If you were to build your own house what features would you use

[MikeRafone]

In my dreams id love to build my own home to live in

I would include solar tiles, water recycling for all but drinking, insulation, triple glazing

a bathroom dressing room, bedroom layout, downstairs would be open plan living but with a snug

Garage that is wide enough for a car to reverse and a hatch into the kitchen from the garage for the shopping directly from the boot of the car to the kitchen

a utility upstairs for the Landry with balcony drying - if apartments can have washing machines on the 18th floor then why aren't utilities upstairs in homes

I don't get the love for upstairs laundry rooms. You still have to cart your wet washing downstairs to hang it out.

if the room has a balcony you'd put it on there - as they do in apartments

We are having a house built (by an architect) and I am looking forward to most of these, double garage with access to house, walk in pantry, utility room with a massive linen cupboard. Bit annoyed at having to share a walk in wardrobe with DH, I am perfume mad and he has an allergy to perfumes, a sniff can give him a bad headache, I was so looking forward to spraying myself with perfume every day. Anyway I need to concentrate on the good things, like having a library in the open plan living room.

Bananalanacake

Will you be having the house built to save energy and consequently bills? and if so what features will you have t do so?

Id love to have solar, water recycling and a water sump ( the later reduces water bills each year - or used to as the company isn't taking water away and that is part of the charge. Id like to have water recycling to again avoid water mater charges. Solar to enable underfloor heating to work on the solar during day time and then also have an alternative heat source

@MikeRafone we are looking at extending, rather than building from scratch, both DH and I are interested in energy conservation, he is interested in the details, me the end result. He has been talking about solar and ground source heating. Has not mentioned anything about water. The current house is will insulated and the extension will be as well.

MikeRafone,

We are in Germany where they are keen on that sort of thing, yes to solar panels. Also a wind turbine to generate electricity but I don't know how big it is,

If money / land no object then……..

▫️Character and NO grey! But well insulated and ergonomic. Lots of plants inside and out
▫️6 double bedrooms all with en suites (one downstairs for my disabled MIL that would need a wet room). Dressing room and balcony to the master bedroom
▫️Family bathroom
▫️Self contained annexe for my parents / long term living, if required, for my SEN son
▫️Large utility (downstairs!) with direct access to the drive and including a shower room for muddy DC and dog
▫️Music / playroom / chill out room
▫️Galleried hall
▫️HUGE hall cupboard for the 86375 pairs of shoes my DC seem to have. Do they breed?
▫️Orangery but not boiling / freezing - can be used all year round. Double height with lots of huge plants
▫️Large but cosy living room with high ceilings, coving and an open fire
▫️Study
▫️Gym
▫️Large kitchen / family room with big French doors (not bifold) onto a large patio that’s the same height so easily accessible
▫️Outdoor covered kitchen
▫️1 acre beautifully rewilded walled garden with one of those natural pools (also a gardener / someone who knows how to look after natural pools as I sure as hell don’t)
▫️Kitchen garden

Now just need to win the lottery! 😆

@housethatbuiltme we've actually got a large landing area and attics on either side so I had fitted wardrobes and a dressing table installed to make into my wardrobe/dressing room. It's a really good space

If cost was no object, or a resonable amout, then id have a multi level bunker under the house, then have the house build on top, similar to the resident evil type mansion with the bunkers in the grounds of the estate (but a better designed house not as large but more focus on the bunker being a good size

That's mad!

I look forward to the time of year when I can hang my clothes outside to dry. So much nicer than having them hanging around the house or wasting money using a dryer when the sun does it better.

About half my neighbours dry outside too. And I'm in my 40's, not an old lady yet..

So many wonderful ideas here!

My day-dream house, large, local, great location, and in need of repair, just got an offer, and I was gutted, as I had plans! Sadly didn't win the lottery in time. It was sooooo perfect. Walled garden, close to town, on the river, perfection. Damn.

Yes yes yes to the provision for a large xmas tree or three - I'd want one on the landing, one in the entry hall, and one in the living room. I also want the outside decorated by professionals every xmas. And a real growing xmas tree outside.

OUTSIDE
House built within a walled garden. The garden would have several distinct sections, but flow perfectly. The sections would be:

• -- a little woodland area including a little orchard
• -- growing our own food, a nice big greenhouse, and lots of planted containers and troughs and whatnot (we are vegan, so could potentially be totally self-sufficient)
• -- I'd love a little stream.
• -- socialising area for summer garden parties, including a covered (optional) area for summer BBQs and a proper pizza oven
• -- a pool (option to roof over the colder months/summer house)
• -- a big real xmas tree
• -- cherry blossom and magnolia tress
• -- cottage garden (loads of beautiful flowers)
• -- a hill for sledging
• -- And yes to the underground bunker! You never know! Maybe this could be built into my sledging hill.

GARAGE

• -- large enough for three cars, with great storage
• -- hatch to put shopping through to the pantry
• -- area for bike storage and bike maintenance
• -- tidy garden tools section

MAIN HOUSE
Heated underflooring and walls (is that a thing?!) everywhere, plus Air Conditioning for those three days we have a heatwave.

Ground Floor:

• enclosed porch for packages
• large entrance/hall - tidy for keys and mail etc
• plenty of storage by the front door, but tucked away unseen, for coats and shoes and hats and scarves and umbrellas
• an orangery/room for enjoying the sunshine when it's not quite warm enough to sit out in
• study/office space for each family member
• huge pantry - I love well-stocked cupboards, but don't especially want a massive kitchen
• Cosy dining area for day-to-day living (maybe a little 50s diner style) right by the kitchen, with a breakfast bar for pancakes and milkshakes on the weekend
• Large dining room so I can host dinner parties and Xmas Day Dinner - and definitely with a 70s hatch from the kitchen
• Large social living room space for entertaining friends
• two separate den-type spaces so the kids each have their own areas for having friends over - bifold/concertina doors between them for when they might want to mingle or have a large party space
• gift-wrapping room and station
• Sauna and steam rooms
• gym with fancy equipment like that wobble thing that helps you lose weight
• Massage room/treatment room
• Videogames room for the kids
• cosy snug for watching films/mumsnetting
• small self-contained annex for visitors

First Floor:

• I would love a designated laundry room, on the first floor. Stacked washing machine and drier, a good-sized airing cupboard/boiler room, and access to a balcony for line-drying in the summer (am not an old lady!). I'd quite like a slide from the balconies to the ground floor. And maybe one into the pool.
• En-suites for every bedroom. There are only three of us, so three bedrooms in the main house. We'd each have our own little balcony too, from our bedrooms.

Top Floor:

• Just attic storage for Xmas decorations and things I am keeping for the kids
• adding - just seen someone suggested an observatory, so I am going to nick this idea and incorporate it here too! Thanks!

Boot room/ Utility and waist height dog wash
Walk in pantry
Airing cupboard...well somewhere for towels etc
Bedroom big enough for sofa/chaise with ensuite
Large drive
Love a mezzanine
A through fireplace
That's like big house dreams.

I'd actually like a log cabin style home
Through fireplace that you see from kitchen one side and living room other then just 2 ensuite bedrooms either end of cabin. Veranda.

I prefer to hang my washing on the line.

I love to sniff it when I’m bringing it back in.

I’d have a boot room with a dog shower in it. A room for the record player, and a separate one for the TV.

All of the above sound fab! I built a house 20 years ago and the thing I miss most is the built in vacuum! Resisted it at first but omg it was awesome.

Very powerful vacuum unit on wall in garage and a load of hoses inside walls - all swept bends. Never had an issue with it, put points in various walls and just carried a long (but v light) hose/floor sweeper end thing around, plugged it into the wall and cracked on. There was a little plinth grille near the floor in the kitchen too and you could switch it on and sweep crumbs etc into it.

It also had various attachments for the hose, the best one was a pet brush. I literally used to hoover the dog (border collie, SO much fur). She adored it. Another bonus is it's v quiet, as the motor/noise is in the garage.

Huge pain to retrofit so never had another but if I built again, that's on the non negotiable list!

I would have a massive office studio with a corner for each craft. So a woolly corner for felting, crochet and sewing. A big desk with four screens for writing and digital art. A reading corner etc.

I would also love a proper self sustaining eco house. I have worked at earthship in new Mexico where they have built experimental off grid houses. Not sure if theres enough sun for just solar but it's worth diversifying with wind anyway.

I'd love a massive Victorian style greenhouse and walled kitchen garden.

Also my own forest or land to plant hundreds of trees.

I dream of having a big entrance hall with a very wide and tall covered with a hanging rail and racks along the bottom for shoes and boots. All outdoor wear including hats and wellingtons could be stored there and then the doors could be closed so that none of the mess is on display.

I like hanging clothes out to dry, but in the winter I would really like a Japanese-style bathroom that also dries laundry: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-05-22/laundry-lessons-from-japanese-bathroom-technology
A Japanese bath and a Japanese loo would be nice too.

Ooh all of the above, but my dream house would have a large wraparound covered porch like some of the American houses, with siding and swing seats and a comfy outdoor sofa. Preferably on a large plot of land that had its own pump track!
and a lovely large Victorian style conservatory orangery to fill with vines and plants.

We've just renovated what had been a derelict property. DH is techy, so we have a home assist system. We have regular light switches, but I can also turn lights, plug sockets and appliances on remotely from a phone or my laptop. We can set a 'scene' if we are away to mimic the lights we would turn on if there. Turn heating up/down and set rooms to be certain temperatures remotely.
He is currently reading up about how to connect it to the green house and garden- so if there has only be X mls of rain, the sprinklers come on.

I'm sure there are other systems and likely not new at all- but to me, its far more advanced than the plug in light timers from years ago I'd use for Christmas lights.

Mine would be a stylish mcm house with a central courtyard where I'd have a Japanese garden. Interior windows would overlook the garden.

I'd like a sauna room, a walk in shower room, a utility room, built in closets, picture windows, and woods all around.

Tech details - underfloor heating, solar panels, roof garden with grass, bamboo and stone materials, also cork.

Pantry
Large Utility room, possibly combined with boot room
Garden room
Window seat
Library
craft room