What things would you like if you were building a house?

[wintertime6]

We're now starting to think about more of the detail in the house we're building and I just wondered what things I haven't thought about that you would have if you were building a house?

I'm really analysing how we use our current house and what things would make the new house more functional. Little things like a little cupboard in the kitchen to put keys and wallets, a charging drawer to charge phones and tablets without them sitting out on the work surface, having sensor lights in the larder which come on automatically when you open it etc.

What would you have if you were building or doing work to your house? Just things that make a difference to how you use the space, however small.

I built my own a couple of years ago.

I have many but not all of the 'must have's' listed here.

One thing that isn't mentioned which wouldn't always be practical but, if your bedroom isn't overlooked, and there is a half decent view from it, put in full height windows. My house is on a south facing slope and being able to just open my eyes to the view over the countryside is .A.MAZ.ING.

My washer and dryer are in my ensuite just through my walk in wardrobe/dressing room. Brilliant - in the wash, dried and rehung, all in more or less the same place.

I don't have 2 dishwashers but it is definitely on the horizon. Less cupboard space needed as everyday items are taken from the clean one, used and returned to the dirty etc. Under counter pullout bin/recycling in the kitchen is another real plus.

My shower is under a vellux window, as is my bed. The downside of the bed one is that it is incredibly noisy in a rainstorm - but it's worth it (the plough is currently directly above.

I also really love the underfloor heating but it is slow to react so is really best if there is someone home most of the time, it's less good for an hour in the morning and a few hours in the evening, lifestyle.

A boiling tap would be good and, as a lifelong gas hob lover, I wouldn't swap my induction hob now.

Oh, and for sockets, decide how many you need, double it and then double it again - you may then nearly have enough.

(Mine is a very cheap, small house for one person, but it is very special)

@wintertime6, I have a boiling water tap and love it.
I drink lots of tea and it saves me from having to keep putting the kettle on and then forgetting to make it, so I'm wasting a lot less electricity, etc.

I don't find the tea tastes different, but you do have to let the water run through for a few seconds before filling up your cup, otherwise it won't be hot enough.

A cellar. Underfloor heating. Everything else that has. been mentioned.

Glad I have:

1. A Franke Filterflow/Triflow tap in the kitchen (gives filtered water as well as hot and cold). Had it for 10years+ and love it.
2. A wood burner
3. A wet-room floor in bathroom so floor of walk-in shower area is seamless (iyswim)
4. A trench heater in lounge (as no obvious wall space for radiator)

Wish we had:

1. An inbuilt radio in kitchen and possibly bathroom too. A friend had one in her v posh house and it impressed me - plus I always listen to radio during day so would be ideal for me.
2. A downstairs storage cupboard

I'd have a heated cupboard with hanging rails for drying laundry (in fact when I change my boiler I'm planning to put a radiator in the airing cupboard for this purpose.

I'd want a boot room with a built in shower for the dog that I can access straight from outside without traipsing through the house, plus a big cloaks cupboard by the front door.

In the kitchen I'd fancy a walk in larder where I can store all my small appliances on shelves and have everything in some kind of order.

Ah, I love a bit of house porn.

The biggest flat in our building is for sale, I have eyed it up, sadly I am not a millionnaire ☹️

A big thing for me would to not make compromises. My main bathroom was painfully expensive, but its beautiful and I absolutely love it. If I had spent less it would be nice, but it wouldn’t be what I actually wanted. Its a William Garvey wooden bathroom and I genuinely love everything about it, due to good planning and fitting it is also very easy to clean, there aren’t any awkward bits.

Good flow in a kitchen, when I’m cooking I don’t want the potatoes to be stored in the utility, or the fridge to be ages away. My kitchen wasn’t expensive, its Ikea, but its well planned, there is a lot of usable storage and the things I use the most are within easy reach while cooking. We also have a boiling water tap and a food disposable unit which are very handy. I didn’t want a pull out larder cupboard, so instead I have a double fronted floor to ceiling cupboard height larder with individual shelves that pull out and narrow wooden shelves on the inner doors for smaller jarred goods/condiments/seasoning that gets used often, but not everyday.

We’re in the process of turning my sons bedroom and a large area of unused hallway (which leads to nowhere and doesn’t have a window at the end) into two generous single bedrooms. To use the space more efficiently each is going to have a closet rather than free standing wardrobe and a set of drawers. It also means theres room for toys, bags etc and they won’t need to be stuffed under the bed or put on top of the wardrobe.

One thing thats important to me is nice floors, apart from the main bathroom all the floors are original wood flooring. I really can’t stand laminate flooring or engineered wood flooring. It always reminds me if the faux wood floors that our Woolworths had when I was little.

Lighting is important, I didn’t think about this, as a result in the evening the light in the kitchen is behind me rather than above me, this means I cast a shadow on the work surface/hob which is really irritating.

I’d like a walk in shower with a built in, recessed shelf so I could keep all my shampoo bottles, etc in that without having to have a rusty shower shelf attached to the wall.

We have 2 light switches fir our room, one by the door and the other by the bed so we can hop into bed then turn the main light off. We also have a light switch for our outside light right by the bed so if we hear anything outside we can just switch it on

Also depending on how close the houses next door are, high up long windows on that side of the house so you still get plenty of light but the neighbours can’t see in.

You need this designer onboard

www.houzz.co.uk/hznb/photos/client-photo-shoot-traditional-utility-room-dorset-phvw-vp~52561562

For OP And the other person who asked about dream utility rooms

Don't use travertine stone tiles! They are a big regret of mine. Wish we'd just found some fake ones!

@JacobReesMogadishu

I’d like a walk in shower with a built in, recessed shelf so I could keep all my shampoo bottles, etc in that without having to have a rusty shower shelf attached to the wall.

I have this. It's great :)

I designed and built a house (15 years ago but principles still the same).

Best, most valuable bits

• wet underfloor heating upstairs and downstairs
• solid wall construction absolutely everywhere, inside and out. Great for thermal stability, sound reduction, putting up heavy pictures everywhere
• the best insulation money could buy
• a built in vacuum cleaner: there was a suction motor in the utility room and you plugged in the hosepipe in various wall outlets. It was absolutely brilliant, never blocked, could hoover up socks and you'd find them in the suction unit
• demisters under all bathroom mirrors
• proper bathroom mirror lighting (light each side at eye level + one in the ceiling halfway between the top of your head and the wall)
• rather than an island splitting the kitchen from the dining area we had a peninsular of worktop. Where that made a corner with the wall rather than have a cupboard on the kitchen side with one of those corner carousels we had a cupboard on the dining side which had all the kids craft stuff in it
• make sure the kitchen is an enclosed area, not a walkthrough to somewhere else
• boiling water tap and plan in accessible cupboard space for bins
• about twice as many power points as I could possibly perceive as necessary (nowadays all would be combined USB and power points)
• an outside tap and outside power points on every outside wall

LOVE my boiling water tap. Would never be without one ever again. I find it excellent for tea (drink gallons) but it's great for cooking too. Ours also feeds hot water to the hot water tap in the kitchen which saves a fortune as our megaflow is two stories up and we wasted so much water drawing hot down to the kitchen tap.

Don’t get stingy on the electrics!

Have more sockets in each room than you think you’ll ever need! We have bedside lamps that you can dim and turn on/off both at the bedside and at the door. Downstairs all our lamps turn on from the main lightswitch - the best thing we did.

Whole house WiFi system like Ubiquiti.

Plus all the other stuff already mentioned like utility/boot room etc - I’d love somewhere to wash the dogs inside!

I would have an upstairs laundry with balcony for drying outside and never carry a washing basket up and down stairs again

Integrated undercounted fridge drawer for fruit and veg

https://www.appliancesdirect.co.uk/p/ncd191i/hotpoint-ncd191i-built-under-fridge?refsource=apadwords&mkwid=sy8nHQ49Idm&pcrid=291304171567&product=NCD191I&pgrid=61306989489&ptaid=pla-342425227823&channel=googlesearch&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI6Kqhovby7QIViJ7tCh3h4gEvEAQYASABEgK9HHDBwE

Integrated coffee machine
Wok burner
Some sort of in shower storage ? for bottles so you can't see them

Very plain automatic black out blinds that recess away that you can still have curtains/ window dressings with
Outside fireplace and garden seating that automatically covers the cushions when not in use

Self cleaning toilets

Laundry machines should go upstairs, so you aren't forever lugging laundry up and down.
Plan space for all the little uses of space. Get them tucked away out of sight but accessible. Somewhere for the laundry drying rack to go when not in use, and where it will go when it IS in use too! Where do the dirty laundry baskets go? And towels when in use?
You need enough storage and stowage to keep this shite out of sight.
Forgive my laundry obsession but I hate it being on show in the hallway etc!
Good luck for your project- v exciting!

Also of your kitchen is roomy then try to avoid cupboards on the walls. They make it feel smaller and more cramped. A section of floor to ceiling cupboards gives heaps of storage. Then sections of counter tops with cupboards/appliances underneath, but not on the walls above the counter tops.
Let's light in and room feels bigger, promise

North facing larder lined with slate.

Utility room with one of those hanging molly maid dryers installed. It will need an outside door and a very large dog sized sink.

Proper walk in showers, the ones without doors.

Really excessive insulation and soundproofing.

Look at current kitchen cupboards and count up how many lengths of shelf you need, and make sure you allow the same or more in new kitchen. Eg if old kitchen has 5 standard units with 2 interior shelves and 2 units with 3 shelves plus a half width tall unit with 8 shelves, you need at least enough cupboards to accommodate the equivalent amount of shelving in whatever configuration

• a shower room on the ground floor. (especially useful if you have dogs and/or teenagers)
• a heating/water system that can cope with all appliances and all showers running and toilets flushing at the same time.
• a utility room/drying room
• a pantry
• decent ceiling heights

Watch your builder like a Hawk during first fix. Get the switches in sensible locations. Get the Spurs put in a place which will sit at the back of a cupboard eventually. Don't assume the builder is mentally overlaying your cupboards, even a great builder needs instructions on where to hide unsightly switches etc.
I went for plug sockets inside floor mounted cupboards where the small appliances live (toaster, magi mix etc) to avoid having sockets and appliances on show. Keeps the surfaces completely clear

Boiling water tap. I resisted because it's basically £700 for a kettle but DH insisted and found the budget for it, and I'm actually really happy to have it

We paid an interior designer to do our lighting plan- it was a minimal cost in the grand scheme but so well spent. We moved in nine years ago snd I still notice the lighting placement!!!

@Winterbeee please explain the concealed cocktail bar, this sounds brilliant!

a cellar of infinite size, to include dry garaging, a section for ladders and lawnmowers, and racking for neat boxes of things that are sure to come in useful.

It should probably also have a conveyor belt to the Skip parking base outside.