One concept: hobby rooms

One room for each activity. Me, genealogy and sewing

Did you see the news the other day where they said His and Her bedrooms is the new trend in building homes? And supposedly it helps a marriage for people who need serious sleep. DITTO! lol.

For me, I would have built a "safe room", where I wouldn't have to go to the cellar. I'd put a TV, small fridge, and heat and air in there, plus carpet, water, etc.

If need be ??? Never ...after 40 years I don't think we would last one night alone. It was Hell for the 2 months I was gone on my bike trip...my right foot snuck out and met "cold air" LOL.

I read the whole post but couldn't find anything that applied to me...at least not at my age now. When I was a lot younger and cared way more I guess It would have made me want these things they talk about w/o kids what is the point. We have 4000 sq ft for 2 of us...plus his "dog house" out back. Nope don't need anything they offer.

Sorry :(...but the "if need be" got me !! c

Happy for you trailrunner, but after many years, my need be's are quite different then they were in the beginning. And... they are much fewer and farther between but that is a whole different subject. I am just happy for no snoring sounds, hoggin' my OWN covers, setting my own temperature, and reading to 4 in the AM if I please.

Not quite sure what his "dog house" is, but that may be on your list. I don't need to send my dog out, just down the hall~ All in good fun, please.

I'm short, so having at least one 30" high counter area would be nice. I could use that area for chopping and rolling out pastry. Someone tall could use it as a computer work station or wine bar or something.

If only one thing, it would be a bedroom sized all-purpose pantry. Plenty of room to store all my dishes and consumables. Well organized cupboards/drawers lining the walls with counter all around and a large island in the middle with white granite top. White cabinets with brushed nickle hardware. Under cabinet lighting and a substantial crystal chandelier over the island. Baby blue walls, with ww carpeting.

Can I have a cute butler too...LOL!!!

For me??? Gee ..... all those possibilities ...

Another room for me. My own space. Mine Mine Mine. No Boys Allowed.

It would look like Dumbledore's office. Bookshelves, desk, computer .... space for all kinds of trouble ... I mean hobbies ....

I'd re-do our stupid master bathroom.

And all of the closets.

And FINALLY add a laundry room. With a powder room. And a decent sized out-of-season coat closet. Because the "closet" at the front door is no bigger than a bread box. Idiot men builders.

AND a utility room with a sink and storage for household tools. This house only has a kitchen sink. No utility sink. At all. Idiot men builders.

AND a bigger pantry. A really BIG one that can hold more than coffee, tea and the liquor. Well -- there ARE priorities at this house! LOL! Idiot ... well ... you know ... they are idiots!!!! Seriously where do these guys get their stupid ideas???????

Did I mention that my DH finally put in a bit of wine storage? He used some of the WASTED space under the breakfast bar in the kitchen. Idiot men builders.

Jan at Rosemary Cottage

I have what I want: a shower for two with separate thermostatic controls.

More space where it counts ! What fool thought it was OK to make a room 11 feet wide? Dining spaces that measure 9 x 10! Duh.

I would *love* a luxury closet or dressing room! Shelves/drawers/shoe rack/3-way mirror/chandelier/leopard carpeting/mirrored furniture/wallpaper...have I left anything out? Oh yeah, a mirrored dressing table with a cute little tufted chair. ;o)

His and hers bathrooms in the master. I *hate* being bothered when I'm getting ready in the morning.

I have a large house (built in 1989/90) which has a lot of the nice features like big master bath, his and her walk in closets etc, but what drives me CRAZY (and really because why didn't I think of this or notice this when it was being built? probably because I was so grateful and excited to be getting all the other stuff )...is the laundry room. It is situated in a good spot, by the back door, and is behind the kitchen- but is not very adaptable to make it more user friendly/happy. There is a laundry tub, and I did add some wire shelving ( to hand laundry, store folded towels, etc) as well as some hooks to hang kids jackets/umbrellas etc. but that is about all there is room for. I've tried lots of things to organize the shoes/boots etc. My kids are now grown and not really at home so it's less bad, but the room really should be more functional.
The house also lacks an adequate utility closet. I can barely fit a canister vacuum and brooms, mops, etc. It is the unglamorous stuff that really will go a long way for me.
And I am loving how I finally learned how to italic and bold...........

New home builders have always marketed to women. It's just that the needs of women have changed over decades and the builders seemed to be stuck on an archaic format.

Women nowdays don't crave a built-in vanity so they can sit down to do a wet set everynight or 'put on their face' every morning before setting out the door for grocery shopping. Having a 'business center' in the kitchen (which was just a low counter with a phone) doesn't suit the needs of modern women who need their own office in the home just like their husbands. Women don't sew their own, and kid's clothes nowdays unless it is a hobby. Women don't need a place so they can sit down to iron on washday. Very little cooking is done from scratch nowdays and few women can their own foods. A built in flour sifter would just take up space in a modern kitchen and so would a mangle.

Vintage ads for new home builds almost always show a woman oogling the kitchen with the man just standing there smiling happy, satisfied that his wife is pleased with the new home design.

Good post, Dillydally.

A simple broom closet is all I lack. The rest of the house is perfect for the two of us, now that the kids are grown, yet adapts well when the kids come home with their kids.

The best parts of every day for the last 42 years have been playing/talking in bed before we sleep or when we first awaken. I EXPECT my pillow to get swiped just as I lay down my head.

Jan, can you hear me laughing?? Ditto everything you said!

Ohhh...a broom closet! I'd never thought of that, but that is something I'd sure love to have. And a pet room...where all their junk can be kept, their toys can stay, even their beds when I need a time out from them.

I'd love a home improvement center, unlike the garage, a dedicated space where I can keep paint, small household tools and COUNTERS to work on. Like a craft room, but for home improvement.

A room for recycling. Bins that hold everything and a compost bin (that would be vented to the outside.

Doors that lead to the outside from nearly every room of the house.

A blow dryer area...not near the sink!

And everything else mentioned above.

Dilly wrote: "....New home builders have always
marketed to women...": Yes, but not always built
for them with in intelligence. I finally have
a feature I have craved for years: *a laundry chute.
Visiting palatial homes, I have often grinned, (or
grimaced) at the mental picture of the 'Lady of the
Home' swooping down the circular staircase with a
basket of dirty laundry in her arms:>)!There are
designs where this feature simply couldn't
work, but so many where it could and is ignored.
Now, all I need is a silent butler to carry it back upstairs!

*Though most women today work outside the home,they
still do most of the laundry, or so I have read.:>/

*Though most women today work outside the home,they
still do most of the laundry, or so I have read.:>/ I don't know who does the laundry (besides me!) anymore. I have four married kids. Each of the eight spouses does his/her own laundry; one son does the kids, my son-in-law does the family sheets and towels and dtr does their dtr's laundry. Another dil does hers and the kids' laundry, while son takes care of his own. My own husband doesn't realize we even HAVE laundry!

The very best place for the washer/dryer, imo, is where the bedrooms are. That's how it is in three of my kids' houses. Very convenient. Why haul laundry up two stories from the basement when upstairs is where almost all the laundry is produced? My sons have no laundry rooms, just the washers and dryers behind closet doors in the bedroom hall, and a standard basement sink in the basement work room. I really love that arrangement.

sherrmann

I'm with you about the playing and talking and waking up together. And I married in my late 30s thinking I would HATE always sharing a bed. But I love it. Snoring and all.

Re. laundry room upstairs: Makes sense to me! Arguments against I've heard are the noise factor if laundry is done often at night while anyone is sleeping( I'd think one would get used to this, though)and potential flooding/water issues. Is this still valid with the better water hoses?

Oh lynne I was just being "funny"...I am really sorry if I can across as flip or insensitive. I guess after reading all the above observations I just really don't need anything else in the way of a different design . When we remodeled this 1890 house I tried to think of everything that I could possibly want and then eliminated things I either couldn't afford or couldn't have. We have so much room to spread out that I don't miss much of anything.

Oh and here is DH's "dog house" it is his private clubhouse LOL. He even made a cute handwritten sign " No Gurls 'lowed !!" I have it all fixed up for him and I added the porch too. He loves it and has all his electric keyboards and "stuff" out there.

I would not buy a house that didn't have a sit-down vanity. Of course, we are in the building/trim carpentry business, and we have never built a home or remodeled a home, that didn't have a sit down vanity. I have gone into homes without one, and can't believe the builder didn't put one in.

We are going to be downsizing soon to about 2200 s.f from 3900 s.f. We are going to concentrate on having more outdoor entertaining area, than having additional rooms on the inside. There are only 3 of us, DH, DS and myself, and instead of building a game room, like we have now, we are going to incorporate a bigger, office/den for my DS and his friends to go to. Also, DS room will be a really good size to entertain his friends. We have found, we don't need all this space and rooms we have, and hardly use, with only 3 people.

Integral vacuum with the toe kick dustpan option in any room with hard surfaced floors.

Bathrooms with a drain in the floor. Maybe a kitchen with a drain in the floor too, although I don't like superhard kitchen floors.

Dedicated litterbox area with ventilation and probably an exhaust fan. One reason we don't have a cat is there doesn't seem to be a good place for this.

Oops, that was two. (Floor cleaning counts as one).

If I could only do one thing it would be to make the keeping room bigger. That and the kitchen is where we spend most of our time. Even though our house is only 1700 sf we really only live in about half of that space.

Since I don't enjoy housekeeping a central vacuum would be a dream!

Had a built-in vanity in my room back home. It was nice, but not something I'd value today.

When we added on 500 sf to make the kitchen larger, add a keeping room, second bath, and laundry room ... we also included 3 much-needed closets (2 walk-in). It's so nice to have "stuff" out of the way, but easy to access. In the kitchen we installed a recycle bin behind the trash bin and in the utility closet there's a dedicated paper-recycle bin. Litter box spot in the laundry room, door-activated lights in the closets & pantry, extra deep lower peninsula for a work station, and lots of drawers in the kitchen.

I sleep with a snorer, but we're apart too much as it is. I hope I never wish for separate bedrooms.

My husband swears that in our next house we will have a pass through for groceries. So, after we get home from the store, we slide the bags through and wont have to carry them into the kitchen. He dosent want to have to actully lift the groceries and walk any distance. Sortof like a dog door that leads from the garage to the kitchen.

That's a cool idea about the passthrough but it would have to be fire doors in between since its from a garage.

A built-in fan, not an exhaust fan, in the bathroom that blows a good gust of air into the shower stall and dries the area. And I don't want to hear about the electrical code. Find a way to work it out.

And while I am talking about the shower, low maintenance walls and flooring that don't look cheesy. Why have grout in a shower? Why have caulk? Why have fiberglass (?) shower pans that come with instructions warning against using anything beyond mild soap and a soft cloth. Please, a shower floor should be indestructible.

I think that the nicest thing about this post is that each answer is so darn personal ~ and totally right ~ for that individual poster. There are no right or wrong answers . . . just very interesting ones ;^)

For me, I'm torn . . . after 12 years here, I finally did get my new kitchen, that I personally designed . . . and it's great: very beautiful (IMO), but very practical for day-to-day cooking in there. I think this observation is very enlightening, as the original kitchen was designed by our builder, who was a bachelor at the time and not much of a cook. It should be against the law for people like that to design kitchens! I also specified my built-in dressing table and, 17 years later, I still love it. I also specifically asked for a spa tub with a VIEW and a recirculating water heater, so that all that water would never get cold. I couldn't imagine sitting in a bath and not seeing anything. Now I have my private walled-in little garden to look out into while I bathe. That was a very good idea that I still appreciate very much. If I could ask for one more thing, just for my benefit, it would have to be a combination craft room and personal library. We already have a smallish study/library, but DH hogs most of the shelves and the desk. In my dream craft/library. I'd have many, many built-in bookcases for all my books. It would have a lot of practical storage (it's the Scot in me), a good, well-lit work space, and I comfortable, well-lit reading area. Ahhhhh, now that would indeed be lovely and totally mine!
Lynn

I'm with vampiresm, huge walk in pantry room. Not sure what I was thinking moving 15 miles from the nearest grocery store but okay. I decided to ditch the antique display hutch & just do it. It's not going to be the room I would LOVE to have but at 6x8, 10 ft high, it should work..until the next house!...where reading these posts gave me ALOT more to consider too! :) Thanks all! Great question Lynn!

Eclecticme...I'm with your husband on the grocery thing. I actually have a shopping cart marked in my favorites that I will eventually buy. That way, when I get home I can put all the bags in the cart and just push it on through to the kitchen.

This year I discovered Home Grocery Delivery (Safeway) and totally love it. I order enough that I don't have to pay for delivery...just order extra diet coke and toilet paper...LOL

A sleeping porch.

Lots of neat ideas (except the separate bedrooms)!! I'm not sure what I would have, but I'm very clear on what I WON'T have. Bay windows, sky lights, and a fireplace. I live in a climate where a fireplace is handy maybe 2 days out of the year, so otherwise, it's a huge maintenence/roofing/repair issue. Why bother? Ditto on the sky light.

On the separate bedrooms thing, dh and I can not last a night together! One of us will get up and move, to the the floor if necessary. We tried for 5 years to share a bed all night long and we were both miserable. But 15 years later, I can happily report that having our own bedrooms promotes martial stability, peace and contentment.
I can go to bed at three am, read late, toss and turn, let the dog out to go at 2 am and have no curtains in my room.
I love seeing the stars from the bed and laying diagonally across the king sized bed.
He can go to bed at 9 pm, have blackout curtains, use only one blanket (I need 3) and rattle the windows with his snoring. Neither of us like to be touched while sleeping either...two peas in separate pods....

If I had to pick one, I'd go with a larger master suite. Our BR is small, and our master bath is only a half bath. I would like at least a shower stall. Someday this might actually happen!

Others on the list:
Get the W&D out of the kitchen into a separate laundry room. This could also happen with the master suite expansion.

Enclosed patio room vs. deck.

Oh, and a yard that has a nice patio with pavers and other landscaping that isn't a lot of maintenance. I also take pavers in the driveway, too.

I would love to have my own bathroom. It would always stay clean and have toilet paper on the holder.

My mother and father had their own room for years and it worked for them. My dad stays up late and has the TV on loud.

A Ginormous Laundry room that would include:

Kitty Korner (litter box, storage, pet supplies)
Cabinet storage for Carpet shampooer, large vacuum, handheld vacuum, swiffers
A desk w/ a cute chair for sewing or laptop
A sink
A space for hanging clothes to dry

I love the idea of a "landing" room, maybe near the garage, where everyone can dump their keys, purses, backpacks. (Like the article stated.)

OH! His/her water closets in the master bath. (and I would only ever clean mine from now on...and forever and ever...haha)

short note, late, last 20 pages of a novel is calling me, bumblebeez - are we married to the same man??? LOL

Has anyone mentioned a dressing room? I would love to have one the size of a small bedroom with a place to sit and put on my makeup, full length mirror, roomy storage, and while I'm dreaming how about a coffee bar?

I'm of the opinion if a couple makes a unanimous decision to have separate bedrooms, alls well.

It seems to be on the upswing.

Artlover, my post above mentioned a dressing room/closet. It's gotta be glitz and glamour. ;o)

Here is a link that might be useful: his and hers....

Simple.....2 sinks in the kitchen!

Oh, please , please, please...put the laundry room upstairs!!! I had that in a former house. It was the thing I loved most! The laundry room was upstairs, with a utility sink, a window for beautiful light and a DOOR, so I could keep it closed!Heaven!

Since I searched and found then altered the plans for our home to our liking I'm quite happy about all we've included in it. The only thing I'd change is maybe a larger, though ours is good sized, laundry room. Once I saw the Duggers laundry clothing storage room I've wanted one. The concept of storing and washing clothing/linens all in one room (for the whole family) is brilliant in my book. Though ours would be even more organized since we don't have near as many in our family. No rolling racks, things hanging out of tubs or cardboard boxes.

Oh, and I'd also like one of these....