To ask: if you could design your house, what would be essential for you?

[theDudesmummy]

Hi, I know this is not really an AIBU, I am posting here for traffic, but I really would love some thoughts on this. Essentially we are renovating an old derelict stone house completely by ourselves, we have got to the stage where the roof is on and we can start to design the interior. It is basically just walls and roof at the moment, no plumbing, electrics, nothing. So we can put in anything, wherever we want.

The kitchen will be built on at the back, entirely from scratch, it will be big (40 square metres).

So we can put in absolutely anything we want, how we want. If you had the choice, what would you deem essential to include in your dream house. It may be relevant to note that we are older people (50s and planning to grow old in this house) and have only one child left at home, DS is 11 and has special needs (no physical disabilities).

I am looking for ideas not just about big important things, but maybe little features/lifehacks that people have put in their homes or would have put in if they had had this opportunity.

We can't really change the size of rooms, all stone walls and load-bearing, but we are dividing one upstairs room into two (to make bathroom and my study). The original house had no bathroom upstairs. Although there is a bathtub standing in the middle of one of the bedrooms, it was never plumbed in! (We are in contact with descendents of the people who built the house, apparently the chap who last lived there was suspicious of the bathtub which someone bought him, and didn't use it)

Ground source and under floor heating.
Windows with integral blinds especially on south facing or skylight windows.
Pantry on a north facing side of the house with a stone slab
Laundry room next to ground source heating room.

If you're planning to grow old there then wide doorways that can take a wheelchair. Also think about how the house works for you if you can no longer manage stairs (even if only temporarily - I had problems with stairs for a while after I broke my kneecap in my thirties).

If you are planning to grow old in the house, think about the following;

• A step-free bathroom downstairs with enough room for a walk-in shower (preferably a wet room).
• Ensure you have at least one or two plug sockets at waist level in every room. It's a lot easier to use them, both for appliances (like the hoover) and recharging phones. You can also get USB wall chargers now.
• A large back door (preferably double doors). Also, allow for step-free access around the house; much easier when carting stuff about.
• A solarium (basically sunny space with lots of light) for the winter. Get that Vitamin D!
• Consider a one-way lockbox for parcels by the front door.

I know it's not very aspirational, but my father became a wheelchair user last year, after a bad accident, and I have watched my parents make these adaptations for their house. They are still young and mobile, but you can see their frustration as they retrofit their house. Certain rooms - such as the smaller larder and utility area - are completely off-limits to Ddad as he cannot get the chair through the door.

Hopefully, you will never need it, but it's a lot easier to do now, than later on.

We can't build a cellar ( ground too wet/ boggy) but we have made three big lofts for storage of things like out of season clothes bedding etc. There are also 2 outhouses. DH has already finished building the roof, it is great and the house is waterproof for the first time in decades.

The way we live, we like an eat-in kitchen, dining room would just be a waste (we know this from previous houses, we basically ignored the dining room and ate/lived in the kitchen anyway!).

When you plan for your hot tub, make sure that you can access the panel for servicing it, and think about which way the cover will fold back to and stack and leave space for that. You will need an outside tap for topping it up and a space to store the chemicals/spare filters/hose etc. Also think about which way the seats in it face and if you have a view you want to look at and then how that impacts the steps to get in.

A walk in pantry

Cat 6 cable to every room from the point where you will put your router (and put electric sockets right there too)

A conduit (empty plastic pipe) from attic to cellar on both ends of the house so that it is easier to retrofit wiring where things change in the future

Underfloor heating

Window seats

Think about what type of curtains or blinds you want at each window and then make sure you have good attachment points before you finish the walls and trimwork

Add blocking in the showers so that you can add grab bars in the future

Take photos of all the walls with the wiring and plumbing visible before you cover it all up (so when you need to know something in the fututre you can easily find out)

Spray foam insulation

Food grinder in the sink drain

Built in rubbish bin in the kitchen and allocated space for recycling (in the walk in pantry)

I would have a utility room - somewhere to put the muddy boots, the washing machine etc... It would have a massive sink. It's something my house lacks and I suffer for it. I would also have really good and efficient heating.

Just saw your update.

If you can, run power cat 6, and water and drains to the outhouses. It future proofs them and you dont need to actually do anything with it yet

Massive kitchen with a huge pantry for my excessive food hoarding (or should I say prepper?) habit. Go hungry as a kid and you'll make damn sure there's always plenty on for your own children. Maybe a dining area in the kitchen too. I'm all about the food!

And I'd love a utility room for doing the laundry.

I don't need any en suite bathrooms and the like. Just bedrooms big enough for double beds and furniture like I have now. I'm okay with one family bathroom,

Don't have an Aga. With changing regulations regarding fuel use, carbon and emissions you'll find it increasingly expensive to run. I work in the construction industry and visit houses with Agas that are never in use. High-level oven to make it easier to clean and remove items is a no-brainer.

NOT an ice dispensing freezer!

We have one and it takes up a huge amount of space in the freezer and while it is a novelty initially it really is not so difficult to take an ice tray out of a freezer.

I Would go for a huge utility room and a laundry room (I have one not these and it's great but I'd probably make it bigger). Lots of storage in bedrooms so that only the bed and current book on a nightstand need be visible.

We had given some thought to wheelchair/ accessibility issues. I in fact had a really hard time five years ago after ankle surgery, lived in a rented house with lots of stairs at the time and spent several months having to crawl to and from the bathroom etc in a very undignified fashion. My own granny in her later years had to move house after hip surgery, so I have had this on my mind. We will be sure to leave enough room around the stairs for a star lift but short of that being needed permanently, I have just mentioned to DH that he needs to make the downstairs shower/loo very accessible.

Complete and effective damp proofing all over

Take photos of all the walls with the wiring and plumbing visible before you cover it all up (so when you need to know something in the fututre you can easily find out)

This is an AMAZING tip, god I wish the people who renovated our house had done this!

Dream home would have:

Large hall with feature staircase
Vaulted ceilings and velux in kitchen-diner
A couple of en-suites
Dressing room to master
Utility
Separate downstairs playroom/kids room, and I'd have it as far from the lounge as possible!
Double garage
Plenty of storage
Enough sockets!!!!
Outside tap

There was in fact an old Aga type oven in the house but we have got rid of it. We also decided against wood burning stoves and have removed the chimneys. They might be nice for a while but we decided that as we get older we are not going to be wanting to fetch wood, clean fireplaces etc. Well, tbh we are already too lazy to want to do that even now! We want a gas hob, there is no gas supply so it will have to run on bottles. Eye level oven is a great idea, will definitely do that...

If you don't have room for a laundry cupboard upstairs, would you consider a laundry chute? Chuck clothes downstairs straight to utility room- I would love this.

DH will be doing the wiring and plumbing himself but I will make sure he notes/photographs where everything is for future reference

I would also love the laundry chute but not sure it would be structurally possible...

Good storage space - I love built in wardrobes and our hall currently has a closet we use for coats

Space for separate washing machine and tumble dryer to live and doesn't have to be a utility or kitchen. We had one house with a cupboard with space to stack them both plus shelves for cleaning stuff, iron etc

Ideally - a huge selling point is a family kitchen with space for dining table and relaxed sitting. My current kitchen has a family dining table and space for a small sofa and toy area. We spend most of the day in the kitchen and relax to the lounge in the evening

Air-con

Hallways! I'm very fortunate to have my home. New build housing association in a great area. I pay half of going rent, I couldn't ever afford to live here otherwise. But they've built the house as small as they can legally get away with. You open the front door and you're in the living room which also has staircase. Currently saving every penny for a mortgage. I will never buy a house without a proper hallway. It's hard to keep tidy with such little room

Where we live, air con is not really going to be used, but we are planning a bedroom ceiling fan, which we had in a previous rented house and loved.

Downstairs a walk in shower room and a room which could be converted into a bedroom if necessary

The laundry room issue is very interesting, I hadn't really thought it out before. Maybe not a whole room, but a big cupboard with washer, dryer and some hanging and storage space? Atm I use a spare bedroom as drying space!