Most Important Feature of Your Home?

[Haven]

What is the most important feature of the home you raised or are raising your family in?

A really good mudroom? A big country kitchen? A great room for entertaining the extended family at Thanksgiving? A finished basement?

What do you love most about your home? What would you never give up if you were to move your family into a new home?

Thanks!

 

[somethingshiny]

In my grandma''s house, it''s the big mudroom. We were always such a mess from playing on the farm.

In my house, it''s the dining room. I LOVE being able to eat, entertain, and have a conversation without looking at dishes. It''s the easiest room to keep clean and the funnest room to decorate seasonally.

 

[Skippy123]

Haven, how is the house search going? We bought our house based on location and appreciation. I think it was the neighborhood that did it for us and good bones (meaning good floorplan). We actually remodeled the dining room, living room and kitchen. We have a wonderful huge backyard and nice size bedrooms and a nice open kitchen dining room. If we ever have kids we may have to move again but if we don't we will stay put. We almost bought a bigger house on the same street but they were asking a lot and got it so we are staying put for awhile.

 

[Mara]

our most favorite things about our current place are our walk in pantry, our dual walk in closets, our jacuzzi tub in the master bathroom, our downstairs french doors to our patio, and our kitchen with a huge island in the middle. also our family room and kitchen flow into each other which we love because then we can always all be together. there's no separation of rooms.

these are all things that we talk about having to leave when we move and we think oh we HAVE to find a place that has at least these things and more. home shopping once you already feel like you have a lot of what you want is hard!

 

[diamondfan]

ALL OF THE ABOVE!

We are building a new home, and we built the one we are in. We did the big kitchen and family room, mud room, (a must with dirty snow clothes), finished basement, all things that did not exist in my home growing up nor did it exist in a lot of the more traditional old homes here in PA...homes that did not have family rooms, and had kitchens that NO ONE would want to hang out in, just the cooks etc. You know the type of home, all meals served in the dining room for the most part, no real great hang out space...I would not raise kids without having some sort of casual safe area to be in and play in.

 

[Miranda]

Oh my goodness...There are so many things about my home that I love! My huge kitchen, jetted tub, sitting area in the master bedroom. I think the big kitchen is the thing I could never live without again.

 

[pennquaker09]

A floorplan suitable for entertaining. A great kitchen. I just wish I would have gotten quartz counter tops instead of granite. I love my dining room, but I''d love it more if Nate would let me paint it red.

 

[butterfly 17]

I would have to say my kitchen and my open floorplan. I love the way the kitchen and family room open up to each other.

My kitchen is not the best in the world, but it is definitely an improvement from my old one and I told my husband that we ever move, I don''t want to move to a house with a worst kitchen or bathroom than what we have now.

In other words, I don''t want to move to a house that is bigger, but the kitchen is not as updated or the bathrooms are not as updated as what I have now. I would rather just keep what I have instead..

 

[lyra]

I''m not at all in love with this house, and am finding it hard to think of what is it''s best feature. I would have to say the finished basement, which gave us lots of extra storage, a kitchenette, full bathroom, laundry room and rec room area for the teen kids to use.

I always say the kitchen is the most important room in the house, and in this house, it falls way short, as does the family room.

 

[misysu2]

I don''t have a home yet-- still living in apartments until FI finishes med school in May...

But I loved reading about your homes. I gotta tell you, I DREAM of big windows ALL over the house! Living in an apartment means I have one small window in each room on one side of the apartment, and the sun never even hits the windows because the buildings next to us are so tall and we face the north. I feel like I live in a cave! Lots of windows!!! Big big windows!! Never take your windows for granted!!

 

[butterfly 17]

Date: 11/14/2007 10:05:41 AM
Author: lyra

I always say the kitchen is the most important room in the house

Yes, That''s exactly how I feel. I feel the kitchen and the bathrooms are the most important rooms when looking at a house for some reason.

Also, if company is coming and you don''t have time to clean, as long as the beds are made, the kitchen and bathrooms are clean, everything else doesn''t matter.

 

[Mara]

i agree kitchen is super important, but for me it''s really the kitchen and the family room as the top two that must work for ''family living''. that is where we spend 95% of our time. the other 5% is in our master bedroom. we hardly use any of the other rooms in our house, well besides bathrooms hehe.

 

[surfgirl]

Oh, definitely our beehive fireplace, and our asskickingly awesome backyard, and the ocean view. Sadly, my kitchen still thinks it''s 1940. And not in a good way...

 

[lumpkin]

I love our house. We have a moderately sized eat-in kitchen, which I wish were bigger, but it is open to the family room. I love that and wouldn''t have it any other way. When I''m entertaining I really don''t want a lot of distraction in the kitchen -- I prefer to do most of the work, but I still get to hear what''s going on and be part of it if I want.

The bedrooms have hard wood floors. I really love that. I would definitely want to keep hardwood floors throughout the house, except the kitchen. I don''t have hardwood floors in my kitchen and though I love the look, I''m skeptical about how well they would hold up in our house. I''m honestly not sure what type of flooring I''d want in my kitchen if I were building.

One thing I would NOT do again is have the garage entrance through the kitchen. The kitchen table becomes the dumping area for everyhing we bring in and when I''m cooking and everyone is coming in and out of the garage it''s a hassle. I really wish we had a mud room. This would be a must have in a new house.

 

[Rosebud8506]

We love our master bedroom. It has a huge cathedral ceiling and totally makes the room open, and large when you first walk in. I love having the dual sinks also in our attached bathroom. It would be nice to have a jetted bathrub - but maybe for our next house

 

[Miranda]

Date: 11/14/2007 11:33:21 AM
Author: surfgirl
Oh, definitely our beehive fireplace, and our asskickingly awesome backyard, and the ocean view. Sadly, my kitchen still thinks it''s 1940. And not in a good way...

Surfgirl, you reminded me of my awesome ocean view. It''s another one of my faves! If I stand on a chair and peek out the corner of DD''s bedroom window, I have a 12 inch view of the Pacific, LOL! Oh well, it''s not much, but, it delights me every time I see it

.

 

[rainydaze]

we just looked into selling our home and moving to a home with a fourth bedroom and neigborhood, but realized we love our home now and it has everything we want/need, so much so that we're willing to forgo the extra bedroom and cul-de-sac.

we've got kids, and our yard is perfect for them. that's also something i had growing up, a great yard to play in. trees to climb, plenty of room for a whiffleball game or badminton, a tire swing, playset...... so for us, a big, usable, private backyard is a must.

we've also got a great room above the garage that we now use as the kids' playroom. it also has a pool/pingpong table which we enjoy, and when friends come over to watch the game and munch, that's where we end up. it's great, the kids can spread out and play and the rest of my house isn't a toy explosion anymore. every time we're up there with them we comment on how much we love having that space (it had a hot tub in it that we just removed to make it a playroom, so it's still pretty new to us, and what a difference it has made for all of us!). another must for us.

a feature that my DH and i could not do without is a woodstove. i had one growing up and there was just something warm and magical about it; he did not have one growing up and he wishes he had! the smell, the warmth, it just is such a part of my childhood memories. our first home had a toploader in the basement so at least it had something (and we used it a lot, LOVE the smell!) but we weren't able to put one in upstairs which was a major bummer to us. it was one of our 'must haves' when we moved to this house. 'course, if you live in a sunny state this is moot.

there is one more thing i could not do without - nice big windows that let in a lot of light. i love our oversized windows, and they tilt in for easy cleaning (not sure if they even make windows that don't tilt in anymore).

on the downside, we've got a standard ushape kitchen (that is open to the rest of the house which is nice) and sometimes it bugs me that it's rather small (12x12?). it fits a small island, but i could definitely use a larger one, and space for all the junkmail and 'stuff'. if moving, i would insist on a larger kitchen with eat-in island for the kids and plenty of prep room/junk drawer(s). so i'd say focus on that kitchen!

the only other thing that would be nice to have in this home is the mudroom - if you have the opportunity to put one in i say go for it. we saw a house that had a nice big mudroom coming from the garage that also had the laundry (instead of in the first floor bathroom) with tons of shelving, a pantry, lots of space and tiled flooring..... LOVED it. we've got a nice porch and in the spring and winter all our wet, muddy, snowy stuff ends up piled out there which is a pain and unsightly. it's cold to go and retrieve it and have it drip across the floor to get to the laundry, so it ends up causing me to procrastinate in putting it all away. not to mention, it's cold peeling all our stuff off outside; i'd much rather do it inside in a warm catchall mudroom where some stuff can go straight into the washer or dryer!

enjoy the process!!

 

[Catmom]

For me it''s a large front porch. I just love spending lazy summer afternoons reading on my front porch and I could never give up my evenings there spent with my hubby sipping wine and winding down from our days. I consider it my little slice of heaven.

 

[eks6426]

My back porch and backyard with gazebo and granite patio/paths. I love sitting outside and looking at the results of all the hardwork my hubby & I put in the yard over the past 2 years. It''s wondeful to see a plan come to fruition.

Inside the house, I don''t have certain items like the kitchen, bath etc. But more its an overall "coziness" this house. It somehow just "feels" right. It''s not big--1400 sq feet with 3 bedrooms. I don''t have a kitchen/family room combo that so many of you mention. But somehow it works better for me than the larger house I had built with all the bells & whistles. I can''t really describe why, but when I first saw this house I knew I had "come home." And I still think that every day when I walk in after work.

 

[Allisonfaye]

We built our home and moved in three years ago. I think we made some mistakes such as:
Not adding bay window option to kitchen. I didn''t realize (and the builder didn''t point out ) that in spite of looking from the inside like it doesn''t add anything but an angled window, it actually extended the kitchen about a foot. This doesn''t sound like much but our kitchen table barely fits in the space. Makes me so mad! It is unfixable.

I love our master bedroom.

We have a nice sized mudroom which is a must. I love the second floor laundry room. And we have a butler''s pantry that goes from the kitchen to the dining room that I LOVE.

When we move, here is my new wishlist:

Decent sized backyard. We didn''t realize how small our backyard would be.
Finished basement for the kiddies to play in on icky days (a must in Chicagoland).
Three car garage
His and her closets.

 

[divergrrl]

In order of favorite importance in my house:

Big Updated Kitchen
Master Suite with huge bathroom (separate toilet & 2 large walkin closets)
Formal dining room with extra-long table for entertaining

Things I want to add (projects slated for next 24 months)

Finish large daylight basement (great for kids)
Add nice laundry room (cabinets & drying racks, new washer/dryer)

Those are things that really make a difference to me in how I run my house on a day to day basis & contribute to my overall joy.

 

[zoebartlett]

I''m very envious! We live in a garden style condo and while it holds special meaning because it''s the first "house" that my FI and bought, it''s not our dream. The complex we live in is small and quiet and we love that. The downside is that there aren''t any amenities (no pool or gym/clubhhouse). I guess that''s why our condo fee isn''t as high as it could be I suppose. Two of our walls are interior walls, and I hate having an interior kitchen. So overall, while I like living here for the time being, the standard apartment style look isn''t the best. But it''s ours and that''s very meaningful.

Okay, I''m not answering the question...

One of the things that I love about my parents'' house in New England (the house I grew up in) is the area it''s in. It''s in the historic part of town and it''s known as the "village." It''s perfect for nice long walks, especially around the holidays. The old houses are decorated so beautifully. There are often holiday tours of these old homes around Christmas. So although our next place doesn''t need to be quite as picturesque, I''d love it if it were. I''m not sure this qualifies as a featureof the home itself, but it''s important to me.

 

[Haven]

Thank you for all of your responses! Every single one of your comments is making me long for a home to call our own.

FI and I have been looking for a home for about two months now. I really value your input about features because we''ll probably raise our future children in the home we buy, yet I''ve never owned a home (or raised children!) so I can only speculate on which features will turn out to be most important. The home I was raised in has a huge backyard and a really open floorplan, both of which I love. It does not have a proper foyer, which is something I always thought I would want in my own home, but now I''m not so sure how important that really is.

Skippy--Thank you for asking about our progress. We are still looking, and it is still very overwhelming. There are so many homes on the market, and they are all very different, and FI and I are not exactly sure what we want yet. So, we''re going to keep looking until we find the right place.

We are also entertaining the idea of tearing down an existing home and rebuilding, but I''m not so sure we''re ready to take on such a large project right now.

Keep those responses coming, it''s so interesting (and valuable) to hear what you love about your homes!

 

[Haven]

Date: 11/14/2007 7:42:19 PM
Author: zoebartlett
One of the things that I love about my parents'' house in New England (the house I grew up in) is the area it''s in. It''s in the historic part of town and it''s known as the ''village.'' It''s perfect for nice long walks, especially around the holidays. The old houses are decorated so beautifully. There are often holiday tours of these old homes around Christmas. So although our next place doesn''t need to be quite as picturesque, I''d love it if it were. I''m not sure this qualifies as a featureof the home itself, but it''s important to me.

Zoe--Your hometown sounds fabulous. I LOVE cottage-style homes and any neighborhood that resembles a village! There are a few "downtown" areas in the northern suburbs where we''re looking that have this village feel, and I''m definitely checking out every single home that is on the market in these areas.

I''m glad you posted this because I keep on waffling between charming village homes and large, subdivision homes. We can definitely purchase more house if we go with a newer home in a subdivision, but they lack the charm of the "downtown" areas. Your post reminded me of the reason I love these homes so much, thank you!

 

[E B]

A walk-in pantry sounds divine. We have a nook (which can barely be called a closet) with 3 shelves and barely any space.

Yesterday, I had to throw a bunch of food out because we were layering, and a lot of good stuff was hidden behind old, half-eaten boxes and bags. Note to self: When buying first home, look for walk-in pantry.

 

[KimberlyH]

There are several:

1. A layout that is open, yet allows for formal (living and dining rooms) and casual (kitchen, breakfast area, family room, all open to each other) space.
2. My wine fridge.
3. A place for each of us to call our own (we each have an office that is hands off to the other person in terms of decorating, how messy/clean it is kept, etc.)
4. Lots of windows
5. The walk in pantry
6. Double ovens
7. A place to grow fruits and veggies (my husband loves to garden)

There are a million more things I love about our home, but these seven are essential to us.

 

[Elmorton]

Big master bedroom with two seperate closets

A fireplace and a "Christmas morning staircase" (DH's description, mine is "Prom" - you know, the very prominent staircase that leads to the living room)

This one is really important to me - a separate dining room that is NOT sandwiched partially into the living room (ie, no TV while sharing a meal)

Lots of storage space

Historic character, charm

This one is just a rental, but I think we've been so spoiled by our rentals that we're going to be the world's pickiest buyers when the time comes (hopefully next year). The only thing I'd add to the list of my favorite current features is a kitchen that's plenty big enough for two people and a second bathroom (the two things I really miss from our old rental house).

ETA: I just re-read that you add what you loved about your childhood home...interestingly enough, all the things I've listed are things I love in my current home because my childhood home didn't have them! I'm an only, so having 1 bathroom wasn't a big deal, but I can't tell you how excited I am for my first christmas hanging a stocking from the mantle - LOL still just a big kid!

 

[somethingshiny]

I completely forgot to add my sunporch! We spend so much time out there. We live close to a river so we get lots of insects. But, on the sunporch, we have three windowed/screened walls where it's great to sit and read or take a little nap.

And, I didn't list my yard before, because I'm used to having wide open spaces. But, our house sits on almost 2 acres. I could never live in a house with one of those postage stamp yards. If it doesn't take 2 hours to mow on the rider, I don't want it!

 

[Libster]

Most Important:

Open floorplan (kitchen/family room combo)
Lots of natural light
Hardwood floors (so easy to keep clean)
Master retreat (bedroom, attached sitting room/built-ins,fireplace)
Master bath (cathedral ceiling, double vanity, water closet, his and her closets, separate shower and double jacuzzi)
Walk-in closets in all bedrooms
Finished basement

Wishes:

Mudroom
2nd floor laundry room

 

[DivaDiamond007]

Most important:

1. The SCHOOL DISTRICT is in the top 5 for this area. This is so important since we are working on starting a family.

2. Both of the bedrooms have closets - a rarity for houses built in the 1880''s.

3. The only bathroom is a decent size and has a large linen closet.

4. The new Pergo flooring in the mudroom, kitchen, hall and masterbedroom is great. The pugs don''t wreck it with all their running around and it''s easy to maintain. Similarly, there is new ceramic tile in the bathroom that is equally as nice and easy to clean/maintain.

5. The 1.5 car detached garage. My car has it''s own home and we have somewhere to store seasonal items and old furniture that I''m giving to my sister when she decides to get her first apartment.

6. We have a nice sized, private backyard. Perfect for playing with the dogs (and future kids!) and for bbq-ing in the summer.
7. Our house has a lot of windows. There is so much natural light and sunshine that it makes our small home pleasant and feel open and airy - even if it isn''t.

8. Finally, we have a front porch that extends the entire length of the front of our house. There is room for a swing for two if we wanted, but right now we just have two chairs out there. Perfect for watching traffic/people or snuggling up with a good book.

Things we want to change:

1. Our kitchen. The cabinets, appliances and countertop are likely from the 60''s/70''s and need to be replaced. The countertop is avacado green (yep) and the appliances are a creamy color. No automatic dishwasher and the stove is electric, which I really don''t like. There is room for a built-in dishwasher (my daddy can install) but we will lose valuable cabinet space when we do that in the future.

2. The bathroom walls have this plastic-ish paneling that looks like marble - again from the 60''s/70''s and it is really outdated. We don''t know what''s behind it so we''ll have to either try to strip it and paint over it or put some other more modern paneling over it. When we first moved in I really hated it but it''s grown on me since then.

3. The ugly, overly huge bushes in the front yard. Will probably need to pull them out with a huge truck to get them outta the ground. They just totally overwhelm the front of our house.

4. The carpets in the living room and second bedroom (nursery someday). It''s nice Berber, but around 5 years old and the previous tenant wasn''t the cleanest of people. We''ve had it deep cleaned three times and I still feel like it''s so dirty so I just want to replace it. In actuality it was supposed to be replaced by the family before we moved in, but they spent the budget on the Pergo and ceramic tile in the rest of the house. We would have been just as happy with linolium even though it''s not nearly as nice (or expensive).

~Jess~