When building a house it is so exciting (and stressful) to design a home just the way you want it. We have lived in 3 different homes now: a condo we remodeled, a new build rambler and our current 2 story home. In each home there have been things I LOVE and things I HATE. As I have talked to others who are building, I have come to conclude that there may be things I wish we did differently down the road. However, my main priority was to include designs of things that I REALLY REALLY love into our new build, and with that I made a list of top 10 must haves for building.
Before we get into my top 10 must haves for building our home, let's talk about the plans. My plans were custom designed, but were inspired by this home. This exterior is farmhouse + cottage meets craftsman... is that is a thing? I guess it is now!
Top 10 Must Haves for Building
1- A LARGE Porch - we have loved spending time on our porch. It is also one of my favorite things to decorate.
2- 2 Story with Master on the Main Floor - I really like having all of the bedrooms upstairs. The only change we made was to put the master bedroom on the main floor so it'll be easier when I get old. Planning for the future, right?
3- Mudroom - right now you walk straight into our laundry room from the garage. This was one of those things I thought I would love because I could make it a mudroom too. Well, I HATE it. I can't do my laundry fast enough and keep that walkway clear. Solution? We created a mudroom without a laundry room right off the garage!
4- Laundry Rooms - I have this weird pet peeve about laundry rooms. I think it is stupid to haul laundry across the whole house only to haul it all back. Instead of having one big laundry room I made 2 small laundry rooms, one on each floor by the bedrooms.
5- Open Main Floor - I really like to entertain and have people at my home. This meant including an open kitchen and family room area where people could gather without feeling crowded. I wanted a large island in the kitchen where we can eat as a family, make cookies and dye easter eggs.
6- Entry Way - Another pet peeve? I don't like people to be able to see into my home when they come to the door. I like to think I am a clean person, but life is crazy and my house isn't always clean. It seems like everyone comes to visit when it's dirty! Opening the front door to our condo let you see everything. In our second home you walked into a front room first... which I didn't mind, but it was a waste of square footage. From the front door of our home now you can see my kitchen sink, usually piled with dirty dishes. Our new home will feature double doors that open up to a foyer/hall area. So if you are Joe Smo from across the street, you can't see anything in my home!
7- Property - Right now we have .25 of an acre. While this is plenty of space for our family, when you add my business and woodworking into the mix it gets really small really fast. I can't remember the last time we have parked cars in the garage because I have taken it over. It will be so nice to have some extra property to spread out. Which brings me to my next point...
8 - Garages - We have a small 2 car garage right now, which as I mentioned earlier, is actually a no car garage. We added 2 more garages to our new home so I could have 2 of them and then we can park cars in the garage too! We put stairs in the back of the 4th garage so I could have an office up in the loft and hopefully separate my personal life and work life better.
9 - Bonus Room - Where we are building we can't have a basement because the water table is too high. My basement has always been that "back up" space for storage or anything else that comes up. So we put a bonus room over the garages for added storage, my office and what my hubby is claiming as his man cave!
10 - Back Deck - Right now our home faces east. Because of the heat, you will find us on our front porch in the summer rather then the backyard. When we were picking out our lot we made sure our home would be west facing so we could enjoy our backyard at night. I have always wanted a deck where we can have family dinner and spend the evenings together.
There you have My Top 10 Must Haves for Building Our Home!
Inspiration for Building our Home
Building your dream home doesn’t have to be a daunting project. By researching for inspiration, creating a timeline and budget, understanding your real estate market, and working with experts, you can create the home of your dreams with a lot less stress. Being creative and open to new ideas can also help bring your dream home to life.
Your dream home is only limited by your imagination. Below I have resources to help, you find the inspiration to build the house you have always wanted.
- Windows
- Laundry Room
- Pantry
- Landscape
- Floor Plans
- Exteriors
- Master Bedroom
- Kitchens
- Small bathrooms
- Master Bathrooms
- Accent walls
Brooke
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