I wish my house was self-cleaning!

I wish it wasn't three levels. Our next house will definitely be on one level.

LOL, Jannies post is the BEST so far. But honestly, I have never seen such, nor heard of such.

Moni

To be honest, there's not a thing that I would change about this house.

It took me 26 years to find this one and the only way I'm leaving here is feet first.

There's no mudroom type spot by the back door. You come right into the family room from the garage. So shoes are piled up in the family room, by the back door, next to the piano - nice. There's a closet but it's across the room so shoes rarely make it there but for when the pile gets too big.

My house has other "deficiencies" but I've accepted the rest of them better than this one which is a daily annoyance.

I love my old house. The thing I think I would change if I could is to make the entrances more roomy. I'd like a mudroom off the kitchen, big enough for a bench, wall space to hang coats and room enough for several people to move around in.
As it is now there's barely enough room for 1 person to put on shoes and coats etc.

I really wish I put in gas appliances heat instead of electric and coal.
I love my LARGE laundry room...it does extra duty as mudroom, pantry, deep freezer and kitty litterbox. It is my perfect rid-up room for "quick company's coming!"

The leaky roof we can't replace til spring. The family room carpet we can't tear up until the rain and cold is over so we can plumb for radiant which has to be done while the floor is naked down to the sub-floor so we can get rid of the hated central heating system.

There's a Hole In The Bucket Dear Henry.

A walk in shower... definitely... as we age, we need something we won't trip over getting in and out to bathe...

I have it in my head to remove the Jacuzzi tub and have a walk in shower put in it's place. I love the Jacuzzi, but a hot tub on a sunporch would be much better imho...

Carolyn

Love my house, hate the popcorn ceilings. If you see them, run. Very messy and expensive to have removed.

I like my off-white carpet--when it's clean. Want to replace it with the ceramic tiles that look like wood floors.

Look for houses with lots of storage--big closets, garage, attic or basement. We don't have basements in Florida. They'd hit water before they could dig down far enough :-)

I'd love to have a big, really old "Rosemary" house, but at this stage in my life, don't think that's going to happen.

Good luck and have fun on your hunt!!

Better lighting, other than that I love my home.

I would like a smaller house.
With:
a mudroom
no family room
larger bedrooms
a craft/sewing room
one great room with view of the kitchen
deep tub

Our garage is "attached" to the house, but there's only a covered walkway from the garage to back door. No direct entrance from the garage into the house. The covered part is narrow, so if it's raining cats and dogs you gotta get that umbrella out and make a mad dash. It could be remodeled to have a direct entrance into our bedroom, but don't want to go to that expense.

We've just done that--as a matter of fact, we're still 'living' in both houses, until we can get around to selling the 'old' one (it's more convenient to DH's work, and our streets have been torn up for the past 1.5 years--so hasn't been the ideal time to sell).

The old house served us well for 37 and a half years. We do love it--love the neighborhood, our wonderful neighbors, great town/school system, convenient to shopping. love the house itself--with it's great kitchen, hardwood floors, plaster walls, stained glass windows, good storage.

BUT we admit that there were a few things that weren't perfect. Only one bathroom, shared driveway with next door neighbors, very small property, laundry room in the basement (while bedrooms are on the 2nd floor), hot air heat (dirty, not real comfortable). Fairly high taxes. And, at our ages, we weren't sure about all those steps.

So

We bought a wonderful rancher that has EVERYTHING on my 'must have' list and a lot of extras as well. 2 bathrooms, laundry room on first floor, big kitchen, large property (about 4 times the size of our old one), in a nice area with wonderful neighbors, a real fireplace, old fashioned radiators, beautiful Italian tile throughout. Unbelievable construction (every workman we've had in has commented on how solid this house is), great driveway--we could park 20 cars, without anyone being blocked in. We bought in an Urban Enterprize Zone/Abbott School district--the schools aren't as good, but we don't have small children BUT the property taxes are much lower, and the sales tax is half that in the rest of the state. Works for us, since DH will be retiring in a year or 2.

You're doing the right thing by evaluating what you like and don't like about your current house. Make a list of what's important to you, and then take your time looking until you find the place that completely fills the bill

Are you staying in OKC or moving someplace else?

We built a custom so I can't complain too much. Right now most deficiencies could be changed by decorating such as the echo in the living room would be reduced if we would put up some pictures and an area rug.

Here is a thread from the building forum that I thought might be of interest to you. I've listed my thoughts on what I think should have been done differently.

Here is a link that might be useful: Is there anything you wish.....

My parents bought a back-split. That was fine when they bought it 20 years ago. Never again; nor would I.
You're forever going up or downstairs. No main-floor washroom in their home, and the laundry is downstairs, which is fine, except there are 3 flights to put stuff away in the bedrooms.

Moni - My advice is to buy the right house for you, in the best location.
Don't get hung up on things like popcorn ceilings (actually pretty easy to fix unless there is asbestos) or shower curtains - those things are minor and can be easily remedied. Things like location, size, floor plan are hard to change. You might also want to check out the buying and selling home forum.
Get a really good inspector - preferably one recommended by friends.
Best of luck!

I'd like a larger walk in closet, ours is so cramped. Since you don't have small children you might want a house with a floorplan that has bedrooms and baths on each side of the main living areas.. it's nice for privacy when you have company staying the night, also if you ever needed a permanent room mate it would be better than having all the bedrooms on the same side of the house. I'd skip the outside deck and choose a patio instead.. much less upkeep.

Moni get one of those shower rods they have in hotels they curve out, then you would not have to be fighting the curtain, I think Bed Bath and Beyond sells them or maybe Home Depot.

As for my house I would have liked a bigger ldy room~~and the fire place in the living room not the family room~~the family room is small and having the FP there really makes it hard to arrange furniture. Also one of the bedrooms is way too small.

Too small rooms and would like it on one level.

I have no one to blame but myself for what I don't like about my house. It is a modular and I designed the layout. The master bedroom and a second bedroom are at opposite ends of the house. I did it that way so that each bedroom would have a bathroom just acorss the hall. The bathroom that serves the second br is also the laundry room. That is ok, except that from the kitchen you can see into that br. I find that I don't like that.

The Master br has a small room next to it that I felt would be a good place for a nursery for future owners. We use it as an office. Four years after moving into this house, I decided that we needed a large room addition to the house for our vast collections of 'stuff'. The room had to go on the back of the house, but I didn't want to loose my view of the back yard from the dining table and kitchen area. So foolishly the room that we added has to be entered by going down the hall past the master bath and master br and through the nursery/office. Awkward to say the least when taking company to see those collections of 'stuff'.

Poorly insulated
plus I would like insulated windows

brrrrrrr

My old house had sliding glass doors across the tub. Never again.

The above bar was too low and the bottom tracks filled up with soap/shampoo residue.

In this house I specifically asked for a separate shower with a swinging door, I like it. I use a squeegie on the door after each bath.

I also made the entrances to bedroom , bath, and shower wide enough for a wheelchair if ever needed.

A minor gripe is that the pantry light switch is inside the pantry instead of the outside.

I just thought of a couple of things I hated in previous houses.

Our last house faced north. I hated it because it limited which flowers I could plant. And with all of the ice storms we get, the driveway was frozen over for days in the winter. Any sun that would come out did not melt the ice. We had a gutter that drained off the house and right across the walkway between the walkway and the driveway so there was a huge slick spot walking into the house.

Also, we didn't realize that we were living in a swamp. This clay soil doesn't drain well. It affected how my kids could play in the yard. I wasn't able to garden either. I had to build my flower beds up so the plants didn't drown. I'd visit in rainy weather and look at the houses around me to see how the yard drains.

Read along on the "Buying and Selling Homes" and "Building a Home" threads.

We built this house nine years ago and got most things right, but there is always room for improvement!

*Single level, one step up to enter. Brick and genuine stucco. Full basement and full-height attic w/walk-up staircase. Nine-foot ceilings.

*Good family traffic pattern from garage to back hall (w/big closet, powder room and laundry) to kitchen.

*Hardwood and tile throughout w/area rugs. 36" interior doors. No thresholds.

*Lots of windows and French doors (Pella w/shades between the glass). Skylight in screened porch roof. Inset shutters and Roman shades in wide-framed windows -- no dust-catcher 'treatments' needed.

*3.5 baths. Master has separate toilet room w/window, jet-tub that fills fast and cleans its own jets, shower, two *deep* sinks, deep recessed medicine cabinets, linen closet. Two walk-in closets between bath and MBR.

*Flow-through humidifiers on gas forced-air two-stage furnaces. (Even heat and cooling.) Floor delivery w/two sets of wall air returns (heat or A/C). Thick, pleated blower filters. Central vac. Hot water radiant heat under north-facing rooms. (This was the remedy for a HVAC heating screw-up that we now love.) Mechanicals 'live' in the unfinished basement. An in-line pump supplies water to all hot water taps in two seconds.

*Big window over big kitchen sink, facing the driveway so I can see who is approaching. Pair of Dishdrawers. Drawers for pots under cooktop. Island w/prep sink. Green granite. 'Pantry' storage in back hall closet. Big "breakfast" room, where we eat most meals.

*A wooded one-acre lot on a 'country' street with only two houses in sight or sound -- one across the street and one 50 feet away next door. Yet it's only three minutes to town and RR station (40 mins to Chicago) and a few more to the beach. Choice of top-rated medical care and shopping within a few minutes' drive. Airport 40 mins. No air traffic noise, little sound of road traffic, train whistle now and then. Great town services and public schools. Ours is one of the smaller homes amongst many larger ones -- up to 12K sq ft on five acres. (Location, location, location.)

I really love our house, about the only thing I want to add to it is a pantry type cupboard in the kitchen and a closet to keep the mop and broom.

There are many things that need updating but we are doing them one at a time. This house is so large and each foom is very big so everything costs an arm and a leg.

I despise the fiberglass shower and the color of the tile in the upstairs bathroom.

We raised 3 kids in this house, and so it is roomy enough. But I would like more insulation and insulated windows, which Glenda mentioned. As we approach our 70s, I realize we would now like a one story in case stairs become a problem for one of us. We wanted a family room and kitchen great room, and it is something I still love for family holidays, and I MUST have the double ovens in any future house. But I have to say I see no need for our formal living room at this stage. I wish the dining room were a tad larger for when all 3 generations come for a holiday dinner. I encourage you to still have enough bedrooms and sleep areas so the kids and their families can afford to visit you and sleep at your home. I have seen friends downsize to small condos, and then their kids cannot visit without running up a HUGE hotel bill, so they do not visit at all.

Our house was built in 1910- nearly original plumbing and electrical wiring. We also do not have a driveway. I prefer ranch houses to split level but the above three items are be most irritating of our current house.

I, too, love my ranch, hate, hate, hated the shower doors in last house, love the curtains in this one. I love that we have wood floors in most of the house, carpet only in the living room and tile in the bathrooms. But in the finished basement, we have beautiful tile and area rugs. The sump pump failed once, and all we had to do was squeegee the floor and wet-vac the area rugs and hang them to dry. Poor guys next door had to remove and replace all their carpeting when they had a problem.

I think the best advice given here is from gardenspice: Concentrate on location and floor plan, because most every thing else can be changed.

Assuming you are buying, not renting?

I live in a Retirement Community, but since they were in the building phase when I signed up, I had the privilege of making some changes in the basic plans. I redesigned the LR/Kitchen/Laundry area so that it is all open and light. Also made other changes. So I am happy with the way things are now, and I will be here until I'm taken out horizontally.

I have never had shower doors because I knew I wouldn't like them. I use a heavy clear plastic liner with my shower curtain so that works well for me.

My choice for a washer/dryer is the stack type. Only needs a small space and eliminates the bending over.

One of my favorite TV programs is House Hunters on HGTV. It is interesting to see what people are looking for in their first house. Granite counter tops, huge walk-in closets, at least 2 bathrooms, with Jack and Jill vanities, media room, office, etc, etc.

Check out the link for some good suggestions and see which channel you get HGTV on.

Remember, this is probably going to be your "for now" house, not your "forever" home.

Whatever you do, the most important thing is a good, licensed inspector.

Enjoy the search. It is a learning experience.

Sue

Here is a link that might be useful: House Hunters

My house was built in 1933. The things I dislike are:
Lack of closet space (no place to store vacuum)
Bedrooms & bath are too small
Windows are old single pane
Laundry is in the basement
I could change the windows and laundry but there is no way to add more closets and storage.
On the other hand, I love owning my house and not living in an apartment or duplex. Best thing is having as many pets as I want. I have 3 cats.

What a great thread! When we saw our present house, I thought it was just about perfect (3bd/2ba/livingroom, dinning rm; kitchen with family room (could be a bit larger) attached....and it has been. One level, wide hallways/doors/bathrooms and bedrooms larger than usual and just enough storage space in 1700+ sq.ft. Two car garage that is roomy with storage along all walls, parking for our RV at side of house 10,000 (close) sq. ft. lot and the "country" flat side of town with great medical facilities no more than 10-15 minutes away. Our covered patio faces east which means we have lovely mornings, breezy afternoons even when it is hot. Wishes???? Garage for our RV, maybe a sunroom for when we are not able to travel in winter. Oh yeah...DH thinks he would like a fireplace or wood stove. Dream on. Nanny

1) No direct entrance into the house from garage

2) No mud room

3) No outside basement entrance/exit

4) Would put sprinkler system control box in garage - not
in basement

5) Larger master bedroom/master bath

6) Location! If I ever have another house I would want a gated community on a cul-de-sac

I really have no complaints, we "remodled" about 20 years ago. The house was originaly a 2 bedroom about 1100 sq feet, now it still has only 2 bedrooms, but now has 2 baths and is over 2000 sq feet. My kitchen is very large, we have a good size living room. and a more than ample master bed and bath. We put in a large walk in shower L-shaped so no shower doors or curtain. I have a fantastic reclining bath tub with juccuzi. The guest room is small, that is fine.there is only the two of us. I do wish I had a more compact yard, we have about an acre and half, and it is a real job to keep up with it.

I need a laundry that isn't in the basement!

1. Our basement. It's a good size but the walls "weep" when we have very heavy rains. The only way to fix it is to dig up around the foundation and pour more cemant along the walls. That would entail digging up our landscaping and removing our entire deck. We use it just for storage but would love to have been able to have a rec room down there.

I also have a galley kitchen. I miss my large workspace in our old house.

SamKaren
your resident DJ

My kitchen and family room are combined, one long room with a fireplace at the end. I liked that idea.

I HATE every single thing about my kitchen cabinets. There aren't enough for starters. I always say a man who hated women designed this kitchen.

The lower cabinets are so deep and so low you have to sit on the floor to get into the back of them. ( hello? A lazy susan, or pull out shelves would have been nice!) The upper ones are so high I can't use any of the top shelves.

What is with that 8 foot high cabinet over the refrigerator? Did he think we all keep ladders in the house?

I hate the hanging cabinet over the stove, if you want to talk to anyone in the family room, you have to bend down and speak under it. It too is way to high in the top shelves, making it useless. I also really dislike the "u" shape, I would rather it was just wide open. More than one person in the kitchen and no one can move.

Finally, what was he thinking putting a laundry room in a alcove in the family room? There's a long hall to the bedrooms, or even the garage would have been better.
If we weren't moving to the RV, I would have DH take a chain saw to the entire kitchen.

Other than the kitchen, for safety reasons I wish we had a rail along the front steps coming in. When you have ice, there is no safety measure, you slip, you are going to fall. A rail should have been mandatory.

Kathy just reminded me of something else. I would actually like cabinet space in place of the empty space above my cabinets. I would store things I didn't use often there so I wouldn't mind dragging out a stepladder when I needed something. The empty space above the cabinets is hard to decorate and it gets so dusty too... I would have loved the larger cabinets that went all the way to the ceiling.

Living room too small, kitchen too small, no dining room, no basement. Sunroom with dogs who need to go out in the Winter, so you freeze your behind off everytime you have to let them outside and back in when they're done. Oh, and the roof of the sunroom leaks. I'm seriously thinking of having it torn off the house. Heat pump for heat, freeze in the Winter and have high energy bills. Sloping driveway, slide backwards when there is ice on the ground. (I wised up this year and bought a bag of rock salt so I can get up my driveway).

no laundry room. I have a laundry closet in the kitchen and have to use the kitchen table to fold it all. Pain in the butt. Once the kids are gone, though, I guess it won't be so bad.

I wish my house was here and not in TX! LOL I wish I had drawers in all the lower cabinets for storing pots and pans and even dishes.You know,the big deep ones.I would have no top cabinets at all.I can't reach them anyway.I wish my stove was a built in cooktop top and ovens.I would have the cooktop a few inches lower than normal so as to be able to reach it when sitting on my scooter and the ovens at eye level with doors hinged to open like a cabinet door.As we get older (speaking for myself here) we think about things like being able to reach everything or being able to get around in the case we need a walker or scooter.Something to think about.

Split-level and fireplace is in middle of living room which I would have prefered it on end of house. I do not know if I will be able to maneuver these multiple steps as I get older but fortunately we do have a bedroom on the bottom level. We have thought about closing up all floors except bottom and living there when we get to old to climb steps. Then, when kids and grands come we will open up top floors for them to visit. Or get an elevator...LOL!!!! I actually know of a couple that had one installed in their multiple level home. I do not think we have that kind of money though. LOL!!!!

My kitchen. It is laid out all wrong. Not enuff cabinets. Stove works when it wants to.
It was worse though. I used to have my washer, dryer and hot water heater in there. Most old houses did at least around here. This one is 55 yrs old.

I have a 50's ranch and about the only thing i would change is the layout of the kitchen.I'd like to have a big window in the kitchen with the sink below it,and have the kitchen be one big room instead of kitchen and dinette area.We do have a formal DR though.
I don't like the popcorn ceilings either,but like the op said,that's an easy fix.

I have and will take shower curtains over shower doors any time,hate the doors,and my shower curtains don't cling.They have magnets on the liner,and the outer curtain is soft and flowy,but not into the tub.

I'm so glad when we got this house,that we got a ranch and not a 2 story,they're (2 story or more) aare the pits as we age.

I need and have garden space also,so you may want to consider the yard size.

We have 1 bathroom also and it's served us well all these 46 years with the 4 kids and others.

Don't get wrapped up in the unecessary things,look for good bones,and keep in mind what it is you want,cosmetics VS needs etc. Good luck
Kathi

Basement still leaks - haven't been able to correct that little problem.

Not enough storage! (Okay, maybe too much stuff...LOL)

Back deck needs to be rebuilt in the very worst way.

Several rooms could use some paint.

The kitchen cabinets are old, cheap plywood and are falling apart.

We have no insulation. So in the summer we spend hundreds of dollars to keep cool. Last winter we spent another fortune in propane for the heater. This year we have skipped the propane and are using room heaters. We are praying it is cheaper. Won't find out for another couple of weeks if this is true or not. I would also want a fireplace. Other than that, I like my house!

Trish

Our house oozes charm but lacks many things I'd like. We have very very small closets in all the bedrooms. The one full bath is very small. Quaint but tiny. It was carved out of a bedroom along with a big linen closet on the 20's. I wish they would have carved a bigger one. The bedrooms are huge so they could have. The original windows(over 40) have old fashioned storm windows on them. Kitchen is perfect but for over 20 years wasn't . My mother lived in the brick ranch they built when she was 40 till she was 90. I would not be able to do that. I wish I would have been smarter but then I was almost 30 years younger when I moved here. .

I love our 1900's Victorian house.. but there are a few things I'd have different if given the choice. The kitchen is way too small, too little counter space and too little cupboard space. The basement is unfinished and has such a low ceiling that it wouldn't be practical to try to finish it. It takes a lot to heat in the winter, and huge icicles (large enough, my daughter says, to wipe out a small family when they fall in the spring) form on some of the areas of the roof outside. And it could be bigger.. mostly because Gary and I are both collectors!

Wozer, Jas, how did you find it?