What splurges in square footage do you love about your home?
T T
14 days ago
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bpath
14 days agochispa
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What do you NOT like about your house?
Comments (77)We built our dream home about 4-1/2 years ago and for the most part, I love it. The location is fantastic with 3 acres of land and farm fields across the street and on one side, and a wide area of brush that separates us from another house on the other side, as well as a creek at the back. We have trees surrounding us on all sides but one, so we love that. When we built, we left off the screened porch that we really wanted since we couldn't know how the budget would fare by the end of the build. All we had was a tiny little landing outside the breakfast room sliders. We have since added the screened porch and deck and that has been the best money we have spent. We have eaten almost every summer meal on the porch, it's great for entertaining and so peaceful to relax there with a good book or magazine. We even have a daybed there so it's perfect for napping as well. But with all that, it is still not perfect. I don't know that there is a perfect house, really. But there are a few things things that I would like to change. One is easily remedied: I would have liked the master closets to be a tad larger, and since they're not, I would like to have "barn doors" put on instead of regular swinging doors to give us back the room that the door swing takes up. (A very minor job, but it just hasn't been done yet.) Another is not so easy to fix. We have a large L-shaped kitchen island (which I do love), but I would love it more if it could be moved over just 12". In the one corner is the location of the refrigerator and pantry, the drawer with the utensils and below that, the drawer with the dishes, and across thet aisle is the coffee pot with mugs above. So it is a very busy area and it would be nice if there were just a few more inches to move around in since everyone seems to be in that area all the time! I've tried to think of how we could rearrange things since it would be very expensive to move the island (due to the hardwood not being under the island), and it really is set up as it needs to be. We can live with it, but it would have been nicer with those extra inches! I would also like to finish the basement. I'm very thankful that we have a basement, especially during tornado weather, but when we're down there during a warning, there is no bathroom, so if we need to use it, we have to go upstairs. It would also be nice to have another bedroom for visitors. Another thing I'd like to change is that the staircase to the upstairs is carpeted. I would really like it if someday we put hardwood on the stairs and then added a runner. I love that look. I don't hate our carpet, and I really don't mind it in the bedrooms since it is warm on your feet and keeps things quieter, but I'd prefer the hardwood/runner for the stairs. The one major negative about the house is that all the bedrooms are upstairs. I'm happy with that in most ways, but when we are older, or if we wanted to be able to have our elderly parents live with us, there are a lot of stairs to climb. I wish I had taken the time before building to revise the design to either already have one first floor bedroom with an en suite bathroom, or have the option to easily renovate to accomplish this down the road. As it is, it can be done, but not easily or inexpensively. And since I'm dreaming of perfection, it would have been nice to have the money to have installed good composite decking so our porches wouldn't show as much wear as they do, or ideally, have the money to hire someone to re-do the wood porch decks since I do prefer real wood. I guess we should start playing the lottery, too! Oh, I also want to add a shed someday. I don't think I'm ever satisfied! I should just appreciate all I have while I have it, and not look for perfection!...See MoreWhat are you doing to make your house enrich your life?
Comments (38)I've been thinking about this a lot since it was first posted. I'm not sure I'll be very coherent, but my rambling will make sense (mostly) in my head. We bought this house/property 5.5 yrs ago, it was a neglected house, but the lot was to-die-for (middle of town, near a great park, LARGE (for in town), 7 minute commute to work, on a corner, with lots of mature trees). We stalked it for years prior while the old lady went off her rocker (sadly not exaggerating) as we lived just 2 blocks away. So that's part of our crazy plan- to not contribute to sprawl (it just makes me sad). I live in an area of the most fertile soil in the world- we should not be building houses here. So doing a demo/in-fill makes my heart feel a little joy. We want to create a legacy for our children. I know they may move away and not want this house when we die, but I hope it can be paid for and provided to them as an inheritance. Or maybe they'll want it b/c we're hoping it really creates a love of 'home' and family. We hope to do a lot of the work ourselves (being big DIYers and having done almost everything to the 2 homes we've lived in) and hope to involve the kids in some of that work so that they have some ownership. I really want to create a home with minimal maintenance as the last 2 homes have been non-stop with one thing or another. Like today when our kitchen sink was running slow and after snaking it it was fine- only to go to the basement and realize all water was now backing up from the floor drain. As if mowing, trimming bushes, and cleaning off the back porch from winter wasn't enough to keep us busy today. So new construction is a must. I get water in the basement every time it rains, the joists are termite eaten, there's adequate space (another 200 sq ft would be PERFECT), but it's not built for accessibility for overnight guests and my FIL is in a wheelchair (as is MIL, but she doesn't stay with us) and my mother has had 2 hip replacements and 2 spine surgeries. 1st floor guest room is also a must. When we bought this house we interviewed architects to see about an addition and major remodel- for 17K more the builder/designer could demo the existing house and build the same sq footage as a shell, BUT NEW (my eyes and ears and back like the sounds of that!). That sold us on living here and making do with 3 layers of wallpaper in the dining room, floor that are mushy, a 1 person kitchen, no tub, on and on and on. So we're living in the house until it's paid off so that we can get more of what we want. In the meantime we will continue to play around with plans and have done lots of reading and research. There are some things we'll be able to re-use- some light fixtures, the garage door opener, faucets, all the appliances, and I'm hoping to buy some things in advance and just store until needed. My husband and I agree on quality over quantity. We don't want a McMansion, we both want a rectangle (Colonial). Preferably one that's more energy efficient than our current home (not hard to do), and keeps us warm/cool/dry. A place to live in for as long as I can conceivably live alone (my grandma made it to 95 with her hardy Midwestern genes). The most current set of tinkering plans have very little in the way of compromise- I think if we can do that and actually build the thing we can call it a success and check something off our bucket list while drinking coffee sitting in our screened-in porch on a Sunday morning knowing all we have to do is mow and trim bushes (and maybe clean off said porch :))....See MoreWhat do you love about your house?
Comments (31)I have lived here since autumn, 1991: Loving: I just bought this kitchen a new scratch and dent range late last spring - the installers fixed an electrical issue I didn't even know came with the original range but that one had been installed in 1969 in ways that got taken off of code by somewhere in the 1980's. The range is "basic", but it has a timer, and two broil settings, and an oven window. I'm so up in the world! When I moved here, one of the best selling features was that the side yard was very private. It still is, and I still like that feature. (I'd moved here from the Anxiety Condo from Hell, with the putative coke dealer living in the unit above me. I didn't dare grow anything in the garden plot outside that window - he'd have trashed it.) Anyhow, here I love this side yard, and the porch with the overhang. And the ability to have happy small gatherings back here. I love the front stone walkway and the back flagstone area my one-time housemate put in. The stones were free from a New England wall whose owner wanted them gone, and nearly all the flagstones were found in weird spots on this property left by previous owners. (For some reason, the walkway when I moved in was made of these flagstones, without steps, on a slope. Any time it rained, you'd risk your life walking on them. Out back we could lay them flat.) I only had to buy a few more to complete the look. My basement doesn't leak. We had some leaks when we first moved in, and my housemate and his boyfriend of that time helped dig a trench and put in the proper tubing to divert the water. I never had another leak from that direction. (We also planted wild pachysandra we'd found ditched in a wooded area nearby. It probably helped erosion issues.) In another direction, a slow ooze early on was something I was able to resolve by using a certain sealant paint - it never leaked again. No, I don't remember what it was. Oak floors on the main level. Not Loving: The Kitchen from a TV Dinner Nightmare. (No prep space, insufficient outlets, only one useful upper for the entire room -- 12 inch wide uppers are just plain useless). And the three doors that bang into one another during the times I didn't live alone here - the "half" bath, basement door, and back door. A good EnergyStar fridge won't fit in here. The "half bath" being right off the kitchen, and it being about 2.5 feet by 4 feet. Long steep driveway, with the steepest part inserted at the 90 degree turn that someone thought would give me a useful side-entry garage. However, when you come down the road from the north, you only ever see the garage, so I still don't get the issues about "snout" garages... (When you come from the south, you, and fortunately the Google Maps Road View camera, don't see the house at all...) Meanwhile that driveway angle is real challenging in winter. Laundry in the basement. It was really a pita both times I broke various leg/ankle bones. Getting stuff from the car to the kitchen. Actually, I don't use the garage for the car, not enough room, too many projects. And if I did, I'd have to take the bags up a flight of stairs, with the last step being a tall killer step. I walk the stuff around the house and up a hill... I'm used to it, but not in winter. (I have taken things in through the basement level den, but there's still that flight of stairs.)...See MoreDid you splurge on buying your lot/raw land for your house?
Comments (68)The land was originally 500+ acres on a land grant from the Governor of NC before the Revolutionary War. So, it's been in my family for 200+ years. We're exactly the same, even the same state. Also have friends that live 30min away from our city because they "wanted to be by their parents, wanted to be out of the city, wanted cheap land with woods..." but nobody goes to their houses for entertainment and they're always the ones driving everywhere. Ick. I grew up in that type of area, and we moved to a more populated area with better schools while the kids were growing up ... but now we're looking to go back. However, I can't relate to the "nobody goes to their houses" part; our family tends to gather out in the country. It's easy to host gatherings: No parking problems, space for cookouts and picnics, kids love playing in the woods and have a barn instead of a playhouse, people feel free to bring their dogs, and we have a go-cart track, an archery range, and a rifle range shared by the family. You can't have a bonfire in the city. When we build, we're going to add a pool to the mix. Also, most kids don't like growing up in BFE, parents end up having to drive them everywhere.. Having grown up in the aforementioned "BFE", I understand you: We couldn't walk to friends' houses, going anywhere required a car, part-time jobs as teens weren't plentiful. However, growing up out in the country comes with some benefits that kids tend to overlook: ample space, learning old-fashioned skills, and programs like 4H. I think it's unfair to say that MOST kids don't like growing up in a rural area. We have no way to verify that....See Morepalimpsest
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13 days agolast modified: 13 days agoShadyWillowFarm
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