What 1 thing would you want in your dream house?

[Egog]

DH and I just bought our forever home, it's in our dream location, lots of space, huge garden... but it's falling apart. (The only way we could afford to buy here!) We've got a wonderful builder on board, and we've renovated before, but I wanted to canvass opinions- if you were taking a house back to its bones, what would you include when you re-did it?

It's a 5 bed Victorian detached with all the original features, albeit mouldy and crumbling. I can't wait to renovate the huge old windows, DH is excited about installing a kitchen island. I'm after inspiration- what would you be most excited about putting in?

bonsoir

I've just looked on Big Bertha website - on sale.
we are about to buy a few.
thanks for the tip!

echt our new (old) house has an original verandah, something I've always dreamed of having and never thought we'd find. Admittedly the climate here in the UK doesn't lend itself to basking out there on a balmy evening - and since we moved in two weeks ago it has been way too cold to even attempt sitting out there - but even a typical English summer evening (wrapped in a blanket if necessary) under the lanterns and massive wisteria (already in situ) with a large glass of vino will be magical imho......

Love 'futility' room, somethingtodo! Bout right!

A verandah sounds amazing.
Lucky you.

verandah lovely -- but do not cut across the downstairs windows or french doors as it cuts the light from these rooms - as not good for UK but the whole of point verandahs in sunnier climes....

have also seen glass roof veranda (Sweden) - so you can eat outdoors covered and dry but with light - and wooden louvre type - so solid roof when required and open slats when you want the sun - looks a bit like a pergola - this might be a good option if you need to go across windows/doors would also have an outdoor fireplace and a screening wall for an outdoor cinema on my dream veranda gorgeous watching a film outdoors on hot nights.

Thank you holly!

We do feel lucky, yes, and as the house is quite unusual in that virtually every window (all except three tiny ones on landings) face onto the garden and the verandah cuts across a window and door in the hall - which is a smallish room complete with fireplace - it doesn't really block out too much light from the principal reception rooms, one of which is upstairs and has a door onto a balcony above the verandah......although the balcony is currently rather dangerous as the wooden railing is in a state of collapse......will be a great place to sit with a G&T when we get it fixed though! Ooh, I'm so excited about living in this house!

And a porch.

And an inner porch type room where you can take wellies off and store underbrellas but I'm not sure what they're called.

And a pantry. Just so I can say pantry. Pantry pantry pantry!

And a proper fireplace. Which means I'll need a log store outside.

bonsoir or zing can you link please? I've just tried googling and I'm having no luck!

just type in

big bertha beanbags

sites will pop up - sale's still on!

SPACE. SPACE. AND MORE SPACE.

My parents have a fab walk in pantry.
Wouldlove a low maintenance garden. DH and I are rubbish gardeners.

Realistically, given we are in the process of trying to move, things that would make a big difference to my everyday life would be:
Utility area ( currently go to shed to do washing/ tumble drying which is v annoying)
Toy storage that is not a pile of boxes in the living room
Spare room/ sofa bed somewhere other than living room

Thanks zing I hadn't seen Maison de Vacances before and the style is perfect for us.

Oh and to add to the thread, my dh is a builder. His opinion: structurally sound.

Most people seem shocked at how small spaces are once they're filled up. We are investing in the best cabinet makers for lots of storage.

I would put a utility room upstairs so I didn't have to bring down dirty washing to wash and dry to then have to take back up again!

I would also have a walk in wardrobe with lots of rails, shelves and drawers so that everything could live in there and the rest of the bedroom would be clutter free. I miss my walk in wardrobe so much.

oh- I was trying to find maison de vacances big Bertha beanbags- oops

I still can't find the beanbags! I can find Big Bertha - all bright funky ones. .. but the maison bit has got me!

umm i didn't find maison things but didn't care as fell in love with big bertha ones!

hth

Yeah sorry for the hijack! I saw bonsoir's post about maison de vacances, googled and loved their stuff and then thought you had bought some bean bags from there on sale- didn't realise big Bertha was a different brand!

I'll sneak out now....

This is the kind of thing that I think about before I go to sleep.

Underfloor heating in bathrooms
Laundry room / utility (inc 2nd freezer and drinks fridge)
Bi fold doors into garden
Kitchen/diner with room for a sofa
En suite bathroom and dressing room
Walk in rainforest shower
Huge amounts of storage

we are on the same situation and this site is helping a lot! www.houzz.com/

The heating may be better off being on central - electric is more expensive and they make a noise and can sometimes need permission from neighbours. I've also heard they are a pain and expensive to fix if they break.

I've just built a house (moved in late Feb) and I had a few things like boot/utility room, double french doors downstairs (great for getting the tree out today with minimum mess!), smaller bathroom (I hated cleaning the old one and crawling under the free standing bath to do the floor was a PITA), underfloor heating (old house had cracks between floorboards and never felt quite warm enough), an apex roof with skylights and large windows at the back of the living area to let in loads of light, window seat on said big window, enough parking for 3 cars, a nice big porch so that I can store logs and do nice displays of DD's latest 'painted rock' or similar that I don't want in the house just yet, downstairs loo, en-suite bathroom and walk in wardrobe for my room and a large kitchen with loads of cupboard space, a breakfast bar/island and a range cooker. I did want a laundry chute, but in reality the builders speculated on whether it would loose heat (efficiency ratings on their mind no doubt) and how safe it would be (admittedly they had never built one before) so I decided not to risk it. Oh and loads of built in storage - I also asked them to build cupboards for the tumble and washing machine which helps with noise and looks nice.

Only thing I really want now is a proper library style set of bookshelves with a ladder attached. Budget was running too tight and I've had to made do with basic shelves and have already used up all of the space on them!

www.littlethings.com/secret-chamber-wine-cellar/

Didn't have time to read all posts but incase someone hasn't mentioned it already, I would have this in my dream house.

Agree completely on the larder. Our old flat had one and a small utility room with open shelf storage. Our 3 bedroom house has far less storage and our next house will definitely have one. Equally underfloor heating. When we did our current house up we totally should have done this.

I would love an airing cupboard, bifolding doors to the garden, downstairs toilet and a reading snook. These are my desirable items for our next house. We are in the process of upgrading our appliances and we've just got a fridge freezer with pull out freezer drawers. I'm ridiculously excited. Also considering a boiling hot water tap.

Look up this website ( they also has an App) it has amazing ideas and is totally addictive ! Have fun looking and planning :-)

www.houzz.co.uk

Woodburning stove in every room (easy to do if you have fireplaces/chimneys in all ready). They heat up rooms very quickly and with modern easy burn "logs" they're efficient and easy to light.

Laundry chute.

Wine cellar/storage.

Reading room/snug/chill out room with no electrical equipment other than lighting in there.

Walk in wardrobe - I used to have one and now I don't.

Upstairs laundry room - doubling as a walk in closet for all the kids and our clothes. Washing machine, tumble drier, loads of ceiling suspended airers.
This would free up bedroom space. Obviously it would be incredibly tidy and a bit blingy - so might need to add a house keeper to the list!

Walk in pantry/ larder - for equipment and big purchases of stuff. This would keep kitchen clutter free - bliss.

Massive coat and shoe cupboard - to store coats, bags and the millions of pairs of shoes we seem to own.

Huge toy cupboard - all neatly shelved out to store all the plastic tat and bigger toys. Not so sure about a playroom.

Underfloor heating - Hate having cold toes.

Utility room - to store all the noisy bits and keep kitchen clear so our glorious kitchen/family room with amazing views over the stunning garden would be quiet - might need to add a gardener as well!

Might get a lottery ticket this weekend!