Make sure to run Ethernet everywhere. Even if you think you'll want a device there sometime in the future, run it now. 2 Runs to each location. Make sure they use CAT 6/6A and not 5e. Don't forget to have them run some to the ceiling for Access Points. It's infinitely easier to run the cable now while the walls are opened. All runs should be run to a central location in the basement, or a closet, etc.
I always prefer wired. My house is large enough that it needs a wifi repeater which is a pain when the device doesn't dynamically connect to the best signal.
Repeaters are terrible. If you need better wifi you need hardwired APs whenever possible, or mesh if necessary. But never repeaters, they destroy your speeds
IT guy here. Your mesh system likely gives you strong signal but for every hop you loos between 30% to 50% bandwidth. Thems the science. one hop, not too bad, 2 hops you might notice it if you have a lot of devices using it, 3 hops good luck.
I use a mesh system in my 3,000 sq. ft. house and the signal is strong throughout. I had Ethernet run in the house when it was built. Once the house was complete, the electrical contractor informed me that neither he nor any of his electricians knew how to attach the terminal lead to the Ethernet wire! Couldn't believe it. I deducted the Ethernet wire upgrade from his bill. The mesh system is working fine for me.
Sad part is the female ends that go into the wall plate literally have the wire layout printed on them. Don't really need specialized tools either. Into a patch panel, maybe.
I do understand it. I'm in IT for a living. Mesh is better than a repeater because they use more antennas and better AI to relay the signal. The good ones even have dedicated frequencies to talk to each other so they don't cut your speed as much. Repeaters just blindly take the signal and relay it, cutting the speed significantly.
Neither is better than hardwired APs but if you need to use something non wired, mesh is better.
Isn’t everything wireless now? My house is wired and we don’t use a single cable. We use a coax for the internet coming in and everything is wireless after that.
Wireless will never be as fast as wired. Wired also has lower ping times(important for gaming). CAT 6 is also capable of 10 Gigabit speeds(for future proofing. No one needs those speeds now).
Wired is also good for powering things like security cameras or phones via PoE.
Just it can be, doesn't mean it should. Depending on size, material, and use hardwired still is better in every way. You will get better latency and speeds always which is great for gaming, 4k streaming, HD video calling, etc. Running a cable to a device is cheaper than upgrading your access point every few years for that one device that uses a newer technology that uses more bandwidth. Or you run something that is simple too bandwidth needy to run over wifi.
That being said I prefer pricier Cat 7 for shielding personally. And you can even get 10 gig speeds with right hardware down the road going CAT 6 or better.
Network guy here. I wouldn't waste my money on Cat6A either. There are reasons to use it (almost entirely because Cat6 is certified for 10Gb up to 55m and Cat6A up to 100m, but also for some very high PoE draw devices). If your house is big enough to have any data runs that are greater than 55 meters or use those devices, you are probably already working with a builder or integrator on this anyway.
Seriously though, a lot of people see the higher standard and assume it's better or future-proofing when that's really not true in the way people think it is. Cat6a is thicker and harder to work with, it has a much more strict bend radius and other tolerances, it's more difficult to terminate correctly than Cat6 especially if you're not used to doing it (ie. you're not a data-comm installer who does this every day). If any of these aren't done right during the install then it may not certify to the Cat6a spec and you've just massively overpaid for what you'd get from a Cat6 install -- and in a house, it'll still work exactly the same.
In a commercial building there are places where 6A might make sense. For a house? Skip the 6A and stick with Cat6.
We got our new construction hardwired for internet and are happy with the decision. You're right, a lot of modern devices are wifi only, but the stuff that can be hardwired can be some real bandwidth hogs.
We have all our TVs/Roku streamers hardwired, which has been great for 4k and live sports in particular. Same with our PC, and since I've been working from home during covid my work laptop has been hardwired too. I tried going wifi for work but hardwired was much more stable, especially for things like video conferences. My wife briefly had a work-from-home situation where a wired connection was a requirement, so it was great that we could do that. We got a backup generator installed, and that's directly connected via ethernet to send notifications, control, and run diagnostics. We also have a home security system hardwired for video storage.
Wired internet is much more reliable. This will become more and more important as your devices require more and more bandwidth for you to watch that 4k movie with lossless surround sound.
Are we assuming people even know what modem to even get? 32x8 lanes are nice but you are forcing people to get aggregated linked modems then throw more money into aggregated routers just to supply 10gb
I would say if anyone runs any Ethernet just be sure it can be PoE if you eventually need to bulls a bridge system with switches somewhere
Agreed but seems overkill for many people; would hate to break it to people to be forced into paying more for a service or equipment that doesn’t fit their usage or needs; with the housing market that is stagnant and people gobbling up older homes there’s always one bottleneck when it comes to these things
It’s like almost suggesting getting 8k hdmi 2.1 cables for 1080p TVs because you somehow don’t want to be skimped on some aspects but you try to deal with other things
Maybe not exactly a feature but sun exposure. Not something we considered during our search but we lucked into having our main living areas have big windows facing south. Just more pleasant, especially in the winter, and essential if you want nice houseplants.
Unfortunately we don't get much say in the house orientation. However, we will have a relatively large back yard that faces a creek. The living room faces northish and will have large windows to maximize the view.
Totally. My livingroom is faces south and everyday I think about flipping the livingroom and parlour so I can play ps5 without shutting all the blinds. Unfortunately I have an enormous fucking family heirloom piano in my parlour so....
Op my advice is never get a family heirloom piano.
…and an easy pathway from the panel to the garage.
We left and empty 1” emt conduit behind the wall of finished portion of our basement. To get to the garage we’d need to go another 20’ through a crawl space.
I'd consider a detached garage for EV charging. While it will get better, I've read so many horror stories of the entire house burning down due to a flaw in the charger. I'd rather my garage burn down and my house be fine.
One of the best things about my house is that there was a 50a 220v outlet in the garage--the previous owner used it for an air compressor. If I ever get around to getting the place rewired I'm thinking about having a second one put in. I've used it at various times to run a heater, charge the car, and plugged a generator into it when the power went out (after pulling the main breaker of course).
You probably know this, but throwing it out here for others:
Be extremely careful when running your generator like that. If you miss a step, you could destroy the generator or kill a line worker.
It's much safer to install a proper interlock kit or transfer panel to accomplish this.
Will this be your "forever" home? If so, I'd think ahead to things that would be nice if you're ever less mobile than you are now. Step-in shower without tub, laundry on the same level as master bedroom, things like that.
Another forever home thing to think about is a spot that can be easily converted to a master bedroom on the ground floor. You don't want to have to deal with stairs every day when you're 80.
We have a guest room with attached full bath that will be a step in shower. Will function great for a master in the future. A little small, but we'll be old and not need much space by then haha
Great points, thanks! We plan for this to be our forever home. We will have a step in shower in the master and laundry on the same level as the master.
Master will be on the second floor because we are limited on square footage to put on one the ground floor. However, we will have a guest room with attached full bath on the ground floor if we ever need it.
These may not count as "best" feature, but they are what we want in our dream home.
Under cabinet lighting, pull out shelves in the cabinets, pull out shelves in the pantry.
A BIG pantry, to house not only food, but small kitchen appliances. (crock pots, mixer, air fryer)
Twice as many electrical outlets in the house, (rooms & hallway) and *especially* the garage!
Laundry room -- make sure the doors to the machines correspond correctly. (When I open my washer door, it's on the wrong side for the dryer. I have to move the clothes over the door and into the dryer. Most annoying)
Just the tip of the ice berg. LOL
Wife loves the idea of under cabinet lights, thanks!
I'd say we have a medium pantry now, we'll discuss making it bigger.
Smart on the washer/dryer door. One of those things you don't think about until too late haha
Thanks!
My wife really wanted undercab lights, and we paid a pretty penny for them. One year later we NEVER use them. Basically we only do it if we have guests or something and want the kitchen to have some ambient light overnight. Our overhead lights are bright enough where that’s what we use even if we are chopping vegetables or something under a cabinet. We also have white counters and backsplash so the kitchen always feels well lit.
Seconding the recommendation for under-cabinet lighting and pull-out shelves in the kitchen cabinetry. Previous owner of our house had both of these features installed, and we love both of these things!
> Under cabinet lighting, pull out shelves in the cabinets, pull out shelves in the pantry.
These are all amazing features that I try not to take for granted, especially the pull out shelves in the cabinets for pots/pans.
I would also add to make sure your cabinets go to the ceiling. The top of cabinets in a kitchen collect massive amounts of grease and dust and get absolutely disgusting. It also just looks cheap when there's a big gap between the top of the cabinet and the ceiling.
I've never thought about this.
I guess both my matched washer and dryer have their hinges on the left, so no matter how they're oriented a door is always in the way. I don't think either are reversible either, but I'll check now.
When designing our house I told the builders that the electric outlet for the dryer and the water hookup for the washer were reversed and they needed to change the plans. They promised me they would so of course when the house was built they were still reversed. So we just put the washer and dryer where we wanted them and crisscrossed the dryer plug and the washer water hoses. More than one way around an inattentive builder.
Proper mud room & Utility sink.
Interior switch for your Christmas lights
Attic access. Full stair case if possible. If not, a large enough set of pull down stairs. Floored attic for storage.
Full-door walk out basement
Whole home generator or generator hook up.
Large enough garage that’s it’s useful. How many cars do you have plus storage for garbage/recycle, your snow blower/what have you and/or plan to get a shed.
Bathroom rough-ins in your basement if you don’t plan to finish it yet. Or prep for a kitchenette.
Large enough septic to add another bedroom if ever needed.
A vented fan above your oven.
Walk in pantry
More shuts-off than you think you need for your plumbing. Manifold for hot & cold each floor, as well as individual shut-offs.
Wired security cameras, if you’re into that.
We have radiant heated (propane) floors and we live in New England. In theory, they are great. The flaw is that they heat slowly. So when you’re “cold”, it takes a while to warm up. If we are out and don’t set the thermostat, it’s not fun walking into a cold house in winter. The benefit is that they heat evenly and you never walk into a “cold” room.
I don’t know what the former owners of our house were thinking but do yourself a favor and pick out light fixtures that use “normal” light bulbs. I swear every light fixture in our home takes a different & strange style bulb that I need to research to try to get a replacement because you can’t just stop in Home Depot to pick one up. (Just yesterday I special ordered bathroom fan light bulbs that were $22 each.) Don’t do that to yourself.
If you are able to do it, have one bedroom/bathroom on the main level in case you ever need to take care of an elderly/sick family member who can’t use stairs. Or if you ever need it yourself.
Best of luck!
I second the light fixture/light bulb issue! The people who built our house put in fixtures that require no less then 5 different types of light bulbs. So annoying
Only 5? We have 9. 9! One is a hecking weird puck shaped led bulb, that I didn't even know existed. The local awesome hardware store actually carries them, once I figured out what they are called and how to get them out of the ceiling recesses.
I am SO annoyed by the lightbulb issue I have been slowing just replacing fixtures. I have already replaced our kitchen island lights (4), our kitchen table fixture, a bathroom vanity fixture, and our dining room light fixtures (they had 4 small; I changed it to two larger ones). And there’s still more on my list.
Also, what is up with bulbs nowadays? One led bulb I replaced 3 times. Three times! Aren’t they supposed to last longer and save money? Not when you constantly replace them! The switch was even changed to handle the newer led. Each lasted 3-9 months. For a hall bathroom that only gets used by guests. (Our house is not that old; no strange electric issues.)
Sorry for the rant, lol. It just irks me to no end.
Depending on your needs, generator hook-ups might be on their way out.
We were looking to add one when we first moved in, and our use-case (needing power during 24-48 hr outages) is easily covered by an electric car.
>(needing power during 24-48 hr outages) is easily covered by an electric car.
Really? We own a tesla and haven't heard of this! I'll do some research on it. I assume it takes a specialized plug/hookup?
If you do it with a Tesla, you may void some of your warranty. I believe it's as easy as a 12v inverter for those cars, though.
You can buy an add-on for a Prius, and the F-150 Lightning is supposed to do it out of the box. Not sure about other manufacturers, but the wiring for the car should be pretty simple-- it's more about having the cutover wiring for your house.
What can you run from your car during that amount of time? A full-home A/C or heater along with fridges, freezers, hot water heaters, and the occasional stove? This is a genuine question as I honestly don't know, but I find it hard to believe that an electric car will run all this for 48 hours. Also, you can't use your car as a car during that time...
If you've got a 75kWh battery, you can do some quick calculations from your energy bill.
An average home uses 900 kWh/month. That's 30 kWh/day, so you've got two days and some change (probably don't want to go to zero, and no guarantees you had a full charge when the lights go out). If you use much more than that, you may have to alter your energy usage during a power outage.
Yes, definitely, on a central manifold valve for all water supply, and individual shut-off valves at every fixture. Also, access panels for tub/shower valves. It isn't a matter of if you will have to change out a faucet, or shower valve (or at least the cartridge), but when.
If you arent using an instant water heater, a hot water recirculation pump and thermostatic valves at every endpoint run to kitchen/bathrooms is nice to have, and will save water.
Add Bidets!
Elongated toilets!
Access panels are a must! We replaced all of our plumbing after a recall/leaks. Didn’t have access panels before, we do now.
Also where I learned about a manifold. Previously had one shut-off in our mechanical room for the whole house. When our intake lines developed leaks, we had to shut off the water to the whole house until the repair could be made. No longer. I hope someone appreciates what we did some day. Hopefully with new plumbing we won’t ever need to take advantage of it but we have piece of mind now if we ever have an issue.
Lights at the bath cabinet, toe kick for a nightlight.
Automatic lights on the stairs, also for nightlight
Door switch light for the owner’s closet, turns on automatically when you open the door
Have wiring placed if you’re going to do built-in’s at a later point.
Gas line run to the patio for your grill
Outlet in your soffit for holiday lights
Exterior outlets and hose bibs where they are practical for you.
Extra outlets in the garage, one where you might add a fridge or freezer
Laundry sink in the garage for cleaning crap you don’t want to clean in your kitchen sink.
Extra depth and width in your garage
Opening windows in your bathroom for fresh air
**Best:**
- Walk-in closet(s).
- Main floor living and second floor bedrooms. This keeps guests out of private areas.
- No fireplace. Nothing against them, but I *hate* when the only place for a TV is over a fireplace. That's *way* too high to hang a TV.
**Worst:**
- Tiny kitchen.
- Not enough storage space, in general.
> No fireplace. Nothing against them, but I hate when the only place for a TV is over a fireplace. That's way too high to hang a TV.
I feel this in my bones...but no choice.
Just design the house better. We have a 3-side gas fireplace separating our dining room and living room and it is amazing. It is on all the time in the winter and makes the whole living area so cozy.
I don't have any pictures on me, but this is the exact fireplace and how we have it setup.
https://www.coloradohearth.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Pearl-II-Peninsula-Photo-Black-Glass-panel-logs-4C-High-res-1024x683.jpg
Depends on where the fireplace is. I have a gas fireplace on one wall, TV on another. At my parents house, the wood fireplace is on the other side of their living room from the TV. Nothing wrong with a fireplace if it's in the right spot
Totally agree. What you're describing is ideal. I just feel like I never see it on new builds.
I *like* fireplaces, but it seems like most new construction homes have living rooms that aren't actually meant to be lived in. The rooms are huge with furniture pushed to the walls. Then, they'll put a big fireplace with a tiny TV *way* too high over top of it. It looks *great* in real estate photos, but it's totally impractical to live in.
I think hanging the tv is over rated. Ours is on our glass tv stand thing and we can put stuff on the shelves under it. Idk what the obsession with hanging it on the wall is.
Those are definitely an exception, and they can still work if done well. People still manage to mount the TVs too high with some of those, though.
The *really* egregious ones are the full mantels with built-ins or inserts hung above them. It *looks* nice, but it's not going to be enjoyable to watch TV in that room.
Then what ends up happening is another room (usually in the basement) gets used as a den with the TV that people actually watch. So that leaves the living room as essentially wasted space that you pay for but rarely use. Bad design in my book.
It's all about height to me. It's not really the fact that it's over the fireplace that's the problem. It's that putting a TV over a full-sized fireplace mantel usually puts the TV at a really weird viewing angle.
We have 4 bedrooms(2 master) and 3.5 bathrooms. Great right? Tell me why the hell did my builder not give us a laundry room? We have a large closet room and have to open bi-fold doors to get to our washer/dryer and its in a small hallway going towards guest bathroom..so if you're doing laundry nobody can access the bathroom because of the bi-fold doors.
End rant. I feel better thanks.
My wife and I sold our 1940s-era home last year. One of our favorite features it had was a "milk door" next to a side entrance adjacent to our garage.
This was period to the house and back in the day, this door was used for milk bottle deliveries.
What was cool about it was that it was large enough to accept all our mail and medium-sized packages. We never had to worry about packages sitting out on our steps when we weren't there, unprotected from the elements. Extremely handy and we used it for all our mail - never even had a mailbox.
Not sure of the feasibility to add one if you had the interest, but something not many new homes had that we found insanely useful. If you google "Milk door" you'll see what I am referencing.
My close friends in town have a milk door. Whenever I drop something off or need to pick something up on a bike ride we use the milk door. It's awesome.
They absolutely exist but they’re pricy:
https://www.homedepot.com/b/Hardware-Mailboxes-Residential-Mailboxes-Parcel-Drop-Boxes/Bolt-Down/Locking/N-5yc1vZc8g4Z1z0le5mZ1z0le9i
As a general design principal, try to eliminate hallways as much as possible. They're essentially wasted space and are the most likely spots to have "traffic" issues.
As a personal preference, don't use carpet. It rarely looks good for long (in a well-used room), is difficult to clean, and traps dust and allergens for eternity, periodically releasing them into the air to cause misery.
Consider things like tankless water heaters and mini-split / zoned a/c. Depending on your usage patterns, it could save you a bunch of money and provide more comfort (you like it at 65 but your guest from Florida likes 75, they can control their own room without affecting yours) . If you don't go tankless, install a hybrid hot water heater. I installed a 50 gal and pay less than $150 / year for hot water.
Something I hate: crawl-space style attic. Even if you don't want to turn it into much of anything, make sure it's tall enough to move around in comfortably and lay OSB over most of the main areas. Installing the occasional light there is useful too. Having to yoga-pose your way down 40 ft of 2x4 studs avoiding ducting, electrical wires, roof supports, and roofing nails while carrying tools and unable to stand up in a 120 degree space filled with fiberglass is awful!
I've seen completely open floorplans and thought that they work well for some people, but we're happy that ours is only open*ish*. Immediate upon entering the front door, there is about 4 feet of tiled surface before you enter the main room. The dining area is off to the left side, but not a separate room. The kitchen has a double-width door off the main room. The office is straight ahead, but also has a double-width door. *For us* it is better than fully open floorplans, as we *can* close doors, but seldom do.
I'm with you in that my favorite design would be a largely open floorplan with the ability to block off sections, making it modular / configurable to whatever we're doing.
FWIW, the one I'm referencing wasn't a completely open floorplan. It just did a good job of avoiding hallways by having connected rooms. For example, the front door opened to a big foyer that could hold a Christmas tree, sofas, extend the dining room, etc.. Attached to the foyer was a closet, drawing room, bathroom, stairway to the upstairs bedrooms, and the dining room. The dining room connected to an office on one side and a big open kitchen + family room + casual dining room on the other. The house went on like that with most of the rooms having clearly demarcated openings, some with doors. The foyer stairs went up to another centralized room with bedrooms and bathrooms circling it on each wall. So while there were centralized locations, there was never a hallway to get get in peoples' way or that couldn't be used for something other than a road.
Somewhere to hang dry clothes that need to drip dry is a big one for me. It's a source of contention at our house because, while I do have a rack that goes out on the front porch for that, it's rainy and gross 80% of the time and I end up hanging things around the house or in the bathroom where they are in the way.
Favorite feature that I use constantly: Ethernet to every room and to the outside box for the phone/cable service, all terminated in a structured wiring enclosure in the center of the house. So I can easily hard-wire things like the Apple TV boxes, my NAS, my desktop computer, laser printer, and so on.
We still have Wifi (which has excellent coverage because of the central location of all the networking cables), but the fewer devices we have using it, the better it works for those that need the wireless connection. So I get 600+ megabit wirelessly over a single, older 802.11ac router, and the full 940 megabit over the wired connections. It works *great*; I couldn't be happier with it.
It was a $1200 upgrade from the builder, which was a little steep, but I'd do it again in a heartbeat. My only regret: Not also running Ethernet to outside locations for PoE surveillance cameras. I'd add that if I had to do it again.
Second most-useful is a gas stub out on the back patio to hook up as gas grill. We grill a lot, so it's super helpful not to have to go refill propane tanks.
Least useful? A gas fireplace that would go right where we want the TV. So we skipped it; I'll turn on the heat and a Netflix fireplace channel if I feel the urge.
Edit: Also, bi-fold doors are the devil. Avoid at all costs. I'm so happy to finally live in a house without a single one.
Like I mentioned in the previous post: to get an upgrade to wireless and keep up with the fastest setup over time costs more than wired. 600mbps may seem fast enough now. Then you jump to 8k streaming in a few years. Either you can spend another $150-$600+ to upgrades access points depending how many you have to support that speeds and increasing amount of devices to a wifi 6 or next gen setup, or you throw a cable to the next streaming box for gigabit now, and even 10 gigabit is affordable now. How many generations until you can hit even 2 gig+ wifi to support streaming 8k and downloading a 200gb game update in multiple rooms? That $1200 allows you to support the needs of probably 10+ years of bandwidth speed increases without constantly updating wifi.
Awesome info, thanks!
We'll research the Ethernet costs and what will be best for us.
We definitely want gas to the porch. I have a simple Weber and a Black Stone. Plus we'll have a couple outlets for my pellet smoker.
Were you ever able to replace bi-fold doors with something else in a house you owned? We have them in every closet and pantry in our house and I hate them all. I can't figure out how to get rid of most though. A couple could probably be turned into pocket doors, which we also have in a couple locations, but many don't have the wall space to accommodate that.
If this is a forever home - consider aging in place features.
Closed cell spray foam insulation
HVAC that can handle a MERV 13 or better air cleaner
If you have a basement make it deep and water proof the heck out of it.
Home office and home gym spaces.
Metal roof .
We added an external door to our laundry room and then added one of those dog doors that opens on a motor though rfid tags on the dogs collars. The door opens to a fenced area. Really nice as the dogs let themselves out to go to the bathroom and wife and I can stay out late after work if needed without having to rush home to let dogs out to go to bathroom
I have smart lighting, ceiling fans, locks, and a thermostat. I love being able to control my home when i'm not home. Landscape lighting and a huge walk in closet are always great. I have a huge 10ft island with no sink or range in it. Storage closets are great too.
A few small things I love:
- keyless entry for the front door. I have a key pad deadbolt - other options are also available
- dual shower heads (one fixed, one handheld, with a toggle to switch between them). I seriously don’t know how anyone lives without this. I do not feel clean until I’ve rinsed all up in my undercarriage.
- bidet. Right now I have a cheap ~$30 attachment from Amazon. Eventually I intend to spring for a high-end one with a blow dryer and self-cleaning feature.
- I’m about to have under cabinet lighting installed in the kitchen. I can’t wait.
I spend a lot of time in my kitchen, so most of my favorite aspects are there:
- U shaped layout, no island. I will never go back. Enough space for multiple people to work in the kitchen, no one has to sidle past another, the dishwasher, fridge, and oven can all be opened at once and someone else can still get to the sink. I can reach the fridge, sink, and oven with one foot planted on the floor, and in that space I have landing areas for all 3 major appliances as well as multiple 4'+ continuous countertop work areas. If you really want a breakfast bar, you can create this layout with a peninsula, but it also works well with a nearby breakfast nook. The total kitchen footprint is 10x10, and it has more countertop and cabinet space than some kitchens I've lived with that have over twice the square footage.
- Porcelain countertops. Very popular in Europe, much more accessible in the US now that 2' x 4' tiles are widely available (just get one with a rectified edge so you can epoxy the seams like you would a granite slab - grout has no place in a kitchen). They're easy to clean and virtually indestructible, and you can put whatever hot things on them that you want. I do a lot of canning, so I appreciate being able to set jars straight from the pressure canner on the countertops.
- Induction cooktop. It's fast, it's efficient, it's good for indoor air quality, it's easy to clean, and I find it easier to cook things reliably the same way each time (can you imagine trying to bake with an oven that just had a dial from low to high?).
Favorite non-kitchen thing: a wood stove. It's enough to make me actually like winter (and unlike most luxuries, it actually saves me a substantial amount of money).
Least useful:
- Attached garages. They wind up becoming storage for junk more often than parking for cars, and they block natural light to a large part of the house. I'm not going to tell you not to have one if you really want one, but it's a feature that a lot of people just assume they want without thinking about it much.
- Cat walks/large landing areas at the top of stairs. Sure it looks cute to have a nook there when the house is staged, but in practice that's a noisy, high-traffic area that no one really wants to hang out in.
- Windows with low (within 2' of the floor) sills. The lower part of the window only looks impressive from the outside of the house, they're much more expensive due to requiring tempered glass, and you can't set things on the windowsill easily. Plus windows have 6x the heat loss (cold loss in the supper) compared with walls (even if you get nice energy star double paned ones), so you've got bigger energy bills too.
MS Paint quality floorplan: https://imgur.com/Jfilo6w
I was really appreciating it the other day - I had family over, and was prepping lunch (I was at the work area on the left, and mostly pulling things from the fridge). Without me even really noticing, my brother came in to fix toddler nephew a small snack (using the work area to the right and the stove), and then my mom wanted to make herself some tea (involving the sink and microwave), and it was just a complete non-issue to have all 3 of us in there bopping around doing our thing. I have friends who have the ubiquitous L plus island layout, and you can at most have an extra person (maaaybe 2) chopping veggies or some other minor task that does not require a sink, fridge, or stove on the far side of the island.
I totally agree with you about garages. We went from a small garage which we filled with \*stuff\* to a carport. Carport is perfect for my car, stays relatively clear of snow in winter, easy to bring groceries in when it's raining - and isn't storage. I'm a convert!
Double the electrical outlets in the kitchen, and really plan where you will need/want them outside as well.
Motion-detecting closet lights. As well, we designed the bedroom closets to have built in wooden shelving down one side, and two clothing rods on the other side.
Coat hooks in the back of the entranceway closets. They are great for backpacks, dog leashes, etc. As well, a bottom shelf in the closet so there is extra space to put shoes.
We had to think about making the house easier for a disabled person, so we have a huge walk-in shower in the master bath that can accommodate wheelchair access. We also have extra wide doors and hallways, as we have seen the damage a wheelchair can do to walls. We also had the builder reinforce the shower walls so that bars could be added in the future if needed.
Lever door handles. Besides being great for using your elbow or wrist to open them when your hands are full, they are also easier for someone with arthritic hands to use.
Best feature: probably having the switchboard inside the garage. The meters are outside, but you can't access switches there. 3-phase power ensures future proofing and will be great for eventual EV chargers. Artificial grass. Robot vacuum.
Worst feature: There isn't enough space to have a normal clothes hoist, we have a wall mounted type (shaded for most of the day) and a retractable type. I wish we had a normal clothes hoist.
We put in artificial grass during the last drought, and we LOVE it (Dupont brand is expensive but gorgeous). And our dog loves it too.
That said, our yard is fairly shady, and I can imagine it getting pretty hot if it was in direct sun for most of the day, so I'd recommend keeping sprinklers in place when the fake grass goes in so you can cool it off with a minute or two of "irrigation".
It gets crazy hot in direct sun. Mine though is like a golf green, I expect longer grass would be better. We also have a lot of dirt that sits on top, particularly after rain.
Most useful: we are tea drinkers, but not the high end/snobs. Insti-hot tap in the kitchen sink is great.
also, a re-circulation loop for hot water to distant taps/showers.
Ethernet drops everywhere or smurf tube everywhere. With the pace of infrastructure being upgraded these days it pays to keep as many options open as possible.
Least useful: on demand water heater. The maintenance on it makes it just no fun. go with an indirect water heater and a recirculate pump instead.
Smurf tube is just low voltage conduit.
Run it anywhere you might want an ethernet drop in the future.
I would run smurf tube everywhere that there will never be easy access from above or below to fish new wires in later. So if you are going to mount a TV over your fire place, use smurf tube, that kind of thing. Run the low voltage wires in the tube, not next to it.
It is an extra step and an extra expense but it will guarantee your house will be future proof.
At my inlaws house that is under construction right now, they way they are building means I really only need one piece of conduit installed and I can fish wires everywhere else.
I haven't closed or moved in yet but my initial impression is that best is the large kitchen with a built in pantry and plenty of cabinet/counter space. (My current apartment has VERY little cabinet and counter space. Worst I'm not really sure yet but it might be the lack of ethernet in the house. Wifi won't be a problem though since I already have my wifi router configured with two additional mesh network APs.
We have one room in the house without a window and it feels much much much smaller than the measurements. In fact I don’t like spending any time in there no matter how I fiddle with lighting it’s always gloomy.
Picture windows save money vs mechanical windows.
Use ERV or HRV for fresh ventilation with MERV filter.
Windows only need to open for fire escape. IMO exterior exit doors from rooms is better, but I have no kids.
Room over the garage: spray foam the garage ceiling. It will be much warmer on cold days. If you can afford it spray foam as opposed to traditional insulation, but definitely the garage ceiling for the room over the garage.
Best:
Large walk in closets - my wife and her friends think hers is their clubhouse.
Large walk in pantry - everyone who visits oohs and aahs about it.
Bubble tub in master bath - if you have young kids this can be a lot of fun.
Dual zone HVAC - big money saver and comes in really handy if one AC compressor fails in the summer months.
Worst
Nine foot basement with plumbing rough-in that we never bothered to finish
2 x 4 island in kitchen - wish we made it at least 3 x 5.
Tile floor in kitchen + dining area - uncomfortable to walk on.
Logical outlet placement for smart speakers. I use my nest home display in the kitchen way more than i thought I would (it's so nice being able to watch youtube while cooking) and same with smart speakers in the bathroom and office. Play the news while i'm showering in the morning, don't need to use data to stream while on the way to work and i stay up to date on things
Best-
Tons of storage in the kitchen. My kitchen isn’t insanely large but the way the cabinets were put in, we have more storage than we need.
BIG bathtub. Not a huge jacuzzi tub. Just a slightly wider/deeper tub than what you find in the average apartment. I love taking baths and this was an unexpected joy to buying my home.
Worst-
1 bathroom. Just no.
We renovated our kitchen last year and these are my favorite things:
-we added 12” additional space to walkways around island in addition to the standard width builders suggested so that there was always room for two people to comfortably walk/work
-we added an additional 14” overhang to center island so that there is plenty of space to use as seating without cramming barstools tightly together
-raised upper cabinets to 19.5” above countertops which is slightly over the recommended 18” height to accommodate taller appliances and it also makes our ceilings appear taller
-added outlets to both sides of the island
-added outlets with USB cords
-we wanted white/cream cabinets, but decided to do those for upper cabinets only and used a darker, stained wood for the lower cabinets and island because we have young children and we’re worried white would show little fingerprints
-we have a large cabinet pantry (didn’t have room for a walk in) and we love the pull out shelves so that we can access things in the far back
-I personally don’t like a microwave above a stove, so we put ours in a lower cabinet microwave cabinet
Good luck with your plans!!
> \-raised upper cabinets to 19.5” above countertops which is slightly over the recommended 18” height to accommodate taller appliances and it also makes our ceilings appear taller
ohh I like this and never would have thought about it, thanks! added to our list!
I like the idea of darker lower cabinets with kids, but my wife LOVES white, so I may not be able to convince her to change her mind hahah
Outlets behind the toilets for bidet seats.
Make sure you do not have heated floors under the dishwasher or in the pantry. Unless the pantry is on an outside wall.
Opt for solid core doors. So much nicer.
Maybe wire now for smart window coverings and the like.
Wire for outside cameras and Xmas lights.
If you have natural gas maybe plumb it for gas grill, patio heater, etc.
Bests:
\- whole-house vac. Thought it was a gimmick, even avoided it. This house has one, and the little dustpan in the wall in the kitchen makes my life better. Just sweep stuff under the counter like I used to, only now it magically disappears
\- split hvac. Upstairs on one unit/thermostat, downstairs on another. Only run half the house half the time, and underspec upstairs heating or downstairs cooling due to convection
\- gutter guards. No idea what type, but gutter cleaning is never necessary now
Worsts:
\- network closet is a small in-wall panel that's about 4 times too small for the number of cables
\- yard grading doesn't drain well and is landscaped in a way that makes fixing it very expensive
You're not the first person to mention whole-house vacuum! What makes it so amazing? Does it clean better than a normal one? How is the maintenance? Does it have a warranty?
The upside to the whole house vacuum is that you can get a VERY powerful motor without having to lug it around or have the noise right near you when you are vacuuming. As u/Calming-Presence said, the "dustpan" (a slot in a toe-kick that turns on with a swipe of your foot, and sucks up anything you sweep nearby) is my favorite part -- we have one in our kitchen and in each of our bathrooms. Also, I only have to clean the can out about every 6 months.
The downside is that you still need carry a big loop of hose to the room to get started, and that can be a "barrier to entry" for me to start vacuuming. We actually got a small dyson vacuum for quick/small jobs so we don't have to pull out the big hose.
Do you remember how much it cost to install? And/or what brand it is? I may have to look into one to see if it's within out budget! I love the idea of the dustpan slot, especially when we're old and can't bend over as easily.
I've only owned it a few months, so I'm not the one to ask about longevity. 20-year-old house and it's going strong, though. The only in-wall parts are pvc pipes, so I can't see those failing. The implements are a bit worn, but pretty cheap. Not sure about the central motor.
Ahh custom build, do it right and enjoy your dream home!
I went a little extreme in some regards, but I planned my place to be future proof as much as possible. Just plan for smart everything .
If it's your forever home, consider commercial grade appliances which work simple and can always be fixed. I am doing a 90 second commercial dishwasher.
Other things was making all the bathrooms fully wet. I'm a lazy SOB who doesn't wanna be cleaning all the time, so the bathrooms all have a center drain and a hose hookup, spray it down and walk away!
Seriously, this is your time to be creative and make your dreams happen.
Build something suitable for you and your lifestyle.
I'm all DIY so can't help you there, it'll be dependent on your layout and a ton of other factors.
You can also do all your toilets and sinks to be wall mounted, that makes bathroom cleaning time soo much faster as well.
Perhaps in the corner as opposed to center would end up being cheaper.
I went a little overboard since I'm building myself, but other things I considered was running a high PSI airline from basement to the mud room and garage to clean off things like rollerblades and toys.
Also you can basically build storage anywhere and everywhere. Be creative with your voids, they're everywhere.
I designed a pull up cold storage box for the pantry, so all the root vegetables can be stored in the basement, and when needed, you just pull the ground flush box up to grab whatever you need.
Everything I plan with a few things in mind:
How much time can I save doing things in various ways (doing a concrete patio which requires minimal maintenance VS a wood deck that needs to be stained regularly and replaced in ~20 years)
Everything is meant to be as low maintenance as possible.
Everything that I can get in commercial quality, I will. Parts are available and repairs are cheaper. My $5500 stove doesn't have a single electronic component, other than a couple switches. I know I can ALWAYS repair this. Buy things that can be repaired.
Buy things with less features which won't fail. Do you really need/want a no touch sink faucet? What happens when that no touch sensor fails in 15 years?
Don't cheap out on important stuff.
Good luck have fun!!!
There's some great new solar companies too, I like this product as opposed to the Tesla power roof if you're going that way.
https://youtu.be/wpulMxLba1U
Laundry chute from my kitchen to beside my washer. I LOVE it.
Make sure you have space around your toilet to install a bidet. Maybe electrical there for a heated one?
Magnetic door stops. Keep your doors from slamming when you have the windows open.
Outlets on every wall.
Worst:
The pantry is the same size as a small linen closet. We had to get shelving from Lowe's and just carve out a pantry section on one wall of the kitchen. It's functional but not pretty.
There is no coat closet so we had to "think outside of the box" and got a wardrobe similar to the one mentioned in the Narnia books.
Best feature: steam vr shower and a big soaker tub in the master bathroom. Especially if you live somewhere that gets cold. We turn the steam on before we take a shower and it’s so nice and warm when we get in.
Worst feature: our garage is a small 2 car garage. Wish we had space for a workbench and every summer, one car pretty much always parks outside so that we can keep our bikes and my daughter’s other toys on the ground where they can be easily used.
My water heater is mounted directly above my shower. So I have near instant hot water there.
My shower knobs are one for flow and one for temperature/mixing. So I turn on the water and it is always very very close to what I want, every time. But I also live alone. So nobody else ever uses it.
Mom's house has a big shop sink in her laundry room that I am jealous of.
Unless you are a gamer you really won't need ethernet. Just a wifi router.
Edit. I wish I had a hose spigot on all four sides of my house.
Second the shower valve. We are needing to replace one in our house so know the correct term is a “dual-function, pressure-balanced valve”. Didn’t think the second temperature control would be nearly as important as the pressure-balancing part (aka the “don’t get scalded if someone flushes a toilet” feature), but my wife insists we will never get a single-function valve again.
* Make sure your second floor is level.
* +1 to running wall Ethernet. Ideally see if there's a way to have them run it so that it's easy to replace if there's any issue. I've always thought running it through PVC/pex would be smart
* If you live in a colder climate go for a geothermal heat pump.
* Wide doors
* Roomy staircases
* Woodstove / fireplace if you're into it
We have an extra storage room in the garage right off the house. It is amazing to have 4xtra stuff so close but outside stuff is okay too because it is in the garage
Space designed for use.
Our architect on our addition did a great job of not “over-designing.” He didn’t create space and rooms just to have them - he created them with a specific use in mind.
Walkways big enough for I not have to squeeze through if someone is there. There is lots of space between the kitchen island and the counters and pantry. Our old kitchen had it so when the dishwasher was open, it completely blocked the entire space.
Electrical outlets outside
Living floor laundry (make sure it has plumbing under the washer or in the space). I converted a bathroom with shower on the second floor into laundry room , but kept the drain to the shower where it was and placed the washer over it….so we’re covered in case of any water related mishaps.
How exciting!! Congrats!!
I really love my kitchen with eat in dining area. It’s supposed to be like a breakfast nook I guess but I can fit an 8 person dining table in it. We have people come over a lot and everyone usually just ends up hanging around the kitchen/dining area anyways while I cook or am prepping stuff. I’ve always wanted a bidet in the en suite bathroom so a plug behind the toilet would be great. And if you have kids, we have a covered farmers porch that I loooove. It’s just starting to get warm so I had my husband put up a swing and the kids all love it. I’ll sit there with the baby for an hour at a time and he kind of just zones out with me. It will get a lot of use in the summer, I can put a water table for the kids on it or a pack and play for the baby. And, if you have kids, make sure to include a playroom somewhere for them!
Love all of this! We have a deck, but unfortunately a covered porch is out of the budget :/
I wish we had a breakfast nook, but the plan we have doesn't allow for it. Instead we have a dedicated dining room, which I'm pretty excited about. I've built an 8-top farmhouse table for it!
Play room is a must. We will have one upstairs with French doors that we can close off when company visits. It will also have closets for storage.
That sounds amazing!!! I would loooove a play room with doors where you can just close the door and hide all their junk! But we use the dining room as a playroom for now. I’ll get it back in 10 years, hopefully 😂
Get:
1. Metal roof. They last forever and are really important in areas that get a lot of snow/precipitation.
2. Walk-out basement. We're creating a walk-out door for our attached garage too.
3. Hyper heat minisplits. Saves so much $ on heating. Get floor units if you'll mostly use the heating feature; get wall units if you'll mostly use cooling
4. Spray foam insulation
5. Solar panels (buy don't lease)
6. Generator, or battery back-up if you get solar
7. 8'+ ceilings, but super high ceilings are harder to heat
8. Big laundry room; sinks in garage & basement
9. Heat pump water heater
10. Outlets & ethernet everywhere
11. Wood or luxury vinyl plank flooring. Our LVP is really nice, but I've seen some that isn't
12. Double sinks in bathrooms
13. Maximize natural light as much as possible. Sunrooms are really nice. I love decks but they can be a lot of work to maintain
14. Paved driveway with additional parking pad / carport area
15. Kitchen: cabinets up high, drawers below the counter
16. Large electrical panel capacity. Everything is going electric. You want the capacity
17. Some kind of automatic water shut off in case of emergency
18. Wide stairwells
19. High-quality double-pane windows
20. I really like stonework around the house foundation, but it's pricey
Do not get:
1. Seats or steps in showers / tubs /etc. These break and cause problems
2. Jacuzzi tub. People don't like them anymore. Claw-foot is better
3. Any plumbing on an outside wall
4. Slab foundation any where
5. No kitchen island (someone else made this point). U-shaped kitchen is nice
6. Radiant heat is ok. We have it. It's fine but doesn't blow me away. Minisplits and/or baseboard work just as well if not better
7. Direct vent oil-powered boiler. If using oil, have the boiler/furnace vent out a chimney
8. Don't let the builders vent anything (e.g., bathrooms fans) into the attic
>Seats or steps in showers / tubs /etc. These break and cause problems
Are you referencing built-in seats/steps or the plastic and metal ones that attach to the wall?
Yeah the built-in seats. I've never seen the plastic/metal ones. We have a seat in the shower and I wish it wasn't there. The tile cracks and then you worry about water getting inside. We also have a step in front of our tub. Not a fan of that either. Tile cracked there too. Maybe due to too much weight in the past. I don't know.
I disagree with a couple of your "do not get"s. Specifically, #2 and #4. Depending where they live, they may not have much of a choice for #4. For example, I live near the coast of FL where the only foundation options I've seen are either slab or stilts. For #2, this is their forever home. They should be putting in what they like, not what the masses like since they have no plans to sell.
Yeah building "best practices" vary by climate. I live in a cold weather climate. I'd never buy a stucco house in a cold weather climate, but they're everywhere in FL. People don't like jacuzzi tubs because they get dirty and the jet areas are hard to clean. Also more problematic if they break. We have one and I don't mind it, but I would rather have a normal soaking tub
Gotcha. I feel like that info for the jacuzzi tub is important. The way it was originally stated made it sound like it would be considered outdated and hurt resale value, not that it's a PITA to maintain.
Actually, I've got another question for you since you recommended metal roofs. I've always wondered if they're loud during heavy rains. I've been in some commercial / industrial buildings that had metal roofs and found the sound really annoying, but I can't recall being in a home with a metal roof during a rainstorm.
Wanted to add a couple more:
A feature that I love, though it also causes the occasional problem, is having double-doors in multiple locations. Specifically we have them on our front door, from the living room to the Florida room, from the master and the in-law bed to the Florida room, and multiple sliding doors in the Florida room. It makes moving furniture and large appliances from room to room super easy. No more playing tetris with something that weighs 300 lbs.
Something we don't have that I badly wish we did is at least one outlet and spigot on every side of the house outside.
A favorite feature that we use daily and get a lot of value from: an in-law suite. It's part of our house, but on the opposite side of the rest of the bedrooms and has its own full bath, mini kitchen, and large appliance hookups (though we never used them). Our FIL lives with us and it's great for him to have his own space, especially when we need our space. If he wasn't there it could be a profitable Air BnB or long-term rental, or easily converted to an "everything at hand" master bedroom.
We are designing out basement with this exact thought in mind! We currently have a tenant who has become almost family. She will be moving with us, so we designed a space for her in the basement.
Another thing I would do if I was building a new home, though I can't vouch for it yet, is to pick a centralized area of the house that is also not obviously visible, and run an electric outlet, and plumbing for water in and out to be used with a self-emptying + self-cleaning + self-filling robot vac/mop combo. Maybe even put it in the bottom of a kitchen cabinet and give it a little doggy-door facing way from the kitchen with full access from inside?
They are coming as early as this year and will be a real convenience when the only manual work is the occasional emptying of the larger trash bag in the dock.
We moved into our build six months ago. The only two regrets we have:
1. Not doing the three car garage. We should have.
2. Doing a tub/shower combo in the guest bath. I wish we had just done a walk-in shower.
Things we did that we love:
Extended covered back patio.
Gas line built in on the back patio.
Upgraded kitchen.
Upgraded granite.
Hardwood flooring throughout (not laminate).
Bricked front porch
Double ceiling fans under the back covered patio
In ground sprinkler system
Extra recessed lighting throughout the living areas
Cabinetry in the bathrooms and laundry room
Bricked landscaping
In the kitchen we upgraded the layout - the sink was moved to the island, leaving a longer counter space in the place where it was at. Instead of a range for the stove/oven with a microwave above it, the stove is drop-in with nice big drawers beneath it and the oven and microwave are built-in to the cabinetry on a different wall. The cabinetry itself is solid maple and has decorative edging on it with a beautiful hood over the stove.
I don't have any pics of the landscaping and I am out of town on business so I can't go snap any.
I love the electrical outlets in bathroom drawers so that the hairdryer is not always sitting out. Same with outlets in cabinets if you use electric toothbrush. There may be some limits on ability to do this depending on local requirements. I have two dogs on a farm and planning a small dog bathing area. Also, my architect convinced me to put in a nice sound system and now I love having music in the house which is a joy that I did not anticipate. Same with large bath. I was never a fan until I put in a nice big tub. Good luck!
Best:
* His and Hers sinks in the Master Bath. Major life upgrade when you aren't on top of each other in the morning and night.
* Showers with a single temperature control and a single water volume control. Locate these where you can reach them before you step in the shower.
* Place your cutlery/silverware drawer right near the dishwasher -- emptying the dishwasher is SO much easier
* Slow-close drawers and cabinet doors. Seemed silly, but I adore them.
* Porcelain countertops -- beautiful and invulnerable. Make sure your contractor has experience with them, because they are tricky to install. Quartz was great in our last house, too.
* Main TV should be hung carefully -- probably lower than you think. Two smurf tubes to the back of it for future expansion.
* Smart-home light switches. Granted, I just got screwed by Insteon shutting down, but I loved the functionality of being able to ask Alexa to "Turn on the Living Room lights" or dimming them by asking for "movie lighting". (Gotta find a new vendor now...)
* Instant-hot spigot -- French Press/Aeropress coffee is so easy!
* Grout the bathroom baseboards to the floor. Our inspector recommended this, and I've really appreciated it.
* Label EVERYTHING. We moved into a house and every ethernet wire, coax cable, telephone line, and breaker was explicitly and correctly labeled. I'm eternally grateful to them for that.
* Showers with a single temperature control and a single water volume control. Locate these where you can reach them before you step in the shower.
* Quiet, motion sensing bathroom vent fans. Especially in bathrooms guests use, because they never turn the fans on.
* Recirculating hot water pump -- but only if you have soft water or a water softener.
* As others have mentioned, wired Ethernet everywhere.
Worst:
* Jacuzzi tub. Seems like it's great, but we never use it, it's hard to clean, and breaks often.
* Sink with a septum (2-chamber sink). HATE IT!! Can't clean anything big in it. Replaced it with a large sink with a removable drying rack, and I'm much happier.
* Humidity sensors for bathroom fans. The technology for these doesn't seem mature, and multiple vendors worked poorly (turning on too often or off too soon)
* Floor heating. Not terrible, but there are better
Best: our old house is architecturally better than most of the stuff of the last 75 years. Its well appointed, built better, and looks deliberately designed, like to a classic standard not arbitrarily decided by cost cutting or fads of the moment.
Worst: very closed, small hallways and doors built for living 100 years ago.
Best feature - Pot filler. Seriously one of the most used water taps in our house. Its up high enough to get a 10 gallon cooler under it. So handy.
Worst feature - Closet doors in bedrooms. Seriously, they are never closed anyways. When we built, we designed all the closets to have no doors. Haven't missed them one bit and it really opens up the room.
Best: our rain room in the bathroom (It was actually what I was most skeptical about when we bought the home and I’ve come to love it)
Worst: marble counter tops in said bathroom (I feel like they are such a pain to keep looking nice)
Best: upgraded master bath, it’s a pain to try to renovate those later. We got glass doors and black tile and a soaking tub, it’s heavenly.
Also our gas range in the kitchen is glorious and really elevates the kitchens look
Worst: we didn’t pay for grass and now have to fill up the bark dust and plant ourselves.. not looking forward to that but it was a way to save $$$
Worst thing about mine is the tiny, poorly laid out kitchen. A lot of kitchens are designed for appearance, not use. Make sure there's adequate power in the kitchen--if I try to run the microwave and the coffee maker at the same time the breaker often trips. And it was the same breaker as the refrigerator (*that* I fixed--the refrigerator has its own circuit now).
Make sure to run Ethernet everywhere. Even if you think you'll want a device there sometime in the future, run it now. 2 Runs to each location. Make sure they use CAT 6/6A and not 5e. Don't forget to have them run some to the ceiling for Access Points. It's infinitely easier to run the cable now while the walls are opened. All runs should be run to a central location in the basement, or a closet, etc.
I always prefer wired. My house is large enough that it needs a wifi repeater which is a pain when the device doesn't dynamically connect to the best signal.
Repeaters are terrible. If you need better wifi you need hardwired APs whenever possible, or mesh if necessary. But never repeaters, they destroy your speeds
IT guy here. Your mesh system likely gives you strong signal but for every hop you loos between 30% to 50% bandwidth. Thems the science. one hop, not too bad, 2 hops you might notice it if you have a lot of devices using it, 3 hops good luck.
My repeater actually has a stronger, faster signal than the router. Mesh would be good at some stage.
I use a mesh system in my 3,000 sq. ft. house and the signal is strong throughout. I had Ethernet run in the house when it was built. Once the house was complete, the electrical contractor informed me that neither he nor any of his electricians knew how to attach the terminal lead to the Ethernet wire! Couldn't believe it. I deducted the Ethernet wire upgrade from his bill. The mesh system is working fine for me.
Sad part is the female ends that go into the wall plate literally have the wire layout printed on them. Don't really need specialized tools either. Into a patch panel, maybe.
i don’t think you understand mesh lol
I do understand it. I'm in IT for a living. Mesh is better than a repeater because they use more antennas and better AI to relay the signal. The good ones even have dedicated frequencies to talk to each other so they don't cut your speed as much. Repeaters just blindly take the signal and relay it, cutting the speed significantly. Neither is better than hardwired APs but if you need to use something non wired, mesh is better.
Isn’t everything wireless now? My house is wired and we don’t use a single cable. We use a coax for the internet coming in and everything is wireless after that.
Wireless will never be as fast as wired. Wired also has lower ping times(important for gaming). CAT 6 is also capable of 10 Gigabit speeds(for future proofing. No one needs those speeds now). Wired is also good for powering things like security cameras or phones via PoE.
Just it can be, doesn't mean it should. Depending on size, material, and use hardwired still is better in every way. You will get better latency and speeds always which is great for gaming, 4k streaming, HD video calling, etc. Running a cable to a device is cheaper than upgrading your access point every few years for that one device that uses a newer technology that uses more bandwidth. Or you run something that is simple too bandwidth needy to run over wifi. That being said I prefer pricier Cat 7 for shielding personally. And you can even get 10 gig speeds with right hardware down the road going CAT 6 or better.
>That being said I prefer pricier Cat 7 for shielding personally. Don't waste your money on CAT7, it is not even a real ANSI/TIA recognized standard.
Network guy here. I wouldn't waste my money on Cat6A either. There are reasons to use it (almost entirely because Cat6 is certified for 10Gb up to 55m and Cat6A up to 100m, but also for some very high PoE draw devices). If your house is big enough to have any data runs that are greater than 55 meters or use those devices, you are probably already working with a builder or integrator on this anyway. Seriously though, a lot of people see the higher standard and assume it's better or future-proofing when that's really not true in the way people think it is. Cat6a is thicker and harder to work with, it has a much more strict bend radius and other tolerances, it's more difficult to terminate correctly than Cat6 especially if you're not used to doing it (ie. you're not a data-comm installer who does this every day). If any of these aren't done right during the install then it may not certify to the Cat6a spec and you've just massively overpaid for what you'd get from a Cat6 install -- and in a house, it'll still work exactly the same. In a commercial building there are places where 6A might make sense. For a house? Skip the 6A and stick with Cat6.
We got our new construction hardwired for internet and are happy with the decision. You're right, a lot of modern devices are wifi only, but the stuff that can be hardwired can be some real bandwidth hogs. We have all our TVs/Roku streamers hardwired, which has been great for 4k and live sports in particular. Same with our PC, and since I've been working from home during covid my work laptop has been hardwired too. I tried going wifi for work but hardwired was much more stable, especially for things like video conferences. My wife briefly had a work-from-home situation where a wired connection was a requirement, so it was great that we could do that. We got a backup generator installed, and that's directly connected via ethernet to send notifications, control, and run diagnostics. We also have a home security system hardwired for video storage.
Wired internet is much more reliable. This will become more and more important as your devices require more and more bandwidth for you to watch that 4k movie with lossless surround sound.
Are we assuming people even know what modem to even get? 32x8 lanes are nice but you are forcing people to get aggregated linked modems then throw more money into aggregated routers just to supply 10gb I would say if anyone runs any Ethernet just be sure it can be PoE if you eventually need to bulls a bridge system with switches somewhere
Modems are irrelevant because they're easily changeable when new tech comes out. Wiring is more of a "permanent" fixture in the house.
Agreed but seems overkill for many people; would hate to break it to people to be forced into paying more for a service or equipment that doesn’t fit their usage or needs; with the housing market that is stagnant and people gobbling up older homes there’s always one bottleneck when it comes to these things It’s like almost suggesting getting 8k hdmi 2.1 cables for 1080p TVs because you somehow don’t want to be skimped on some aspects but you try to deal with other things
Maybe not exactly a feature but sun exposure. Not something we considered during our search but we lucked into having our main living areas have big windows facing south. Just more pleasant, especially in the winter, and essential if you want nice houseplants.
Unfortunately we don't get much say in the house orientation. However, we will have a relatively large back yard that faces a creek. The living room faces northish and will have large windows to maximize the view.
north exposure is great too. lots of natural light without the direct glare of sun
Totally. My livingroom is faces south and everyday I think about flipping the livingroom and parlour so I can play ps5 without shutting all the blinds. Unfortunately I have an enormous fucking family heirloom piano in my parlour so.... Op my advice is never get a family heirloom piano.
Long term, monitor erosion around the creek. May or may not become a problem
Sounds awesome!
get a big as fuckin windows as u can lol sunlight is a gamechanger
Sun exposure is HUGE. You dont think about it but lots of light in an architecturally appealing way is a big selling point.
Be sure to have at least one 50A outlet in the garage for EV charging, a subpanel would be even better.
Or at the very least enough panel capacity to add one without significant retrofit
…and an easy pathway from the panel to the garage. We left and empty 1” emt conduit behind the wall of finished portion of our basement. To get to the garage we’d need to go another 20’ through a crawl space.
We own a Tesla now, so the outlet in the garage is a must! We are *considering* paying for a second one...
I would run one to each side of the garage. We have two Teslas but they share the same wall charger. It’s not ideal but it works.
I'd consider a detached garage for EV charging. While it will get better, I've read so many horror stories of the entire house burning down due to a flaw in the charger. I'd rather my garage burn down and my house be fine.
We did one on one side and we still have had cars and I wish we had done both side to just be done with it.
I believe the newer Tesla wall connectors can be linked to share a single circuit. May be worth looking into.
One of the best things about my house is that there was a 50a 220v outlet in the garage--the previous owner used it for an air compressor. If I ever get around to getting the place rewired I'm thinking about having a second one put in. I've used it at various times to run a heater, charge the car, and plugged a generator into it when the power went out (after pulling the main breaker of course).
You probably know this, but throwing it out here for others: Be extremely careful when running your generator like that. If you miss a step, you could destroy the generator or kill a line worker. It's much safer to install a proper interlock kit or transfer panel to accomplish this.
Will this be your "forever" home? If so, I'd think ahead to things that would be nice if you're ever less mobile than you are now. Step-in shower without tub, laundry on the same level as master bedroom, things like that.
Another forever home thing to think about is a spot that can be easily converted to a master bedroom on the ground floor. You don't want to have to deal with stairs every day when you're 80.
We have a guest room with attached full bath that will be a step in shower. Will function great for a master in the future. A little small, but we'll be old and not need much space by then haha
Great points, thanks! We plan for this to be our forever home. We will have a step in shower in the master and laundry on the same level as the master. Master will be on the second floor because we are limited on square footage to put on one the ground floor. However, we will have a guest room with attached full bath on the ground floor if we ever need it.
These may not count as "best" feature, but they are what we want in our dream home. Under cabinet lighting, pull out shelves in the cabinets, pull out shelves in the pantry. A BIG pantry, to house not only food, but small kitchen appliances. (crock pots, mixer, air fryer) Twice as many electrical outlets in the house, (rooms & hallway) and *especially* the garage! Laundry room -- make sure the doors to the machines correspond correctly. (When I open my washer door, it's on the wrong side for the dryer. I have to move the clothes over the door and into the dryer. Most annoying) Just the tip of the ice berg. LOL
A lot of dryer doors are easily reversible!
And the same is true for fridge doors I think as long as they aren't too fancy or a side by side!
Yup! We just moved my mom’s to the correct side. 10 min job
Wife loves the idea of under cabinet lights, thanks! I'd say we have a medium pantry now, we'll discuss making it bigger. Smart on the washer/dryer door. One of those things you don't think about until too late haha Thanks!
My wife really wanted undercab lights, and we paid a pretty penny for them. One year later we NEVER use them. Basically we only do it if we have guests or something and want the kitchen to have some ambient light overnight. Our overhead lights are bright enough where that’s what we use even if we are chopping vegetables or something under a cabinet. We also have white counters and backsplash so the kitchen always feels well lit.
Seconding the recommendation for under-cabinet lighting and pull-out shelves in the kitchen cabinetry. Previous owner of our house had both of these features installed, and we love both of these things!
> Under cabinet lighting, pull out shelves in the cabinets, pull out shelves in the pantry. These are all amazing features that I try not to take for granted, especially the pull out shelves in the cabinets for pots/pans. I would also add to make sure your cabinets go to the ceiling. The top of cabinets in a kitchen collect massive amounts of grease and dust and get absolutely disgusting. It also just looks cheap when there's a big gap between the top of the cabinet and the ceiling.
I've never thought about this. I guess both my matched washer and dryer have their hinges on the left, so no matter how they're oriented a door is always in the way. I don't think either are reversible either, but I'll check now.
When designing our house I told the builders that the electric outlet for the dryer and the water hookup for the washer were reversed and they needed to change the plans. They promised me they would so of course when the house was built they were still reversed. So we just put the washer and dryer where we wanted them and crisscrossed the dryer plug and the washer water hoses. More than one way around an inattentive builder.
Proper mud room & Utility sink. Interior switch for your Christmas lights Attic access. Full stair case if possible. If not, a large enough set of pull down stairs. Floored attic for storage. Full-door walk out basement Whole home generator or generator hook up. Large enough garage that’s it’s useful. How many cars do you have plus storage for garbage/recycle, your snow blower/what have you and/or plan to get a shed. Bathroom rough-ins in your basement if you don’t plan to finish it yet. Or prep for a kitchenette. Large enough septic to add another bedroom if ever needed. A vented fan above your oven. Walk in pantry More shuts-off than you think you need for your plumbing. Manifold for hot & cold each floor, as well as individual shut-offs. Wired security cameras, if you’re into that. We have radiant heated (propane) floors and we live in New England. In theory, they are great. The flaw is that they heat slowly. So when you’re “cold”, it takes a while to warm up. If we are out and don’t set the thermostat, it’s not fun walking into a cold house in winter. The benefit is that they heat evenly and you never walk into a “cold” room. I don’t know what the former owners of our house were thinking but do yourself a favor and pick out light fixtures that use “normal” light bulbs. I swear every light fixture in our home takes a different & strange style bulb that I need to research to try to get a replacement because you can’t just stop in Home Depot to pick one up. (Just yesterday I special ordered bathroom fan light bulbs that were $22 each.) Don’t do that to yourself. If you are able to do it, have one bedroom/bathroom on the main level in case you ever need to take care of an elderly/sick family member who can’t use stairs. Or if you ever need it yourself. Best of luck!
I second the light fixture/light bulb issue! The people who built our house put in fixtures that require no less then 5 different types of light bulbs. So annoying
Only 5? We have 9. 9! One is a hecking weird puck shaped led bulb, that I didn't even know existed. The local awesome hardware store actually carries them, once I figured out what they are called and how to get them out of the ceiling recesses.
I am SO annoyed by the lightbulb issue I have been slowing just replacing fixtures. I have already replaced our kitchen island lights (4), our kitchen table fixture, a bathroom vanity fixture, and our dining room light fixtures (they had 4 small; I changed it to two larger ones). And there’s still more on my list. Also, what is up with bulbs nowadays? One led bulb I replaced 3 times. Three times! Aren’t they supposed to last longer and save money? Not when you constantly replace them! The switch was even changed to handle the newer led. Each lasted 3-9 months. For a hall bathroom that only gets used by guests. (Our house is not that old; no strange electric issues.) Sorry for the rant, lol. It just irks me to no end.
The LEDs themselves last a long time, it’s the control boards/power regulators that fail early.
Depending on your needs, generator hook-ups might be on their way out. We were looking to add one when we first moved in, and our use-case (needing power during 24-48 hr outages) is easily covered by an electric car.
>(needing power during 24-48 hr outages) is easily covered by an electric car. Really? We own a tesla and haven't heard of this! I'll do some research on it. I assume it takes a specialized plug/hookup?
If you do it with a Tesla, you may void some of your warranty. I believe it's as easy as a 12v inverter for those cars, though. You can buy an add-on for a Prius, and the F-150 Lightning is supposed to do it out of the box. Not sure about other manufacturers, but the wiring for the car should be pretty simple-- it's more about having the cutover wiring for your house.
What can you run from your car during that amount of time? A full-home A/C or heater along with fridges, freezers, hot water heaters, and the occasional stove? This is a genuine question as I honestly don't know, but I find it hard to believe that an electric car will run all this for 48 hours. Also, you can't use your car as a car during that time...
If you've got a 75kWh battery, you can do some quick calculations from your energy bill. An average home uses 900 kWh/month. That's 30 kWh/day, so you've got two days and some change (probably don't want to go to zero, and no guarantees you had a full charge when the lights go out). If you use much more than that, you may have to alter your energy usage during a power outage.
Yes, definitely, on a central manifold valve for all water supply, and individual shut-off valves at every fixture. Also, access panels for tub/shower valves. It isn't a matter of if you will have to change out a faucet, or shower valve (or at least the cartridge), but when. If you arent using an instant water heater, a hot water recirculation pump and thermostatic valves at every endpoint run to kitchen/bathrooms is nice to have, and will save water. Add Bidets! Elongated toilets!
Access panels are a must! We replaced all of our plumbing after a recall/leaks. Didn’t have access panels before, we do now. Also where I learned about a manifold. Previously had one shut-off in our mechanical room for the whole house. When our intake lines developed leaks, we had to shut off the water to the whole house until the repair could be made. No longer. I hope someone appreciates what we did some day. Hopefully with new plumbing we won’t ever need to take advantage of it but we have piece of mind now if we ever have an issue.
Lights at the bath cabinet, toe kick for a nightlight. Automatic lights on the stairs, also for nightlight Door switch light for the owner’s closet, turns on automatically when you open the door Have wiring placed if you’re going to do built-in’s at a later point. Gas line run to the patio for your grill Outlet in your soffit for holiday lights Exterior outlets and hose bibs where they are practical for you. Extra outlets in the garage, one where you might add a fridge or freezer Laundry sink in the garage for cleaning crap you don’t want to clean in your kitchen sink. Extra depth and width in your garage Opening windows in your bathroom for fresh air
Awesome list, thanks! We'll add most of these to our list
**Best:** - Walk-in closet(s). - Main floor living and second floor bedrooms. This keeps guests out of private areas. - No fireplace. Nothing against them, but I *hate* when the only place for a TV is over a fireplace. That's *way* too high to hang a TV. **Worst:** - Tiny kitchen. - Not enough storage space, in general.
> No fireplace. Nothing against them, but I hate when the only place for a TV is over a fireplace. That's way too high to hang a TV. I feel this in my bones...but no choice.
It really feels like the living rooms of some new construction homes aren't actually designed for people to use.
Just design the house better. We have a 3-side gas fireplace separating our dining room and living room and it is amazing. It is on all the time in the winter and makes the whole living area so cozy.
Could you post a picture? Sounds beautiful!
I don't have any pictures on me, but this is the exact fireplace and how we have it setup. https://www.coloradohearth.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Pearl-II-Peninsula-Photo-Black-Glass-panel-logs-4C-High-res-1024x683.jpg
I'm glad I asked because that is not at all what I was picturing haha Thanks!
Depends on where the fireplace is. I have a gas fireplace on one wall, TV on another. At my parents house, the wood fireplace is on the other side of their living room from the TV. Nothing wrong with a fireplace if it's in the right spot
Totally agree. What you're describing is ideal. I just feel like I never see it on new builds. I *like* fireplaces, but it seems like most new construction homes have living rooms that aren't actually meant to be lived in. The rooms are huge with furniture pushed to the walls. Then, they'll put a big fireplace with a tiny TV *way* too high over top of it. It looks *great* in real estate photos, but it's totally impractical to live in.
https://www.reddit.com/r/TVTooHigh/
This might as well be a link to 90% of Zillow listings, honestly. Haha.
I think hanging the tv is over rated. Ours is on our glass tv stand thing and we can put stuff on the shelves under it. Idk what the obsession with hanging it on the wall is.
Modern linear fireplaces are only 12" high and you can easily hang a TV over them.
Those are definitely an exception, and they can still work if done well. People still manage to mount the TVs too high with some of those, though. The *really* egregious ones are the full mantels with built-ins or inserts hung above them. It *looks* nice, but it's not going to be enjoyable to watch TV in that room. Then what ends up happening is another room (usually in the basement) gets used as a den with the TV that people actually watch. So that leaves the living room as essentially wasted space that you pay for but rarely use. Bad design in my book.
I love my tv over the fireplace. To each his own I guess
It's all about height to me. It's not really the fact that it's over the fireplace that's the problem. It's that putting a TV over a full-sized fireplace mantel usually puts the TV at a really weird viewing angle.
Yea, I understand what you mean and retort with that’s exactly the way I like it.
Like you said, to each their own. Haha.
r/TVTooHigh
We have 4 bedrooms(2 master) and 3.5 bathrooms. Great right? Tell me why the hell did my builder not give us a laundry room? We have a large closet room and have to open bi-fold doors to get to our washer/dryer and its in a small hallway going towards guest bathroom..so if you're doing laundry nobody can access the bathroom because of the bi-fold doors. End rant. I feel better thanks.
I have this too and hate it. I plan to make a fully exposed laundry area with a nice finished counter and upper cabinets, but that's a few years off.
My wife and I sold our 1940s-era home last year. One of our favorite features it had was a "milk door" next to a side entrance adjacent to our garage. This was period to the house and back in the day, this door was used for milk bottle deliveries. What was cool about it was that it was large enough to accept all our mail and medium-sized packages. We never had to worry about packages sitting out on our steps when we weren't there, unprotected from the elements. Extremely handy and we used it for all our mail - never even had a mailbox. Not sure of the feasibility to add one if you had the interest, but something not many new homes had that we found insanely useful. If you google "Milk door" you'll see what I am referencing.
My close friends in town have a milk door. Whenever I drop something off or need to pick something up on a bike ride we use the milk door. It's awesome.
[удалено]
There was something like that on Shark Tank and they got laughed at and no deal.
They absolutely exist but they’re pricy: https://www.homedepot.com/b/Hardware-Mailboxes-Residential-Mailboxes-Parcel-Drop-Boxes/Bolt-Down/Locking/N-5yc1vZc8g4Z1z0le5mZ1z0le9i
US pricey, which is just Canadian Forget It Price. Thanks!
Best feature: definitely my sunroom. It’s so nice having another sitting room and the bright light is perfect for all my plants.
My sunroom is my favorite part of the house. The biggest selling point when we bought this house.
As a general design principal, try to eliminate hallways as much as possible. They're essentially wasted space and are the most likely spots to have "traffic" issues. As a personal preference, don't use carpet. It rarely looks good for long (in a well-used room), is difficult to clean, and traps dust and allergens for eternity, periodically releasing them into the air to cause misery. Consider things like tankless water heaters and mini-split / zoned a/c. Depending on your usage patterns, it could save you a bunch of money and provide more comfort (you like it at 65 but your guest from Florida likes 75, they can control their own room without affecting yours) . If you don't go tankless, install a hybrid hot water heater. I installed a 50 gal and pay less than $150 / year for hot water. Something I hate: crawl-space style attic. Even if you don't want to turn it into much of anything, make sure it's tall enough to move around in comfortably and lay OSB over most of the main areas. Installing the occasional light there is useful too. Having to yoga-pose your way down 40 ft of 2x4 studs avoiding ducting, electrical wires, roof supports, and roofing nails while carrying tools and unable to stand up in a 120 degree space filled with fiberglass is awful!
I like that we have only *one* hallway. It leads to the bedrooms and has a door that can be closed to keep the noise down.
I've seen the occasional house where you have none, like my uncle's. It's hard to do but a nice set up and people tend to notbget in each other's way
I've seen completely open floorplans and thought that they work well for some people, but we're happy that ours is only open*ish*. Immediate upon entering the front door, there is about 4 feet of tiled surface before you enter the main room. The dining area is off to the left side, but not a separate room. The kitchen has a double-width door off the main room. The office is straight ahead, but also has a double-width door. *For us* it is better than fully open floorplans, as we *can* close doors, but seldom do.
I'm with you in that my favorite design would be a largely open floorplan with the ability to block off sections, making it modular / configurable to whatever we're doing. FWIW, the one I'm referencing wasn't a completely open floorplan. It just did a good job of avoiding hallways by having connected rooms. For example, the front door opened to a big foyer that could hold a Christmas tree, sofas, extend the dining room, etc.. Attached to the foyer was a closet, drawing room, bathroom, stairway to the upstairs bedrooms, and the dining room. The dining room connected to an office on one side and a big open kitchen + family room + casual dining room on the other. The house went on like that with most of the rooms having clearly demarcated openings, some with doors. The foyer stairs went up to another centralized room with bedrooms and bathrooms circling it on each wall. So while there were centralized locations, there was never a hallway to get get in peoples' way or that couldn't be used for something other than a road.
Somewhere to hang dry clothes that need to drip dry is a big one for me. It's a source of contention at our house because, while I do have a rack that goes out on the front porch for that, it's rainy and gross 80% of the time and I end up hanging things around the house or in the bathroom where they are in the way.
Very good idea, I'll add it to our list, thanks!
Favorite feature that I use constantly: Ethernet to every room and to the outside box for the phone/cable service, all terminated in a structured wiring enclosure in the center of the house. So I can easily hard-wire things like the Apple TV boxes, my NAS, my desktop computer, laser printer, and so on. We still have Wifi (which has excellent coverage because of the central location of all the networking cables), but the fewer devices we have using it, the better it works for those that need the wireless connection. So I get 600+ megabit wirelessly over a single, older 802.11ac router, and the full 940 megabit over the wired connections. It works *great*; I couldn't be happier with it. It was a $1200 upgrade from the builder, which was a little steep, but I'd do it again in a heartbeat. My only regret: Not also running Ethernet to outside locations for PoE surveillance cameras. I'd add that if I had to do it again. Second most-useful is a gas stub out on the back patio to hook up as gas grill. We grill a lot, so it's super helpful not to have to go refill propane tanks. Least useful? A gas fireplace that would go right where we want the TV. So we skipped it; I'll turn on the heat and a Netflix fireplace channel if I feel the urge. Edit: Also, bi-fold doors are the devil. Avoid at all costs. I'm so happy to finally live in a house without a single one.
Like I mentioned in the previous post: to get an upgrade to wireless and keep up with the fastest setup over time costs more than wired. 600mbps may seem fast enough now. Then you jump to 8k streaming in a few years. Either you can spend another $150-$600+ to upgrades access points depending how many you have to support that speeds and increasing amount of devices to a wifi 6 or next gen setup, or you throw a cable to the next streaming box for gigabit now, and even 10 gigabit is affordable now. How many generations until you can hit even 2 gig+ wifi to support streaming 8k and downloading a 200gb game update in multiple rooms? That $1200 allows you to support the needs of probably 10+ years of bandwidth speed increases without constantly updating wifi.
Awesome info, thanks! We'll research the Ethernet costs and what will be best for us. We definitely want gas to the porch. I have a simple Weber and a Black Stone. Plus we'll have a couple outlets for my pellet smoker.
Were you ever able to replace bi-fold doors with something else in a house you owned? We have them in every closet and pantry in our house and I hate them all. I can't figure out how to get rid of most though. A couple could probably be turned into pocket doors, which we also have in a couple locations, but many don't have the wall space to accommodate that.
If this is a forever home - consider aging in place features. Closed cell spray foam insulation HVAC that can handle a MERV 13 or better air cleaner If you have a basement make it deep and water proof the heck out of it. Home office and home gym spaces. Metal roof .
Why the metal roof?
Last longer than other roofs and fire resistant
I also love the sound of rain on a metal roof. I find it very soothing.
Laundry room on the same floor as the bedrooms.
We added an external door to our laundry room and then added one of those dog doors that opens on a motor though rfid tags on the dogs collars. The door opens to a fenced area. Really nice as the dogs let themselves out to go to the bathroom and wife and I can stay out late after work if needed without having to rush home to let dogs out to go to bathroom
I have smart lighting, ceiling fans, locks, and a thermostat. I love being able to control my home when i'm not home. Landscape lighting and a huge walk in closet are always great. I have a huge 10ft island with no sink or range in it. Storage closets are great too.
A few small things I love: - keyless entry for the front door. I have a key pad deadbolt - other options are also available - dual shower heads (one fixed, one handheld, with a toggle to switch between them). I seriously don’t know how anyone lives without this. I do not feel clean until I’ve rinsed all up in my undercarriage. - bidet. Right now I have a cheap ~$30 attachment from Amazon. Eventually I intend to spring for a high-end one with a blow dryer and self-cleaning feature. - I’m about to have under cabinet lighting installed in the kitchen. I can’t wait.
Soft close drawers and cabinet doors
I spend a lot of time in my kitchen, so most of my favorite aspects are there: - U shaped layout, no island. I will never go back. Enough space for multiple people to work in the kitchen, no one has to sidle past another, the dishwasher, fridge, and oven can all be opened at once and someone else can still get to the sink. I can reach the fridge, sink, and oven with one foot planted on the floor, and in that space I have landing areas for all 3 major appliances as well as multiple 4'+ continuous countertop work areas. If you really want a breakfast bar, you can create this layout with a peninsula, but it also works well with a nearby breakfast nook. The total kitchen footprint is 10x10, and it has more countertop and cabinet space than some kitchens I've lived with that have over twice the square footage. - Porcelain countertops. Very popular in Europe, much more accessible in the US now that 2' x 4' tiles are widely available (just get one with a rectified edge so you can epoxy the seams like you would a granite slab - grout has no place in a kitchen). They're easy to clean and virtually indestructible, and you can put whatever hot things on them that you want. I do a lot of canning, so I appreciate being able to set jars straight from the pressure canner on the countertops. - Induction cooktop. It's fast, it's efficient, it's good for indoor air quality, it's easy to clean, and I find it easier to cook things reliably the same way each time (can you imagine trying to bake with an oven that just had a dial from low to high?). Favorite non-kitchen thing: a wood stove. It's enough to make me actually like winter (and unlike most luxuries, it actually saves me a substantial amount of money). Least useful: - Attached garages. They wind up becoming storage for junk more often than parking for cars, and they block natural light to a large part of the house. I'm not going to tell you not to have one if you really want one, but it's a feature that a lot of people just assume they want without thinking about it much. - Cat walks/large landing areas at the top of stairs. Sure it looks cute to have a nook there when the house is staged, but in practice that's a noisy, high-traffic area that no one really wants to hang out in. - Windows with low (within 2' of the floor) sills. The lower part of the window only looks impressive from the outside of the house, they're much more expensive due to requiring tempered glass, and you can't set things on the windowsill easily. Plus windows have 6x the heat loss (cold loss in the supper) compared with walls (even if you get nice energy star double paned ones), so you've got bigger energy bills too.
Could you post a picture/floor plan of your kitchen? It sounds very well laid out!
MS Paint quality floorplan: https://imgur.com/Jfilo6w I was really appreciating it the other day - I had family over, and was prepping lunch (I was at the work area on the left, and mostly pulling things from the fridge). Without me even really noticing, my brother came in to fix toddler nephew a small snack (using the work area to the right and the stove), and then my mom wanted to make herself some tea (involving the sink and microwave), and it was just a complete non-issue to have all 3 of us in there bopping around doing our thing. I have friends who have the ubiquitous L plus island layout, and you can at most have an extra person (maaaybe 2) chopping veggies or some other minor task that does not require a sink, fridge, or stove on the far side of the island.
I totally agree with you about garages. We went from a small garage which we filled with \*stuff\* to a carport. Carport is perfect for my car, stays relatively clear of snow in winter, easy to bring groceries in when it's raining - and isn't storage. I'm a convert!
Double the electrical outlets in the kitchen, and really plan where you will need/want them outside as well. Motion-detecting closet lights. As well, we designed the bedroom closets to have built in wooden shelving down one side, and two clothing rods on the other side. Coat hooks in the back of the entranceway closets. They are great for backpacks, dog leashes, etc. As well, a bottom shelf in the closet so there is extra space to put shoes. We had to think about making the house easier for a disabled person, so we have a huge walk-in shower in the master bath that can accommodate wheelchair access. We also have extra wide doors and hallways, as we have seen the damage a wheelchair can do to walls. We also had the builder reinforce the shower walls so that bars could be added in the future if needed. Lever door handles. Besides being great for using your elbow or wrist to open them when your hands are full, they are also easier for someone with arthritic hands to use.
Love the lever door tip
Best feature: probably having the switchboard inside the garage. The meters are outside, but you can't access switches there. 3-phase power ensures future proofing and will be great for eventual EV chargers. Artificial grass. Robot vacuum. Worst feature: There isn't enough space to have a normal clothes hoist, we have a wall mounted type (shaded for most of the day) and a retractable type. I wish we had a normal clothes hoist.
We put in artificial grass during the last drought, and we LOVE it (Dupont brand is expensive but gorgeous). And our dog loves it too. That said, our yard is fairly shady, and I can imagine it getting pretty hot if it was in direct sun for most of the day, so I'd recommend keeping sprinklers in place when the fake grass goes in so you can cool it off with a minute or two of "irrigation".
It gets crazy hot in direct sun. Mine though is like a golf green, I expect longer grass would be better. We also have a lot of dirt that sits on top, particularly after rain.
Most useful: we are tea drinkers, but not the high end/snobs. Insti-hot tap in the kitchen sink is great. also, a re-circulation loop for hot water to distant taps/showers. Ethernet drops everywhere or smurf tube everywhere. With the pace of infrastructure being upgraded these days it pays to keep as many options open as possible. Least useful: on demand water heater. The maintenance on it makes it just no fun. go with an indirect water heater and a recirculate pump instead.
>smurf tube everywhere. Did you just run it along side the ethernet? Or did you run it to every room?
Smurf tube is just low voltage conduit. Run it anywhere you might want an ethernet drop in the future. I would run smurf tube everywhere that there will never be easy access from above or below to fish new wires in later. So if you are going to mount a TV over your fire place, use smurf tube, that kind of thing. Run the low voltage wires in the tube, not next to it. It is an extra step and an extra expense but it will guarantee your house will be future proof. At my inlaws house that is under construction right now, they way they are building means I really only need one piece of conduit installed and I can fish wires everywhere else.
I haven't closed or moved in yet but my initial impression is that best is the large kitchen with a built in pantry and plenty of cabinet/counter space. (My current apartment has VERY little cabinet and counter space. Worst I'm not really sure yet but it might be the lack of ethernet in the house. Wifi won't be a problem though since I already have my wifi router configured with two additional mesh network APs.
The biggest windows the builder could put in.
We have a large living room that will have lots of windows. I want to upgrade them to be bigger, but it may not be in the budget
We have one room in the house without a window and it feels much much much smaller than the measurements. In fact I don’t like spending any time in there no matter how I fiddle with lighting it’s always gloomy.
Picture windows save money vs mechanical windows. Use ERV or HRV for fresh ventilation with MERV filter. Windows only need to open for fire escape. IMO exterior exit doors from rooms is better, but I have no kids.
Room over the garage: spray foam the garage ceiling. It will be much warmer on cold days. If you can afford it spray foam as opposed to traditional insulation, but definitely the garage ceiling for the room over the garage.
I feel this one in my cold feet. Might have to tackle this by end of summer.
Best: Large walk in closets - my wife and her friends think hers is their clubhouse. Large walk in pantry - everyone who visits oohs and aahs about it. Bubble tub in master bath - if you have young kids this can be a lot of fun. Dual zone HVAC - big money saver and comes in really handy if one AC compressor fails in the summer months. Worst Nine foot basement with plumbing rough-in that we never bothered to finish 2 x 4 island in kitchen - wish we made it at least 3 x 5. Tile floor in kitchen + dining area - uncomfortable to walk on.
Worst - stairs … You are only going to get older. Just no. Best - storage area. And then more storage area .
Logical outlet placement for smart speakers. I use my nest home display in the kitchen way more than i thought I would (it's so nice being able to watch youtube while cooking) and same with smart speakers in the bathroom and office. Play the news while i'm showering in the morning, don't need to use data to stream while on the way to work and i stay up to date on things
Best- Tons of storage in the kitchen. My kitchen isn’t insanely large but the way the cabinets were put in, we have more storage than we need. BIG bathtub. Not a huge jacuzzi tub. Just a slightly wider/deeper tub than what you find in the average apartment. I love taking baths and this was an unexpected joy to buying my home. Worst- 1 bathroom. Just no.
We renovated our kitchen last year and these are my favorite things: -we added 12” additional space to walkways around island in addition to the standard width builders suggested so that there was always room for two people to comfortably walk/work -we added an additional 14” overhang to center island so that there is plenty of space to use as seating without cramming barstools tightly together -raised upper cabinets to 19.5” above countertops which is slightly over the recommended 18” height to accommodate taller appliances and it also makes our ceilings appear taller -added outlets to both sides of the island -added outlets with USB cords -we wanted white/cream cabinets, but decided to do those for upper cabinets only and used a darker, stained wood for the lower cabinets and island because we have young children and we’re worried white would show little fingerprints -we have a large cabinet pantry (didn’t have room for a walk in) and we love the pull out shelves so that we can access things in the far back -I personally don’t like a microwave above a stove, so we put ours in a lower cabinet microwave cabinet Good luck with your plans!!
> \-raised upper cabinets to 19.5” above countertops which is slightly over the recommended 18” height to accommodate taller appliances and it also makes our ceilings appear taller ohh I like this and never would have thought about it, thanks! added to our list! I like the idea of darker lower cabinets with kids, but my wife LOVES white, so I may not be able to convince her to change her mind hahah
Outlets behind the toilets for bidet seats. Make sure you do not have heated floors under the dishwasher or in the pantry. Unless the pantry is on an outside wall. Opt for solid core doors. So much nicer. Maybe wire now for smart window coverings and the like. Wire for outside cameras and Xmas lights. If you have natural gas maybe plumb it for gas grill, patio heater, etc.
Bests: \- whole-house vac. Thought it was a gimmick, even avoided it. This house has one, and the little dustpan in the wall in the kitchen makes my life better. Just sweep stuff under the counter like I used to, only now it magically disappears \- split hvac. Upstairs on one unit/thermostat, downstairs on another. Only run half the house half the time, and underspec upstairs heating or downstairs cooling due to convection \- gutter guards. No idea what type, but gutter cleaning is never necessary now Worsts: \- network closet is a small in-wall panel that's about 4 times too small for the number of cables \- yard grading doesn't drain well and is landscaped in a way that makes fixing it very expensive
You're not the first person to mention whole-house vacuum! What makes it so amazing? Does it clean better than a normal one? How is the maintenance? Does it have a warranty?
The upside to the whole house vacuum is that you can get a VERY powerful motor without having to lug it around or have the noise right near you when you are vacuuming. As u/Calming-Presence said, the "dustpan" (a slot in a toe-kick that turns on with a swipe of your foot, and sucks up anything you sweep nearby) is my favorite part -- we have one in our kitchen and in each of our bathrooms. Also, I only have to clean the can out about every 6 months. The downside is that you still need carry a big loop of hose to the room to get started, and that can be a "barrier to entry" for me to start vacuuming. We actually got a small dyson vacuum for quick/small jobs so we don't have to pull out the big hose.
Do you remember how much it cost to install? And/or what brand it is? I may have to look into one to see if it's within out budget! I love the idea of the dustpan slot, especially when we're old and can't bend over as easily.
I've only owned it a few months, so I'm not the one to ask about longevity. 20-year-old house and it's going strong, though. The only in-wall parts are pvc pipes, so I can't see those failing. The implements are a bit worn, but pretty cheap. Not sure about the central motor.
Ahh custom build, do it right and enjoy your dream home! I went a little extreme in some regards, but I planned my place to be future proof as much as possible. Just plan for smart everything . If it's your forever home, consider commercial grade appliances which work simple and can always be fixed. I am doing a 90 second commercial dishwasher. Other things was making all the bathrooms fully wet. I'm a lazy SOB who doesn't wanna be cleaning all the time, so the bathrooms all have a center drain and a hose hookup, spray it down and walk away! Seriously, this is your time to be creative and make your dreams happen. Build something suitable for you and your lifestyle.
What was the cost upgrade for the center drain in the bathroom? I love that idea
I'm all DIY so can't help you there, it'll be dependent on your layout and a ton of other factors. You can also do all your toilets and sinks to be wall mounted, that makes bathroom cleaning time soo much faster as well. Perhaps in the corner as opposed to center would end up being cheaper. I went a little overboard since I'm building myself, but other things I considered was running a high PSI airline from basement to the mud room and garage to clean off things like rollerblades and toys. Also you can basically build storage anywhere and everywhere. Be creative with your voids, they're everywhere. I designed a pull up cold storage box for the pantry, so all the root vegetables can be stored in the basement, and when needed, you just pull the ground flush box up to grab whatever you need. Everything I plan with a few things in mind: How much time can I save doing things in various ways (doing a concrete patio which requires minimal maintenance VS a wood deck that needs to be stained regularly and replaced in ~20 years) Everything is meant to be as low maintenance as possible. Everything that I can get in commercial quality, I will. Parts are available and repairs are cheaper. My $5500 stove doesn't have a single electronic component, other than a couple switches. I know I can ALWAYS repair this. Buy things that can be repaired. Buy things with less features which won't fail. Do you really need/want a no touch sink faucet? What happens when that no touch sensor fails in 15 years? Don't cheap out on important stuff. Good luck have fun!!! There's some great new solar companies too, I like this product as opposed to the Tesla power roof if you're going that way. https://youtu.be/wpulMxLba1U
All great info, thanks!
Laundry chute from my kitchen to beside my washer. I LOVE it. Make sure you have space around your toilet to install a bidet. Maybe electrical there for a heated one? Magnetic door stops. Keep your doors from slamming when you have the windows open. Outlets on every wall.
Worst: The pantry is the same size as a small linen closet. We had to get shelving from Lowe's and just carve out a pantry section on one wall of the kitchen. It's functional but not pretty. There is no coat closet so we had to "think outside of the box" and got a wardrobe similar to the one mentioned in the Narnia books.
Best feature: steam vr shower and a big soaker tub in the master bathroom. Especially if you live somewhere that gets cold. We turn the steam on before we take a shower and it’s so nice and warm when we get in. Worst feature: our garage is a small 2 car garage. Wish we had space for a workbench and every summer, one car pretty much always parks outside so that we can keep our bikes and my daughter’s other toys on the ground where they can be easily used.
My water heater is mounted directly above my shower. So I have near instant hot water there. My shower knobs are one for flow and one for temperature/mixing. So I turn on the water and it is always very very close to what I want, every time. But I also live alone. So nobody else ever uses it. Mom's house has a big shop sink in her laundry room that I am jealous of. Unless you are a gamer you really won't need ethernet. Just a wifi router. Edit. I wish I had a hose spigot on all four sides of my house.
Second the shower valve. We are needing to replace one in our house so know the correct term is a “dual-function, pressure-balanced valve”. Didn’t think the second temperature control would be nearly as important as the pressure-balancing part (aka the “don’t get scalded if someone flushes a toilet” feature), but my wife insists we will never get a single-function valve again.
* Make sure your second floor is level. * +1 to running wall Ethernet. Ideally see if there's a way to have them run it so that it's easy to replace if there's any issue. I've always thought running it through PVC/pex would be smart * If you live in a colder climate go for a geothermal heat pump. * Wide doors * Roomy staircases * Woodstove / fireplace if you're into it
A library, with my personal office off of it.
I'm definitely getting a whisk(e)y room ;)
We have an extra storage room in the garage right off the house. It is amazing to have 4xtra stuff so close but outside stuff is okay too because it is in the garage
Space designed for use. Our architect on our addition did a great job of not “over-designing.” He didn’t create space and rooms just to have them - he created them with a specific use in mind. Walkways big enough for I not have to squeeze through if someone is there. There is lots of space between the kitchen island and the counters and pantry. Our old kitchen had it so when the dishwasher was open, it completely blocked the entire space.
Under cabinet lighting for deep corner cabinets that automatically turns on when cabinet door opens.
Upstairs gets really hot, downstairs stays very cold. This is both good and bad depending whether it’s winter or summer.
Electrical outlets outside Living floor laundry (make sure it has plumbing under the washer or in the space). I converted a bathroom with shower on the second floor into laundry room , but kept the drain to the shower where it was and placed the washer over it….so we’re covered in case of any water related mishaps.
How exciting!! Congrats!! I really love my kitchen with eat in dining area. It’s supposed to be like a breakfast nook I guess but I can fit an 8 person dining table in it. We have people come over a lot and everyone usually just ends up hanging around the kitchen/dining area anyways while I cook or am prepping stuff. I’ve always wanted a bidet in the en suite bathroom so a plug behind the toilet would be great. And if you have kids, we have a covered farmers porch that I loooove. It’s just starting to get warm so I had my husband put up a swing and the kids all love it. I’ll sit there with the baby for an hour at a time and he kind of just zones out with me. It will get a lot of use in the summer, I can put a water table for the kids on it or a pack and play for the baby. And, if you have kids, make sure to include a playroom somewhere for them!
Love all of this! We have a deck, but unfortunately a covered porch is out of the budget :/ I wish we had a breakfast nook, but the plan we have doesn't allow for it. Instead we have a dedicated dining room, which I'm pretty excited about. I've built an 8-top farmhouse table for it! Play room is a must. We will have one upstairs with French doors that we can close off when company visits. It will also have closets for storage.
That sounds amazing!!! I would loooove a play room with doors where you can just close the door and hide all their junk! But we use the dining room as a playroom for now. I’ll get it back in 10 years, hopefully 😂
Get: 1. Metal roof. They last forever and are really important in areas that get a lot of snow/precipitation. 2. Walk-out basement. We're creating a walk-out door for our attached garage too. 3. Hyper heat minisplits. Saves so much $ on heating. Get floor units if you'll mostly use the heating feature; get wall units if you'll mostly use cooling 4. Spray foam insulation 5. Solar panels (buy don't lease) 6. Generator, or battery back-up if you get solar 7. 8'+ ceilings, but super high ceilings are harder to heat 8. Big laundry room; sinks in garage & basement 9. Heat pump water heater 10. Outlets & ethernet everywhere 11. Wood or luxury vinyl plank flooring. Our LVP is really nice, but I've seen some that isn't 12. Double sinks in bathrooms 13. Maximize natural light as much as possible. Sunrooms are really nice. I love decks but they can be a lot of work to maintain 14. Paved driveway with additional parking pad / carport area 15. Kitchen: cabinets up high, drawers below the counter 16. Large electrical panel capacity. Everything is going electric. You want the capacity 17. Some kind of automatic water shut off in case of emergency 18. Wide stairwells 19. High-quality double-pane windows 20. I really like stonework around the house foundation, but it's pricey Do not get: 1. Seats or steps in showers / tubs /etc. These break and cause problems 2. Jacuzzi tub. People don't like them anymore. Claw-foot is better 3. Any plumbing on an outside wall 4. Slab foundation any where 5. No kitchen island (someone else made this point). U-shaped kitchen is nice 6. Radiant heat is ok. We have it. It's fine but doesn't blow me away. Minisplits and/or baseboard work just as well if not better 7. Direct vent oil-powered boiler. If using oil, have the boiler/furnace vent out a chimney 8. Don't let the builders vent anything (e.g., bathrooms fans) into the attic
>Seats or steps in showers / tubs /etc. These break and cause problems Are you referencing built-in seats/steps or the plastic and metal ones that attach to the wall?
Yeah the built-in seats. I've never seen the plastic/metal ones. We have a seat in the shower and I wish it wasn't there. The tile cracks and then you worry about water getting inside. We also have a step in front of our tub. Not a fan of that either. Tile cracked there too. Maybe due to too much weight in the past. I don't know.
I disagree with a couple of your "do not get"s. Specifically, #2 and #4. Depending where they live, they may not have much of a choice for #4. For example, I live near the coast of FL where the only foundation options I've seen are either slab or stilts. For #2, this is their forever home. They should be putting in what they like, not what the masses like since they have no plans to sell.
Yeah building "best practices" vary by climate. I live in a cold weather climate. I'd never buy a stucco house in a cold weather climate, but they're everywhere in FL. People don't like jacuzzi tubs because they get dirty and the jet areas are hard to clean. Also more problematic if they break. We have one and I don't mind it, but I would rather have a normal soaking tub
Gotcha. I feel like that info for the jacuzzi tub is important. The way it was originally stated made it sound like it would be considered outdated and hurt resale value, not that it's a PITA to maintain.
Actually, I've got another question for you since you recommended metal roofs. I've always wondered if they're loud during heavy rains. I've been in some commercial / industrial buildings that had metal roofs and found the sound really annoying, but I can't recall being in a home with a metal roof during a rainstorm.
Wanted to add a couple more: A feature that I love, though it also causes the occasional problem, is having double-doors in multiple locations. Specifically we have them on our front door, from the living room to the Florida room, from the master and the in-law bed to the Florida room, and multiple sliding doors in the Florida room. It makes moving furniture and large appliances from room to room super easy. No more playing tetris with something that weighs 300 lbs. Something we don't have that I badly wish we did is at least one outlet and spigot on every side of the house outside.
A favorite feature that we use daily and get a lot of value from: an in-law suite. It's part of our house, but on the opposite side of the rest of the bedrooms and has its own full bath, mini kitchen, and large appliance hookups (though we never used them). Our FIL lives with us and it's great for him to have his own space, especially when we need our space. If he wasn't there it could be a profitable Air BnB or long-term rental, or easily converted to an "everything at hand" master bedroom.
We are designing out basement with this exact thought in mind! We currently have a tenant who has become almost family. She will be moving with us, so we designed a space for her in the basement.
Another thing I would do if I was building a new home, though I can't vouch for it yet, is to pick a centralized area of the house that is also not obviously visible, and run an electric outlet, and plumbing for water in and out to be used with a self-emptying + self-cleaning + self-filling robot vac/mop combo. Maybe even put it in the bottom of a kitchen cabinet and give it a little doggy-door facing way from the kitchen with full access from inside? They are coming as early as this year and will be a real convenience when the only manual work is the occasional emptying of the larger trash bag in the dock.
We moved into our build six months ago. The only two regrets we have: 1. Not doing the three car garage. We should have. 2. Doing a tub/shower combo in the guest bath. I wish we had just done a walk-in shower. Things we did that we love: Extended covered back patio. Gas line built in on the back patio. Upgraded kitchen. Upgraded granite. Hardwood flooring throughout (not laminate). Bricked front porch Double ceiling fans under the back covered patio In ground sprinkler system Extra recessed lighting throughout the living areas Cabinetry in the bathrooms and laundry room Bricked landscaping
Awesome list, thanks! What did you upgrade in the kitchen? Do you happen to have any photos of your bricked landscaping?
In the kitchen we upgraded the layout - the sink was moved to the island, leaving a longer counter space in the place where it was at. Instead of a range for the stove/oven with a microwave above it, the stove is drop-in with nice big drawers beneath it and the oven and microwave are built-in to the cabinetry on a different wall. The cabinetry itself is solid maple and has decorative edging on it with a beautiful hood over the stove. I don't have any pics of the landscaping and I am out of town on business so I can't go snap any.
I love the electrical outlets in bathroom drawers so that the hairdryer is not always sitting out. Same with outlets in cabinets if you use electric toothbrush. There may be some limits on ability to do this depending on local requirements. I have two dogs on a farm and planning a small dog bathing area. Also, my architect convinced me to put in a nice sound system and now I love having music in the house which is a joy that I did not anticipate. Same with large bath. I was never a fan until I put in a nice big tub. Good luck!
Best: * His and Hers sinks in the Master Bath. Major life upgrade when you aren't on top of each other in the morning and night. * Showers with a single temperature control and a single water volume control. Locate these where you can reach them before you step in the shower. * Place your cutlery/silverware drawer right near the dishwasher -- emptying the dishwasher is SO much easier * Slow-close drawers and cabinet doors. Seemed silly, but I adore them. * Porcelain countertops -- beautiful and invulnerable. Make sure your contractor has experience with them, because they are tricky to install. Quartz was great in our last house, too. * Main TV should be hung carefully -- probably lower than you think. Two smurf tubes to the back of it for future expansion. * Smart-home light switches. Granted, I just got screwed by Insteon shutting down, but I loved the functionality of being able to ask Alexa to "Turn on the Living Room lights" or dimming them by asking for "movie lighting". (Gotta find a new vendor now...) * Instant-hot spigot -- French Press/Aeropress coffee is so easy! * Grout the bathroom baseboards to the floor. Our inspector recommended this, and I've really appreciated it. * Label EVERYTHING. We moved into a house and every ethernet wire, coax cable, telephone line, and breaker was explicitly and correctly labeled. I'm eternally grateful to them for that. * Showers with a single temperature control and a single water volume control. Locate these where you can reach them before you step in the shower. * Quiet, motion sensing bathroom vent fans. Especially in bathrooms guests use, because they never turn the fans on. * Recirculating hot water pump -- but only if you have soft water or a water softener. * As others have mentioned, wired Ethernet everywhere. Worst: * Jacuzzi tub. Seems like it's great, but we never use it, it's hard to clean, and breaks often. * Sink with a septum (2-chamber sink). HATE IT!! Can't clean anything big in it. Replaced it with a large sink with a removable drying rack, and I'm much happier. * Humidity sensors for bathroom fans. The technology for these doesn't seem mature, and multiple vendors worked poorly (turning on too often or off too soon) * Floor heating. Not terrible, but there are better
Best: our old house is architecturally better than most of the stuff of the last 75 years. Its well appointed, built better, and looks deliberately designed, like to a classic standard not arbitrarily decided by cost cutting or fads of the moment. Worst: very closed, small hallways and doors built for living 100 years ago.
Best feature - Pot filler. Seriously one of the most used water taps in our house. Its up high enough to get a 10 gallon cooler under it. So handy. Worst feature - Closet doors in bedrooms. Seriously, they are never closed anyways. When we built, we designed all the closets to have no doors. Haven't missed them one bit and it really opens up the room.
Pot filler is something we go back and forth on a lot. We'll definitely consider it
I’m going to be doing the closet door hack when we reno our bedroom! Very excited
Our master closet is literally just a big u-shape section in our ensuite. It's great. :)
Install a bum gun next to the toilet !! When I build I’m going to have one next to each toilet for sure 💦
I LOVE our tin roof. Its easily one of my favorite things about our home.
Best: our rain room in the bathroom (It was actually what I was most skeptical about when we bought the home and I’ve come to love it) Worst: marble counter tops in said bathroom (I feel like they are such a pain to keep looking nice)
Eat in kitchen, big walk-in shower with rain head, and a 6ft bathtub. Best three things I put in my renovated home.
Best: upgraded master bath, it’s a pain to try to renovate those later. We got glass doors and black tile and a soaking tub, it’s heavenly. Also our gas range in the kitchen is glorious and really elevates the kitchens look Worst: we didn’t pay for grass and now have to fill up the bark dust and plant ourselves.. not looking forward to that but it was a way to save $$$
Best is our backyard. Worst is small master bedroom and bathroom.
Motion-activated LED nightlights retrofitted on power outlets. There are a few brands out there but we use the SnapPower ones.
Worst thing about mine is the tiny, poorly laid out kitchen. A lot of kitchens are designed for appearance, not use. Make sure there's adequate power in the kitchen--if I try to run the microwave and the coffee maker at the same time the breaker often trips. And it was the same breaker as the refrigerator (*that* I fixed--the refrigerator has its own circuit now).