What would you include if you were designing your own house?

[winterwonderly]

If you were designing you own house from scratch, what things would you include, either to make life easier or as a little luxury?

Walk in pantry? Two sinks in the en suite? Laundry room? Would love to hear some ideas.

Remote controlled light switches for when children leave them on,!,

A proper hallway/mudroom/shoe/coat/buggy area. Where you could put coats and shoes for a whole family and a couple of guests and pass through the space to the room beyond.

I have no idea where other people keep their coats and shoes, i've never had a house with a good solution to this.

Then a nice laundry / Utility room.

Craft room!
If your going open plan you definitely need a separate snug/lounge. Completely open plan becomes a pain very quickly if there's nowhere to escape to.
More storage than you'd ever think you'll need.
Love the idea of an upstairs laundry room.
My nan has got an inbuilt vacuum system into the house, she's got vacuum points in every room, it's very nifty, no idea how much it cost though.

Plenty of coat hanging space - beside the door for daily coats/boots/bags and storage for the rain/wind/warmer days/going to sea full protection etc options.

We have a drawer for shoes in the hall under the stairs - genius!

Utility room to get to back garden complete with big sink, tap to rinse boots etc, drain in centre of floor, laundry facilities and plenty of storage for cleaning things, paper products, laundry baskets/pegs etc behind closed doors. Probably with a Nora Maid (? wooden slats on a pulley system) from the ceiling to hang clothes to finish drying.

Walk in pantry with a cold shelf, food storage and also "best" (occasional use) crockery/cutlery/serving platters/glasses. And a space for linens - tablecloths, napkins etc - to be able to do seasonal table dressing. I long for a decent basement for food storage and wine stocks, but once there is a space there with not too much by way of temperature fluctuations, I'd be happy.

A craft room. With LOADS of storage and a LARGE work table. LOTS of natural light and directional working light for after dark. Mix of shelves and bins. Room for lots of tools, and to have projects left out undisturbed overnight. And also a comfy chair to sit and knit or hand sew the end of something. And speakers/music centre.

Space for instruments - I have no piano since I left my DPs house, and my guitar rarely appears from the back of a wardrobe for fear of damage. That would be in a library type room, with a good music system and speakers, and also lots and lots of bookshelves well filled, and a few comfy chairs to read or listen to music.

2 sinks in the bathroom would be good. Proper rails for towels, preferably heated. And a proper storage unit for the spare shampoo bottle etc (so you're not running into the bedroom dripping halfway through washing it!). Well ventilated bathroom as well.

Plenty of insulation, lots of good windows to let lots of light in but not heat out/in (keeping cool in summer and warm in winter). Underfloor heating would be good. And a wooden stove for heat, perhaps with a back boiler to take any excess heat and put it to good use. Solar panels for hot water or electricity/battery charging.

Good cooker (5 ring, double oven) and fridge (large capacity). Probably a chest freezer or good upright freezer for longer term storage as well as a small everyday one (I like an American fridge/freezer, but would need more freezing space for veggie gluts, batch cooking and the like).

Tranquil bedroom.
Which means a separate dressing room with loads of organized clothes storage and dressing table with good lighting (natural and artificial) and lots of sockets.

I can't think of other stuff right now.

I know there's more. But most of that will never happen. Cos we'll never build our own, and we can't fit a lot of that in a suburban semi-d.

Oh, and a couch to sit on chatting, and a window seat to read on, in the kitchen/diner. (The window seat could be in a living room as an alternative).

Loads of worktop space in kitchen (for cooking/baking) and utility (for mucky jobs and for laundry).
And plenty of storage space in both. For things like a baking cupboard where I could have all my cookie cutters and baking tins and icing tools etc.

Utility room
Internal windowsills
Windows on all sides
Windows in every bathroom
Split level landings
A big entrance hall
Lots of cupboards and shelves
Fireplaces
Good insulation but not so it gets condensation
Two living rooms so when DD is a teen she can hang out in one with her pals while we have the other
Big kitchen with room for dining table and sofa area
A square layout, rather than long and thin
Big walled garden

A decent bath (not whirlpool - just nice, big, deep and allowing you to wallow!).

Separate shower - I'd really like that to be wetroom style - rainforest shower head up high, and no base or curtain around just draining into the floor, with the toilet and sink far enough away to not flood (and slightly sloped upwards to help that). But with a suitable shelf located near shower for bottles.

Home office - for home admin and paperwork, with suitable storage. But also allowing actual work to be done as well, so decent desk and chair, lots of power sockets etc.

Generally lots of sockets in useful places - and many of those having USB ports as well as sockets.

And light switches at multiple points.

Two dishwashers. Sounds very extravagant but so much of the time the kitchen looks a mess because we have dishes stacked on the worktop waiting to go in the dishwasher but it's on already. Bother could probably be slimline ones.

Lots of easily accessible storage (not the loft). Preferably built-in or hidden storage for things that aren't necessarily used often but are handy to have to hand like suitcases/travel bags, bulky bedding, tool box etc.

Downstairs loo that's easily accessible for guests (so not in utility area).

Utility/laundry/boot room off back entry which can be closed off from kitchen area. With large drying area, tumble dryer, washing machine, built in fold away ironing board and big, deep Belfast sink.

Kitchen bins close to back door.

Large pantry, useful to store smaller appliances which may not always be in use like stand mixer etc as well as dry goods.

Decent shoe and coat storage in hallway, preferably hidden/built in.

Not open plan - too noisy, smelly, difficult to keep warm.

Quiet room, only small, big enough for some book shelves and a comfy chair, preferably sound proofed with a lock on the inside for me to hide in/escape from the outside world.

Master bathroom with deep bathtub.

Kitchen island/peninsula to be able to turn from oven and place hot things down on without sideways shuffle.

Two built in eye level ovens to save bending and to aid cooking massive dinners with things at different temps.

Large dishwasher (or two) in kitchen island.

Wine fridge (for wine, beer, pop so not taking space up in normal fridge)

Walk in wardrobe/dressing area in main bedroom and large built in wardrobes in other rooms.

I took a utility room out of our house when we moved in, preferring to use the space for a massive kitchen.

What I do with it had is an upstairs laundry room with plumbing for the washer and tumble dryer.

It annoys me that clothes come off upstairs, go in laundry baskets upstairs, but then have to come downstairs to get washed and dried only to be taken back upstairs to be put away. Keep it all upstairs I say.

My luxuries would be;

Double garage with room at the back for a mini workshop area, and some natural lighting if possible - roof light or some secure windows?

properly heated and ventilated utility room/ boot room with ample room to take shoes/ coats etc. off before going into the rest of the house, and space for an airer for emergency clothes drying in the winter without making the rest of the house damp. And a downstairs shower room wouldn't hurt.

Studio room to be used as a grown up studio or studio depending on need.

En-suite for master bedroom

second reception room downstairs to be used as play room or snug - to be filled with all the clutter I don't want visitors to see!

kitchen diner large enough to fit a fridge freezer and range style cooker in

Boot room / utility room and good flooring for wet and mud and visitors

Good layout for get up, wash, change, breakfast, out, come back, shower, change, out, come back, change, out, come back, cook and eat, chat to family, wash, bed. On somedays add in washing, hanging up washing, bringing in and putting away. Alter per lifestyle.

Lots of natural light.

Walk in wardrobe and large ensuite off master bedroom
Cinema room
Sound proofed music room
Sauna / steam room.
Gym
Workshop in double garage

We're just about to start building our house and I think storage was about top of my list for our architect, swiftly followed by light spaces and then more storage.

Following and dreaming...!

Have been in rented accommodation for a while so good storage and a utility would be high on my list of essentials. Nice things would be a dressing area, en suite, proper book shelves, great kitchen with two dishwashers, light, space, ability to see DC in garden or playing whilst cooking dinner.

Some kind of fabulous wide hallway with storage for coats and shoes and handbags and gym kit without being cluttered.

Utility room with washing machine, tumble dryer, loads of hanging space.

Dry room type thing for sports kit/walking boots/wetsuits.

Wine fridge.

Two dishwashers - one for clean and one for dirty. More of a self cleaning cupboard!

Some kind of fabulous wide hallway with storage for coats and shoes and handbags and gym kit without being cluttered.

Utility room with washing machine, tumble dryer, loads of hanging space.

Dry room type thing for sports kit/walking boots/wetsuits.

Wine fridge.

Two dishwashers - one for clean and one for dirty. More of a self cleaning cupboard!

Office/filing system.
Bike storage with convenient road access.
Open fires
Big windows.
A library with a ladder to reach the high up books.
Multiple receptions so I can read/study/have a glass of wine with a friend without vanishing anyone else from anywhere.,

North facing tiled pantry. Boot room - big enough to really leave outdoors there. Utility room. Basement dry enough for storage etc. Linen cupboard (upstairs). Pool/billiard table room. Bathrooms, no en suites. Swimming pool (outdoor). Outbuildings to mess about in.

We renovated recently and what I wanted and got was:

finished basement with loads of storage and extra bathroom and laundry room (basements are standard where I live and they are the best thing ever for storage)

Library with bookshelves and window seat

Working fireplace in our bedroom

lots of light, storage, proper professional systems in our wardrobes and cupboards

Walk in pantry where I can close the door on all the appliances

What I would have loved but didn't get was a secret room - a room where the door is hidden in a bookshelf for example. If you go into Houzz they have some lovely examples.

A utility room where clothes can be hung up and dried in the winter or rain.
Downstairs toilet.

Big grand entrance hall with a sweeping staircase.

Lots of storage - somewhere I can keep all my bedding and towels.
A cloakroom for everyone's coats and shoes.
Walk in pantry.
A study.
Ajoining bedrooms like the Queen & Prince Philip with our own private bathrooms and big bed space all for myself. Door kept open for visits but can be closed when the snoring gets too loud
A proper big warm laundry room where I do all my washing and ironing.
And a garage big enough for all DH's shit. An attic where I can keep suitcases and old furniture.
A green house big enough to grow all my veg and cut flowers inside.
Italian garden.

Oh dear think I'm describing a stately home here.