They left out that the very best feature of old houses can be cast-iron radiators with a boiler for heating, instead of forced-air which is one of the worst inventions of mankind. When I bought my house, I was only looking at old houses built before 1930 with original wood floors and boiler heat with cast-iron radiators - love my cottage in the city with the best heat any house can have. I also have other features mentioned above. They just do not build houses like they used to - now they are full of toxins in fiberboard and mdf, etc. (the glue has formaldehyde). Old houses were made of larger lumber - real 2x4 or 2x6 like they do not make anymore.

We are just building right now. Open plan living rooms and dining rooms are great, and all, but it's not widely mentioned that in order to do task lighting and other electrical needs in these large rooms you would need floor electrical outlets. Our living room with adjoining dining room are 21'6"x18'2" and 12'1"x13'6", with the same size space in the basement. There's no way to service these large spaces with wall outlets. We just realized 2 days before the slab was poured we had to rough in those floor outlets.
Design features need to be practical, and this deserves mentioning.

I'll add that one large rug is more practical for me as I have aged. Throw rugs are a tripping hazard.

All rugs, including wall to wall carpeting became more of a trip hazard as Hubby started dragging his feet, more and more each year. Last summer we replaced the carpet in all but the bedroom with LVT flooring. His only falls since have been in the bedroom, getting out of bed. He definitely has the old man shuffle gait. Flooring and something to grab hold of within a couple feet is what he needs these years.

I will be so happy when color comes back. I am so tired of white, taupe, grey, black.

It struck me that these largely seem like variations on a theme. All are very neutral. Most have white couches and large fireplaces, and some natural stone. If these are the most ’popular’ it seems people still prefer this look over LRs with more color and personality.

When we blended a family with three pre-teen and teen girls, all of whom had to share the one full bath with my husband, he set up a little vanity station in each girl's room (mirror, place to put hair and make up accessories). While not everything went this smoothly in the early years of the remarriage, this fix did result in all of four of them to be able to shower every morning and leave the house by 715 am to get to school and work. They all had a ten minute slot in the bathroom that everyone miraculously adhered to. But the real trick was giving the girls a space outside of the bathroom to do their hair and makeup.

Our youngest child turns 34 in October… so my husband & I have been empty nesters for a long time. I’d forgotten about the challenges of multiple bathers in the house! I don’t remember how we worked it out, but somehow all six were clean & odor free every day! It probably helped that there was only one boy who preferred morning showers… the girls all showered at night and in the morning, the older ones helped the younger ones get ready for school. Funny the things you forget after 15 years of just the two of you (mostly, excluding a few college summers)…
Wow.. that was a ramble down memory lane… any way… the best thing we’ve added in our family bathroom is the light above the shower/tub. I thought it was a dumb idea when we renovated our bathroom a few years ago, but our contractor talked me into it! Who knew it would turn out to be my favorite thing!