If you could start over, house/apt/condo-wise . .

[wanderlustmom]

I would love a more open floor plan, more natural light and a basement. But this is our forever home unless we are forced to relocate. I love the medium size Colonial we have (2,300 square feet) and our acre lot. We have beautiful trees and this house has good bones.

[Deleted]

I wish we hadn't purchased a house at all. We ended up moving last summer after my H was going to lose his job. I guess there was no way to have known we were going to have to move but maybe waiting a few years would have allowed us to be more settled in our careers.

The next time we buy a house I want everything to be brand new. I am a huge DIYer but my H is the exact opposite, and it caused many disagreements.

[explorer2001]

I actually really like my house. Of course I keep upgrading things and I just had the showers regrouted and sealed. I agree about it being a nice idea to have a place to hide the pots and pans but not enough to give up my open kitchen.

Of course I'd not buy in 2007 near the peak of the market.

[mccallister84]

I wouldn't have bought my condo - now I feel stuck because its underwater by about $30,000.

At bfs place, I would want it to be in a neighborhood, with a backyard (all he has now is a large wooded area that belongs to the county). Also a better laid out kitchen with a pantry.

[Beeps (WOT?*)]

I want a view. Here in suburbia I have a view of my neighbor's patio, my neighbor's fence, the street... My husband asked if it was worth the extra $100K for a view and at the time we were both "meh" but now I'd kill to have a view.

We are currently in planning stages to redo the kitchen (the cabinets need to be refaced because the builder used crappy laminate and not-deep-enough tile counters that drips water all over the sink bases and caused the doors to peel in the kitchen and two bathrooms). New granite or quartz countertops and tile backsplash. Also doing a wall unit in the family room. Also building in a desk and reflooring the office. Also replacing the sink and floowing in the guest bath and redoing the master (partly because of wants and partly out of necessity.) Replacing the carpet throughout the house (since the stairway is trashed thanks to our old cats using them for scratching posts). And relandscaping and hopefully removing the deck and adding a patio (if it passes code; because we're on a hill our deck is as high as the backyard fence and we look into the neighbor's yard which is really rather uncomfortable.) All this in a house that is six years old.

Our next house will have a view and hopefully beach access. It will have one floor living (it will be our retirement home so no stairs to climb), pantry (we have one now and I wouldn't do without it), laundry sink in the laundry room (man do I miss our laundry sink), oversize garage (man do I miss the oversize garage and storage), decent sized lot (not this postage-size thing)j. DH needs his TV room so we will need the man-cave aspect and I need space for the kids to stay and play when they visit and for me to exercise when they don't. Open kitchen into the family room and no formal living or dining. And it will be done to our specifications.

(Wishing we weren't underwater by $150K so I could buy the house I've been eyeballing and the view I've been drooling over for the past three months. But we have a second-floor laundry as does every house in our area. So not an East Coast thing)

[murdock]

If I could start over, I wouldn't have bought my now under $100,000 home.

That's more than a third of the price. I love you 2006 economy.

[Deleted]

I would rip out all the carpet and get hardwood floors. I am so tired of the damn dog getting the carpet nasty.
And more counter space in the kitchen.
Actually, scratch that, i would just gut the entire house and start over.

[monpetitchou]

May 12, 2012 11:42:07 GMT -5 GibsonGirl128 said:

Um, not buy a house? lol

This. Completely this.
I don't want a master bathroom window that is east facing. A strange request, I know, but I hate having the sun in my eyes while I'm showering.

[Deleted]

May 12, 2012 11:34:09 GMT -5 @flamingostalker said:

What would you change to make your life easier?


After cleaning for nearly 3 hours now, there are so many things that I'd want to do over to make cleaning easier!

1. No tiled shower because the grout is killing me! It takes 3 Clorox pens to clean the grout properly and that's not MM. I want to be able to take my steamer and just steam the shower walls clean. Actually, I just want to clean everything with my steamer! LOL

This is what I'm worried about with the next house. I have heard epoxy grout and grout with grout boost means easy cleaning, so I insisted to have both (epoxy on the floor, grout boost on the walls). I hope it really means easy cleaning.

[CloudBee]

I really wish we had more closets. That, and a basement. If we had both of those, we would be in this house for quite a bit longer.

[BeagleMama]

We are renting now (the house we own is in another state) so the basic structure of the house is what it is...

But, damn, I hate the pillows and outman we have in a weave-like fabric. I cannot get pet hair off of it. I need to be more conscience of my fabric choices! It drives me out of my mind and there is nothing I could do to fix it.

[lizlemon19]

I wish we didn't by a house in 2007 in the 1st place. But overall, I wish we had 1st FL laundry, attached garage, and master bedroom with bath and walk-in closet.

[MrsManners]

May 12, 2012 11:39:31 GMT -5 definitelyO said:

no couches with removable cushions/pillows on the back. DH sits down weird on couches and sits on them half way and squishes them down and now they are deformed.

My dh does this too and we have leather couches with non-removeable back cushions. I have no idea how/why he sits in a way to manage this but he does.

[Deleted]

I actually really like our house and its location. But I would add a mudroom (something that never even crossed my mind pre-kids) and another bedroom.

[Deleted]

I love my house and actually my laundry room is on the second floor which I love. But if I had to do it over, I would buy a house that was already upgraded and did not need much in the way of improvements. My house is totally lovable but there is stuff we want to do like the kitchen, flooring, windows.... Pulling the trigger with two little ones and the upheaval that comes with that makes me cringe and we put it off. In hindsight, it would have been better to shell out the money up front and buy something already completely remodeled. That said, we got a bigger house because we spent less. Pluses and minuses.