Some things I’ve thought about since we moved to our new house a year ago:
1) Incorporate a mudroom - have it go from the garage or side door into the kitchen. Our old mudroom was off the family room, and it didn’t feel efficient
2) toekick lighting in kitchen and en suite bathrooms - super nice to have on at night
3) If you have a kitchen island with a sink on it, use one of the drawers (we used the one above the trash pullout) as a paper towel holder so you don’t have to have a paper towel holder on your island. Ours pulls out and then there is room to store extra rolls behind the roll that is in use.
4) If you have little kids - we built a pullout stool in front of the kitchen prep sink so the kids could easily access the sink to wash their hands and fill up their glasses of water. They also stand on it when they help me cook.
5) water filtration - consider what level of filtration you will need for your water supply and locate any filters appropriately. Our Reverse Osmosis filter is too big to put under our sink in the kitchen, so we are locating it in the basement below the kitchen.
6) Consider the depths of your window frames if you want to mount any shades inside the window frame - it looks nicer if they don’t stick out and are enclosed by the framing. If you want any automated shades, make sure you run electrical wires there
7) Lighting - if you go with LED lights, particularly for recessed lights, make sure you get lights that are dim-to-warm (whiter at high brightness and get warmer and less white when dimmed). Also make sure that they actually dim properly - many LED lights don’t dim very much
8) dimmer switches everywhere
9) run gas lines to your fireplaces even if you’re going with wood burning just so the option is there to convert in the future. We have a mix of gas log sets in some fireplaces that we use often and regular woodburning fireplaces in other places that aren’t used as frequently
10) radiant heat flooring
11) bench in master shower
12) get high ceilings in your basement if you can - we have some workout equipment that my husband couldn’t use at our old house with 7foot basement ceilings. High ceilings make it feel like a much more usable space
13) agree with earlier post about trying to get your main entertaining spaces with some south light. Evening entertainment spaces (such as a living room) should get south/west light, morning spaces (such as a kitchen) should get south/east light. Rooms that you don’t use frequently should get the worst light.
14) video camera doorbells
15) get a garage door opener that can be controlled from app on your phone - comes in very handy
16) have at least one keypad or smart lock on your house that can be controlled by your phone or by entering a code on your keypad. Really nice if you forget your keys. The ones with smartphone access are good for allowing people to enter your house if you’re not home. They don’t always look great, so maybe put on a side door instead of main front door.
17) either a whole-house generator, or a generator that only powers specific electric panel(s) - but know this in advance so you can wire the panels properly and have the essentials all on a single panel
18) if you have an in-ground pool, an automatic safety cover is amazing. Safer, keeps pool clean, keeps pool warm.
19) consider running the wiring for an electric car charger to your garage so that you can easily add one in the future if needed.
20) consider the WiFi coverage in your house and make sure you have a sufficient number of access points to provide coverage. Include your outdoor spaces as well so you have WiFi when you’re in your backyard
21) Nest thermostats or something similar that can be controlled remotely
Q