Practical or pretentious?

I have a craft room (teeny weeny bedroom) and I love it. All my craft clutter in one place to be picked up and put down as needed and doesn’t have to be cleared away. But I would also love a library.

This house had a massive dressing room when we bought it. Turned the dressing room into a bathroom, I had no interest in the former.

But I do have a library which is my luxury.

In order:

• A library (ideally with tall shelves and a ladder on wheels - I have dreamed of this since I was but a wee thing)
• A massive walk-in pantry with enough space to display my out-of-control spice collection and a marble shelf for cheese
• A boot room with decent seats / benches to allow you to sit down
• A dressing room with really good lighting and a massive full-length mirror
• A home gym would be nice, but I'd sacrifice it for the other four

His and hers en-suite dressing rooms
Laundry room
Pantry
Library
Boot room
Proper den / playroom

Is love a library and a swimming pool (on the understanding all associated costs and maintenence come with it!)

Butlers pantry .... best thing ever!

Walk-in pantry, huge utility room with a fold out ironing board and enough shelves to keep bed linens and work surfaces to fold on, a double height entrance hall, glazed walk way linking bits of the building (not sure if meets the criteria but I’m willing to sneak it in!), a covered entrance way so you can get from your car in the pishing rain, boot room and an orchid house 😍🥰

We have a boot room, it has been lifechanging as we are a messy bunch with multiple kids doing multiple sports as well as big dogs, means all the sports kits can go straight into the machine, uniform gets hung up, dogs have dedicated cupboards for their food etc, but more importantly, all the clutter just goes behind a closed door rather than being spread across the house.

I would love a gift wrapping room too! Scissors, tape, paper never around when you need them!

As well as everything mentioned already I’d love a drying room. Never thought of it before seeing one on the plans of a house renovation. It’s entirely separate and different from the laundry/utility rooms and just a fabulous idea.

Like@Bellyblueboy I think any room that is well used is not pretentious.

The coolest chamber of our basement has become a wine cellar. That’s fun, but if forced to choose I would prefer the dressing room from a previous house.

Somehow my study gets used by every man and his dog because it is so 'cosy' and 'tidy' - yes that's because it's my sodding space.

I would like a gift wrapping room. I'd know where the scissors, sellotape and gift wrap where.

We have a boot room, a dressing room and use one of the reception rooms as a music room/library. The dressing room and en-suite are mine. The old pantry got converted into a bigger utility.

We also have a key safe where all keys and spares are kept, all clearly labelled with their own hooks.

Oh, and a soundproof music room for DH would be good...

Id like a walk in pantry. I have a utility with drying space, if I didnt then Id want one.
And a hidden room, actually two, one for household crap to get shovelled into when the in-laws visit, and one for me to hide out in when the in-laws visit. (Guess what? I've visitors just now! Guess who...?).

I had a dressing room after DD2 left home.

Then DP came into my life. How difficult could this be? He hardly owned a thing except for a couple of guitars, a bin bag of clothes and a few books. He could put those in the dressing room and plug his laptop in to charge in there.

It's now a sodding recording and editing studio covered in art and books and posters and little models. The last workman in the house asked if my son was a TikTok creator.

Absolutely not 'odd'

I don’t think any room is pretentious if it is used. A lot of people now have a dedicated home office if they have the space. Twenty years ago that would have been considered pretentious now it’s a fairly standard use of a spare bedroom. I know I am lucky to have one - I work from him two days a week.

A home library is only pretentious if the homeowners aren’t readers!

i’d settle for an upstairs bathroom. Downstairs and through 4 doors….

Nope, I’m happy in my 3-bed semi. Quick to clean, cheap to heat, we are very diligent about decluttering so storage not an issue.

I would like a grand entrance hall with loads of storage for coats and shoes. It will be big enough to have a pot plant on a round table without anyone knocking into it.

My Dsis across the pond calls her boot room the mud room. Especially applicable for anyone with dogs!

We are currently in the middle of (massive) building works to squeeze a boot room, pantry, dressing room, en-suite and (mini) library into our 3 bed semi (as well as an annex in the garden for my mum!) we are behind schedule and having an awful time but reading the fact that these things are desirable has made it seem a bit more worth it tonight. Very minimal extension and carvel remodelling by our brilliant architect. Don’t give up on your dreams for any of those things, they are achievable even in a modest house like mine!

Our home has plenty of room for us, including a utility room, but because of its placement, it can't be used as a boot room, and with dogs that would be so useful! Dogs can bring in such a lot of mud, leaves, and twigs. I've had to satisfy myself with a highly absorbent, washable rug and crates near the door so they can be whisked into temporary confinement when necessary.

A craft room, a library and an orangery would be lovely too.

Never going to happen on the wages in my line of work unless I marry someone rich but one can dream!