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.

A switch where you put off all the lights in the house when you go to bed - just hugely useful - Laundry room nearer bedrooms - boiling water tap . & yes plug sockets more than you think & TV points where you may not want them now but in future ( including 5 amp socket for turning on and off table lamps on one switch - well unless you are going to have the Lutron thing. ) Other than that - aesthetics

Oh and outside taps whilst they are doing the plumbing - wherever you think you might need one - cheap to do when rest of plumbing is being done - more expensive to be installed retrospectively

Plenty of spotlights lights in the base of kitchen cupboards so they light up the work surface area.

Plenty of electrical sockets

A decent utility room.

Oh and we just built an extension, all the rooms are 9ft high which is amazing and makes it feel much bigger than the footprint

A bidet in each bathroom
A kitchen with a roof that could fold back (no idea how this would be done, just think it would be brilliant)
Solar power
A library

Gym space... that covid can’t close!

So many great things!

I’ll add

Shaver point sockets inside the bathroom cabinets so electric tooth brushes can be stored and charged

Sockets inside a pantry or a pantry style kitchen cupboards so that the blender, processor, mixer, slow cooker, bread maker etc etc can be set up ready to go at all times rather than battling them in and out of cupboards

Consider furniture when you decide how bug your windows will be. Four of our rooms have (gorgeous, light exploiting) double doors (two on to balconies) but.... there is only one position for the furniture- large half length windows would have been equally good but meant you could put furniture under them

We built our house four years ago and there's almost nothing I would change about it.

• Quooker boiling water tap is brilliant, for tea, for cooking veg quickly, for adding hot stock to gravy
• wet underfloor heating throughout, including in the two big built-in coat cupboards in the hall, so coats can dry. No radiators to fit in.
• huge airing cupboard upstairs with shelving for all bedding, towels, everyone's clean laundry, space for spare duvets and pillows, ironing board and iron, and the laundry baskets. Plumbers love it because there's room to get to all the pipes and valves!
• MVHR system - means fresher air in every room, no steamed-up bathrooms, no need for extractor in kitchen, and far less dust build-up
• water softener as our water is v v hard. Has been amazing not to have to replace knackered taps after a couple of years.
• 2.5x4m utility room next door to kitchen, with an outside door, washer, dryer, huge sink for soaking things or washing small dogs/muddy kids, and floor to ceiling shelves on the opposite wall. Plus a hatch into the kitchen so I can easily transfer stuff from chest freezer, and throw dirty tea towels from kitchen!
• mermaid board in all the showers, to avoid tiles/grout/maintenance
• accessible wet room downstairs with polyflor safety floor
• downstairs double spare room with door to garden and next to wet room.
• 2x2m porch between front door and hall - has 2 doors so keeps the cold wind out of the house, and space for shoe racks for all the shoes we own. And with a fitted "door mat" fibre carpet so shoes can be wiped on it and it's vacuumed weekly.
• second (matching) handrail screwed to the wall up the stairs to avoid the grubby marks from people wiping their hand down the wall as they come downstairs.
• no wall cupboards in kitchen - as pp said, makes room look bigger, and much easier to use all the work tops without bumping my head!
• almost level access all around house to access the patio/garden. This meant we had to have a 10cm gravel bed between house and paving slabs to provide drainage, but definitely worth it to not have huge steps to navigate when carrying food trays or small children.
• no complicated electrics. Less to go wrong! Manual velux skylights which we open with a special Velux pole. Some friends had electric ones which got stuck open during a summer storm because the remote controller short circuited
• fascias and soffits made from fibre cement board - harder wearing than upvc or wood, and we can hose it clean. House Cladding also fibre cement board. Highly recommended!

No gas, it is on the way out so better without from the start. Solar panels with air source heat pump.

Electric car charging points, the highest kW you can get.

I wouldn’t go with USB points as they will be replaced before plugs are.

Laundry shoot from main bathroom so kids can just dump their dirty clothes.

Bookcases with a ladder.

Double height space with lots of light.

Sustainable with good ventilation (like MHVR), lighting and insulation. Heating system that can be adapted in future. Cat 6 cabling throughout. External sockets.
Flexible space that can grow with you/your family. Good storage including loft/garage/bikes etc. Provision to hang up laundry to dry naturally.

When we did an extension we had a study that opened off the garage and accessible via a separate external door, basically it could have been converted to granny annex or a small business unit.

I don't know how far you are through but I agree to really look closely at the plans and make sure all the corners, alcoves and sill heights are useful and where you can put built in cupboards and shelves.

A really big laundry room, an airing cupboard tons of storage, a larder. A boot room where everyone has their own area for their coats and shoes. And some more storage. If I could have a kind of hidden room off every room where the things that are used in that room live out of sight that's what I'd have! I'd also have a room for the dogs with grooming stuff and somewhere to wash them after they get wet and muddy! I need a palace! 😂

Ideally I'd have air source / ground source heating and solar panels and a massive battery to store the electricity and heat the swimming pool I would also want. But that might be taking it too far.

Oh, and two dishwashers.

So many interesting ideas. I often don't know what I like until I see it (which is why Pinterest may be a dangerous place for me... ) and it tends to be things I wouldn't have thought of that look really well thought out.

My main priority is accessibility. In the house we're in the process of hopefully buying, the path up to the front door is a ramp - so slight I didn't see it in the photos (can barely see it now and I know it's there) - and there is a handrail that goes about halfway along that separates it from the driveway. When I saw that for the first time in person, I literally said out loud "Ooo, that's nice." Never thought about it before, had only seen steep ones that are basically to cover a step or two before, but now it's something I love about that house.

So yeah, easy, well thought out ramp would now be on my list of things to consider if we ever build. I also - as much as I really like the utility upstairs idea - I look at houses with the thought of 'could I live on one floor?'. Now the place we're buying, we could spot the signs in the wall that there had been a stairlift in - my in-laws had one, they can be pretty rough on the walls - so that was a great sign for us, it means we could put one back in if needed, but I do want a place that if it came down to it, I could happily live and take care of myself entirely on the ground floor - so a reception room that can be a bedroom, kitchen and space for people to gather that isn't in what could be a bedroom (whether another reception room or a large enough kitchen dining space), bathroom with accessible shower, and able to get in and out easily. And enough sockets and storage for everything as many others have said, but not as many rooms as many others are suggesting as I wouldn't want to clean that much.

My spouse has it on his priority list to make sure the attic has a loft hatch ladder as he more thinks how we can make the whole house more accessible.

A big covered porch somewhere, either at the back or on the side, so that when it's raining, or it's too hot to sit in the sun, there is still a lovely outdoor place to sit. The porch has to be BIG.

Really good insulation. As the climate changes, summers are going to be hotter, and weather will be more extreme. Your long term bills and your long term comfort will both be cushioned if you have sufficient heavy insulation to make the house warm in winter and cool in summer.

A LARGE garden rainwater tank. If you want a watered, green garden, and not a crispy brown stretch where a lawn and flower beds should be, the dry part of summer is getting longer, and yet there is sufficient rainfall through the wetter days to see you through, if you plan for it now. Underground is a surprisingly easy option if you plan for it early.

Brilliant sound muffling around bathrooms all around them -so you can poop in peace! ( and you don't hear anyone else pooping!)

I'd have loads of pocket doors (but that's because most of the doors in my house are annoyingly positioned and get in the way when open).

Our list would include:

Underfloor heating throughout.
Thoughtful lighting design (dimmable, separate lamp circuits, lighting for art)
Gigabit Ethernet or fibre throughout.
Central cable and piping runs (commercial style) that are accessible.
Good amount of built-in storage.
Gallery-style picture hanging rails in principal rooms.
Mixer taps throughout and pull-out hose on kitchen sink.
Japanese-style loo (washlet).
Good size comfortable bath / wet-room shower.
Log-burner or similar as focal point of main living room.
Space for enough bookshelves / or a library.
Scope for a lift (if a forever house)

Thanks everyone, some great suggestions and ideas. Eventually have got some time this evening to sit down and read through them all properly and make a few notes.

Copy paste is your friend for that !