BellaOnline Forums Money Home Ownership What is your Dream Home?

Do you have it already? Or is it in your dreams? What would it have as a feature?

I do like my home but I've always wanted a home with a window bench to curl up in and read. I keep trying to convince my boyfriend to build one into our current home

I'm living in my dream home except it's located in the wrong place. We finished re-doing our home about a year ago. It has everything we want. And the best was that we did everything ourselves and had such a good time doing it over the course of two years. And all paid for as we did it. But now my husband wants to sell it and move to the mountains. That would be great if we could take the house and the backyard with us. My favorite spot has been and always will be lounging in the pool. It's just so relaxing to me. I miss that so much during the winter months. I'm worried that we won't have that in the mountains somewhere. And the winters will be too long (been there, done that - lived in NY most of my life; he's born and raised in Fl). Well I guess I'll just wait to see what happens.

Rosemary
Home Ownership Editor

Maybe there is a warm mountain spot? I know people in mountain areas who still can have a pool Maybe you can have one of those cool pools where it looks like the edge of the pool just drops off into the mountains! I think those always scared me though

I like the idea of a pool but my dad had a pool at his house and it was a ton of work to keep clean. I do want a hot tub but we haven't taken that step yet. Maybe this summer We still have a half-built shed out by the driveway for Bob's motorcycle, that never got finished before winter hit. The foundation is down but the walls and such are in a pile next to the foundation. So that will be the first project once it gets warmer ...

Great topic.

My current home is the exact *opposite* of what I would like. Sort of a long story there. Vaulted ceilings, white walls/rugs, boring details, no yard ...and it's new construction, so every house on the block is nearly identical.

What I'd like is something quaint with a bit of color (i.e., each room a different hue). Hardwood floors, a respectable yard, unique details... that sort of thing. I'll probably have to move to a whole different area of the country to find it, though, as nothing in the West even remotely resembles the house I'm thinking of...

Paint! That's what we did. It's cheap and if you don't like it, you can paint over it. We have the high vaulted ceilings too. We painted our living room a forest green with white trim and what a difference. And the pictures are very big and have gold trim. We painted our bedroom gold and that came our great. Painting the rooms rich colors make them look bigger. I can use any color curtains with these colors to give it a different look. Didn't want to spend the money redoing the bathroom so I took the chance and painted a waterfall mural on the walls. We're not in a development, so we painted the exterior a sort of burgandy with white trim. So many people stopped to tell us they loved it when it was finished. And when we ride around the neighborhood, we keep finding more people who painted their house the same color. As far as floors, we did some with wood and some with laminate. We don't have any rugs. So nice and easy to keep clean. I can go on and on. Don't mind me, I get so excited because it was so much fun to do this.

I've been thinking about painting... the thing is, though, we plan on moving soon. (Well, as soon as the market lets us anyway.) So part of me thinks that a buyer would rather see a sort of "blank slate" of white walls than a bunch of color. So I keep talking myself out of painting.

Nancy - you can always repaint it white!! You might as well be happy where you are. Even if you just paint one room that you spend the most time in, that could be really helpful.

Lots of time when you plan to move it ends up being years and years before you do. You might as well enjoy the house now - and just repaint again when you are really ready to move

I'm not that crazy about the style of our house but I love the way we have decorated it. I always say that if we moved, I would want to recreate the same rooms all over again!

There are a few additional things I would like though. First, a heated garage. And also a bigger bedroom so I could have a little chaise lounge for reading and a walk-in closet -- I am tired of putting my non-current season wardrobe in the basement. And I'd like a separate exercise room with mirros all around. And an art studio with a skylight. And .....well, that's probably all.

I might agree with Lisa on that painting issue -- sometimes it takes a long time to move and you might as well enjoy the house while you're there. My in-laws lived in their house for years with no improvements and then suddenly refurbished it right before they sold it -- they never got to enjoy the renovations! But I can understand it is a lot of work to paint if you might not be there long.

It would have to have a huge, farm style kitchen, a "keeping room" large enough to seat my whole family when they come to a meal, with a narrow, very long table down the center and a huge stone fireplace. And the cooking area would have to have a lot of counterspace. Also I would want a sewing/craft room, a library loaded with poetry, history, literature, romance, culture...all kinds of books with a corner for my computer, with lots of windows, tall narrow ones with french panes that look out over water gardens. I would want a small bedroom of my own (I don't feel cozy in a large bedroom) with just the bed and a nightstand and my own bathroom, french doors leading to a private balcony over the water gardens with a small waterfall that I can hear at night; two large guest rooms each with their own bathroom and a fireplace. A nice cozy parlour for quiet conversations..... ah! I could go on and on.

I love my home. I just wish it was laid out better. Had a triangle layout in the kitchen, more counter space and cupboards, a open concept into the diningroom. Patio dooors in the dinigroom and the sdownstaris office. A finished garage, finished basement, a laundry room up-up stairs, a big claw tub and separate corner shower. A finished room in the attic... a bigger bedroom so I didn't have to squeeze around the big furniture that we bought when we lived in an appartment with a big room. bigger closets, bigger bathroom, porch on front, deck on back. Gee I want a lot...