If you were building a new house, what would you put in it? Please recommend anything from boilers to lights to appliances.

[Apatite1]

The title says it all. Looks like we are building from scratch. House will be about 2500 sq ft. I now need to make a zillion decisions.

If anyone can recommend anything from their insulation to their furniture, I'm all ears.

In particular, we really need guidance on:

Underfloor heating
Engineered wood flooring
Carpets
Ventilation systems
Lighting plans
Joinery for dressing room and library
Stair makers
Kitchen companies and fitters
Bathroom companies and fitters
Landscapers
Paint
Granite suppliers
Tiles
Aluminium window suppliers
Sliding door suppliers
Burglar alarm systems
Fire alarms

Really, any tips are very welcome. There are so many companies, I've no clue who is good and who isn't. I don't mind expensive services, as long they are worth it, we will try to budget them in.

Thank you all!

I fancy one, or more, of those 'pop-up' sockets that you can have on worktops, or in my case an island unit.

Walk in wardrobe - my dream when we finally extend is to build a false wall in the master bedroom and kir the whole length behind it out with rails, shelving and drawers. Hate wardrobes with a passion. Would love to do this with every room.

My other recommendation is Pinterest. Fab ideas.

My challenge is this though: somewhere on this board is a mammoth thread about Eco-living and building. I remember it at the time and thought how informative it was. Can't find it now and am gutted! Can you lot find it? It had a plethora of things to research and it was as helpful as this one.

Congrats OP - exciting times ahead for you and your DH.

lots and lots of cupboard space

Don't want this thread to end, so bumping it for active convo's

I would make sure that all the bedrooms were the same size.
Sick to death of looking round new builds that have a generous sized master bedroom then they all get smaller and smaller.
Ds2 is going to be moving into the fourth bedroom on next move.....I class it as a cupboard.

If it's all from scratch I would consider getting a proper lighting designer and system and something like a savant system for technology. I hadn't thought of it before but we did it this time round and I am pleased we did. I can pm you a recommendation of the people who designed ours if you are interested.

Finally recieved our planning permission today so shameless bump for more suggestions / ideas

Hi Apatite1 and SASASI Just wondering how you both are getting on with the builds? I guess Apatite1, baby must be here or very nearly! Hope all is well!
We are currently almost halfway through an extension and complete renovation and am shamelessly resurrecting this thread for new ideas - my addition would be is to think about the garden whilst the work is happening as it may be more expensive and extra time to do after, for example our structural work has not yet completed but we have built some raised flowerbeds already whilst the bricklayer had some time to spare.

A central vacuum system.

In my last kitchen which we did I had a steam oven and a waste disposal unit which i truly miss now we have moved house. they will be the first purchases for our next kitchen reno (next year though :( )

Have your utility upstairs. It doesn't have to be big, we have our washer and dryer stacked so they take up less space and they are in what is basically a large cupboard, but it means that laundry never goes downstairs.

We are at sub floor level! Our garage is massive but no doubt the space will be utilised.

Funny yes I have been thinking about the garden - we are not really into gardening though We do want thing that looks nice with minimal effort. Would like a kiddie area.

We have got kitchen & bathroom designs & quotes. We are bringing in trades ourselves & hope to be in by summer '16.

Have no idea about Windows yet I can't decide on Frame colours!

Got price for bream vacuum system - £1100 for 1600sq ft bungalow inc garage.

Also got prices for underfloor heating which we are quite impressed with.