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.

Thanks so much for all the food for thought! The downstairs loo/shower room issue is definitely an important one that we are taking on board. The heating system will be oil powered and we have already designated outbuilding space for the oil tank. "Off street" parking is not an issue, the house is on a farm! Love the eye level oven idea. Yes, proper hoover and utility cupboard very important. The kitchen will be designed around our large table.

Walk in wardrobes etc would be lovely but the house is not big enough...the only place where we will have a lot of space will be the newbuild kitchen, for the rest we are stuck with the size of the rooms. Will have to make do with as many cupboards as possible...

Beautifully designed utility room with purpose built dog-washing station, library, huge bathroom with American-style walk in shower with built in tiled seat & multiple shower heads, separate bathtub, all sockets in house would have USB sockets as additional, would have one of those sunken wireless phone chargers in the kitchen, prob have a separate American-style pantry (hate rootling around in cupboards), underfloor heating for tiled kitchen & utility floors, and would make all internal walls more soundproofed than standard so sound did not carry through walls.

I'd want a big boot room/cloakroom with plenty of hanging space and shelves for shoes so my DH doesn't constantly grope about in our tiny coat cupboard moaning that he can't find XY or Z.

I'd want a wet room for the dog with access from outside, as she's a filthy bugger and needs scrubbing after most walks.

A walk in larder with loads of space to organise food stuffs and store my kitchen appliances.

Utility room with space for drying washing and room to put up the ironing board.

Proper double bedrooms (mine are supposed to be doubles but they are too small apart from one)

Open plan kitchen/dining space with big bifold doors to outside, but a lounge that is cosy and can be closed off if not totally separate.

Two full sized ovens and space for a massive freezer.

The issue about wired internet is interesting, how does that work? Until two weeks ago there was no fibre broadband available in the (very rural) area but fibres have just been laid and the neighbours are all getting broadband.

Light, light and more light! Large low windows.

The walls are stone and about a meter thick, even internally, so no soundproofing problems!

We are not allowed to change the size of the windows, they are not very big, but the upstairs ones are very low, practically on the floor, which is nice. We will put in some skylights at the back (not allowed in the front).

We are not dog people, but outdor taps front and back would be good idea, to wash mud off etc.

We are going to try and insert a window in the downstairs bathroom (which faces to the back), if we can't we may try a light tunnel.

I think instead of having the usual straight flight of stairs I'd have them split into two or even three parts and turning a right-angled corner with enough depth for built-in cupboards at each turn.

I'd love to have upstairs windows which open inwards if that's allowed so that cleaning is easier.

Deep windowsills are good - I can't be doing with those bi-fold doors.

I like symmetry and an attractive porch at the front is welcoming.

Someone mentioned kitchen counter height, absolutely consider that !

I have a Bulthup kitchen, German made, and the counter top is too high for me, I hate it, its so uncomfortable to work at. I am an average 5ft 4in, so not extra short.

@oldwhyno

I have the huge ice/water dispensing fridge, walk in shower, and even the light in the loft.

I don't think i've seen this one yet, I'd like a laundry shoot that goes from the main bathroom upstairs to the utility room. I saw one once, it was amazing.

Also, whilst we're at it, a big wooden slide for humans too.

I love laundry chutes but here in the US they now are outlawed as they can spread fire quickly throughout the dwelling.

Given Covid, I would want an outdoor covered area for entertaining - a lovely gin den, with heating and lighting!

@theDudesmummy I'd urge you to try and make your home as energy efficient as possible. We've recently extended and rebuilt a 70s bungalow, our complete energy footprint last year was 57kWh/M2 roughly a third of the national average. Insulate, insulate, insulate. The folks at www.greenbuildingforum.co.uk/ will be able to give lots of great advice. It's much effective to build right first time than to retrofit.

We just renovated our house and I cant live without my utility room, houses our dishwasher, washing machine, tumble dryer and bin just off the kitchen. The back of the house is open plan so kitchen diner with a snug area, and it is lovely being able to hide all the mess away in our utility room and shut the door. It's probably the most used part of the house, has a door to the side so thats how the cats get in and out and their food is in there.

Yes, we have thought about the energy issue. As the house is stone it is basically well-insulated, DH has completely replaced the roof and this is being properly insulated too. He is making double-glazed windows as we speak...

Downstairs bedroom, dressing, en suite with wheel chair access, including walk in shower & bench in the shower.
Boot room/coat room/ with drain so that everthing including the floor can get hosed down. preferably by the main entrance.
Walk in dressing/cupboards, walk in utility/larder
Underfloor heating in the bathrooms
Good Outdoor lighting

It seems you are in a Mediterranean climate zone: a covered terrace, near the kitchen (This is my very best feature) where you can store fire wood in the winter, & prolong outdoor use in the early summer/autumn, for eating outside, possibly including removable mozzy screens depending on the climate. used all year round whatever the weather one way or the other.

Oh & yes, custom height kitchen counter, H has back pain & made ours higher than standard

I am very much not in a Med climntae, I am in the far west of Ireland! But regardless, outdoor BBQ/hot tub area and covered terrace is still important to us. Not mozzies but midges are the scourge here, the windows will all have to be screened in the summer.

Laundry room - downstairs so it's easy to hang stuff out when the weather is good (also 50s, with children with SN - we have a bottom heavy house with growing old in mind)

Assuming space is not an issue, a bedroom/sitting room bathroom suite for each of the boys - possibly an actual self contained annex for the eldest though the youngest will always need full on support.

The way broadband works is

The feed comes into the house somewhere, you may be able to choose specifically where but probably a point close to the street. At that point you need to attach your router to the feed and the router need to plug into power as well (so plan for that). We have ours in a handy cupboard so we dont have to look at all the gubbins

If you are fitting it to an existing house, at this point you would use the wifi feature on the router to push the internet all over the house, and the further distance you go from the router, your internet speed gets slower.

With a new build you can run cat 6 cable from the router point to any room in the house you want (a bit like a spider web) and then you can plug directly into the internet in each room (so put the sockets where you might reasonable want a desk with a computer, a smart tv or dvd player or any smart device you might want to plug in. You can also run a cat 6 cable to the top of a cabinet somewhere (and a power socket too) and you can put a wifi point there. This way you will have wifi and wired connections all over your house and everything will work at full speed and you will be really happy.

Thick stone walls kill wifi..having wired connections eliminates the problem

Not enough space for full-on annexe for DS, but a big bedroom with room for desk, chair etc, and putting an ensuite shower room in it for him. There is also a delapidated barn which we hope to turn into a cottage later on...could be for him, or an office, or Air BnB? Not really planned that yet, and cannot get planning permisson for that for a few years yet...

Have a look at screened porches (usa thing) fabulous for being outside if there is a midge issue

Thanks so much for the info about the broadband, will print out and show to DH, who will be doing the wiring...

A large airing cupboard that I could also hang things in.
A large porch to store shoes and coats
A large larder