What do I not know that I want?

[dr.girlfriend]

When I was redoing our kitchen I got on the gardenweb message boards, and found out about a lot of fancy new things I didn't know existed, like the sink grate and air switch for garbage disposal and touch faucet or whatever.  Now that we're probably moving forward with the addition, what do I want that I might not know about in a master bedroom, master bathroom, laundry / mudroom, and expanded living room?  So far I have:

- heated floors in bathroom
- shower controls on different wall than showerhead
- plug under the eaves for holiday lights

Anything else you guys can think of that you'd put in those spaces if you were building from scratch?

[bellalynn]

Some additional things that we found are nice to have are:
Dimmer switches on most of the lights
The lights on many rooms and closets have sensors so they turn on when you enter a room, off when you leave
Build in/hidden recycle bins
Multiple heating/cooling zones so you can control the temp better in specific areas of the house

[aprilsails]

If heated floors are not doable in the bathroom (which they are not for us because of budget), then check out an electric heated towel rack. We will be adding an outlet in an oddball location on the wall beside the shower so I can hook one up in the future. This is an easy addition (electric only) to an existing bathroom as well.

The only thing I can think of for bedrooms is doing wall mount lighting beside the bed. Lamps take up a lot of table space sometimes. Or adding a switch right beside the bed for the overhead light if you have one.

[laterz]

Outlets in closets (for things like charging cordless vacuum)

Extra Ethernet ports

If you think you might ever want a fancy bidet on your toilet put an outlet near it.

I love having a small window in our master bath shower. I wish I could open it though.

For bathrooms and laundry I would want outlets to have a built in nightlite.

[tripleshot]

For the master bedroom, we put 4 outlets behind each of the night stands to accommodate alarm clocks, heated blanket, fan, etc.

[ssmjlm]

We wished we had a switch for our backyard flood lights in our upstairs bedroom. Either for security or when we let out the dog, go upstairs, and realize we forgot to turn them off, lol! Our bedroom looks out over the backyard.

[k3am]

Dec 9, 2018 9:47:55 GMT -5 ssmjlm said:

We wished we had a switch for our backyard flood lights in our upstairs bedroom. Either for security or when we let out the dog, go upstairs, and realize we forgot to turn them off, lol! Our bedroom looks out over the backyard.

Smart lights are a cheap/easy solution for this. (ETA: probably a smart switch in this circumstance, not bulbs)

[thatgirl2478]

in my next house I want more bathroom counter outlets. between 2 electric toothbrushes, a hair dryer, straightener & curler there's never an open outlet.

[laterz]

Two resources that might also help:

www.houzz.com/discussions/2286771/small-things-that-get-forgotten

www.houzz.com/discussions/84124

[ssmjlm]

Dec 9, 2018 10:17:42 GMT -5 k3am said:

Dec 9, 2018 9:47:55 GMT -5 ssmjlm said:

We wished we had a switch for our backyard flood lights in our upstairs bedroom. Either for security or when we let out the dog, go upstairs, and realize we forgot to turn them off, lol! Our bedroom looks out over the backyard.

Smart lights are a cheap/easy solution for this. (ETA: probably a smart switch in this circumstance, not bulbs)

Yes definitely now that they’re out there. Just something we realized in hindsight when talking with friends about our build.

[InBetweenDays]

Floor outlet in the living room if your couch isn't going to be against the wall. We have the outlet under our couch so our table lamps can plug in there and not have cords going across the floor.

[dr.girlfriend]

Dec 9, 2018 11:21:04 GMT -5 laterz said:

Two resources that might also help:

www.houzz.com/discussions/2286771/small-things-that-get-forgotten

www.houzz.com/discussions/84124

This is awesome, thanks!

[Ramz-ee]

We have light switches on both sides of the bed. The switches are for the overhead light and the fan, that way either of us can shut them off once in bed. I don't think I will ever be able to survive without this.

Not sure if you are a dog person, but in our next laundry room we plan to put a dog shower/bath.

[simpsongal]

I want all of these things!!

I have nothing to add as my house was built in 1971....I'm just happy it's asbestos free now!

[dutchgirl678]

Our shower head is attached to the wall. I have seen some where a hand-held wand is built into the shower head so you can take it off. I would like something like that if only to be able to clean the shower walls better.

[sunshinedaydreams]

Light switch beside the bed

Cat6 cable to master and living

Laundry attached to the master closet

Built-in drying racks in the laundry

Motion sensor toe kick lighting in the master bath so you don't get blinded or have to fumble with a switch in the middle of the night

Drawers in the mud room to hide the zillion extra pairs of shoes, winter clothes, etc.

[vanillacourage]

Build things to be handicap-friendly (doorways/etc) even if they’re not needed now. 

[nomad100]

One of the plugs in the outlet on the front exterior of my house is controlled by a switch in the hall closet. So I don't have to go out in the cold to turn the holiday lights on and off. In the summer, I use it to turn my fountain on and off. It is a small thing but so awesome.