If you could build your home from [almost] the ground up... (hardwood, roof)

[golfgal]

I would at least plumb the mud room and design it so it can hold a washer/dryer so you can have main floor living if needed. Keep in mind that while the washer and dryer in an upstairs laundry room are closer to the bedrooms, you generally DON'T spend all your time up there and will be running up and down the stairs to do laundry vs taking a basket of clothing up at the end of laundry day.

Slide out shelves and more drawers in the kitchen. We have a few large drawers that hold our pots and pans, I wish I had more. All of our base cabinets have a slide out shelf. It sure makes it easier getting things in and out.

If you do an island, consider either outlet bars all the way around or at least an outlet on every side of the island.

If you do seating at the island, have enough space for everyone in your family and at least one extra spot-so with a family of four, have seating for 5-6. As the kids get older there seems to always be an extra over. Since you are considering another child, plan for seating for 6.

Jack and Jill bathrooms seem like a good thing but the reality is that they are not very functional. If you do a J/J bath, design it so you have an entrance from the hallway too.

I would put a sink in each child's room and then have the stool and shower in the "bathroom". You could have a closet next to each bath and have the sink on the common wall with the bath so it isn't "in" the bedroom. At least have a split bath with the sinks (double for sure) in one area and the stool/shower in another. I have 2 teenagers sharing a bathroom right now--this would be SO NICE.

Put lockers in the mud room to house backpacks, instruments, etc. when the kids start school. Make them twice as big as you think you need.

Wire every room for a phone, cable, internet, etc. and put outlets in at least 2 places in each room so you can rearrange your rooms as needed.

Put a couple outlets INSIDE kitchen cabinets to charge cell phones, etc.

Put water spigots on all 4 sides of your house outside for easier lawn care.

Put warm water and a drain in your garage to wash your car, fill kiddie pools, etc.

Make sure your power room on the main floor can either be expanded or put in a full bath to start, especially if you are going to have it as a guest room and have Jack and Jill bath upstairs. Having a guest BATHROOM is a HUGE plus!!

[Chrisk327]

I just did pretty much what you're planning on doing, on the other coast, I'm on Long Island in NY.

we took a Cape that had 2 bedrooms down and 1 br up, and an atached garage it was around 800sqft down and 300 sqft up, and took the top off, knocked down all interior walls and rebuilt the house. we're not done yet but got sheetrock this week. all told, we'll have 2000sqft when we're done.

some people here had a great list of would be great things to have. Depending on your budget, floor plan size, etc some are more feasable than others.

Foam insulation -great for some climates, I"ve been to SanDiego, i'd probably skip, it costs a lot and its not particularly cold or extremely hot there.

2ndflr laundry is nice, (we skipped it due to size) you should think about the floor drain.

things we did -
ceiling fans in every room, a few sconces,
vaulted the ceiling in the master BR and 1 other, but kept an attic for storeage for 75% of the ceilings.
we picked a few fancy windows for the front eleivation, they cost more the arch pcuture window, the small arch window that we have over the doublehungs in the front, but they really do add something.
this is silly, but in additon to the 2 walk in closets in our master, we have a small linen closet serving the master bath and a SHOE closet serving my wife. she saw one in a house we looked at and has been talking about it for 7 years. its only 2x2 sounds crazy but she loves the idea.

make sure your main linen closet can comfortably fit a vaccum

make sure the other 2-3 brs up stairs are a decent size. no 9x9 brs.

make sure your house looks like a colonial. I can't stand dormers that look like, well, dormers. it should have interest, it should be well integrated into the existing house, it should look like someone built that house that way from the start. some would say that is commond sense, I think in my area probably 75% of construction miss this mark.

its a long and hard process, don't live there while their doing it, and realize it will take longer than anticiapted.

Last piece of advice, don't go crazy on any one thing, especially at the begining. the whole process is expensive. don't cut corners, put in quality materials. However, going with the nicer choice on everything adds up, we've done that, and that isn't wrong to do.

Our splurge was the fireplace, we thought it would be good to have a gas fireplace. we looked at prices online ok $1500, go to the store, this one is nicer $2500, but if you're getting that one, you should at least look at this one $3300, plus install, plus the extra on the plumbing bid to route the gas, plus the mason to add the stone to the front, all told probably $6K. I guess my point is, our lets add a $1500 fireplace snowballed. is it worth it to us? for this, yes. but for other things, self restraint is something needed.

WWW.gardenweb.com the forums over there are great for questions like this. Lastly, don't let the people's houses in the middle states bother you... they are putting in huge formal dining rooms with tray ceilings large mud rooms, study's etc. nothing wrong wth that, but a lot of the things they are doing are not practical due to size constraints, and $$$ constraints that the high cost markets have.

[Les Hackmeister]

A separate central air system for upstairs, maybe you don't need that in San Diego, and plenty of electrical outlets.

[zugor]

Two things really wrong with the house I live in despite the fact that it is nearly 2800 sq. ft. 1. No broom closet, place to store vac, mops, brooms other cleaning supplies. 2. No coat closet at all, just half a dozen hooks near the back door.

One other complaint is that the laundry room is super tiny, just fits washer and dryer, no room at all for any baskets except on the floor in front of the dryer, then you can't open the drop down door all the way.

And another annoying thing: the doors on the corner cabinets in the kitchen are very narrow and access is tough for the one that does not have a big lazy susan in it.

[Akama13]

Originally Posted by Ohiogirl81

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.

Agree.

[RoxySD]

Originally Posted by old_cold

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

VERY good idea. I will do that for sure! Thanks.

[RoxySD]

Originally Posted by Ohiogirl81

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.

Thanks for giving me food for thought. My DH and I did some thinking and decided to change it. Bathroom for the kids will be access from hall.

[RoxySD]

Originally Posted by Charles

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.

Agree on formal anything for us. We want all our spaces to be used. Thanks for the explanation on the hose bibs. Just emailed my builder to ask.

[RoxySD]

Originally Posted by Beachcomber4

Pantry, butler's pantry, built ins to store various serving pieces, linens, vases, glassware etc.

Large living/family room but also smaller sitting room that can also be used as the kids are growing as "their" space.

Outlets placed in anticipation of various electronics, Christmas lights etc.

Large kitchen space with an island or place for kids to do homework etc while you cook that is out of the way.

I love built-in's! Why do they have to be so $$$??!?

We thought about the kids having their own space so we are doing an upstairs loft.

My kitchen will be my pride and joy. We are planning two islands - one for prep and one to eat at.

[RoxySD]

Originally Posted by Squirl

Solar tubes are great for dark hallways.

Glad you are keeping a bedroom downstairs. If someone breaks a leg or otherwise becomes unable to climb stairs its very useful.

How about a balcony off the master and a little service bar in master with small fridge/icemaker/coffee station?

In my perfect world the master would have 2 bathrooms...each with a walk in closet. In one house I owned it was a single master bath but had 2 doorways, each flanked by a separate vanity area. I liked that.

The builder suggested a balcony...but we won't use it. Just not our thing. We are doing a loggia off the kitchen/dining/living room (great room) and that will be the outdoor space we use the most.