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Personally I never have a upstairs laudry room;too unstable floorig as to noise and of course it just adds another upstairs water problem to deal with. Master bedroom downstairs if your going to retire in this home.If your going to sale at or before retiremnt then no need to worry about aging into a two story home really.Ohterwsie plan it carefully if two story to onclude lift adaptabilty of the stairs.
I have a 1 handle faucet for my jetted tub. The water never really get hot enough because the water is mixed hot and cold. (the cold water comes on first and when turned counter clockwise the water becomes hotter.)
So in essence the cold water tap is wide open before the hot water even starts. It eventually become hot but the hot water tank runs out of hot water before the tub is full.
If I had a 2 knob faucet, the hot water could be turned on independently and only use cold water to regulate temperature.
I think I would save money. As it is now, I have my hot water heater turned up as high as it will go... and risk scalding myself if I am not careful... but when I want to take a jacuzzi bath... the water is only tepid warm. I need a larger water tank or change out the faucet.
OMG. That reminds me: Soaking tub (jets not important, but deep is, with a nice view, which can be achieved upstairs with a garden house window at the foot of a raised tub.
And amazing shower with a seat in it and the fanciest faucets and water features money can buy.
And lots of mirrors, skylights and that garden house window . . . Nice!
Charles gave a pretty comprehensive list and you have already covered my pet peeve about most houses -- the absence of a closet near or at the front entry. In fact, I always like to see an actual entryway, with room for a table (or better yet, something with drawers) to stash stuff people bring in the house. I know you don't have to do a lot of coats in San Diego, but I think it's totally awkward when you're entertaining and you don't have any place proper to place your guests' wraps, hats, umbrellas, etc.
Your idea to have what you are calling a mudroom when exiting the garage is great. Most Americans seem to enter their homes almost exclusively through the garage. With kids, you absolutely need a designated place for shoes, backpacks, and sports gear, or you will be picking them up in your house constantly. It's also great to have a place to dump mail, shopping bags, etc. In fact, I recommend a mail organizer right at the place you carry in the mail. Immediately separate the bills, must-read items, maybe read things, and a trash bin for the rest.
I covet a well-equipped laundry room. I have a decent one, but no room for a great one. My dream laundry room has a place to fold clothes, hanging space for just-out-of the dryer items, hanging space for drying hand-wash. A sink to do hand-wash. A flip-down ironing board. Multiple hampers so you can pre-sort laundry. Good lighting. Closed storage for supplies. If you have the space, a laundry room is also a good place to add a wrapping station for gifts. Always great to have those supplies at the ready and the folding table can do double-duty. I have a friend who has a freezer in her laundry room. Seems to me a reasonable place to keep it if you have one. Most people don't keep an overflow freezer in their kitchens.
In designing your kitchen, make sure you have an adequate place for your kids to do their homework. The vast majority of families combine dinner prep or clean-up with homework, so get a suitable place ready. I love a desk with a computer in the kitchen -- in addition to a completely separate home office. In most homes, the family schedules also invariably end up in the kitchen, so a proper bulletin board or other organizer is essential. I'd keep my coupons, recipes, take-out menus, etc., at the kitchen desk. I'm a big "store it where you use it" person.
Make sure your pantry is big enough -- and lighted. Even walk in ones could sometimes be bigger. This is especially important if you have pets and their huge food supplies are also in your kitchen. A recycling center is great in a kitchen. Most people have theirs in the pantry, but I have a friend who has a huge pull-out drawer in her kitchen island that has divided sections for different types of recyclables.
That friend also lives in San Diego in a custom home in North County that isn't huge but is beautifully designed. Her biggest regret about her home was her choice of flooring. She had a high-end Pergo-type product installed in her combo kitchen-informal dining-family TV room. The house was only a couple of years old when the hot water dispenser she had at her kitchen sink exploded when she wasn't home and flooded the entire area, including a long hallway leading to the garage. All the flooring had to be ripped out -- no matter how expensive it is, laminate flooring does not like water. She now has a porcelain tile that is a dead-ringer for travertine without the upkeep.
To see some fab ideas for your dream home, check out House and Home magazine. To my mind, it's the best shelter magazine currently on the market. Not available everywhere since it's Canadian, but I think you can get it at Barnes and Noble in SD or Borders, if you have any left. In any case, their website is also filled with good ideas and excellent design. House & Home
OMG. That reminds me: Soaking tub (jets not important, but deep is, with a nice view, which can be achieved upstairs with a garden house window at the foot of a raised tub.
And amazing shower with a seat in it and the fanciest faucets and water features money can buy.
And lots of mirrors, skylights and that garden house window . . . Nice!
We aren't bath tub people so we are skipping the tub and doing a steam shower. Def a shower seat though! Love all your ideas/advice!
Charles gave a pretty comprehensive list and you have already covered my pet peeve about most houses -- the absence of a closet near or at the front entry. In fact, I always like to see an actual entryway, with room for a table (or better yet, something with drawers) to stash stuff people bring in the house. I know you don't have to do a lot of coats in San Diego, but I think it's totally awkward when you're entertaining and you don't have any place proper to place your guests' wraps, hats, umbrellas, etc.
Your idea to have what you are calling a mudroom when exiting the garage is great. Most Americans seem to enter their homes almost exclusively through the garage. With kids, you absolutely need a designated place for shoes, backpacks, and sports gear, or you will be picking them up in your house constantly. It's also great to have a place to dump mail, shopping bags, etc. In fact, I recommend a mail organizer right at the place you carry in the mail. Immediately separate the bills, must-read items, maybe read things, and a trash bin for the rest.
I covet a well-equipped laundry room. I have a decent one, but no room for a great one. My dream laundry room has a place to fold clothes, hanging space for just-out-of the dryer items, hanging space for drying hand-wash. A sink to do hand-wash. A flip-down ironing board. Multiple hampers so you can pre-sort laundry. Good lighting. Closed storage for supplies. If you have the space, a laundry room is also a good place to add a wrapping station for gifts. Always great to have those supplies at the ready and the folding table can do double-duty. I have a friend who has a freezer in her laundry room. Seems to me a reasonable place to keep it if you have one. Most people don't keep an overflow freezer in their kitchens.
In designing your kitchen, make sure you have an adequate place for your kids to do their homework. The vast majority of families combine dinner prep or clean-up with homework, so get a suitable place ready. I love a desk with a computer in the kitchen -- in addition to a completely separate home office. In most homes, the family schedules also invariably end up in the kitchen, so a proper bulletin board or other organizer is essential. I'd keep my coupons, recipes, take-out menus, etc., at the kitchen desk. I'm a big "store it where you use it" person.
Make sure your pantry is big enough -- and lighted. Even walk in ones could sometimes be bigger. This is especially important if you have pets and their huge food supplies are also in your kitchen. A recycling center is great in a kitchen. Most people have theirs in the pantry, but I have a friend who has a huge pull-out drawer in her kitchen island that has divided sections for different types of recyclables.
That friend also lives in San Diego in a custom home in North County that isn't huge but is beautifully designed. Her biggest regret about her home was her choice of flooring. She had a high-end Pergo-type product installed in her combo kitchen-informal dining-family TV room. The house was only a couple of years old when the hot water dispenser she had at her kitchen sink exploded when she wasn't home and flooded the entire area, including a long hallway leading to the garage. All the flooring had to be ripped out -- no matter how expensive it is, laminate flooring does not like water. She now has a porcelain tile that is a dead-ringer for travertine without the upkeep.
To see some fab ideas for your dream home, check out House and Home magazine. To my mind, it's the best shelter magazine currently on the market. Not available everywhere since it's Canadian, but I think you can get it at Barnes and Noble in SD or Borders, if you have any left. In any case, their website is also filled with good ideas and excellent design. House & Home
Best of luck to you!
THANK YOU for your awesome well thought out post. I was hanging on every word! I can't stand pergo so that's out for sure. We were planning to do hardwood floor in the kitchen/dining/living room as they are all connected. Great point about kids doing homework near the kitchen. We thought the same thing so I figure they'll do homework at the dining room table while I'm in the kitchen. The kitchen has a small area for a "house desk" for mail, phone, laptop...
Thanks for the magazine rec, I will look for it. I have a Barnes and Noble gift card burning a hole in my wallet.
Let your fingers 'do the walking'
If you have a blueprint (drawing of the layout) go through a normal day by 'walking ' through the day doing a range of activities.
Regardless of what nicities you have in the house you may not realize how aggravating it is to have to.....for instance...close the dishwasher door inbetween each handful when you're unloading it, to reach a cupboard ....or walk 3 miles through the house before being able to set down a bag of groceries....or walk across the kitchen 5 times to just assemble the ingredients for a sandwich.
In other words.....play living in the house before you actually do
Jack and Jill bathrooms are idiotic. Have the entrance in the hall, where anyone can get to the bathroom without going through a bedroom. Cuts down on the number of doorways as well.
Two handled faucets are more simple; I like the independent controls.
No Formal Dining room. no one ever uses them except for three meals a year - all that wasted space. Same for double ovens - you'll use the second oven three times in the next ten years.
Sitting rooms and parlors are wasted space too.
Street pressure is the water pressure from the street, usually around 120 psi or so. Many backyard hose bibs come from the house supply which has been regulated to 60 psi or so - not enough for big backyard clean up jobs. I just routed PVC to the backyard upstream from the pressure regulator to have high pressure in the backyard.
Last edited by Charles; 03-31-2011 at 07:50 AM..
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