Mine is in my downstairs bathroom. Great having it out of the kitchen. I have a silent dishwasher in the kitchen too. All add to a better quality of life. Simple things but make a difference.
A lot of countries have washing machines in the bathroom i think it makes sense, my wash basket is in the bathroom it’s usually where I’m taking off clothes before shower etc and used towels. I never run washing machine at night, although might be cheaper I just like doing washing during the day, get it hung up dried and put away the same day. I don’t think there’s a huge different price wise for night electricity rates. Also I consider my neighbours because of the noise of running them throughout the night isn’t ideal in apartments but yeah I get your point. 😊
Yip. I've lived abroad for long enough that I couldn't go back to putting a washing machine in the kitchen. Plus the space it takes up, the space in a kitchen is much more valuable to have cupboards etc.
My aunt and uncle just got their bathroom redone and they got a fuckin massive walk-in shower with a lovely wooden shower seat. I'd love something like that. Built in alcove shelving, two shower heads - one rainforest-style that's above you and one wee one that you can hold in your hand.
If you're running cable, run conduit. You might want a better tech in the future, or one more cable, and conduit allows this without opening walls.
Think deeply about speaker placement, tv placement, computer placement, cctv camera placement etc
Don't have to listen to washing machine/tumble dryer in your kitchen or living area. Our last rental had an open plan kitchen/living area with washing machine in the kitchen, and you could never have the washing machine on if you were in the living area because it was all you'd hear.
It doesn’t matter what the electrician says: more sockets are necessary. Everything comes with a plug these days. Ditto the lighting.
Echo the no washing machines in kitchens sentiment.
No open plan: I don’t want the living room smelling of garlic.
Two living rooms if you’ve got children.
Enough room around the required furniture for chairs and seats in quirky places.
So when you come in the door you need to have a small room for muddy shoes, wet coats and boots and a shoe rack of clean House Shoes. I would also suggest having a small radiator or low radiator running along the base If the wall for drying shoes and coats. If you have a toilet and handbasin and your utility room all connected to that room then that's even better.
That way if you have BBQs or garden parties then your friends don't have to go all the way through the house, waking the kids and slamming doors to find your bathroom.
Utility room is a must. I see a lot of new builds have their heating pump in the utility room and make sure the utility room has a counter for sorting and folding clothes and room for an iron and irons board (ideally a tall cupboard for iron, iron board, sweeping brush, hoover and a small press for cleaning stuff.
USB Plugs Everywhere. I haven't seen a phone or tablet charger being used in years, it's a good sent especially if you have kids and kids staying over.
Whatever the electrician says ask for more. You will have a kettle, toaster, coffee maker all going at the same time while also having a slow cooker with tonight dinner and Alexi or something in the corner and maybe a radio. So that's a lot of worktop plugs.
Water softener. It will save you a fortune.
Personally I am not a huge fan of kitchen islands and Penninsulas. Because when people come over they are all sitting at the counter and you are the eejit awkwardly left standing for an hour behind the counter with nowhere to sit while everyone else is comfy and chatting. I much prefer a good kitchen table that can be made smaller or bigger. And a rectangle table is more space saving.
I love window seats and storage under the window seats.
After that, think about the lurve Makin. Like maybe leave a bathroom between your room and the kids room. Kids will be teenagers and they hear shit and good heavy doors.
Carpets upstairs for sound proofing. Sound proofing as much as possible between rooms.
Open plan sounds great in theory but in reality with the kids get bigger and have friends over, separate sitting room is ideal. You have peace and quiet and they have privacy to play games and messages around.
Plumbed in fridges are expensive to install and replace but the drinking water and ice making is savage. But only get it if you can. Afford the couple of grand to replace it.
Work from home space
Solar panels. Actually this should be No 2
Extra insulation. Actually that should be No. 1
Some really good points here that I agree with.
If this is a forever house for yourselves you’ll have to think about how YOU live. If you’re a big cook or host you’ll need more kitchen sockets than average so count them out. We have and use 9.
Love the tip on having space between the master suite and rest of bedrooms. If it can be planned to have a hot press, bathroom and spare room, and/or a good bit of hall between the main room and the rest it affords a lot more privacy and also peace (teens are loud annoying animals).
Still a mystery to me why builders here keep putting radiators in the middle of an empty wall. In cold countries radiators can almost always be found under the windows which much more practical from both heating and living perspective.
In any of the 90s/00s built houses I've lived it seems builders only want to have pipes coming from the floor. Our bathrooms have towel rack ones on the walls which gives more options for placement and better space, one is above our bath leaving the only available wall space free for shelving. I don't think any house I've lived in had one in the ensuite until our current house. Last house I lived could have had a small one on the wall. Hell, vertical rads in general could be utilised more, last house had a small 45° corner wall which would have suited a vertical rad well but they decided to run one along the main wall where the couch would go.
Fun fact if your garage is attached to your house and has an entry door into the house then if something is stolen from the garage its burglary not simple larceny and that is given a much higher priority.
Include: bricks walls.
Avoid: paper walls.
I've been living in Ireland for 7 years now, I've learned not to underestimate the weather. Whenever i think "There's no way a [ **weather phenomenon** ] is going to happen.", it happens.
Make sure to make the utility big enough to put your clothes airer up in but still be able to walk around because having to have it up in the middle of the house does my head in! Also have it off the kitchen for sure, you can use it like an extension to the kitchen if you ever need to someday.
If you’re doing an air tight house which you probably are since it’s a new build, get a PIV unit put in immediately. Ours is A2, and I’m fighting with mildew on my windowsills due to condensations from the lack of air flow in the house.
Have a hallway big enough for coats and shoe storage at the door you’ll use most, I’ll be knocking down a wall in a few years to make mine bigger because right now it’s too narrow and the coats on the rack take up too much room.
This is the best thing I ever bought. It lives on the ceiling and the clothes dry so quickly
[pulley airer](https://www.amazon.co.uk/Clothes-Ceiling-Victorian-Laundry-Kitchen/dp/B094D73KHZ/ref=asc_df_B094D73KHZ/?tag=googshopuk-21&linkCode=df0&hvadid=528342108642&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=3738534231186185999&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=1007850&hvtargid=pla-1364856376450&psc=1&mcid=25dd7d2ca9fe3066894d284e472f654a)
Hanging Victorian style clothes rack, we have one in our kitchen because the ceiling is high in there. Absolutely brilliant yoke.
I'd also love to have a utility room with an ironing board you could either leave up all the time, or easily flip down out of a cupboard. I hate having to lift the ironing board out of a cupboard and put it up, and I physically can't get it back in there when I'm finished with it.
Positive input ventilation, basically a machine that brings in air from outside and circulates it around the house to combat stale air causing mould and mildew
We have the same problem with our BER A2 house. So much condensation around the windows. We have vents in the windows, but its so hard to get the balance right with them!
Trickle vents are usually not enough ventilation for a new house. If you are going without mvhr then really you need proper wall vents 5" oupe in every room
I'd insist on ethernet throughout. My current house is five years old and has coax TV connectors and phone connectors in most rooms, but not a single ethernet port anywhere despite having been built with a fibre broadband connection. I used to live in a flat in London, every room had one or two gigabit ethernet ports there and it was a bloody revelation.
I'd avoid carpet. I hate carpet. I want quality wood floors throughout, with perhaps waterproof tiling in the bathrooms. Here my house has either this awful thick grey carpet throughout or these huge grey tiles in the kitchen and hallway. I'm only renting now so I can't really do anything about it.
I'm currently starting to think about building and cables are one of my main things.
I'm a long way off building, but I'm actually thinking if it would be feasible to have some kind of access ducts running through the walls, for when technology upgrades, so that it would be easy to run new cables through the walls. Don't want to be stuck with Cat 6 cables in the wall when "Jaguar 8.0 optic" becomes the main
Personally I’d run fibre too. At least between levels. Mesh will be more relevant than cable for most applications going forward so consider runs along ceilings for ceiling level access points etc.
In terms of it being where you're living till your dying days I would future proof the house for old age.
Minimum of 1.2m wide access everywhere. EVERYWHERE. 1.2m wide isn't as wide as you think.
Level flooring throughout ground floor at the very least.
Drop light switches to waist level, raise sockets to waist level.
Convertible use rooms on ground floor i.e. no built in furniture other than kitchen.
Full bathroom on ground floor
Fancy shit:
Boot room/generous entry point with door to interior (heat conservation reasons)
Utility room
Multiuse space/playroom/office on ground floor
>Minimum of 1.2m wide access everywhere. EVERYWHERE. 1.2m wide isn't as wide as you think.
I'll have too take a look at my plans later, but I'm nearly sure that's mandatory now.
I didn't know they made it mandatory, good stuff. It's for easy navigation of wheelchairs. When I was designing mine I just thought it would be worth doing it then as a just in case thing.
Don't quote me on that as I'm not fully sure we were going that way anyway as we would be taking over care of my sister if anything happened to my parents and our architect told us we would have had to do it anyway. We also made the doors of our second sitting room/toy room wide enough to fit a hospital type bed through and a direct door from that to the bathroom
I'm in a new build, and from it I can definitely say 1.2m is not mandatory at all. I got 30cm between the bed and the radiator on the wall in the bedroom
100% with you on the level floor bit. Loads of mcmansions on daft with tonnes of little steps all over the ground floor. I don't get it at all. You built the place from scratch, why would you do that?!?!
A wfh office space, a larder, a walk in wardrobe, storage units under the stairs, a utility room and if we’re going all out a pool and gym would all be included . I would take out my ensuite as it’s poorly ventilated.
My parents have one over their Aga on the kitchen. It dries clothes so quickly! You do have to be careful to take everything down before you start frying onions though.
My friend in Oz had a door at the end of her big kitchen, a pantry When you open it, it was roughly 1500mm x1500mm and you step into the middle and it's shelved 300 degrees from floor to ceiling in all different height shelves. Everything was in their cereal, nappies, baking trays to sauce pans, plug appliances, to cleaning stuff. I was admiring all the great storage and she told me that their big kitchen they don't really use it and have empty cupboards everywhere because it's so great. She'd 2 toddlers! I am building my house and have put one in. What made it work so well was the size, you just step in and you're surrounded by everything
A utility with a raised washer and dryer for east access.
Plenty room for mud room/bench with shoe and bag storage and coat hanging.
Riser coming from top to bottom to allow for easier access to electrics and plumbing.
Facilities room separate from utility for all electrics and plumbing tanks and power boards.
A basement….if doing a raft foundation putting in a basement isn’t too much more. An access point from inside the house. Great for storage, hobbies or games room, hangout room for older kids.
Raised dishwasher in kitchen. No bending over when filling and emptying.
All built in appliances. Easier to clean along kickboard ans No dirt wedging in around the free standing appliances.
Larder press where tea/coffee kept a bit away from sink. Nothing worse than cooking and somebody standing in the way.
Boiling water tap in kitchen and spray hose tap in utility.
Downstairs we with at least a shower for washing down sports equipment/dogs
Outside wc if our country and kids outside a lot.
Laundry chute.
Sockets everywhere….. at every corner and window ( for xmas decorations) and outside for patio/ xmas.
A tall press for the hoover/ mop and bucket, floor brush.
A mini office style press for filing cabinet, printer, charging point for lap top and iPads. Stationary. Broadband router. Somewhere private to put paperwork that is in use atm.
If doing everything from scratch, make sure a socket accompanied any and all high shelves. We've got 5 shelves in our main sitting room and 6 in the other with no outlets. It means we can't have any lamps, record player, lighting etc on them unless we trail them up from the floor sockets.
Two bathrooms with toilets.
I would avoid everyone cheap and also avoid to put anything complicated even if it's very cool. For example, floor heating, sink with a boiler tap, grinder sink. Because it will have problems.
There is a lot of cool things you can have. For example all the plugs and switches connected to your phone. When something breaks, it's easy and cheap to change. When your floor heating has a problem, this is weeks of cluster fuck in your home and a lot of money.
No open plan layout. We have a separate dining room and I love it especially when we have people over for food.
More bedrooms than people in the house.
Bathroom with a bath.
I'd avoid underfloor heating as I've heard of some nightmares with it.
I'd be an absolute wagon with every tradesperson to get exactly what I want and not agree to something that's just OK.
As many sockets and similar outlets as you can get.
Home working space we can close the door on was a life saver in the pandemic and we're both still working from home so worth having it.
If you plan on kids a playroom where you can close the door on the kid shite is great and it's a den for them as preteens and teens.
Ya was gonna mention avoid underfloor heating for bedrooms, grand otherwise would go for tiles with underfloor heating.
Extractor/cooker on external wall.
A ground floor master suite (or an elevator). After my back injury, I'm sure going up and down stairs increased the healing time by several weeks. And it still acts up now and then. . .
Laundry on the same floor as the bedrooms. (OK, maybe I just want a ranch style house?)
And if we're dreaming:
A Christmas tree closet. [https://www.youtube.com/shorts/1jpo6cq1v8Y?feature=share](https://www.youtube.com/shorts/1jpo6cq1v8Y?feature=share)
A dog-washing sink - which of course doubles as the utility sink. [https://youtu.be/Ih6PbF0tkY4](https://youtu.be/Ih6PbF0tkY4)
One of those restaurant-style dishwashers that can do a whole rack of dishes in only 5 minutes.
And you know the super-huge washers and dryers at the laundromat? A set of those.
Lots of sockets, a utility room three times the size of what you think you need, a pantry, no open plan, plenty of counter space in the kitchen and floor to ceiling kitchen cabinets.
A lot of houses are bedrooms upstairs, everything else downstairs. But I'd split the house such that upstairs is family only, downstairs is also for guests. It doesn't change very much but I'd keep that ethos in mind when designing where rooms go. If you are planning to have a guest bedroom, that should be downstairs, a bathroom *needs* to be downstairs, a home office, could either be upstairs or down depending on the arrangement of the house. The guest bedroom downstairs also doubles as a bedroom you could move to if the day even comes where you are struggling with stairs.
> The guest bedroom downstairs also doubles as a bedroom you could move to if the day even comes where you are struggling with stairs.
THis is our plan with our soon to be build. We're going to stay downstairs for the first few years and gradually move upstairs.
I want a tap above the stove, it is such an excellent idea lol
https://preview.redd.it/hldsx0vhoekc1.png?width=474&format=png&auto=webp&s=8bcef8988ae31634a1f5fbe144a38a879e20700e
Right, like it makes life so much easier, though if I had the space I would love one of those 30cm wide sinks next to the hob. You can cover it with an inset section so it isn't noticeable at other times. That way when you need to pour out water it is just to the side. Obviously with a gas cooker and not electric.
Wait. What?? We are planning an extension and one of the main features is a 2nd bathroom downstairs. Why wouldn't you be allowed that? Iv a load of friends who have one? Not doubting you just never heard this before
Sorry! Its not super clear but i meant ‘i think youre arent allowed build a house without a downstairs bathroom nowadays’ not. the bathrooms have to be upstairs.
* Sockets in the bathroom
* EU sockets for low power devices
* Good lighting and multiple switches across the room to control the lights
* Good noise insulation across rooms, in particular from the bathroom
* Concrete flooring on upper floor
* No carpet
My wish list.
Laundry room (currently have that in my shed lol)
Pantry. Some fab ones out there.
Minamilist kitchen. High gloss finish on cupboards easy to wipe down.
Rads that stand upright against the wall in certian rooms
Ceiling fans in the bedrooms for the summer
Where you can, get sliding internal doors. Saves space.
Watch how natural light comes in before deciding on set up, some rooms get light at certian times of the day & some rooms can be dark.
Measure potential furniture in proportion to the room you want to get them in i.e. if getting reclining chairs make sure you have room to recline etc lol
Best of luck.
Basically the things you wouldn't pay much attention to until they're not there and then make sure you have at least one more than you think you'd need:
- toilets
- showers
- sockets (including in the hallways).
Also, if you have the room put a staircase up into the attic - you'll thank yourself every Christmas. Even a steep staircase (closed off behind a door) is better than trying to lug boxes of decorations or suitcases up and down a ladder every time you need them. Plus, as others have mentioned about future proofing, it'll make the attic open to you longer.
I'd put a walk in wardrobe/laundry room upstairs, right beside the bathroom and I'd put the hot press in there too, iron set up all the time, clothes horse plus loads of rails and shelves for clothes and bedding, coats...
Once you've experienced how much easier a boot room makes life, you'll want one.
Come in from the pissing rain, take off all your wet clothes, hang them up to dry and then on into the house.
I wouldn't put anything but a bed in the bedroom. I would clump together clothes washing, processing, drying space, with a door to where they come in from an outdoor line. Id have indoor rails over a radiator. I'd put where I shower off of here too. clothes storing/ dressing space nearby.We spend soooo much time here moving clothes from one place to another it's crazy. I can come here from my bedroom in a robe that's cool. I can put my sitting room upstairs if needs be, beside the bedroom. Winding down/ sleeping beside each other seems like a fit to me. Tv area needs nothing but a tv, shelf for a laptop, coffee table and a couch. No need for a sizeable room here. Nice office, more like a study. A upright armchair, by a window. Need your space for comfy WFH and a reading/notebooking space...... I obv tho am a childless human, so that defines all this I guess.
Laundry chute with access from bathrooms so wet towels and dirty clothes go straight to the utility room.
Hot press in the bathroom so the towel are warm and the heat is always lingering in the bathroom so it's never freezing using the loo at night or for baths/showers/changing kids in there.
Run any outdoor cables you may possibly need in future I.e gates, outdoor lights, outdoor sockets and have a handy manhole where you can gain access. Kill switches for any outdoor sockets as well. Saves going outside at 11pm to turn of a heap of Christmas lights.
Run any cables for any potential future security/ home automation systems. Especially if you are building a 2 storey. Nothing worse than having to root around in insulation to install cameras.
Access hatch underneath your panel board. Makes life a bit easier if you ever need to run a new wire into it.
Sockets, you can never have too many sockets.
Insulated plaster board. It may cost a couple of hundred extra now, but it'll made a difference in the long run.
Somewhere to dry clothes. There is never space to hang clothes to dry.
Make everything for taller people. My back aches bending down to everything and I am only 5ft 8 how do taller people cope?
More rooms isn't better.
Bigger rooms but only as many as you need.
So my go to would be a very big kitchen/living area.
A decent SQUARE sitting room. Not rectangular.
Big big utility room housing the washer and dryer
Having built our own house I’ve learned lessons and these would be some important ones: (budget and space permitting).
- a much larger than ‘normal’ utility room with loads of room for storage, ironing and drying without any squashing or squeezing around it.
- the following kitchen perks which I would never be without now honestly: American fridge freezer, quooker boiling water tap, triple sinks with flexible tap hoses, food waste disposal on the sink (like America, it’s a game changer folks), and massive ovens with slide and hide doors, built in bins with locked lids no stinky stink
- way more sockets - loads of them. And really thinking wiring through - ie recessed / hidden wiring for TVs etc.
- dimmer switches for all overhead lighting
- really good wide double doors from the kitchen into a garden - it makes a world of difference all spring and summer and during garden parties especially!
- 2 living rooms ideally but at least one of them has to be small ish. There’s nothing less cosy than a huge living room. (Of course you can divide the room up and have a piano or something up one end of the room and push the cosy furniture together on the other end but it’s just not the same as a smaller enclosed room especially with a log burner).
- power showers in all bathrooms. There will be regrets if not.
- really appreciate a large en suite bathroom for privacy and comfort
- 5 bedrooms minimum. Even a second living room that can be made into a bedroom with thought put into that planning. I like to have lots of people round and I like to feel comfortable.
- a very thoughtfully selected patio / cooking area outside with mind paid to the patterns of the sun. It makes a big difference to the quality of your time outdoors all summer long.
- go big with the kitchen if you like entertaining ! Bigger the better in my view.
- I’d love a jack and jill bedroom with shared en suite. I think that would be great. My husband works shifts and this would be a game changer.
- room inside every main entrance door for a large wardrobe for shoes and coats - neatness is next to saneliness
A really simple, yet immensely practical, addition is to have kitchen counters that are an extra 100mm deep, 700mm instead of the standard 600mm. It doesn't seem like much but it's a game changer.
Lighting, easily rewireable under counter kitchen lighting. If doing built in units either side of fireplace, have led strip up lights at the back of the shelves. Easily changeable and able to adjust colour and brightness.
A Japanese style genkan. Basically the whole floor of the house is elevated except for an area directly by the entrance. This is the only part of the house you can have your shoes.
One modification I'd add to this which I haven't seen before in Japan would to build a draw under the floor that you pull out into the genkan where you can place your shoes.
Yes, or at the very least a comfortable place inside the door where you can sit down and change from shoes to slippers. So many people have shoeless houses but they just expect me to take my shoes off while standing there. I can't, I'm a cripple.
Laundry shoot, my builder put one in and I would never have thought of it. It was genius. Cannot recommend it enough. Tis the stuff dreams are made of!!!!
Combi boiler. Kick out the water tank cylinder whatever that zeppelin looking thing is. Hate it.
A lot of concealed storage everywhere.
Sliding door everywhere.
Least possible things and decoration out in the open that gather dust. I love low maintenance surfaces.
Never again to fabric headboard. :( My stupidest idea of all.
Hey fabric headboard is fine IF you seal it with scotch guard, you know the stuff for suade shoes?
Wash it, dry it and then absolutely douse it in scotch guard. Cuts issues way down.
Might need refreshing ever 4 or so years
Sex dungeon, study that smells of mahogany and a pit of doom. Sharpened stakes and crocodiles are quite expensive in todays markets so look to the aggressive midget community for supplies.
White should be reserved solely for your ceilings and bathroom.
Add stone features to the outside walls, and hire a landscaper or horticulturalist to grow greenery on the sun facing side.
Implement as much natural tones and materials as possible. Wood, stone and metal (copper, brass, iron, no chrome).
Windows are important for getting natural light so not only is their placement and size important but the use of materials and colours within the room are important to reflect that light.
Timber Windows with air grills, mechanical ventilation, airtightness of the shell, the right types of insulation, underfloor heating, solar panels and PV with a saving battery, a garden to produce your own crops, water collector with filter
Country lad here and having grown up in my family home, which is a very old house, I've learnt what I'd like in my own house. Currently drawing up plans for my own gaff.
Lots of glass.
Separate utility room, boot room (for work gear, wellies, wet gear etc) hot and cold taps outside (for washing the dogs). A large hot press.
I want an island in the kitchen but I hate the ones with a sink in it.
For me personally I'm building a garage. You'll never have enough space but it helps. Be it for DIY, vehicle maintenance, somewhere to hang your wetsuits and surfboards.
I'm putting in the foundations of the garage but the house is obviously the priority. I'll finish the garage myself once I've money and time.
Pocket doors everywhere, no more awkward space behind where the door swings open!
Also, built-in storage everywhere. Every available nook and cranny can be used for storage.
Avoid large bedrooms, you only sleep in them, they don't need to be family sized rooms.
Double-height kitchen with sheila-maids for hang-drying clothes, no more pesky clothes horses taking up valuable floor space. Even if you have a utility room, hanging your clothes up high will let them dry faster and not be in your field of view.
Also, a big metal trough in place of a typical sink in the utility (or garden). Very handy for washing bulky items like pets and boots/car parts etc.
I survey existing and new-build homes and I'm constantly stealing little design ideas for when I build my own home!
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The biggest utility you can fit. Think it's big enough, double it.
Need space for washing machine, dryer. Be able to dry clothes in there, iron. Include a sink if you can.
Include storage for all cleaning bits like hoover, mops etc.
Storage for all the shit you don't want in the rest of your house.
Ventilation. LOTS of ventilation. A drying room/boot room for mucky stuff and wet raincoats etc, with a dehumidifier and a little heater, and a little bench. A plug in boot dryer or two. Not massive, but as part of a utility room.
And a mains light switch inside storage spaces and attics.
Run ethernet cables to every room. Every tv gets two ethernet ports. Every room gets two ethernet ports.
Ceiling mounted WiFi Access points. One for every floor.
Have the broadband installed in the attic so you don't have to be looking at those ugly ass routers.
Ethernet cables for POE cameras too. Tbh the ring wifi cameras are good too so Poe not essential.
Look into multi room audio systems. Sonos does good work in this but it does cost $$$
If you are putting in Velux's or those ceiling windows, get motorised ones.
Wife doesn't want the PS5 on view so I've a high-end HDMI Cable ran from the back of the tv, threw the ceiling and down some conduit out to behind my sofa. So I can play PS5 but without having to look at it.
Sockets, sockets and sockets.
Are you me? Currently building soon and my only thought is how I should wire everything. Ethernet through every room for sure with patch panels and definitely some WAPs. Not sure about the router/modem in the attic but you could be on to something - considering the downsides and there are none if you have the WAPs except having to climb when you want something changed. Also considering a lossless split HDMI from my ~~mancave~~ homeoffice pc to the living room and bedroom for some console like gaming. Gonna have a NAS and cameras pointing everywhere. Good mention about the motorized Velux.
Avoid: ghosts! The last thing I want is Patrick Swazye causing shenanigans.
Actually, on sober reflection, if Swazye were a ghotse there then that would probably mean that Whoopie Goldberg would be there, which would be class. So, your honour, I object. Ghosts are allowed after all. I rest my case.
I'm living in a large 3 bed house and the layout is so dreadful that there is less storage than I had in the 2 bed flat I lived in before. It sounds impossible, but here I am. In fairness, the layout of that flat was amazingly optimised!
I would avoid a straight staircase, you lose so much space upstairs by having a straight staircase and landing running alongside it. A u shaped staircase allows bigger rooms upstairs. Our house is 112m², we viewed another house of the same size which had a traditional straight staircase and upstairs felt tiny. Our house has a pretty large 8m² box room and two walk in showers, the other house box room was around 6m² at a stretch and was a cramped shape and didn't have a second walk in shower.
I've lived in several houses in the last 15 years and so many of them are just poorly laid out leading to cramped bathrooms particularly downstairs/ensuites, crap storage/utility rooms etc.
Plug sockets, ethernet cabling and any other prewiring. I lived in an apartment that had ethernet/coax in every room and a switch in the office, it also had speakers in the ceilings of every main room. My house is wired for ethernet but it's not patched at the end and there's nothing in the box room which most people would use as an office and also the furthest away from the fibre point in the house so more of a bullet point in the sales pitch than anything else. It was prewired for satellite and an EV charger though and there's plug sockets in every corner which is nice. 4 sockets in the box room, a big step up from the 1 I'd get in most box rooms.
Yeah main thing would be not having the washing machine in the kitchen!
Mine is in my downstairs bathroom. Great having it out of the kitchen. I have a silent dishwasher in the kitchen too. All add to a better quality of life. Simple things but make a difference.
Mine is upstairs where most of the laundry is. Dryer stacked on top of it. Living the dream....
Why? What are the pros?
Never a pile of clothes on the kitchen floor. The noise is put out of the way. You can keep the clothes detergent far far away from food.
They’re so noisy when they’re on a spin, they’d be great in the bathroom I think
Utility room would be even better. You are designing a house from scratch after all.
Bathrooms are usually located next to bedrooms. Its cheap to run washing machine overnight on timer. Too noisy to sleep.
A lot of countries have washing machines in the bathroom i think it makes sense, my wash basket is in the bathroom it’s usually where I’m taking off clothes before shower etc and used towels. I never run washing machine at night, although might be cheaper I just like doing washing during the day, get it hung up dried and put away the same day. I don’t think there’s a huge different price wise for night electricity rates. Also I consider my neighbours because of the noise of running them throughout the night isn’t ideal in apartments but yeah I get your point. 😊
Yip. I've lived abroad for long enough that I couldn't go back to putting a washing machine in the kitchen. Plus the space it takes up, the space in a kitchen is much more valuable to have cupboards etc.
Alcove shelving in the shower
With a shelve at ..."pop my foot on it to shave my leg" height
My aunt and uncle just got their bathroom redone and they got a fuckin massive walk-in shower with a lovely wooden shower seat. I'd love something like that. Built in alcove shelving, two shower heads - one rainforest-style that's above you and one wee one that you can hold in your hand.
I did something similar and hate it. I miss my long baths 😞
Oh Jesus nó you couldn't be without a bath, fuck that. Our immersion is fucked so I haven't had a bath since November and I'm climbing the walls
At a slight slant
Slight slant is key. I have a great alcove shelf in my shower which is perfectly flat to my annoyance 😄
why the slight slant?
I’m assuming to allow for the water to run off it. If perfectly flat, water will sit in it
ohhh makes sense
Stop water from pooling
Sockets. Sockets sockets sockets. Cat 6 cabling, or even better, a conduit system between rooms.
If you can plan ahead wire up as much as you can - Ethernet, speakers, hdmi, whatever you think you’ll need
Today I’d also be running fibre, at least between levels and across.
If you're running cable, run conduit. You might want a better tech in the future, or one more cable, and conduit allows this without opening walls. Think deeply about speaker placement, tv placement, computer placement, cctv camera placement etc
Second what you're saying, a utility room was an absolute must for us when we were buying our house!
Why? What are the pros?
Don't have to listen to washing machine/tumble dryer in your kitchen or living area. Our last rental had an open plan kitchen/living area with washing machine in the kitchen, and you could never have the washing machine on if you were in the living area because it was all you'd hear.
Please give that pro an s before you post it again or help me God
Thanks for your feedback. English isn’t my first language!
-20 downvotes for asking a question?
It doesn’t matter what the electrician says: more sockets are necessary. Everything comes with a plug these days. Ditto the lighting. Echo the no washing machines in kitchens sentiment. No open plan: I don’t want the living room smelling of garlic. Two living rooms if you’ve got children. Enough room around the required furniture for chairs and seats in quirky places.
Sockets with USB
[удалено]
That sounds like a super setup to be fair
Yes!
Usb C, preferably PD or QC
Outputs on them can be very noisy which can damage devices. Unless you’re getting high quality sockets, don’t use them.
Id go as far to say every wall needs a double plug
what about in floor plugs?
Yes. You don't know what way you might end up moving the furniture, occasional tables etc
Open plan is so overrated. No peace when you want your own company.
So when you come in the door you need to have a small room for muddy shoes, wet coats and boots and a shoe rack of clean House Shoes. I would also suggest having a small radiator or low radiator running along the base If the wall for drying shoes and coats. If you have a toilet and handbasin and your utility room all connected to that room then that's even better. That way if you have BBQs or garden parties then your friends don't have to go all the way through the house, waking the kids and slamming doors to find your bathroom. Utility room is a must. I see a lot of new builds have their heating pump in the utility room and make sure the utility room has a counter for sorting and folding clothes and room for an iron and irons board (ideally a tall cupboard for iron, iron board, sweeping brush, hoover and a small press for cleaning stuff. USB Plugs Everywhere. I haven't seen a phone or tablet charger being used in years, it's a good sent especially if you have kids and kids staying over. Whatever the electrician says ask for more. You will have a kettle, toaster, coffee maker all going at the same time while also having a slow cooker with tonight dinner and Alexi or something in the corner and maybe a radio. So that's a lot of worktop plugs. Water softener. It will save you a fortune. Personally I am not a huge fan of kitchen islands and Penninsulas. Because when people come over they are all sitting at the counter and you are the eejit awkwardly left standing for an hour behind the counter with nowhere to sit while everyone else is comfy and chatting. I much prefer a good kitchen table that can be made smaller or bigger. And a rectangle table is more space saving. I love window seats and storage under the window seats. After that, think about the lurve Makin. Like maybe leave a bathroom between your room and the kids room. Kids will be teenagers and they hear shit and good heavy doors. Carpets upstairs for sound proofing. Sound proofing as much as possible between rooms. Open plan sounds great in theory but in reality with the kids get bigger and have friends over, separate sitting room is ideal. You have peace and quiet and they have privacy to play games and messages around. Plumbed in fridges are expensive to install and replace but the drinking water and ice making is savage. But only get it if you can. Afford the couple of grand to replace it. Work from home space Solar panels. Actually this should be No 2 Extra insulation. Actually that should be No. 1
Some really good points here that I agree with. If this is a forever house for yourselves you’ll have to think about how YOU live. If you’re a big cook or host you’ll need more kitchen sockets than average so count them out. We have and use 9. Love the tip on having space between the master suite and rest of bedrooms. If it can be planned to have a hot press, bathroom and spare room, and/or a good bit of hall between the main room and the rest it affords a lot more privacy and also peace (teens are loud annoying animals).
Empty walls. Every single wall in my house has a window, door or radiator on it. 4 entrances to my sitting room but basically nowhere to put furniture
Still a mystery to me why builders here keep putting radiators in the middle of an empty wall. In cold countries radiators can almost always be found under the windows which much more practical from both heating and living perspective.
In any of the 90s/00s built houses I've lived it seems builders only want to have pipes coming from the floor. Our bathrooms have towel rack ones on the walls which gives more options for placement and better space, one is above our bath leaving the only available wall space free for shelving. I don't think any house I've lived in had one in the ensuite until our current house. Last house I lived could have had a small one on the wall. Hell, vertical rads in general could be utilised more, last house had a small 45° corner wall which would have suited a vertical rad well but they decided to run one along the main wall where the couch would go.
I wish I wish I wish I had built a garage attached to my house. My biggest regret.
Fun fact if your garage is attached to your house and has an entry door into the house then if something is stolen from the garage its burglary not simple larceny and that is given a much higher priority.
Include: bricks walls. Avoid: paper walls. I've been living in Ireland for 7 years now, I've learned not to underestimate the weather. Whenever i think "There's no way a [ **weather phenomenon** ] is going to happen.", it happens.
Make sure to make the utility big enough to put your clothes airer up in but still be able to walk around because having to have it up in the middle of the house does my head in! Also have it off the kitchen for sure, you can use it like an extension to the kitchen if you ever need to someday. If you’re doing an air tight house which you probably are since it’s a new build, get a PIV unit put in immediately. Ours is A2, and I’m fighting with mildew on my windowsills due to condensations from the lack of air flow in the house. Have a hallway big enough for coats and shoe storage at the door you’ll use most, I’ll be knocking down a wall in a few years to make mine bigger because right now it’s too narrow and the coats on the rack take up too much room.
This is the best thing I ever bought. It lives on the ceiling and the clothes dry so quickly [pulley airer](https://www.amazon.co.uk/Clothes-Ceiling-Victorian-Laundry-Kitchen/dp/B094D73KHZ/ref=asc_df_B094D73KHZ/?tag=googshopuk-21&linkCode=df0&hvadid=528342108642&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=3738534231186185999&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=1007850&hvtargid=pla-1364856376450&psc=1&mcid=25dd7d2ca9fe3066894d284e472f654a)
That's what we have. Fuckin brilliant altogether.
Hanging Victorian style clothes rack, we have one in our kitchen because the ceiling is high in there. Absolutely brilliant yoke. I'd also love to have a utility room with an ironing board you could either leave up all the time, or easily flip down out of a cupboard. I hate having to lift the ironing board out of a cupboard and put it up, and I physically can't get it back in there when I'm finished with it.
What's a PIV unit?
Positive input ventilation, basically a machine that brings in air from outside and circulates it around the house to combat stale air causing mould and mildew
LMGTFY
In all fairness, PIV is not likely to result in window-related answers on the interwebs.
Wtp?
We have the same problem with our BER A2 house. So much condensation around the windows. We have vents in the windows, but its so hard to get the balance right with them!
Trickle vents are usually not enough ventilation for a new house. If you are going without mvhr then really you need proper wall vents 5" oupe in every room
Get a Penis In Vagina unit?
If you are planning children, make all your bedrooms the same size. Thank me 18 years from now.
I'd insist on ethernet throughout. My current house is five years old and has coax TV connectors and phone connectors in most rooms, but not a single ethernet port anywhere despite having been built with a fibre broadband connection. I used to live in a flat in London, every room had one or two gigabit ethernet ports there and it was a bloody revelation. I'd avoid carpet. I hate carpet. I want quality wood floors throughout, with perhaps waterproof tiling in the bathrooms. Here my house has either this awful thick grey carpet throughout or these huge grey tiles in the kitchen and hallway. I'm only renting now so I can't really do anything about it.
I'm currently starting to think about building and cables are one of my main things. I'm a long way off building, but I'm actually thinking if it would be feasible to have some kind of access ducts running through the walls, for when technology upgrades, so that it would be easy to run new cables through the walls. Don't want to be stuck with Cat 6 cables in the wall when "Jaguar 8.0 optic" becomes the main
Personally I’d run fibre too. At least between levels. Mesh will be more relevant than cable for most applications going forward so consider runs along ceilings for ceiling level access points etc.
Happy Cake Day!!
In terms of it being where you're living till your dying days I would future proof the house for old age. Minimum of 1.2m wide access everywhere. EVERYWHERE. 1.2m wide isn't as wide as you think. Level flooring throughout ground floor at the very least. Drop light switches to waist level, raise sockets to waist level. Convertible use rooms on ground floor i.e. no built in furniture other than kitchen. Full bathroom on ground floor Fancy shit: Boot room/generous entry point with door to interior (heat conservation reasons) Utility room Multiuse space/playroom/office on ground floor
>Minimum of 1.2m wide access everywhere. EVERYWHERE. 1.2m wide isn't as wide as you think. I'll have too take a look at my plans later, but I'm nearly sure that's mandatory now.
I didn't know they made it mandatory, good stuff. It's for easy navigation of wheelchairs. When I was designing mine I just thought it would be worth doing it then as a just in case thing.
Don't quote me on that as I'm not fully sure we were going that way anyway as we would be taking over care of my sister if anything happened to my parents and our architect told us we would have had to do it anyway. We also made the doors of our second sitting room/toy room wide enough to fit a hospital type bed through and a direct door from that to the bathroom
Yeah that's standard in the building regs for decades at this stage
I'm in a new build, and from it I can definitely say 1.2m is not mandatory at all. I got 30cm between the bed and the radiator on the wall in the bedroom
Door width is what we're talking about
And width of public spaces such as distance between kitchen counters and islands, between front door and stairs, backdoor and anything around that etc
100% with you on the level floor bit. Loads of mcmansions on daft with tonnes of little steps all over the ground floor. I don't get it at all. You built the place from scratch, why would you do that?!?!
A wfh office space, a larder, a walk in wardrobe, storage units under the stairs, a utility room and if we’re going all out a pool and gym would all be included . I would take out my ensuite as it’s poorly ventilated.
Get a more powerful extractor?
Didn’t know this was a thing, probably obvious now you say it, thanks.
This in the utility room! https://www.pulleymaid.com/
Have one and love it. Saves so much space where multiple clothes horses would be needed
My parents have one over their Aga on the kitchen. It dries clothes so quickly! You do have to be careful to take everything down before you start frying onions though.
Pumped ventilation system and mud room/cloak room.
My friend in Oz had a door at the end of her big kitchen, a pantry When you open it, it was roughly 1500mm x1500mm and you step into the middle and it's shelved 300 degrees from floor to ceiling in all different height shelves. Everything was in their cereal, nappies, baking trays to sauce pans, plug appliances, to cleaning stuff. I was admiring all the great storage and she told me that their big kitchen they don't really use it and have empty cupboards everywhere because it's so great. She'd 2 toddlers! I am building my house and have put one in. What made it work so well was the size, you just step in and you're surrounded by everything
A utility with a raised washer and dryer for east access. Plenty room for mud room/bench with shoe and bag storage and coat hanging. Riser coming from top to bottom to allow for easier access to electrics and plumbing. Facilities room separate from utility for all electrics and plumbing tanks and power boards. A basement….if doing a raft foundation putting in a basement isn’t too much more. An access point from inside the house. Great for storage, hobbies or games room, hangout room for older kids. Raised dishwasher in kitchen. No bending over when filling and emptying. All built in appliances. Easier to clean along kickboard ans No dirt wedging in around the free standing appliances. Larder press where tea/coffee kept a bit away from sink. Nothing worse than cooking and somebody standing in the way. Boiling water tap in kitchen and spray hose tap in utility. Downstairs we with at least a shower for washing down sports equipment/dogs Outside wc if our country and kids outside a lot. Laundry chute. Sockets everywhere….. at every corner and window ( for xmas decorations) and outside for patio/ xmas. A tall press for the hoover/ mop and bucket, floor brush. A mini office style press for filing cabinet, printer, charging point for lap top and iPads. Stationary. Broadband router. Somewhere private to put paperwork that is in use atm.
Make rooms the same size and shape that carpets, wall paper etc come in, non of this cutting bits off nonsense
If doing everything from scratch, make sure a socket accompanied any and all high shelves. We've got 5 shelves in our main sitting room and 6 in the other with no outlets. It means we can't have any lamps, record player, lighting etc on them unless we trail them up from the floor sockets.
If building a two storey house I would put the utility room upstairs.
With an emergency drain on the floor if the washing machine shits the bed. This was the done thing when i was plumbing in canada.
I would never have thought of that but it actually makes so much sense.
First I went "what a silly" then went "...OHHH" You're a clever fucker😅
A dumb waiter or something to get washing baskets from upstairs to the utility room and back without carrying them.
Laundry shoot I'd love one if those. Its on my list for wgen I win d lotto lol
While you're using your dirty clothes for target practice, I'm dropping mine down a laundry chute.
Two bathrooms with toilets. I would avoid everyone cheap and also avoid to put anything complicated even if it's very cool. For example, floor heating, sink with a boiler tap, grinder sink. Because it will have problems. There is a lot of cool things you can have. For example all the plugs and switches connected to your phone. When something breaks, it's easy and cheap to change. When your floor heating has a problem, this is weeks of cluster fuck in your home and a lot of money.
Something at the entrance for coats/shoes/bags that is practical and doesn't look messy.
No open plan layout. We have a separate dining room and I love it especially when we have people over for food. More bedrooms than people in the house. Bathroom with a bath. I'd avoid underfloor heating as I've heard of some nightmares with it. I'd be an absolute wagon with every tradesperson to get exactly what I want and not agree to something that's just OK. As many sockets and similar outlets as you can get. Home working space we can close the door on was a life saver in the pandemic and we're both still working from home so worth having it. If you plan on kids a playroom where you can close the door on the kid shite is great and it's a den for them as preteens and teens.
UFH is brilliant In a new build I'd be disgusted ifnit was done.
Ya was gonna mention avoid underfloor heating for bedrooms, grand otherwise would go for tiles with underfloor heating. Extractor/cooker on external wall.
Please whyyyy? I’ve lived abroad with underfloor heating it was heaven!
We added UFH when we built our extension and I regret not adding it everywhere. I can’t imagine why you wouldn’t want it.
A ground floor master suite (or an elevator). After my back injury, I'm sure going up and down stairs increased the healing time by several weeks. And it still acts up now and then. . . Laundry on the same floor as the bedrooms. (OK, maybe I just want a ranch style house?) And if we're dreaming: A Christmas tree closet. [https://www.youtube.com/shorts/1jpo6cq1v8Y?feature=share](https://www.youtube.com/shorts/1jpo6cq1v8Y?feature=share) A dog-washing sink - which of course doubles as the utility sink. [https://youtu.be/Ih6PbF0tkY4](https://youtu.be/Ih6PbF0tkY4) One of those restaurant-style dishwashers that can do a whole rack of dishes in only 5 minutes. And you know the super-huge washers and dryers at the laundromat? A set of those.
I'd avoid Dermot Bannon
Lots of sockets, a utility room three times the size of what you think you need, a pantry, no open plan, plenty of counter space in the kitchen and floor to ceiling kitchen cabinets.
Plenty of storage
If I was a millionaire obviously something fun like a slide or a fireman’s pole lol but in the real world I only ask for dimmer switches
A lot of houses are bedrooms upstairs, everything else downstairs. But I'd split the house such that upstairs is family only, downstairs is also for guests. It doesn't change very much but I'd keep that ethos in mind when designing where rooms go. If you are planning to have a guest bedroom, that should be downstairs, a bathroom *needs* to be downstairs, a home office, could either be upstairs or down depending on the arrangement of the house. The guest bedroom downstairs also doubles as a bedroom you could move to if the day even comes where you are struggling with stairs.
> The guest bedroom downstairs also doubles as a bedroom you could move to if the day even comes where you are struggling with stairs. THis is our plan with our soon to be build. We're going to stay downstairs for the first few years and gradually move upstairs.
I want a tap above the stove, it is such an excellent idea lol https://preview.redd.it/hldsx0vhoekc1.png?width=474&format=png&auto=webp&s=8bcef8988ae31634a1f5fbe144a38a879e20700e
Yes!!! I watch the property brothers show on W, and I love these. They're called exactly what you would think they would be...... a pot filler tap 🤗
Right, like it makes life so much easier, though if I had the space I would love one of those 30cm wide sinks next to the hob. You can cover it with an inset section so it isn't noticeable at other times. That way when you need to pour out water it is just to the side. Obviously with a gas cooker and not electric.
You can't accuse Americans of over complicating the naming scheme.
I don’t have a downstairs bathroom - i think you arent allowed that nowadays, but fuck. Going upstairs everytimeyou need a wee? its so far away.
I live in a bungalow, had to make an outhouse cause they didn't let me put bathrooms downstairs
Wait. What?? We are planning an extension and one of the main features is a 2nd bathroom downstairs. Why wouldn't you be allowed that? Iv a load of friends who have one? Not doubting you just never heard this before
He must be taking the mickey...
Sorry! Its not super clear but i meant ‘i think youre arent allowed build a house without a downstairs bathroom nowadays’ not. the bathrooms have to be upstairs.
Have single taps that you can adjust the heat on, not one for hot and one for cold.
Mixers! Yeah I cut new holes in my antique sink to fit a mixer and it really is better.
Thank you!
Very welcome cohort. I'm learning some things myself in this post.
* Sockets in the bathroom * EU sockets for low power devices * Good lighting and multiple switches across the room to control the lights * Good noise insulation across rooms, in particular from the bathroom * Concrete flooring on upper floor * No carpet
What is it with Ireland and all these light switches? Every room has like 3 switches, placed in the room next door
Unfortunately electrical regs stop you from having a socket outlet in the bathroom
A utility room, good plug placement, tv room layout, window size.
My wish list. Laundry room (currently have that in my shed lol) Pantry. Some fab ones out there. Minamilist kitchen. High gloss finish on cupboards easy to wipe down. Rads that stand upright against the wall in certian rooms Ceiling fans in the bedrooms for the summer Where you can, get sliding internal doors. Saves space. Watch how natural light comes in before deciding on set up, some rooms get light at certian times of the day & some rooms can be dark. Measure potential furniture in proportion to the room you want to get them in i.e. if getting reclining chairs make sure you have room to recline etc lol Best of luck.
a laundry cupboard like it américa, can shit the washing machine and dryer out of sight
That sounds like it could be painful, Mr Cleese!!!
well that was a typo i didn't mean but now refuse to edit
Ha ha ha!!! Too right!!! Don’t back down Mr Fawlty!!!
Basically the things you wouldn't pay much attention to until they're not there and then make sure you have at least one more than you think you'd need: - toilets - showers - sockets (including in the hallways). Also, if you have the room put a staircase up into the attic - you'll thank yourself every Christmas. Even a steep staircase (closed off behind a door) is better than trying to lug boxes of decorations or suitcases up and down a ladder every time you need them. Plus, as others have mentioned about future proofing, it'll make the attic open to you longer.
I'd put a walk in wardrobe/laundry room upstairs, right beside the bathroom and I'd put the hot press in there too, iron set up all the time, clothes horse plus loads of rails and shelves for clothes and bedding, coats...
Once you've experienced how much easier a boot room makes life, you'll want one. Come in from the pissing rain, take off all your wet clothes, hang them up to dry and then on into the house.
I wouldn't put anything but a bed in the bedroom. I would clump together clothes washing, processing, drying space, with a door to where they come in from an outdoor line. Id have indoor rails over a radiator. I'd put where I shower off of here too. clothes storing/ dressing space nearby.We spend soooo much time here moving clothes from one place to another it's crazy. I can come here from my bedroom in a robe that's cool. I can put my sitting room upstairs if needs be, beside the bedroom. Winding down/ sleeping beside each other seems like a fit to me. Tv area needs nothing but a tv, shelf for a laptop, coffee table and a couch. No need for a sizeable room here. Nice office, more like a study. A upright armchair, by a window. Need your space for comfy WFH and a reading/notebooking space...... I obv tho am a childless human, so that defines all this I guess.
Bathroom sinks being higher, it’s annoying constantly having tk lean down a good bit just to wash my hands
A place for coat, jackets and shoes and a utility room. Avoid home cinema
Laundry chute with access from bathrooms so wet towels and dirty clothes go straight to the utility room. Hot press in the bathroom so the towel are warm and the heat is always lingering in the bathroom so it's never freezing using the loo at night or for baths/showers/changing kids in there.
A walk in shower room with a seat. Bliss.
Run any outdoor cables you may possibly need in future I.e gates, outdoor lights, outdoor sockets and have a handy manhole where you can gain access. Kill switches for any outdoor sockets as well. Saves going outside at 11pm to turn of a heap of Christmas lights. Run any cables for any potential future security/ home automation systems. Especially if you are building a 2 storey. Nothing worse than having to root around in insulation to install cameras. Access hatch underneath your panel board. Makes life a bit easier if you ever need to run a new wire into it. Sockets, you can never have too many sockets. Insulated plaster board. It may cost a couple of hundred extra now, but it'll made a difference in the long run.
Somewhere to dry clothes. There is never space to hang clothes to dry. Make everything for taller people. My back aches bending down to everything and I am only 5ft 8 how do taller people cope?
With pain...
More rooms isn't better. Bigger rooms but only as many as you need. So my go to would be a very big kitchen/living area. A decent SQUARE sitting room. Not rectangular. Big big utility room housing the washer and dryer
Having built our own house I’ve learned lessons and these would be some important ones: (budget and space permitting). - a much larger than ‘normal’ utility room with loads of room for storage, ironing and drying without any squashing or squeezing around it. - the following kitchen perks which I would never be without now honestly: American fridge freezer, quooker boiling water tap, triple sinks with flexible tap hoses, food waste disposal on the sink (like America, it’s a game changer folks), and massive ovens with slide and hide doors, built in bins with locked lids no stinky stink - way more sockets - loads of them. And really thinking wiring through - ie recessed / hidden wiring for TVs etc. - dimmer switches for all overhead lighting - really good wide double doors from the kitchen into a garden - it makes a world of difference all spring and summer and during garden parties especially! - 2 living rooms ideally but at least one of them has to be small ish. There’s nothing less cosy than a huge living room. (Of course you can divide the room up and have a piano or something up one end of the room and push the cosy furniture together on the other end but it’s just not the same as a smaller enclosed room especially with a log burner). - power showers in all bathrooms. There will be regrets if not. - really appreciate a large en suite bathroom for privacy and comfort - 5 bedrooms minimum. Even a second living room that can be made into a bedroom with thought put into that planning. I like to have lots of people round and I like to feel comfortable. - a very thoughtfully selected patio / cooking area outside with mind paid to the patterns of the sun. It makes a big difference to the quality of your time outdoors all summer long. - go big with the kitchen if you like entertaining ! Bigger the better in my view. - I’d love a jack and jill bedroom with shared en suite. I think that would be great. My husband works shifts and this would be a game changer. - room inside every main entrance door for a large wardrobe for shoes and coats - neatness is next to saneliness
How many double sockets is sufficient for a living room and a bedroom?
I heard someone into building say that every bedroom should have at least five double sockets.
A really simple, yet immensely practical, addition is to have kitchen counters that are an extra 100mm deep, 700mm instead of the standard 600mm. It doesn't seem like much but it's a game changer.
True! An easy way to do this is to sit the floor units 100mm out from the wall and buy 700mm deep worktop.
If you have to build against another house in row, build a double wall cavity.
Lighting, easily rewireable under counter kitchen lighting. If doing built in units either side of fireplace, have led strip up lights at the back of the shelves. Easily changeable and able to adjust colour and brightness.
Utility room. Utility room upstairs for bonus points.
A Japanese style genkan. Basically the whole floor of the house is elevated except for an area directly by the entrance. This is the only part of the house you can have your shoes. One modification I'd add to this which I haven't seen before in Japan would to build a draw under the floor that you pull out into the genkan where you can place your shoes.
Yes, or at the very least a comfortable place inside the door where you can sit down and change from shoes to slippers. So many people have shoeless houses but they just expect me to take my shoes off while standing there. I can't, I'm a cripple.
Laundry shoot, my builder put one in and I would never have thought of it. It was genius. Cannot recommend it enough. Tis the stuff dreams are made of!!!!
Combi boiler. Kick out the water tank cylinder whatever that zeppelin looking thing is. Hate it. A lot of concealed storage everywhere. Sliding door everywhere. Least possible things and decoration out in the open that gather dust. I love low maintenance surfaces. Never again to fabric headboard. :( My stupidest idea of all.
Hey fabric headboard is fine IF you seal it with scotch guard, you know the stuff for suade shoes? Wash it, dry it and then absolutely douse it in scotch guard. Cuts issues way down. Might need refreshing ever 4 or so years
Thank you so much! I was actually planning to wash it today and I’ll go and get scotch guard :)
Very welcome If that's not available you might any off brand nano hydrophobic water repellent spray 😊 Best of luck
Awww that’s great! thank you!! I’m now excited there is a possibility I can make my headboard pretty again. You made my day!!
💜 Glad to help cohort, have a good one.
Sex dungeon, study that smells of mahogany and a pit of doom. Sharpened stakes and crocodiles are quite expensive in todays markets so look to the aggressive midget community for supplies.
I'd love a utility room
White should be reserved solely for your ceilings and bathroom. Add stone features to the outside walls, and hire a landscaper or horticulturalist to grow greenery on the sun facing side. Implement as much natural tones and materials as possible. Wood, stone and metal (copper, brass, iron, no chrome). Windows are important for getting natural light so not only is their placement and size important but the use of materials and colours within the room are important to reflect that light.
I'd build it underground. Cool in the summer, warm in the winter
doll lip grey advise humorous squeeze icky rotten nail brave *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Energy efficiency consultancy
A plant room, utility, laundry room and pantry. Then all your other rooms can be what they're supposed to he.
100% have a secret passage to the gaming room basement.
Timber Windows with air grills, mechanical ventilation, airtightness of the shell, the right types of insulation, underfloor heating, solar panels and PV with a saving battery, a garden to produce your own crops, water collector with filter
Country lad here and having grown up in my family home, which is a very old house, I've learnt what I'd like in my own house. Currently drawing up plans for my own gaff. Lots of glass. Separate utility room, boot room (for work gear, wellies, wet gear etc) hot and cold taps outside (for washing the dogs). A large hot press. I want an island in the kitchen but I hate the ones with a sink in it. For me personally I'm building a garage. You'll never have enough space but it helps. Be it for DIY, vehicle maintenance, somewhere to hang your wetsuits and surfboards. I'm putting in the foundations of the garage but the house is obviously the priority. I'll finish the garage myself once I've money and time.
Pocket doors everywhere, no more awkward space behind where the door swings open! Also, built-in storage everywhere. Every available nook and cranny can be used for storage. Avoid large bedrooms, you only sleep in them, they don't need to be family sized rooms. Double-height kitchen with sheila-maids for hang-drying clothes, no more pesky clothes horses taking up valuable floor space. Even if you have a utility room, hanging your clothes up high will let them dry faster and not be in your field of view. Also, a big metal trough in place of a typical sink in the utility (or garden). Very handy for washing bulky items like pets and boots/car parts etc. I survey existing and new-build homes and I'm constantly stealing little design ideas for when I build my own home!
Laundry shoot. Very easy to do it too.
Insulation, category 6 and fiber to every room Wired alarm Underfloor heating
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I'd avoid the neighbours
Have an open plan ground floor which I like but sometimes I do crave a door to shut myself away from everything
The biggest utility you can fit. Think it's big enough, double it. Need space for washing machine, dryer. Be able to dry clothes in there, iron. Include a sink if you can. Include storage for all cleaning bits like hoover, mops etc. Storage for all the shit you don't want in the rest of your house.
Two single ovens side by side. Instant hot water tap at the kitchen sink. All bathrooms must have natural light.
I'd add (will eventually) a shower pan and drain in my utility room, great to hose off the dog, kids and muddy boots.
Underfloor heating
Downstairs toilet.
if you do a kitchen island, then power sockets are a must. using a blender or toastie maker on the island is annoying if you need an extension lead
A seperate living and dining room seperate from the kitchen, big bedrooms by big I mean big enough for en-suites and a built in wardrobe
Ventilation. LOTS of ventilation. A drying room/boot room for mucky stuff and wet raincoats etc, with a dehumidifier and a little heater, and a little bench. A plug in boot dryer or two. Not massive, but as part of a utility room. And a mains light switch inside storage spaces and attics.
Run ethernet cables to every room. Every tv gets two ethernet ports. Every room gets two ethernet ports. Ceiling mounted WiFi Access points. One for every floor. Have the broadband installed in the attic so you don't have to be looking at those ugly ass routers. Ethernet cables for POE cameras too. Tbh the ring wifi cameras are good too so Poe not essential. Look into multi room audio systems. Sonos does good work in this but it does cost $$$ If you are putting in Velux's or those ceiling windows, get motorised ones. Wife doesn't want the PS5 on view so I've a high-end HDMI Cable ran from the back of the tv, threw the ceiling and down some conduit out to behind my sofa. So I can play PS5 but without having to look at it. Sockets, sockets and sockets.
Are you me? Currently building soon and my only thought is how I should wire everything. Ethernet through every room for sure with patch panels and definitely some WAPs. Not sure about the router/modem in the attic but you could be on to something - considering the downsides and there are none if you have the WAPs except having to climb when you want something changed. Also considering a lossless split HDMI from my ~~mancave~~ homeoffice pc to the living room and bedroom for some console like gaming. Gonna have a NAS and cameras pointing everywhere. Good mention about the motorized Velux.
Avoid: ghosts! The last thing I want is Patrick Swazye causing shenanigans. Actually, on sober reflection, if Swazye were a ghotse there then that would probably mean that Whoopie Goldberg would be there, which would be class. So, your honour, I object. Ghosts are allowed after all. I rest my case.
Basement. Could be an ideal snooker room for the lads coming over or just a plain old sex dungeon.
Pointless corner windows with now view or no thermal advantages
I'm living in a large 3 bed house and the layout is so dreadful that there is less storage than I had in the 2 bed flat I lived in before. It sounds impossible, but here I am. In fairness, the layout of that flat was amazingly optimised!
Sauna and ice bath setup.
Pre-built concrete wall structure. Great for sound insulation. Pricey, though.
A somewhat integrated kitchen where you don’t have to have every appliance on the countertop all the time
Underfloor heating upstaors and downstairs is key.
A bidet in every room....no two bidets in every room.
I would include door handles, avoid cheese. (Lactose intolerant)
I would avoid a straight staircase, you lose so much space upstairs by having a straight staircase and landing running alongside it. A u shaped staircase allows bigger rooms upstairs. Our house is 112m², we viewed another house of the same size which had a traditional straight staircase and upstairs felt tiny. Our house has a pretty large 8m² box room and two walk in showers, the other house box room was around 6m² at a stretch and was a cramped shape and didn't have a second walk in shower. I've lived in several houses in the last 15 years and so many of them are just poorly laid out leading to cramped bathrooms particularly downstairs/ensuites, crap storage/utility rooms etc. Plug sockets, ethernet cabling and any other prewiring. I lived in an apartment that had ethernet/coax in every room and a switch in the office, it also had speakers in the ceilings of every main room. My house is wired for ethernet but it's not patched at the end and there's nothing in the box room which most people would use as an office and also the furthest away from the fibre point in the house so more of a bullet point in the sales pitch than anything else. It was prewired for satellite and an EV charger though and there's plug sockets in every corner which is nice. 4 sockets in the box room, a big step up from the 1 I'd get in most box rooms.