If you could build your home.. WWYB?

[msmerymac]

I'd build something that looked like a federal style house, or center-entrance colonial. Possibly a brick exterior. Front porch and back deck. Formal dining room, large living room/family room, a first floor study with wall-to-wall built in book cases, a large, separate kitchen. I'd want a small green house area (attached or detached, doesn't matter). I'd also want a first floor guest suite, or possible a guest suite (bedroom, maybe living area, kitchenette and bath) in a walk-out basement for my mom someday. 1/2 bath on first floor, 2 baths (including a master), 4 bedrooms upstairs.

[downtoearth]

I would build something like this, but with a local architect to customize...





But my DH would want something more like this, so we'd have to compromise...


or this

[ssmjlm]

Would love something on the water with a big front porch and a big back deck and patio area. The back of the house would be an open living/dining/kitchen space we could host holidays, family gatherings, etc. I would love a wall of french doors on the back.

4 bedrooms, office/craft room, around 3000 sq ft. or less depending on space planning.

 

  

[thatgirl2478]

Jul 31, 2014 15:38:47 GMT -5 ssmjlm said:

Would love something on the water with a big front porch and a big back deck and patio area. The back of the house would be an open living/dining/kitchen space we could host holidays, family gatherings, etc. I would love a wall of french doors on the back.

4 bedrooms, office/craft room, around 3000 sq ft. or less depending on space planning.

 

  

LOVE LOVE LOVE these styles!!

I would build something like the middle picture with a wrap around porch, extra deep so you could sit out there while it's raining.  It would have 4 bedrooms plus an office/den, 3.5 baths, and a family room that's open to the kitchen/back yard area.  It would also have a formal dining room & living room that are separate-ish from the family room/kitchen.  All 4 bedrooms would be on the 2nd floor, the office/den would be near the kitchen/family room.  The basement would have lots of light & be semi finished.  There would be a huge patio/deck for entertaining and a good sized section of the yard would be fenced off (with access to the house) for the dog.

I would put it on 1 acre of land (because we don't want a LOT of land since it costs $$$ to landscape & time to maintain). 

[treedimensional]

Holy crap you people want huge ass houses. I want something small, about like what I have now. There are only 2 of us. We only need 1 guest room. I don't want to heat / cool anything bigger than 1500 sq ft.

[downtoearth]

Jul 31, 2014 17:05:40 GMT -5 treedimensional said:

Holy crap you people want huge ass houses. I want something small, about like what I have now. There are only 2 of us. We only need 1 guest room. I don't want to heat / cool anything bigger than 1500 sq ft.

Yeah, my ideal house would be pretty big about 2500 to 2800 sq ft - 3-4 bedrooms and 2-3 bathrooms.  We have 3 kids.  We actually bought our current house b/c it has 5 bedrooms (3 on the main floor and 2 semi-finished in the basement) and 1.75 bathrooms.  Although we have the two oldest kids sharing a bedroom right now and the baby has his own.  It will probably be that way for another 4 years.  I dream of finishing our basement bedrooms with egress windows and nice floors/walls, then moving 2 of the boys downstairs.  I'd love to then combine two of the bedrooms upstairs to make a master with a 3/4 bathroom.  But honestly, I don't see a master bedroom creation happening for another 10 years if ever and one will be leaving the house by then anyway, so what's the point of a master bath? 

My visions are always bigger than my budget or time I have available.

[Susie]

I have never really thought much about building a year-round house. I've thought about what I'd do if I bought or inherited a piece of lakefront property though, and I think it would involve an A-frame with lots of windows facing the lake.

[Mimi]

We just recently built. But we didn't build the following since it's too big for the lot. We could have gotten a 2+ acre lot, but I wanted a more convenient location. We chose location. I still love the following house though (mostly the exterior; I would redesign the interior layout/room sizes). Nah, we will never build it since I want to downsize as soon as the kids move out!

[bunnymendelbaum]

This one has too much going on in the interior for me, but I love the idea. Shop in the front, then courtyard that house opens up to. This is what we are looking to do.
www.desiretoinspire.net/blog/2014/7/30/just-down-the-lane.html

[Marmee]

Modern courtyard house, single story with basement. Pool& hot tub would be nice. In city or maybe if we didn't need jobs, somewhere with a mountain view or in the mountains.

[saverchic]

I'd like a one-story home with lots of storage. I want my own office. And, I want to be far away from my neighbors. A decent fridge would also be a bonus.

[buppy]

We did build our house designed by us on land we spent 6 months searching for. We have now lived here 6 weeks and we love it! 12.5 acres with a pond, around the corner from the lake, house nestled in a heavily wooded area, no neighbors in sight. Very informal single story 3/2.5 open concept, no formal dining or living, 2350sqft. TONS of large windows we do not plan to use drapes with. Giant back porch. Large walk in shower with bench. Super functional master bed, closets, bath, laundry layout. Built in dog crates. Pocket doors galore. Custom cabinetry and built ins we also designed throughout (tons of drawers and slideouts, super functional). Giant stone fireplace. NO CARPET!!! We love it, we really, really love it. The only things I would change are things my H "won" when we disagreed. 

[spunkarella]

If we're dreaming, one of these...

www.dongardner.com/images.aspx?pid=4577&fn=floorplans%5c13471_f.gif&f=

www.dreamhomesource.com/house-plans/dhs/collections/house-plans-with-big-kitchens/dhsw076932.html

[moonlight]

Something modest in size but with a Victorian or plantation look. Huge covered porch. On the water.

[nerdicorn]

- Dedicated mudroom
- Open floor plan, large kitchen with area to eat-in, overlooking the living room
- Walk in pantry
- Study/office on first floor
- 1/2 bath on first floor
- Open staircase
- High ceilings
- Hardwood floors
- Farmhouse sink in the kitchen
- 3 bedrooms upstairs
- 2 full size bathrooms, including one attached just to the master suite (with a walk in shower with a rain head)
- Finished basement
- screened in back porch
- covered front porch
- patio
- a dumbwaiter that goes upstairs from the laundry room
- Driveway and sidewalk with heat coils to reduce shoveling time

[Deleted]

After trying to build this house and not even a full custom job I NEVER want to build anything ever again. I am discovering I and DH are the most indecisive people in the world when it comes to this crap and this is driving us bonkers. This weekend's house drama was the house we fell in love with in one subdivision that got us to build with the builder is not what we're building because that elevation isnt' even offered in our subdivision. We realized this last night when we went to look at the frame and realized there was a dormer on the roof when there sure as hell was not one on the one we saw in the other one. So today we had to go talk to our builder. We have managed to tweak the elevation to make it look similar to the one we loved. I also had to talk DH off the ledge from walking away from this whole thing. I haven't had a migraine in months but this stress managed to trigger one today. I need some tequila and Immitrex. If I come out of this thing alive it will be a festivus miracle.