertainment room for my husband, with big TVs and surround sound blah blah fishpaste. 

A wine cellar, fully stocked.

Acres of cupboard space.

A beautiful pool / entertainment area. Somewhere where we could host lovely braais and swimming parties. 

A gorgeous garden, with nooks and crannies, big trees and tinkling streams. Gazebos and tree houses. Oh, and something I've always wanted: a small, neat courtyard garden with beautiful pots and tiled floors.  A marble bench and a water feature or two.  A quiet oasis where I could sit outside, have a cup of tea and read a book.

Ah, nice to dream. What would your dream home look like?

Comments

[teki]

I dream of mud room/laundry room combos with easy to clean tile floors and cubbies for shoes, hooks for jackets and a low to the ground dog shower. Yummmm, laundry rooms....

[Babybound]

The only thing missing from the above description are the labels that are neatly placed throughout. :-)

[Egg Donor (ret.)]

I'm thinking all about this now because I'm actively house hunting.

My dream house on the outside would have a big yard for my dogs to run around in, maybe with a pond if I could handle them swimming all the time, close to safe parks where I can run, but walkable to restaurants, shops, organic grocery stores, etc. I'd like lots of outside character - something victorian, or a cape cod or something like that. No 60s ranches.

Inside, I'd like a giant master suite. One house I bid on (and lost) was a cape cod with the whole upper floor as a master suite! Big walk in closet, fabulous bathroom, lots of space, skylights, etc. I'd also like a great working kitchen with tons of cabinets, marble counter tops, stainless appliances, and a lot of space so people can hang out. Maybe with french doors leading to the back yard...

And I definitely need big windows, hardwood floors, and I'd love lots of period woodwork like around doors and stuff.

I'd like a finished basement with a bedroom, small kitchen, bathroom so when my mom comes to stay, she can be there without worrying about waking me up. I'd also like a basement fitness room with a treadmill and weights and tv and such.

Aaahh...we'll see. If I get a couple of those features in the house I end up buying, I'll be happy. In reality, if I were married or had an extra $100K, I could totally afford exactly what I want. Being single, though, is worth the sacrifice :)

[hanlie]

I'm with you on most of those. Eat in kitchen is a must, as are walk in closets in all bedrooms (gives you more options in the actual bedroom), but I'd have to add a bidet in the en-suite bathroom. I don't mind sharing a bathroom with my hubby, but insist on his/hers basins. Also, we have a jacuzzi and would never ever like to live without one again.

Check also on the wooden floors and wooden sash windows, with wooden venetian blinds. I hate curtains. And I want to furnish my home with mostly Chinese and Indonesian furniture (we've got a lot of it already).

Btw, I love what you have above your bed (I saw it on the video the other day).

[LaurieC]

Mine would be similar to yours, only with 1 guest cottage. I would add the very "in" thing nowadays - a "snoring" room. Someplace for me or dh to go on the nights that he sounds like a freight train.

[Andrea]

My husband and I like this one: http://www.thehousedesigners.com/plan_details.asp?PlanNum=6513

It's not happening tomorrow, but we are working towards it. I would absolutely love to have a library/study area.

[Elize]

OOhh.. would love enough space for friends and family to visit, and my very own studio, with huge windows, and lots of light.

[Bianca W]

We, like Egg Donor, are also house hunting, so this is easy peasy. Hubby and I lie awake at night talking about it. We have found a house that would suit us down to the ground, but it needs LOADS of work. We dream about having the money to do everything we would like to....a walk in cupboard leading into the ensuite, new kitchen with pantry and laundry, french doors from the lounge and dining room onto a veranda leading down to the pool, a cottage for my folks etc etc. Much like yours. (loved the kids wing by the way - very good idea. May have to add that to our very long list).

[Susan]

I like your dream home!
Realistically I want another bedroom for guests (a suite would be lovely) and an indoor gym room for the kids...big enough to play and run and climb and tumble.

[Maritza]

I've just spent a year fiddling with house plans...I totally get the picture of your dream home...can't wait to start building ours...well I'm sure I'm going to feel different about it while doing it...but anyway...my dream home will have all that you have mentioned and one ghumongous herb and vegetable garden which I can compulsively label and catagorise by species and medicinal use...also with little gazebo tea garden right in the middle of it with BIG trees all around. I would adore an BIG indoor heated pool...yummy...O and don’t forget the sauna and steam room for my private therapist to do massages and body masks. And of course the whole staff compliment that goes with maintaining such monstrous pleasures...

[Emma]

We're about to move to a 45 sq m house boat (yes, it is that tiny!) alongside one of Amsterdam's most pretty canals. All I want for now is a spot on top of the 5+ year waiting list for a parking permit so I won't have to bike everywhere (again, esp. with drivers like you around :-)).

And then, much later, when I'm a grown up I'd like a huge 1930's house overlooking a Dutch beach. Including three children *sigh*. It should have a huge library with a fire place, all my books, the biggest reading table ever and all my pc/Mac stuff. A huge kitchen where I can (let someone) host my fantastic dinner parties. A garage for *all* my cars. And, how can I forget: a shower room. Not a shower in a tub, not a bath room, not just any walk in shower, no, a whole room just to shower. And a hot tub in my lovely English rose garden.

No swimming pool (too cold here), no guest houses (remember the Dutch saying: "Gasten en vis blijven drie dagen fris" > Guests and fish will stay fresh for three days) and no seperate rooms for playing/tv/lounging, as no one ever sees each other that way.

In addition a flat in Manhattan, a condo in Gstaad and a yacht in St. Tropez would be nice.

[kathleen999]

Everything you said, plus a deck with a jacuzzi off the master bedroom.

[louise]

well, I'll just take one of what you ordered! Plus a sauna and hot tub. Yum!

[Beth]

My dream house would fix the biggest thing I detest about my current house. (I shouldn't even complain--I have a lovely house and am a very lucky person, but...) I HATE our teeny tiny mudroom/laundry room. I'd have a huge mudroom off the garage that would have plenty of racks for shoes and hooks for coats and cubbies for backpacks and dance bags. It would be large enough that the dog's bowls and kennel could be tucked away in there. I'd have a separate laundry room near the mudroom, but not in it unless it really was extra huge, with lots of counter space for sorting/folding. I'd also have a stackable washer/dryer near the kids' rooms, because that is where the majority of the laundry comes from/goes back to!

[Laura C.]

A walk-in closet. Two bathrooms instead of the one we have now. Claw-foot tub. Solar panels and other eco-friendly features. A big porch with rocking chairs and such. A library with built-in bookcases. Is that so much to ask? sob.

[kristylynne]

My dream home would look much like yours, except I'd add a 9-car garage with a giant workshop, to house my hubs' ever-expanding collection of vintage cars.

I've also always wanted a hidden room behind a bookcase. You know, the kind where you pull out just the right book and the bookcase magically slides aside, revealing a secret room.

[Nicole]

omg - i love your dream home. would be happy to move in. the only thing i'd have to add is a steam room for hubby and a soaking tub for me. oh, and individual computer areas for each of the kids in their game room.

[goodsandwich]

I just have to laugh about the huge playroom, because although I want one too, it seems that the only place kids want to be is stuck to the side of their parents! :)

[kristylynne]

speaking of which ... you can enter to win the HGTV Dream Home starting Jan. 1. I enter every year. It's fun just to look at the house and fantasize. Not sure if the contest is open only to Americans, but fun to look at in either case.

http://www.hgtv.com/

[Kathy B.]

Ah -- I've dreamed of lots of houses! Big, beautiful multi-room houses.

Now that I am older, my dream house would be a small(ish) 3-bedroom cottage on a large piece of land on a lake. (One floor please -- these old knees and hips just don't like stairs anymore.) A hot-tub would be nice.

[Ute]

No comment, just a link:
http://www.chambord.org/index.htm

;-)

[Julia]

I've always wanted a courtyard - probably tiled with a fish pond and maybe a little bridge over it. LOL it doesn't really go with the 1930's house I live in in the Northeast US!

[Julia]

BTW Teria, one reason why I LOVE your bog is that you update nearly every day. Cheers to you!

[Keryn]

Okay, now I'm going to sound like a crazy-stalker-person, but don't worry--I can't afford to fly to South Africa, so even if I am crazy and stalker-ish, you're safe from me.

But, anyway, I had this really random dream about you and your family--we were visiting you, and you had the most amazing house--with a pool, and a slide into the deeper end, and a gorgeous living room with tile floors, exotic furniture and yummy food, and I "met" Rose and the kids and Marko even installed something in our car for us...and you of course were gorgeous and divine.

All this to say that at least in MY dreams, you have a pool!

[D]

1st I would say that the dream house would be free :o)
Also I would like it to a environmentally friendly with solar panels an whatnot. it would have plenty of room and come fully staffed and it must have a large garage for all the cars we would have... and defiantly a guest home for my parents to live in.

[stranger]

Lately in home parades I have been seeing front loading washers and dryers INSIDE the master bedrooms walk-in closet? Wouldn't that be lovely? No more carrying laundry baskets across the house...

[stranger]

oh, and I would like to have shelves in my bedroom closet lined with cedar, so there is a cedar scent when you walk into the closet and that lingers on your clothes. LUXURY!!!

[bulhaa]

my dream home would be on a beach. annnnd heres the kicker. it would also have a private pool!
and it would have a never ending supply of chocolates.
big and roomy. with space. wide windows. sunny. colourful. happy.

*shrug*
i got a little sappy there at the end.

[Krista]

My house would be built around a large central family area consisting of the den with all the flat screen, HDTV bliss my husband keeps begging me for, a dining area for the kitchen table and the bar that contains the tinkling bottles representative of my husband's bourbon fetish and a large open state of the art kitchen of my husband's dreams (and my dreams since it will mean gourmet meals every night!). Off the front side of this center area would be a front porch with swing and a couple of rocking chairs overlooking the sprawling horse farms. Off the back would be a large patio with built in outdoor kitchen overlooking the pool nestled inside the sprawling horse farms. Off the right side of the house would be the children/guest wing. Campbell would have her own room complete with bed and ample closet space and room for all of her books and toys and a craft table, etc. for when she's old enough to, you know, hold a crayon. She would have her own bathroom so that when she's 13 I don't have to witness the temper tantrums that she will throw. Her room would be connected to the guest room/bath by a casual sitting area w/ small tv and Campbell's computer. No surfing the internet behind closed doors in my house! Finally, off the left of this house would be the parent's wing consisting of a spacious but now overbearing master bedroom with two walk in closets and giant hampers so there will never be cloths on the floors/chairs/couches of our house again. We would have two, not one, master bath. A small, efficiency style one for my husband and a larger one w/a soaking tub and shower and large vanity for me. Our wing would also include a library lined with shelves for all of our books and a study where I would do my work from home everyday while Campbell colors on the floor.

www.camperky.com

[house for sale Philippines]

Me: 2 storey house with 3 bedrooms on the second floor with 2 comfort rooms, a living room, kitchen, comfort rooms and 1 guest room on the ground floor with 2 garage either. I color the inside with maybe what my wife want. Thats all :D . Maybe I just added again when I see beautiful that really need to put in my dream house . Thanks.

Deirdre Gonzales