<p>The house we are in now is the perfect ‘empty nest’ home. It was also the perfect ‘starter home’ when we bought it 15 years ago. 3BD/2BA, single story, healthy walking distance to a quaint downtown area, shopping, parks, etc (although I must admit we drive more than walk…lol). It’s only 1600 sq ft and we intended on trading up at some point but never did. Now that our oldest has moved out we only have one more at home (he is a frosh in high school) and once he’s gone H and I get our own rooms to use however we want!! We remodeled a few years ago to create a large kitchen/dining area with a computer desk plus an indoor laundry room and family room with an entire wall devoted to built in storage/bookcases. My only complaint is the closet space in our bedroom. I would LOVE a walk in closet!! The only reason to move is to get a change of scenery.</p>
<p>I want a one story home and you can hardly find one these days. H has bad knees so thankfully our bedroom is downstairs. He doesn’t like having to take care of a pool, so I suppose we might move when S graduates HS.</p>
<p>One story with basement for storage. Porches and or decks. About 2,000 sf is nice size–you really don’t need more. More than that and utilities will cost you huge $$$ except in Cali coast areas.</p>
<p>My dream is to have a laundry room on the floor where the bedrooms are! The majority of laundry tends to come from clothes and towels.</p>
<p>And when we have an empty nest many years from now, I don’t think I want to downsize. Every time all the sibs and their families visit my parents for get-togethers, it is a logistical nightmare!</p>
<p>I want two floors: main and finished basement. On the main floor I want three bedrooms - master, 2nd on the other side of the house and a 3rd which will be used as an office. An open kitchen with a big enough counter for serving buffet meal items, a great room, and a screened in porch. The third bedroom would be an office. In the basement, I want a 4th bedroom and a bathroom and a small-ish area for a TV and couches. I want the kids (who are still coming home for the summer) to have a separate level for friends to come over and hang out without feeling like I’m on top of them.</p>
<p>I would love a front porch. I want a no-maintentance home so someone else is mowing my lawn and shoveling my driveway. I want to live on a lake or have a wooded creek running through the back yard. </p>
<p>And I want it to be something I can afford, I love coming home to and my kids love being in.</p>
<p>We want a story & a half.
H & I talk alot about it. Right now as we think about it, we want 2 master suites on the main floor that open to the backyard pool/hot tub area.
I want a kitchen with a nook for my desk/TV + sitting area.
DH wants a 100% private office w/ comfy chair & TV.
2-3 bedrooms upstairs with a media room that is kind of sound proof.
Open floor plans are great to look at but too noisy.
Those are the main “wants”. We have a HUGE list!!!LOL</p>
<p>We want small, small, small. I think 1200 sq. feet would be great. And no maintenance or low maintenance.</p>
<p>We plan to have a large walk-in shower with a bench seat of some sort. Both H’s parents and mine have had health problems in their retirement years (stroke, total knee replacments,etc) that have made climbing in and out of a bathtub almost impossible and very dangerous</p>
<p>also definitely want laundry room and master bedroom downstairs,large family room but no formal living room (don’t use the one we have now). A small downstairs office would be useful. Must have a screened porch on the back as we will be building on a waterfront lot and don’t want to be taken away by mosquitoes!</p>
<p>I would like to scoop our own house up out of the suburbs and drop it down in some less congested part of New England or upstate NY. I never thought I’d become attached to a material thing like a house, but it is home, and by that time, being short one bedrooom won’t matter anymore…</p>
<p>I’d like a modern, brick two-story townhouse that’s attached only on one side. It would look over the water of a golf course. When you walked into the house, you could see that view. It would have a first floor large master bedroom with large bathroom with a tub with jets and a separate shower. It also would have a powder room on the first floor.</p>
<p>It would have a deck and space for a small garden. The kitchen would belarge with a gas stove and an eating area.</p>
<p>Upstairs would be 2 bedrooms and at least one full bath.
A 1 or 2-car garage.</p>
<p>It would be close to downtown and would have lovely places to walk nearby. It would not be in an elderly-only community, but would have families of all ages, but wouldn’t have rentals where college students live.</p>
<p>Climate: Cool winters, but no snow! Lots of sunshine all year.</p>
<p>I have thought a lot about this. I, too am not big on some of the things you have listed. I would build either a one story with a ge=uesthouse or a 2 story where the upstairs was visitors quarters.</p>
<p>I would have a large kitchen with a small eating and sitting area - perhaps 14-15 by 30, maybe L-shaped, this would be our main daytime living area. It would connect to 3 spaces - a small living/dining space, couches for conversation, but with the flexible to move things around and spread out a table to seat 12-14, the size of a large dining room. The second room would be a small, intimate media room/ library with lots of storage, big screen TV/projection and black-out capacity, but small maybe 12X14. Finally, the kitchen would connect to a LARGE “utility” room. I envision this room being long and narrow, connecting to the kitchen on one end and the master closet on the other, it would have lots of closed storage and counter/work space along the walls, it would also help house our huge book collection. Floor space would be used for exercise equipment, project space. There would be computer connections, and a small TV to watch while exercising. The far end of the room would be the laundry, opening directly into the master closet with the bath beyond that (?Why have the laundry next to the kitchen when the kids are grown - put it IN the closet). The master closet would be large, really a dressing room. Master bath as small as possible for 2 sinks, moderate counter space, separate tub and shower - I stayed in a hotel with one of DMD’s molded soaking tubs, and that is a must, and much more useful than a huge whirlpool, also a steam shower., and at least a glass block window over the tub. Small master bedroom, the sitting area will be in the closet - we mostly sit to put on our shoes.</p>
<p>I just can’t figure out where to put the front door! The way I envision the big utility room, in a house oriented to a rear view, it would run across the front - side entrance?</p>
<p>Well, yours will definitely be a custom job, cangel! :)</p>
<p>No stairs! My knees have started bothering me from those college jock days. Another option I have thought about is master and study down, and 2 bedrooms for D, guests upstairs, so I don’t HAVE to go up except once in a while. But I prefer the mother-in-law plan one story-master and study on one side of the great room, and 2 bedrooms on the other side of the house, with their own bathroom. 2 1/2 baths - lovely deep, not wide, whirpool tub and stand-alone shower. 2 sinks in both bathrooms. You never know when you need them to avoid arguments. The half bath for neighbors, etc. who drop by. Would love it to be on a lake so D and maybe someday grandkids come by.</p>