One thing I haven’t seen mentioned yet - kitchen must have room for eating (a table and chairs, not just an island).
Lots of light in the kitchen, and easy ability to see into family room (I dont need entirely “open concept” - I actually like a little separation of rooms.
An attached garage, at least double, with some extra room for storing stuff/a work bench, whatever.
A laundry room with space to fold and hang laundry.
Fireplace in family room (double sided would be fine also).
I’ve seen a couple of homes lately with 2 bathrooms off the master. I don’t need that, but one had a walk in tub for her and I think a shower for him, and someone at work actually had 2 to8lets put in.
I’d be happy with double sinks.
What do people think about dining rooms? Even though we only use ours a couple of times a year, I really like having it.
Must have large deck, and would be great to have part of it screened in and covered.
@1214mom: We are doing a great room so the kitchen opens up into the living/dining space. We will have the island with seating for informal eating and a large dining table for 10 in the great space. I have a separate dining room right now which we rarely use.
I was thinking about that AC! Absolutely!!
@1214mom I don’t want a dining room…at all. Can’t wait to get rid of my dining room set, even though i like it. I want a large enough space that my open floor plan will be kitchen, living area, eating area. Open.
Central air is giving way to minisplits here in my neck of the woods. We stayed in a lodge hotel room with an LG minisplit. It was awesome. The functionality overrides its butt-ugliness. 
We have looked at the minisplit…it’s a thought here…
When I mentioned we have 3 zones of heat and air, I was talking about central air. We have 3 A/C units outside and 3 heaters in the attic. This allows us to be a little more energy efficient in that we don’t have to heat and cool the whole house all the time (about 2600 sq. ft. downstairs, about 1200 upstairs).
Edit: I just wanted to thank everyone for these great ideas - I’m taking notes! We will probably build one more house and that will be it.
We will custom build our next house. It will be between 3500 to 4000 sqft, single story.
Minimum height 13 feet. 4 bed. 4 bath. Junior master duplex as home theater.
Dry sauna. And bigger gym room.
Lots of cool ideas, but I feel like some of these houses would wind up being 3500-4000 sq ft to fit everything in!
What happened to downsizing? 
For those who want radiant floor heat in the bathroom - what energy source are you using? The house we are renovating for our retirement house (details in the Home Improvement thread if anyone is interested) has forced hot air for heating. Are you putting in electric heat?
We had the following wish list when looking for this house:
- flat lot
- two car garage
- 3 BR/2 BA at least, with a master bath
- ability to live on one floor with minimal steps
- salt water frontage, near beaches
- close to civilization/hopefully walkable, with a lot of year-round businesses nearby
- existing dock (new docks are nearly impossible to get approved, and you wouldn't believe what they cost)
- year-round
We came pretty close, I think. New construction was out of the question as there is virtually no un-built land with water frontage, and we didn’t have the budget for a teardown.
Oh and an on demand hot water heater rather than a hot water tank. I’d try to stay away from all water tanks since you don’t want it to give way, especially when you’re not there.
The screen porch in my house is on the west side where I was already being driven crazy by the afternoon sun. The room adjacent has a north facing window (with a view of the neighbor’s kitchen LOL) and a skylight. The skylight was a last minute addition and it really makes the room. I am so glad I put it in.
I’ve seen two hot water tanks die at friends’ places. They don’t burst at the seams or develop Niagra Falls like leaks. It is a tiny drip by drip stream that just flows out the garage onto the driveway… But if your house is in a place prone to power outages, a gas powered hot water tank will provide ample amount of hot water without the need to fire up a generator.
Indeed. My build is true downsizing, 1,400 sq/ft, trying to fit in 3bd 2ba.
I have not read through the posts. I am thinking about the things we did/did not do.
Wish we had a sink in the garage.
Glad we put a water spout on the upper deck (makeshift as it was not done correctly.
Love our designated gas line to the grill on the deck.
Super small but loved and used screened in section of the upper deck.
Recently installed (we built in 2003) quiet garage opener. Life changing.
That we put a closet in a music room with a full bath next door so it can be a nursery or bedroom.
Regret that we cheated out on the Master Bath tile.
LOVE that put a hamper in the MB to the laundry room.
Love our recirculating hot water.
Our current house is just under 4000 sq ft. Even with the things I want…we will be downsizing to about 1800 sq feet. No LR. No DR. No 4th bedroom. No completely finished lower level.
Delete those things…the only “space” I’m adding is a larger mudroom.
We just downsized from a 4br 2700 sf house to a 2br 1200 sf apartment. we also downsized to one car. I don’t miss the sq footage, but I do miss the storage space. The kitchen has much fewer cabinets, and even though we got rid of a lot of stuff, we’ll have to put some things in a closet. I also miss my larger fridge. I won’t miss yard work or snow removal, nor having to drive everywhere.
Definitely a green/energy efficient house with everything to operate off the grid if needed.
Like @shellfell, I am also more than halving sq footage going to 1,400. I am concerned about storage space but I figure I could rent a storage for items that are not used often. I will be doing my kid a favor by throwing out as much as I can now.
If you will have dogs there what about a dog wash station in the garage?
Well my current house is 5,000 sq ft plus a 2,000 sq ft guest house/pool house. We plan on doing about 3,000. The realtor tells us 4 bedrooms sell way easier than 3.
We nixed one architect. He seemed more like an engineer and had zero enthusiasm or ideas. Now we have 2 and after looking at their websites and speaking with them once we like them both. I don’t know how we should choose.
I found a first floor design that I like. Just a jumping off point but it gives them an idea of what I want. I’m putting these ideas on my spreadsheet. There are so many little things!
I do want a dining room, but not a formal living room. The kitchen I want will have a table in there but I do like to have a big space for company or parties to either eat or set up a buffet. I like to eat away from my dirty kitchen after cooking.
We had a small minisplit unit put into an upper area that just wasn’t getting enough cool air from the central AC. Love it.
The guy who put it in is building a house and said his whole house (about 1700 sq. ft) will have minisplit AC. He said they have big units for whole house AC. The best thing about them is that you don’t have all the ducting which saves your attic space for actual storage. If I was building a smaller house today, I’d seriously consider it.