I like @functionthenlook's answer.

Just do it, If you like boiling hot water, you will not be happy with one of thise hot water taps. They do not hit boiling. Maybe an electric kettle?

We need to add a first floor masterbedroom and bath. Our original bedrooms are all on the second floors and I cannot get up and down stairs very well anymore. When we built this place in 1991, I insisted on a first floor laundry. A pantry would be nice!!

Reading through the answers, I'd add "clean windows" and "whole house electrostatic air filter" to my list. Both are do-able, just a matter of time and/or money and the gumption to get started.

I would like a basement and a bigger kitchen.

Drought tolerate attractive and low maintenance landscaping that's dog and critter friendly that also looks attractive without resorting too much hardscape. Wall hung toilets. We are getting there step by step, but it sometimes feels like 3 steps forward and two steps back.

Closets, closets, closets, closets. This 184-year-old house oozes charm and is large with ten rooms, four bedrooms, large kitchen/keeping room. HOWEVER back in 1840, people didn't have many clothes so although each bedroom has a closet they are far from the large walk-ins my heart desires. I watch too much HGTV...lol Although we have three working fireplaces and all original floors thru out and a great 1/2 acre with carriage house, garden house, and koi ponds, I doubt it would only appeal to about 10% of the population. It looks like it belongs in Colonial Williamsburg and in fact my carriage house was build from an exact replica of one standing there including the shake roof. Today's people like minimalistic houses and clean lines. My daughter was speculating what potential people would do and what I should have. Although architects lived here, the kitchen was awful covered in linoleum with oak cabinets but we did a gut job 20 years ago with Plain and Fancy and I wouldn't change a thing. Soapstone counters and painted shaker cupboards and a large pantry. In that reno, we changed out the small powder room by building a huge one using a small portion of the back porch. It's bigger than some people's regular bathroom, including ours. Our upstairs bath is very small for such a big house because they carved out a bathroom from a bedroom 100 years ago and this is what we are left with. Someone will knock that wall down and combine it with the bedroom and make a large walking closet and another bathroom.

A bigger kitchen. I have never lived in a house that ever had a big kitchen but my current one may the smallest yet. I have an enormous pantry so that helps but not very much counter space.....like hardly any. As I age, cooking becomes more of challenge anyway but it sure would be a lot easier if I had some room to spread out :-) Especially since I have recently taken up bread making.

More natural light would be lovely as well. I rent and it is the lower level of the structure I share with my landlady/homeowner....a daylight basement, I guess. It's a great place in all other respects and is perfect for me for many reasons, just a tad on the dark side.

Storm windows. Still. I always think I'm going to do it, and I never do. It's because I have to hire somebody to do it. I don't know how to get up on top of a ladder and hold a storm window to install it. 🙄

A heated garage. As I age I am finding that I hate getting into a cold car. Even starting the car before getting in doesn't get it warm enough & I hate wasting gas.

I forgot about a walk-in shower. Will have that in the next few years.

A hand railing on the front steps. I have bad knees, just had one replaced in March. I haven't been able to use the front entrance by myself for a few years now. Also heated floors in the master bathroom. I hate walking barefoot on them when I get up in the night.

I wish that my house had a walkable neighborhood around it, with shops, restaurants, etc.

A damp proof course, a dry basement and better insulation. in 1820 these weren't considered necessary.

Zalco, it's not the toilet...nothing wrong with it. It's where the inlet pipe comes in from the wall is too close to the floor. He could've piped it up even an inch or two would've made all the difference.

Annie, there is a Plumbing discussion group here ... post your situation and maybe you'll get an idea of how hard, how expensive -- or not! -- a small adjustment would be.

Thanks nickel, but I've been managing to deal with it....

But if our house ever burned down and I had to rebuild, it'd be something I'd fix for sure!

I wish my closest neighbors had huge properties so they would be far away and i still would have a small, but private, yard. I would like another full bath with a shower stall. A laundry room on the first or second .floor would be great. More charm. My house is a brick box but in a very desireable location. I would like aliens from another planet to suck up my across the street neighbors and burn their house down.

I covet a sunroom. Like my in-laws have with walls of windows. When we lived in their house briefly, I spent much time in that room.

Not an option in our house.

I would LOVE a smaller yard with the easiest possible landscaping.

Also the ability to walk out to a deck straight from the kitchen/living room.

I would love a pantry. I have limited cupboards in the kitchen. Would also like more storage in general.

I would like a large pantry. The house I grew up in had a 10X10 pantry and I loved it. I have cabinet after cabinet and shelves. Not as nice but oh so modern.

Live in servants.

Elves who are invisible and do all the work.

My sweetie! LOL

A maid and a gardener

I wish we had a storm shelter, more cleared land so I can plant more, and windows in the kitchen. I am considering putting some skylights in. The people who we bought the house from decided to add a really strange, pretty much useless room next to the kitchen. And they took out the window over the sink and replaced it with shelves, since the view from it would be the weird room instead of the outdoors. Its ODD. I store my candle making junk in it. And there is an ugly chair that the sellers left in there. It had been designated as George's chair. So we he does come in, when I am properly medicated,he goes to the dumb room and gets in his ugly chair to sleep all day. It is weird to me to cook in a sunless kitchen. I think that's it.

93 year old house here.

I want a Clozmahall

DH wants a Garagemahall

and a pool would be nice.

There are two options:

Get rid of DH. That would remove want #2 and free up DH’s office to be refitted appropriately. Getting rid of DH would suck Beyond belief.

So were gonna try for a pool.😂

A neighbor who doesn't own two dogs that bark when I am in my own yard so I am intimidated to walk all the way to the garden at the lot line. And I wish that lot line was level instead of dropping off about 2 feet.

Elves who are invisible and do all the work. >>>>>>>>> Live in servants.

A dachshund :(

I live in a townhouse condo which is just about perfect but a bigger kitchen would be nice.

I regret not realizing that buyers would want a 'lower level'. We could have torn out the existing foundation when we did a teardown, but we only added some crawls to expand the perimeter. Neither of us wants living space completely underground. It's fine to house the mechanicals and insulate upstairs from the damp, but today I see families using 'lower levels' almost more than the living space upstairs.

A columnist in our local rag has advised that if you are unhappy with your house, you should stop watching all these TV shows about remodeling. We *built* this house, and it's still not perfect! It does have almost everything listed in this thread.

I'd advise moving or building to most of you who say the house is not what you need at this stage of your life. It's almost impossible to make any house 'best' for all stages: Young couples; Growing families; Seniors. It's one reason we built our home twenty years ago to be what we wanted then and into our eighties.

Pantry or large cabinet to store pots pans Tupperware.

A bigger lot. I have a large home, but the lot is so narrow that I can easily lob a marshmallow from my family room window into my next door neighbor’s bathroom. If his window was open, that is.

Not what I’m used to - our last home was 100 yards off the road, set on 120 acres. I mourn the loss of my privacy and quiet (barking dogs, roaming cats setting off my security cameras, etc.)

A maid!

To be able to afford a place would be nice..

If I owned this place I would add on extra rooms. One would be a very large dedicated crafts area. One that cats could see but not touch :-) with sunshine being able to stream in.

The other would be an extra bathroom and bedroom and sitting room. This house really needs another bathroom and another bedroom.

A pond out back to see and enjoy. My sister has a huge one that I love, but it she lives in Michigan. Out here in these Northern New Mexico mountains it would end up being the local gathering place for every snake, packrat, mountain lion, wild horse herd, etc etc., in the area. All wonderful natural neighbors, but NOT all together in my back yard (LOL)!

We just got back from Hawaii. The suite we stayed in had a heated bidet. Life changing.

More kitchen counterspace is my #1 wish. Not going to happen here.

My house is 63 years old. I dont have enough electric outlets. I also wish I had a dining room. But I have a large yard which nee homes dont have .

Deb, when we had our little brick ranch, it was too hard for the builder to put electrical outlets in the outside walls, so they didn't . We added outlets in the floor from the basement and it helped so much. Maybe that's an option for your situation?

There are also "surface mount" outlets and covers for wire runs that look nice enough for informal residential use. We used them in our pantry conversion, as in this link: how-to-add-outlets-easily-with-surface-wiring

Thought of another thing I'd like to have: a dog washing station.

I think i would need a bigger breaker box first. Expensive Expensive! I can’t use my toaster and the microwave at the same time. 😢

I would say my baby, but no. As of today, my baby is HOME!!!! For now. I'll take it.

😁

No one has enough outlets. I thought I had added outlets everywhere.

I have to say as a person who has designed and built two houses I dont understand why you cant have outlets in the outer walls of a brick ranch. Solid Brick outer walls? I know it is expensive to put outlets in the outer walls of a log house. You have to make channels(expensive) or use Nickels surface mounts. Typical Ranch homes are Brick veneer-full sized, half or brick clad still you have a two by four wall to hold the drywall on the other side.

Sorry, I obsess

I would make the house slightly bigger for more storage and a chimney that is on the back side of the house. Having it on the front side makes for a serious drop to the ground (house built into a hill).

I have turned into a new person, This is Patriciae....

We have a historical home, 20 rooms, 4.5 baths. But the 1st floor only has a half bath. It would be convenient to have 2 baths or 1.5 baths on the 1st floor.

I'm wanting an in-ground pool...then maybe I won't need a beach/lake house. DH is set against it. Part of the problem is, behind our house is all wetlands so building it will take it a distance from the house plus all the associated costs of that...but still cheaper than a beach house...

I couldn’t think of anything until another thread made me think of this. I guess I would like a cupola on my house. Otherwise, I’m good.

Well, if we are going to get into the nuts and bolts, then yes, a few outdoor outlets (I have only the one inside the garage) and a full rewiring with upgraded electrical would be lovely! And new outdoor spigots, too, since the ones I have are so old that parts no longer exist, and the handyman damaged the stems when putting on new handles, so that they both have a constant drip - and neither has a shut off valve.