Change your house?
 

Sometimes I think it's just men who design homes :rolleyes:........ Just going thru day to day chores has it's annoying little problems,..... it would be easier if just some minor adjustments where made.

I can't for the life of me understand why the doorways have to be so narrow :confused: ..........Every time I carry a basket of laundry thru I lose some skin on my hand :mad:

Have you ever muttered to yourself that if this " one thing" was different in this house it would make your life a bit easier ?

Do you have a favorite room you always like to be in?.......... (I'm always in the kitchen,.........but not because it's my favorite:rolleyes:)

Our last house was built to be handicap accessible and let me tell you...I truly enjoyed those wider doorways! We're in a cabin right now and it seems I'm always bumping into something whether it's furniture or woodwork. I just keep telling myself the next one will be exactly what I want!

We have built two houses and there was something wrong w/ each one - in my eyes anyway! I am in the process of drawing up my own house plan and having a friend look over it...........that way, I will have some idea and plan - in the case we ever sell this one!

Our first house, my favorite room was the kitchen - it was nice and big and open. Lots of counter and work space, lots of cabinets and storage - big, bright and open! I miss that kitchen because I LOVE to cook - plus it had a long bar and my daughter could sit there and do work, crafts, etc. while I was in there working.

This house.....I have to say our master bathroom. It has a big (jetted) garden tub surrounded by tile, two big windows, lots of storage, two sinks (a must) and a big walk in shower....also the tiolet is on the far end of the bathroom that is seperated by a wall. I just like how it is roomy, bright and lots of storage.

We had our house built 3 years ago and I really love it. The only thing I would have changed is to have the washer and dryer on the 2nd floor. This way I wouldn't have to carry the laundry up and down stairs.

I saw a model home that had this and I thought it was a great idea.

Your homes sound beautiful!!!.............. How lucky of you to custom build!!

One of the small but annoying things I changed in the bath was the exhaust fan switch, it's always located next to the light switch when you enter the bath. I put the exhaust switch near the shower.......... I can't count the times I use someone's bath & hit the fan switch instead of the light:rolleyes:

I would love more counter space, there never seems to be enough. :)

I remember a looooooong time ago I lived in a place that had so little counter space that I had to balance a cookie sheet on the divider in a double sink :eek:

Now that's a lack of counter space hehe

I would also add electrical outlets in the closets!

1. pantry/broom closet (for floor cleaners that have to charge, tools that have to charge, etc)

2. Bedroom closets (iron, cell phone chargers, etc)

I would also add an outlet station under one sink or in a cabinet in the bathroom for charger electric razors, curling irons, blow dryers, etc.

A friend of ours did an electrical outlet right under the bathroom cabinet - in the little 2 inches or so from the floor to the base of the cabinet - she then attached and plugged in a string of those clear rope lights - that way, the bathroom was always lit up - so at night, it was easier to see, etc....better than having a big night light taking up one of your wall outlets!

Another....central vac system!!!
It seems like all of our friends did these in their houses and they are AWESOME! You just sweep the mess into the little vent thing and away it goes...no more mess in the trash can, no more dealing w/ the dust pan....that would be nice.

One more....I think I would like some sort of air filtration system for the heating/air vents! That way, clean, fresh air....less allergies, etc.

Now that's why women should design houses!!!:D ......... Those are great idea............. the bathroom cabinet really needs an outlet like you stated, I don't like the dryer, curling iron & shaver cords all out on the counter in either.

Jen, since you like to cook have you ever seen or gotten one of those Viking stoves? Beautiful!!! (but out of my range :rolleyes:)

It was probably the same man who designed public restrooms for women who are 2 inches wide. ;) I love having to stradle the toilet in order to shut the door. Who is the moron who decided they should open inward?????

I Definitely want the ironing board station in the master closet next time.

I want that ironing board also, I'm hoping to redo the laundry room soon & I need that board & a utility sink............now, what to do w/ all those shoes by the door:rolleyes:

oooouuu hay, I had to jump in on this one. I am an architectural and interior designer and I love my career. Yes, always have someone look over your plans before you build. Use someone who has great space planning skills :)

We custom built a new house a couple years ago and this is one of my favorite things in the house - there's a little kinda narrow cabinet in the kitchen that has an outlet in it for charging my Shark (electric vacuum thing) and dustbuster. It is SO handy! We also keep the little fold-up stool in there for getting in the very top cabinets that only need getting into occasionally.

We also have the fold-down ironing board in the master closet. That is SO handy for those times you need to do a quick touch-up. There's an outlet located directly below it.

Financially, we couldn't afford to do ALL of the things I would have loved to do but I think we covered pretty much all of it. While my kitchen is not HUGE (although some people think it is), it does have LOTS of counter space and more cabinets than I've seen in most people's kitchens. Below is one picture of the kitchen. While you can't see the left side of it, there are floor to ceiling cabinets over there too with a pantry made of big doors that swing open and big drawers that pull out. The narrow "broom closet" is also over there. And on the right hand side is a huge drawer that fits two trash cans plus the box of bags and such. It's location is perfect for just sweeping crumbs and trash right down into it. Worked out great that way although the main reason we did a trash drawer was because we didn't have the floor space to set one out. I also love all my windows! One shot of those is below too.

One cool thing our electrician (my husband's BIL) did was put outlets above the kitchen cabinets and layed rope lighting up there. There's also under cabinet lighting and they each (the upper and lower) have an individual switch by the sink. Makes for wonderful mood lighting or just minimal lighting when you do one or the other at night after all's done in the kitchen.

Of course there will always be things you wish you had in a house and if I had to pick one it would be more closets. Our master closet is very large - practically a whole 'nother room - and our daughter's closets are pretty big and well laid out but we didn't have room in the plans (which we drew up ourselves and then had an architect make professional for the builder) for miscellaneous closets in the house. The window seat in the master bedroom works real well for all of those quilts and blankets and such though. But who couldn't ever use more closets, right??;)

Have to say I pretty much love it..... now I just need to be able to afford to decorate it like all the tv shows are always doing!! ;)

That kitchen is beautiful!!!! Love the floors!!!....... Is the counter marble? Beautiful!!!!........... I love that the windows were left open w/ no curtains or shades.......... I bet it's awesome to watch the rain & snow through.... My DH would never do that he's paranoid about peepers at night. :D

I have ceramic on my floor, & NEVER again,... it's cold in the winter... it's hard & I don't like the grout cleaning, & don't even think of trying to walk on it in wet shoes or you'll be slip- slipping :mad: Did I mention I don't like ceramic?

Thank you! We're quite proud of it because we did A LOT of it ourselves! Yes, I wavered on doing wood floors in the kitchen but was talked into it and love it! I was worried about water issues but haven't had any problems. Any serious kitchen flood would mess up tile too so we'll take our chances. ;) We have wood floors throughout the entire house except for the bathrooms and utility room where it's tile and I do agree - tile is cold! I am SO glad we did all wood too - the amount of dirt that I can "shark" every other day at least is amazing! I can't imagine the dirty country life and carpet mixing!!

Yes, the windows are still open... no blinds or curtains.... but we live in the country with no neighbors close enough to look into our windows. We also have a wall of windows in our master bedroom. We have plantation shutters in there now (and in the dining room also) but leave them open all the time. It's so cool to look out at the stars late at night while laying in bed. Funny story about "peepers".... my boss was freaking out when I was describing our front door to her one time (it's different types of glass that you really can't see through but kinda can - if that makes sense). She was so freaked about people being able to see in. I tried telling her that the country road is about half a mile away... don't think people can see that far. Well, what if someone were walking through the pasture??? In that case, our outside dog would surely let us know. She just couldn't get over it. Country life.... it's a different kind of lifestyle that "city folk" just don't get sometimes. :D The view from the front and sides is for miles because we are on a high hill. Love it!

Forgot to say.... the counters in the kitchen are granite. Really love those too! I amazed myself by going so dark with the color (it's black, brown and dark green mixed) but I thought it looked great with all of the white cabinets.

omg !!! angie, my dream home at last.. lets see some more pictures..

What a beautiful Kitchen,I love the clean crisp look it gives.

I wish I could show you some more pictures 'cause I love to show it off BUT I don't think they are on the memory stick anymore. We are without a home computer right now so we only have my husband's work laptop. I don't think he saved them on there and once I printed them all for the photo album, I think they may have been deleted off of the stick. Didn't even think to have a disk done at the time that I printed them (duh!). The only reason I still have these kitchen ones is because someone on YT was talking about kitchens a while back and I had him send these to me at work.

Okay, just called to ask him (this is on his "work camera") and he said no, we don't still have them. BUT I can scan the ones out of the photo album and share them if you really want. I'll do that soon on a different thread. I already feel like I highjacked this one with all my rambling! Sorry!

Thank you! That granite color was not my first intention (although I really liked the color from the beginning of choosing) but then I saw it with white cabinets at a showroom and fell in love! Gotta say I'd never have white or light colored counters again. Dark hides so much!!

Angie, I don't mind at all about the hijack!!! I was thinking the same thing about asking for more photos :) .........I'd love looking at other homes...........I'd love to see the bath, bedroom, as in the bedding, or anything else of interest:D

I really will try to scan those pics in and get them posted soon. I kick myself all the time for not saving those to a disk so I can share but once I sent some to friends that didn't live close, we deleted them. duh!! Or better yet, I may just take new pictures and post them. But I plan to start a new thread and ask people to post pics of their houses too. I LOVE looking at other people's houses!!

And really, sorry for the hijack.... I SO didn't mean to do that! :D

I love those.....I would love my next kitchen (I say that as if we are building again) will be a big gourmet kitchen - complete w/ a baking station and all!

I loved your pictures! I didn't know what to think of white cabinets when we did ours, but WOW, I love that!!!!

I have lots of questions.............

Is that a farm sink?? - is that what they are called? I love those.....how do you like it?

What is the exhaust in the corner by the sink?

Is there another doorway into the kitchen (by the sink - on that wall we can't see)?

What color paint is that?? I am getting ready to repaint our kitchen/dining/bathroom/bedroom and I am looking for a "camel" color like that.

Sorry.........I ask questions all the time! I just love to hear about other peoples designs and decorating tips.

Our first house in the laundry room, had the built in ironing board....I have NO clue why we didn't do that w/ this house...our "next" house will have that in the mastercloset.

We have a laundry chute because we have three floors, but my DH wouldn't put in one of those little service elevators! HA! - I seriously wanted one...can you imagine carrying up a basket of laundry up two flights of stairs??!! Whew!

I never thought of the rope lights under the kitchen cabinets...I loved them under the bathroom cabinets...that is another good idea (and you have cabinet lights as well)??

We have wood floors throughout our house, expect for the bottom floor and it is painted concrete. I am not a carpet fan, but our wood floor has to be swept EVERY DAY - especially w/ all the big dogs in and out all the time (and my husband)!

We have tried several floor vacuums for the wood, but not the Shark - we have the handheld shark....what kind do you use? We just bought the Swiffer floor vac - is vacuums and then it has the dry pad behind it to pick up anything that is left......it works good. - always looking for something that works better though!

Another idea....we are doing the "bull nose" corners on our drywall - instead of the sharp corners (that get knicks and chips). I like those smooth rounded corners soooo much better!!!

One more............A SINGLE STORY HOUSE!!! I do not think we will ever do stairs again!!!! (ha)!