Must have:
Spacious & efficient mud room.
Whole House Fan.
If the house will be vacant for long periods of time, consider the following:
- Consider security, such as strong doors, good locks, lock strikes anchored to the frame stud or metal frame (not just a soft wood frame), no sliding glass doors, no windows in reach of door locks, possibly some sort of camera monitoriing or alarm.
- If it gets below freezing, consider how to prevent pipes freezing and cracking, causing leaks.
If the house is in a fire-prone area, consider what plant life to have around the house for fire resistance.
If you have lots of guests, consider locks with a combination feature so that you can give them their own combination and then cancel it after they are done.
Butler’s pantry
Undermount kitchen sink, garage floor drains, radiant floors, spacious kitchen/dining room.
Some of the things mentioned are required by code for all new construction in my neck of the woods. Whole house fan? Yup. Flashings for windows etc. Ditto. Fire suppression sprinkler system for homes over a certain sft or located on steep drives? Yup.
The issue with window flashing is that it’s often installed incorrectly. Review by a 3rd party who’s an expert on proper waterproofing techniques can save a lot of heartbreak down the road. Nobody wants to see a damp spot below a window and then be informed that every window in the house has to be removed and reinstalled correctly.
https://www.finehomebuilding.com/2008/07/03/installing-and-flashing-windows-correctly
“Given the fact that windows create large holes in a house’s exterior, I’m always shocked to see how many builders in our area don’t install them correctly. In the nine years that I’ve been building and renovating homes, I’ve seen windows that haven’t been integrated with the housewrap, improperly flashed installations, and even windows with no flashing at all. Not only does improper installation affect the durability and warranty of the windows, but it also exposes the wall cavity to moisture problems.”
The latest code in New York now requires make up air for any kitchen vent over 400 CFM.
@collage1 why would you have the heating going on your floor when the AC is on?
The first thing I’d like is a house where the front door location works. I really like houses where mudroom connects the garage to a front hall. I really don’t like spices in drawers and discovered that I have so many the drawers get really heavy if that’s what I use. I’m not crazy about my current system - most used are on floating shelves on wall. All the Indian spices (which tend to be in bags or larger containers are in a tupperware in a cabinet near the stove., the whole thing comes down when I’m cooking Indian food. Then there’s another tupperware of rarely used spices on another shelf in the pantry.
Other must haves:
Kitchen table with Bose butcherblock top
Farmhouse sink - one giant bowl
curbless shower
professional cook top and vent
Wall ovens
wine fridge(s)
screen porch
no basement flooding issues
laundry on the floor where it’s generated
If you are in fire country consider mineral wool insulation. It doesn’t burn and will provide some measure of protection.
Our master closet and laundry is between the bedroom and bathroom - it was an addition and that made sense given what was there, but sometimes in the middle of the night I would like it to be closer. On the other hand you can’t hear anyone using it from the bedroom.
This is how my spices are organized:
https://www.amazon.com/Rev-Shelf-Drawer-Insert-Organizers/dp/B00A2ZXMZ8
Another must have: space in the yard for a nice size water feature. Mr. B is crazy about water gardens (not necessarily koi ponds).
Musts
walk in kitchen pantry
outlets in the bathroom cabinets (who wants all the rechargeable stuff out in the open?)
I also have an outlet in my medicine cabinet https://www.robern.com/products/medicine-cabinets/m-series-cabinets/flat-top/mc2440d4fble4/ My cabinets are recessed into the wall so they just look like mirrors.
I have a lower cabinet pull out in the kitchen for my spices that I love.
My friend recently built a house and she has an awesome dog run. Fully fenced and covered. Pea gravel and a water outlet for clean up. The dogs can go outside and stay dry when it is raining, but more importantly they can go out at night or unsupervised without fear of a coyote attack.
I don’t like islands. I am too old and too short to sit on a bar stool any more. I cringe when I see pictures of children standing on stools to help in the kitchen.
Currently building our retirement house in California.
Must haves:
Hardwood floors (distressed Hickory so my dogs can scratch them up all they want)
Single story
Large kitchen Island with small prep sink and additional bar seating
Main kitchen sink- Farmhouse (double bowl)
Large foldable glass patio doors for that indoor/outdoor living
Curbless shower
Extra wide Hallways for wheel chair accessibility
Conditioned wine cabinet
Utility/Mud room next to garage
Laundry room with sink and cabinet storage
Attached Casita/Guest house for guests
Solar panels
In-ground water tanks for collecting rain water (water always a precious commodity in CA)
Drought tolerant landscaping
Then we have all the CA building codes requirements such as Fire Sprinklers with a dedicated 500 gallon water tank, Solid Core/Fiberglass doors, Electric vehicle charging station etc…
Lucky you! I’ve had a house built previously and I can’t wait to build again in a couple of years when we downsize.
You should ask the realtor that sold you the land about what buyers in the area demand. For instance, my broker said that even though I don’t particularly want a tub in my master bath, I had to put one in or else I’d have a hard time selling the place. I could imagine in a mountain house with lots of hiking and skiing you’d want to have a soaker bath in the master bathroom or a hot tub outside.
Here’s the things we put in our current house that we love: HEPA filters in our HVAC system, basement dehumidifier drains into the plumbing system so no need to empty the bucket, steam shower, air jet tub rather than old-style jacuzzi so no algae build up in lines, heated floor in master bath, heat lamps in other bathrooms. In the steam shower we have a tiled seat; make sure the seat continues all the way down to the floor rather than being suspended because you don’t want mold to grow on the underside of the seat. To save space the washer/dryer is in a hall closet with a double door, and it has a shelf on top of the washer/dryer for folding clothes. Natural light is important to me. I made sure most of my rooms had windows on two different walls. I also had a house once that had a screened in porch. For me that made the house too dark, so if I built one, I’d make sure it was just behind one room, and that the room had a light source from two other sides of the house. Another thing I love about our house is we have LOTS of outlets, including in the garage.
One thing I hate is paying lots of different bills to different companies each month: oil, propane, electric, cable, phone. I was surprised the propane company charges a monthly fee for the renting of the propane tank, and I wish I had bought it instead.
I think it’s important to pay attention to the size of all your built-in appliances; you need to make sure they are standard sized so that when they start to go you can easily replace them and don’t need specialty items. I also once had a stove hood that, unknown to me, had odd sized lights and it was exceedingly difficult to find replacement bulbs.
If you have straight stairs, it is relatively easy to put a stair lift in someday if necessary. I’ve heard that, rather than putting in grab bars right away, you can put the anchors behind the tiles and when you need to install the actual bars it makes it much easier.
Being in the mountains with lots of snow (I assume), you should think about your roof angles. You don’t want too many dormers or changes to your roof lines because snow can accumulate in there and cause ice damming and leeks. You might also think about what material you want your roof to be.
You didn’t say how big you want your next house to be. For me, I want a significantly smaller house that I’d age in place in, but I want to leave it open to whoever buys it after me to be able to easily expand. I also want to have an unimproved walk-out basement (but have plumbing roughed in for a bathroom and a kitchen sink). If I should need a live-in caregiver I could finish that space so we could have some separation.
This all sounds fabulous.
We have never built a house, but we have rented and owned quite a few houses around the country. The single most iirritating thing we have found is moving into houses that are just old enough that the wonderful (usually techy) things original owners install do not wear well over the years. They break, become quickly outdated, and are irritating to deal with. (A whole house radio/intercom in a house we moved into in the late 90’s springs to mind. As does a non-functioning built in sauna -in a Florida house - which we used as a storage room.)
Keep it simple.
If I had a house in the mountains (my favorite place!) I would want a mudroom with a separate entrance from the main entryway. I like to have a nice, clean entry for when people first walk in, but I would want the room with all the cubbies, boot dryers, hanging space, ski storage space as well.
I know you don’t want a tub in the master but I would get one somewhere otherwise families with younger kids might not want to buy the house. I would love to get rid of my tub but we are in a family neighborhood so I think it would be a bad idea.
The foldable sliding doors sound so nice if you can open them up and face the mountains! I looked at them when we replaced our old sliders with hurricane doors but they were super expensive and it is so hot down here that I don’t often leave the doors open anyway.
I would be the worst at building a house form scratch because I have such a hard time making decisions on big things. I remember when my friend built a house she made sure the electrician put extra outlets by her mantle because she likes to set up a christmas village up there and wanted to plug in the little house lights. These are things I would never think of!
“Keep it simple.”
Absolutely! Great advice. A smart house of today is a dumb house of tomorrow. Plus, things like elevators and car hydraulic lifts might be required to be inspected annually. It is $$$ in the long run.
Oh, not a feature but a suggestion. DH has photos of the house at all phases of construction. He knows where the wires, pipes, and ducts are. We built with ICFs (insulated concrete forms), so we made sure to record where the strapping is also. Our sons were 10 and 13 and spent their February vacation posing for pictures while holding tape measures.
I have no idea because building a home is the last thing I’d want to do - but kudos to you all who have taken on that project or will be embarking on it!
My dream home is a pied a terre in Manhattan.
- One floor living for us...with two bedrooms and a bath upstairs where it can be close off when we don’t have visitors.
- My mud room will be a LARGE mud room connecting my attached garage and house. It will be large enough for a large closet, hooks on the walls for daily coats, and an area for a washer/dryer/sink/folding table.
- Great room open to the kitchen and eating area.
- Master on the first floor with two walk in closets. Ensuite bathroom.
- Main floor powder room
- If my house doesn’t have an upstairs, I want the two extra bedrooms on the opposite side of my ranch house with a bathroom for them to use.
- Storage for the things I need and use...but I don’t want a huge basement, or attic storage place to collect “stuff”.
- Lots of windows.
- Location where someone else can maintain the yard, and if needed do things like snow removal. I’m done with that.
- Hoping for walking distance to the “downtown” of a small town. We only want one car. Not located on a main road.
- Low exterior maintenance...so vinyl siding, etc.
- I would love radiant heat but that’s not a deal breaker.
- Funny that this is 13. Since I’m not a huge or great cook, I honestly don’t need a fancy schmancy stove and range hood. Yes, I want decent range ventilation, and I would prefer gas, up my life won’t end if I have an electric stove.
- Plenty of kitchen counter space.
We divided the house into 3 zones for heat and air conditioning. The downstairs kitchen/living area has it’s own heat/air and the bedroom areas have their own. The upstairs has it’s own as well. That way we are only heating/cooling the areas we are in at the time.
Nobody’s mentioned central air yet? Or did I miss it. That’s another thing to put in while building. We ducted for it while building our current home and finished with the condenser/blower a couple years later. I pooh-poohed H for doing it at the time but now don’t think I could live (or sleep) without it… Even here in CT
A given if you are building in California ^^^^