I chuckled when I saw that topic.....I kept thinking of "Toy Story 3" and 'Ken's Dream House'......hehehehehehehe. Ken's one of my favorite characters in that movie. But I digress.....
A few years ago, we bought 5 acres of land to build our dream house on. Then “life” happened. I’m reminded of the montage in the movie “Up” where Carl keeps breaking the jar of money they were saving for that dream trip to pay for things they needed along the way. I became pregnant with Zach and I decided I wanted to take some time off work to stay home with (what I knew would be) my last baby. And seeing as how unpaid leaves are kind of hard on the budget (especially when you’re married to a teacher!)……….we sold the land and that’s what allowed me to stay home with Zach for the first 5 months of his life. I don’t regret that decision a bit. Those were some of the happiest months of my life. But the dream house went on the backburner.
Fast-forward to a couple years ago…….right in the middle of the housing slump……we put our house on the market because we found the most PERFECT HOUSE to buy…..we had an offer agreed on…..we just had to sell our house. And we never got a single offer…….and someone else came along and snatched that house out from underneath us. Rats.
We have most definitely outgrown our current home. We’re hoping that in a few years we’ll be able to build that dream house at last. That’s the plan anyways…….a lot will depend on things that’re beyond our control, but fingers are firmly crossed that will happen.
Way back when we bought that original acreage……we hired an architect to design a house for us. :D We don’t have the finished plans yet (we told her to shelve it until we were really ready to actually build since codes/etc change over the years, it might need to be updated and stuff), but it’s going to look something like this:
I like the Cape Cod/Victorian look. If I have any say in it whatsoever, our house won't resemble a cereal box in any way, shape, or form. Box houses bore me. Sure, they're easy to build, but they're so BORRRRRRRIIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNG! :D
I’m going to tweak it a bit (I am like an architect's nightmare), and I’m thinking we’ll mess around with the dimensions and such (depending on building costs), but generally speaking, this is what we’re shooting for. And we plan on having a full basement too….preferably a walk-out, but that’ll depend on the lot we end up buying. Ah…….dreaming is fun…..
But since Karl and I have discussed this at length, we have a list of “must-haves” for the house:
4 bedrooms minimum (we’re leaning toward 5 actually, to have a guest bedroom for Nanny/PawPaw…but that 5th bedroom will likely be in the basement and will get added later probably.)
A huge kitchen with an island in the middle (I need counter-space!) that can double as an eating area
Master suite on the ground floor (Karl’s already worried about his knees) with a whirlpool tub
Fireplace (possibly 2...since this is my dream house and all, sure, what the heck!)
Mud room. This last week, tracking in snow all over the place….i’ve really wished we had a mud room where everybody could dump boots/coats/etc. Just having that little area to put backpacks/etc in would be so nice!
At least 3 bathrooms……karl’s rule of thumb is that there “should be a toilet for everybody”, so that would mean 5. I’m not too keen on cleaning that many bathrooms, but then I’m reminded that by the time we get to this house, the kids will be big enough to divide such tasks with……so I’m okay with that now.
Covered front porch. I want a porch swing where I can sit and sip iced tea in the summer. Aaaaaahhhh!
Just about everything else is negotiable, depending on $$$$$$ of course!
On the “would be nice” list:
I’ve always wanted a formal dining room, but the practical side of me screams that it’s utterly wasteful to have an entire room (not to mention thousands of dollars’ worth of furniture) that gets used a handful of times a year. So I’m truly torn on this one.
3-car garage. We’ll probably have it, as it seems most new house plans have them. Not sure how the kids are going to decide who gets that other garage slot though. :D
Dual laundry rooms. :D just so I don’t have to cart laundry up/down stairs, I’d like a washer/dryer (I’m thinking stackable) upstairs near the kids’ rooms in addition to the laundry room (on the ground floor or the basement or wherever it’s going to be). That way the kids can do their own laundry. Score!
A window seat and skylights. I always thought they were cool, but I also know they’re insanely expensive to build into a house. So we’ll see if that makes the cut!
That's about it for my dream house. Will what we actually end up with look anything like i've described? probably not! I'm a dreamer, sure.....but i'm also a realist. we may end up buying a house that's already built, who knows. but since the assignment was to describe your DREAM house......i had to think big! 'cuz who dreams small, right? :D
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