Another 'what do I need in my dream house' thread

[MozzchopsThirty]

I can't find the thread from this morning which I was enjoying lurking on, so I'll start my own.

Me & DP have just bought our first house together

It needs completely gutting on both floors.
Roof pitches need changing.

We have had the architect draw up a few basics but reading this morning and seeing what is important to people I thought I'd post for some ideas.

DP thinks the cloakroom can go under the stairs but this will mean walking across the tiled floor to get there, would this be an issue?

Definite things we are keeping/having:
Indoor pool
Bar
Courtyard
Downstairs wc
Living/dining/kitchen area
Utility (just not sure where)
Separate living room
Master with walk in wardrobe & ensuite
Master bathroom with bath
Ensuites to 2 or 3 other beds

What would be your must haves??
What would you change?

I'd hate that many ensuites in a house (unless you are running a B&B)

I want a utility room with dehumidifier
A bathroom for every 2/3 bedrooms
A downstairs cloakroom
An outdoors tap
A porch on my backdoor to taking muddy boots off
An office
2 reception rooms
An orangery would be nice too

Solar panels

A Juliet balcony

I wouldnt have that many ensuites, maybe a bathroom between 2 rooms is more reasonable for guests (assuming that's what thise rooms are used for)

I'm lucky to have a small larder cupboard in my kitchen but would love a bigger one.

I use my upstairs storage for vacuum, toilet rolls and other bits.
I have a tall cupboard built into wall which I use for coats, bags and shoes. I do have to walk across my hallway to get ot it but a mat st the door stop most of the wet and mud coming through.

I'd love a separate utility room for washing machine.

As its just me in the house I've used one of my bedrooms as a dressing room but would love a proper area with built in hanging and drawer space.

Lots of people on the other thread had mentioned a larder / pantry.
DP thinks cupboards are more important so I'd be interested in opinion

So not a problem not having cloakroom right by the door then? As long as it's somewhere off the hall?

We are having a study, working from home now a big game changer for most

DP wants an en suite for his DD and we want one obvs
Plan to have 2 other bathrooms on first & second floor

A larder with shelving is so much nicer imo. You can create a cupboard and have two pull out racks, making it easier to see what you have.

I dont have a big kitchen so this is a plus for me as my units have all my donner plates, mug and glasses.

In my lardee I have two shelveswith all my appliances on it like grinders, blender, etc. So nice to tidy them away and easy to grab as indont have to pull things from the front to get it.

I've got a shelf for tinned food on a lazy susan so again I don't have to pull out cans to get what I need.

A shelf for various herbal teas (again tidied away from sitting on counter top)

I've then got a big plastic ikea box on the floor to hold all my tupperware and another one with l my bulk buy stuff like detergent, cleaning wipes and liquids etc.

Shower/toilet off the pool so you don't have to walk through the house wet.

Larder with electric sockets and light
Changing space/toilet by your pool (so jealous re this!)
I'd love a room set up as a dressing room
Heated floors in bathrooms - amazing in the winter
We have bifolds across the back of our house which we love being able to open fully in summer
Aircon - easily installed while you are back to bare brick. Absolutely the best thing we ever did in our house.
Electric points in the garden while you're having things run
My brother had water and power run to the back of his garden and has set up an outdoor kitchen complete with sink/fridge and pizza oven!
Fitted loft ladder and lighting to loft space.

Our aircon units also function as heaters in the winter so they are dual purpose

@cyclingmad your larder sounds fab! I need to sort mine out it's a mess!

Yes to tall cupboards and storage. We put a full ceiling height one in our hall by pinching a bit of the kitchen space and it's great. We have so much stored in there. DH has loads of plastic baskets on shelves in there for all sorts of things, we have a small filing cabinet, a fire safe and also an ironing board never used, mop and bucket, broom, shopping bags, bulky coats and so much more crap

Walk in pantry and a study/snug.

DH and DS are currently watching the Rangers match in the living room. I don't think it's going well.

I however don't care, because I'm in my lovely cosy snug. And thinking about wandering into my walk in pantry to look for snacks..

Gosh sounds like an exciting project. Does it already have pool, bar? Can't picture that in a house that needs gutting.

Yes to walk in larder, we are in an old farmhouse so ours is cold and doubles up as extra fridge at Christmas.

Would depend on set up but we have "boot room" which is where all our coats, waterproofs, crap, lives and then normal door is clear of that.

Outside tap.

Hoover cupboard. Ours fits nowhere as cupboards all low or narrow.

Someone here was talking about storage under kitchen kick boards which I thought was inspired.

Bloody hell nice first house with an indoor pool! Might be a bit of a different level of dream house to most of us 😂

But if it helps some things I am planning for my own home (or campaigning for in an ongoing conversation with DP!!)

• laundry chute from the bathroom down to the utility cupboard in the kitchen, so laundry can land right in a basket above the washing machine (we’ll a full height double cupboard in the kitchen for laundry as no space for a utility room).
• we don’t have space for a proper pantry so will have a full-height double pantry cupboard designed into the kitchen.
• lowering the window sill to the level of the countertop in the kitchen, and fitting bifold windows that can be folded back completely and the countertop becomes an inside/outside bar (does that make sense?)
• full height fitted library shelves in the living room with a slidey ladder 😎
• a deep square bathtub (look at omnitub) with a digital/smart bath filler so I can get Alexa to run my bath ready for me
• smart lighting everywhere
• smart heating
• a yoga space in our attic room (loft conversion)

We are just doing a significant renovation to our house (which was already big). When finished we’ll have

Large boot room with dog shower, dog door leading into covered back porch, heated floors, dryer cabinet for wet coats
Separate laundry for clean stuff with large housekeeper cupboard to store things like the hoover. Big drying racks.
Kitchen/orangery with big Island, everhot, hidden frame tv, big seating area, two dishwashers since I hate dirty stuff being out waiting.
Separate pantry/prep room
Big cloakroom in hallway for guest coats
Breakfast (east facing) balcony
Evening balcony (west facing)
Separate guest cottage
Gym, sauna and resistance pool

We have en suites to three bedrooms. Tbh whilst the dc love having their own bathrooms they spend way more time in there than they would if they were sharing or using the main family bathroom.

We did our bedroom/en-suite/dressing room during lockdown 1. It’s lovely having the dedicated dressing room space.

his and hers ensuites
dressing room
large utility
separate laundry room
boot room / dog room by back door
pantry/larder
boarded out attic room with decent access so its useful not just a scary place with spiders, mice and bats.
undercover outdoor area with heaters

@brokengate oh if only you could see the hideousness of its current state

The pool is reminiscent of a 1980s leisure centre and the bar is not what we would call a bar.
DP had one built in his current house (in the garage) last summer and that's a proper bar with barrels & stuff

It's not a first house as in ever. We've both been married before, 5 kids between us but youngest is 11 now and oldest already flown

I love the idea of the larder/pantry. My gran had one. Even if I just kept stuff in there that's not used daily like slow cooker, blender, large bags of flour & other baking stuff that never gets used

We're not walkers but have a dog so outside tap/shower definitely. Not sure a boot room is needed but definitely going to have the cloakroom then

Ooh @LemonViolet I am very jealous of your slidy ladder library
That will be amazing!!!!

@HasaDigaEebowai the balconies sound lovely

Yes I think you're right about ensuites. Someone else posted similar up thread.

I think main bathrooms on the two upper floors plus ensuites for us and DPs dd will suffice

This is an idea of how we'd like the courtyard to look, bbq and pizza oven out there.
Definitely less plants but you get the general idea.
Wonder if some sort of covering would be worth it? Although I guess unlikely to ever use it in the rain

Bits that I love in our house are:

Boot room and downstairs shower for washing off the dog (also get an outside hot tap).

Utility with laundry chute and storage drawers so I can sort the washing into different loads.

Dressing room with a drawer with a socket in so I can have my hairdryer etc all tidied away.

Kitchen with corner larder, ice making compartment in the freezer, boiling/chilled/sparkling water tap, appliance garage and my favourite thing in my kitchen is the Everhot (range cooker).

We've done a lounge with a hidden projector and screen.

Home automation system that means your lights turn on at dusk or when you walk in a room. Music that follows you around the house etc.

The other thing we have is a glass roof over part of the patio which is the most used part of our whole house.

Depending how old you are/family plans, equal size bedrooms for children, also children’s bedrooms close to main bedroom. In our house we have a kids bedroom either side of the master which is nice, we discounted a lot of houses because one bedroom felt miles from the master (a blessing when teenagers, but tricky with night wakings)

Where's the gun-room going?

Oh I forgot japanese bidet toilet. I love it. Very good for washing intimate bits and not that expensive. Im putting them in the other bathrooms as we update them.