[Doofy]

What do you put in it? Would you have a den? Would you have a pool room? What about a bowling alley?

What would you put in your dream house?

[Mastrap]

Just bought an interim house in Toronto. Not my dream house by any stretch of the imagination, but a good investment. I won't tell you what we paid for it, it would only set you off again

My dream house is actually fairly simple. I am working toward owning a traditional farm house, wood cladding, wraparound porch. Overlooking the rolling hills of Eastern Ontario, or maybe Lake Huron.Not more than about 90 minutes drive to Toronto.

Large kitchen, and a summer kitchen in an outbuilding. I will want to be off the grid completely, so that means a mixture of solar cells, wind power and a bio diesel generator as a backup. Cost to set that us is about $30.000 but the Ontario government buys power of you at ten times the time it sells it to people to encourage small scale electricity production by renewable means. Reversible meters, baby.

[Doofy]

Originally Posted by Mastrap

I will want to be off the grid completely, so that means a mixture of solar cells, wind power and a bio diesel generator as a backup.

Strange you should mention that - I intend for my next house to be completely off the grid. Been looking into biodiesel (50 acres gives about 20,000 litres a year, AFAIK) and solar. Even gone as far as looking into single-home desalination for the water supply.

But what fun stuff would you put in? Or does the kitchen qualify as that?

[sek929]

A single story ranch home (approx 80-100' long) with an open floorplan. The kitchen, living room, and dining room are all one large space and includes an office with sliding rice paper panels to close the room off if you want to work in the office yet feel like you're in your own room.

Finished basement with a secondary TV room, a pool room (the game, not the water hole), and of course a large shop (probably about half the length of the house). I would use truss construction for the roof which would eliminate most of the storage room of an attic, but allow me to change any interior wall I needed to (trusses carry the weight to the outside walls only).

For the outside is would be a full wrap around porch with a smaller screened-in section for the buggy times of the year. Out back would be a large bluestone patio with a fire pit and built-in benches around the perimeter. A large backyard complete with 2 full size soccer nets and a few small sheds for tools, mowers, and other misc yard items.

I can't stress enough that if you are building a house max out all the door openings throughout the house (3' doors) and you won't regret it.

For a house I need no more than 2000sq-ft (maybe even a little less) I also HATE having any stairs that do not need to be there. Though sunken kitchens or living rooms seem cool they are needless and complicate the flow of the house.

Top it all of by using recycled mill timbers (mostly pine or fir) for all the floors...it looks absolutely phenominal when finished. White cedars on the outside and all cedar or fir for the inside trim (no paint, just stained).

On top of all this would be radiant floor heat in the basement, a central vacuuming system and a large hot water and photovoltaic solar system on the roof. On a nice summers day I'll be spinning the meter backwards and not using any fuel to heat water.

I estimate about 350,000 dollars from start to finish with a place like this (including a septic system). Which if you think about it is much less than the average home goes for around here anyways, so not only would I have a cheaper house, it would be brand new as well. The only problem would be finding cheap land....

[BlueSky]

Rustic wood, open beam, round windows, debra lafave, stained glass, arches everywhere, skylight, trees all around, dirt path.

[Goldfinger]

4 bedrooms. The Master bedroom HAS to have a dressing room. Bathroom for the master bedroom and one shared for the other 3 bedrooms + an extra toilet somewhere upstairs. I need an attic that spans the entire house to store all sorts of crap.
Downstairs I want one toilet of course, small dressing room for the shoes and coats, large living room with a fireplace. The living room must consist of 2 parts, one part to receive guests and the other part that's more of a TV room, the 2 parts can be separated by means of a largo double door. I need an office, a large kitchen with semi professional gear (I like cooking). The kitchen must be, of course, separated. Open kitchens suck as they bring odours into the rest of the house. Dining room with enough room to seat 10 people at the minimum for dinner parties.
I need a basement that spans the entire house, with a wine cellar, home cinema and general storage area and a small server room that houses the home automation computer and music/movie server for the house.
I want an indoor pool that can open up completely to make it an outdoor pool. Altough I'm not sure about wanting a pool, it's fun for the kids but after 2 years they don't care about it anymore. Something I really want is a heated jacuzzi in the garden.
Garden doesn't need to be too big because I'll be doing the gardening myself. No way that I'm paying someone to do my gardening, that's too snobby for my tastes. Maybe 4000-5000 square meters with a pond.
I would also like to have a 3 car garage, one for my car, my wife's car and my oldtimer/sportscar. Equipped with tools to work on it myself if I get an oldtimer.

Sensors in every room that sense if there are people in the room. When there are no people in the room it automatically shuts off the lights after a certain time. When someone enters the room again the lights go on again in exactly the same configuration as they were on before. Just a matter of saving energy through technology™.

Every room needs all the proper connections of course: ethernet (with gigabit switches around the house), wireless everywhere, phoneline everywhere, coax everywhere for TV and radio.
I want HDCP connections in every room and a sort of custom Front Row like app to access all the music/movies/tvs that are being served from the media server in the basement.

I'd like a custom built PDA like device (something REALLY light weight) that can control almost everthing in and around the house, from lighting to the alarm system to music. Also one big central touchscreen that controls the house.
No locks on the doors except for maybe my office and the bathrooms. No need for secrecy in my house.

I also want solar panels on my house to keep the electricity bill down.

And probably some other stuff I can't think of right now

[Mastrap]

Originally Posted by Doofy

But what fun stuff would you put in? Or does the kitchen qualify as that?

It would be the kitchen. I don't watch much TV, I don't play video games. My wife likes watching movies, so I guess a screening room would be on her list.

For me it would be kitchen and the summer kitchen. Walking from the stove into the vegetable garden to pick dinner would be a dream come true.

[Spliffdaddy]

A four-level Victorian with all sorts of nooks and crannies. Built with steel framing, epoxy-painted galvanized steel roof, and fiber-cement siding. Slate & marble floors, masonry interior walls, and glass tile in the bathrooms. Nothing that will deteriorate in my lifetime. Totally maintenance-free.

I even thought about covering the entire yard in pea gravel - just to avoid yard work. A house isn't something you work on, it's something you live in.

The houses I build have 30 year maintence-free exteriors. I use fiber-cement siding, fiber cement trim on the soffits, vinyl gutters, Plastic composite decking boards, and double-layer 'architectural' style asphalt shingle roofing. The siding will outlast vinyl by about 50 years - and you can paint it any color you want...but it doesn't require paint.

There's big money to be made in the next 15 years - when all that "maintenance-free" vinyl siding rots from UV exposure. Get into the siding business. Fiber cement siding and roofing is the future.

[davesimondotcom]

My wife and I have a few things we look forward to putting in our dream house someday:

* A dedicated office for me, with lots of natural light. Currently we share an office space.
* A "Body Shop" room for all of her Body Shop at Home things. This room would have it's own washer/dryer for her towels.
* A "crafts room" for her scrapbooking
* A kitchen with an island, lots of cupboard space and high-end appliances (gas stovetop!)
* A home theater room, possibly in a basement
* A covered patio for grilling
* Large master bath with walk-in closets

The devil is in the details, though. A space for mail to be sorted... etc.

[Dakar]

The bridge of the Enterprise D.

Who doesn't want a big screen and a comfy chair?

[wdlove]

I have always wanted to build a dream home. Don't think that I ever will though. My dream would be a home that is built into the Earth for increase energy efficiency.

[Binarymix]

I'd be happy with a loft/condo in modernized style with a well lit studio. I don't need a huge home or any over the top extras.

[ghporter]

This one. With the center fireplace and optional study.

The house faces XXeastXX WEST, with some nice trees in both front and back.

Edited to correct directional dislexia.

[Paco500]

http://www.dilbert.com/comics/dilbert/duh/

Except I would repurpose the cat related stuff. Wife is turbo allergic.

[FeLiZeCaT]

Redwood floors, white walls, huge windows, huge fireplace, neighbours 100 milles away, lake, or sea, a mountain at the back, lotsa birds outside, huge garden, 3 floors, a 100 000$ hi-fi system, large screen tv for movies, simple, modern furniture, with a huge sofa, and a redhaired beauty with a mischievious smile, lying on it.

[dcmacdaddy]

For my futuristic home, something that is passive-solar, earth-sheltered and made of glass and steel. It would consist of three, over-lapping, stacking cylinders with a uniform, curvilinear exterior. Powered by the wind and solar shades on the south-facing exterior.

For my country home, an old stone farm-house with a timber-frame interior to provide structural support for the second floor. It has to have a big fire-place and completely open floor plan on both floors. I would go with wind and solar--on the outbuildings--for this place.

For my backwoods, on-the-lake home, some kind of modified A-frame built on a barge such that it could be towed out into the lake and anchored--There is a company in Ontario that specializes in making sturdy, steel-hulled barges for just such a purpose. Power again would be wind and solar.

Every home would be built/renovated by placing the kitchen in the center and working outwards from there. I would have a big gas stove/oven and *really* learn how to cook. Plus, every place would have a porch of some kind with a nice big over-hanging roof so I could sit outside in a downpour and smoke my pipe while staying dry.


Sigh, sadly none of these options are even close to becoming a reality for me. I am saving every penny I can--about US$1250/month--to buy something. But my work keeps me in the city and I refuse to endure a hellishly long commute to "live" in some place I wouldn't get to enjoy that much. My expected promotion will grant me some more job flexibility so in a few years I could take my skills, go to a little town somewhere and get the cabin in the woods. I hope!

[macroy]

Realistic dream home? or a DREAM home?

It would be contemporary. I like that SW look.. sort like this:

The usual tile and hardwood on first floor; Granite countertops; Gas grills; Cherry cabinets with glass doors; 10'+ ceilings throughout the house (3 floors). 4 BR/Library/Movie Room/Studio with DW drumset.

Here's where the 'dream' goes to overdrive:

Only 4 Bedrooms... but all with its own full bath. All rooms will have ethernet jacks (at least 3)... runs go to a raised floor datacenter in basement with 2 APC racks (why two, I have no clue). In there will be Cisco PIX 535s (2) Cat 6500 (2) - in HSRP, Aironet Wifi, and a bunch of servers. Show room instead of garage, full court basketball/volleyball gym, putting green (w/ pot bunker), and a pond in the backyard... but not just any pond - one with an island green, heavily undulated and plays 80-110 yards from shore.

Oh, and of course, a 1/2 mile go-cart road track in the basement (that will work right? exhaust won't be an issue?).

[skewwiff]

If I had enough land, I'd start building a concrete skatepark, today.

[angelmb]

Some nice rooms (wired's opinion) over here:

http://tinyurl.com/j6con

The Marvel Comics guy has a Power Mac G5 as media center device.

[Nicko]

I would buy an old castle and then modernize it.

[Kevin]

Def a soundproof studio.