Design my dream house

Since I keep having babies of some sort living in my tiny laundry room, I know my dream home has to have a large mud room with features that will allow it to house baby chicks, puppies, lambs and kids, and who knows what else.

The mud room will have to accomodate

• Washer, drier, hanger space, cabinets
• Place to put mucky boots
• Waterproof – may need to hose down
• Hose bib
• Automatic animal waterer
• Divider(s) so can wall off sections for babies
• Overhead scaffolding to hang heat lamp chains from
• Lots of GFI electrical outlets at table height
• Seats
• Closet for coats and storage
• bath with small shower

Dream home; can I figure out how to make it a reality?

So if this is really my dream home, then maybe we will be living in it even when we are 100 years old… so some ideas on Accessible Design

• Large frameless mirror that can tilt
• Low vanity that can accomodate wheel chair
• Higher vanity for standing at
• Walk in shower with opening big enough to accomadate walker and wheel chair – no threshold – two shower heads – one “european” style hand held shower head
• Large, easy to grasp drawer pulls
• Wider doorways – standard are 30” but 36” is more accessible
• zero thresholds – seemless transitions from room to room
• wheelchair needs 60” diameter to turn around in
• consider placement of light switches and electric outlets
• seat in shower
• low and high towel bars, robe hooks, etc.
• towel bars that are strong enough to be hand grabs
• towel cabinets without doors
• water proof whole bathroom so can be “hosed down” if needed
• don’t use real stone tile as it must be sealed and cared for – look for ceramic tile that looks like stone

I was on holiday today, so while cleaning house and eating lunch and such, I had the DYI channel on the TV. It didn’t really teach me to design my dream house, so to speak, but it did give me more ideas – especially in thinking about harmoniously integrating the outdoor living spaces with the house and the indoor spaces.

Found my electronic files from the last time I started working on this. Updated and added to them. There’s a page for each room of the house and what features I want in them – very detailed, down to the number of switch plates and lightbulbs I’ll need. Most of them were about half done, so now I’m finishing that off and starting to research prices for what I want… then I have to design a house that incorporates all of that stuff! A ways to go, but lots of fun!

Ok, just a little something to get me in gear …

• http://www.OwnerBuilderBook.com
• concrete calculators http://www.concrete.com/calculatorsmaterials.htm – http://www.decks.com/calculators/concrete.aspx
• All about decks – http://www.decks.com/
• paint calculators can be found at http://www.benjaminmoore.com/ and at http://www.behr.com/behrx/expert/calc-choose-int.jsp?subnav=intcalc
  and at http://www.truevaluepaint.com/content/Calculators/default.aspx
• a hand full of calculators – http://interiordec.about.com/od/projectcalculator/Project_Calculators_for_Home_Improvement.htm

• Microsoft Project (if you can afford it; even an older version will work ok)
• Spreadsheet for cost comparisons
• Binders and document protectors
• Business card holder
• USB Thumb Drive
• PrimoPDF – free program to convert various computer files to PDF
• Box for samples

• http://www.taunton.com/finehomebuilding/ – The magazine is quite expensive but can be both inspirational and practical

• More than just lights – http://www.lightinguniverse.com/
• Discount tile – http://www.discounttile.com/default.asp?cookiecheck=yes&
• Flooring – http://www.lumberliquidators.com

If I had to guess, I started designing my dream house when I was about 12. I had stables and spires and all kinds of fantastic romantic do-dads. And over the years, I’ve often thought I would design and build my very own home. Some years I have been more serious about this; other years (like the decade when all the kids were under 13!) I didn’t work on this at all. I don’t know if it was a conscious decision or not, but I also married a man with power tools, who desired to own a tractor, and who could build anything he could see a picture of. I don’t think it was conscious – mostly I was thinking how good he’d look in his USMC Dress Blues. Still, I ended up with the perfect man to build this dream with. Some day I’m going to sell this little plot of Nevada Desert and move to The South – and I’m gonna bring my man and my house plans and make this dream come true.

Some things I already know that I want in a house (OK, hopefully this works for my husband, too… )
1. At least a front porch; wrap around is better, of course
2. Country/Farmhouse style
3. Lots of wood and tile
4. I love the look of stone, but after extensive research, have decided that I don’t like the WORK of maintaining stone – we’ll have ceramic tile that looks like stone
5. Two person walk in shower
6. Public bathrooms as fancy as the master bath
7. Fireplaces – 1 in the master bedroom, 1 in the living room
8. Wood floors covered in thick rugs
9. Bronze toned fixtures
10. Big windows
11. Finished attic
12. Built in book cases
13. All the electronic, technological do-dads
14. Stainless steel kitchen with granite countertops
15. Lots of electrical outlets – some in the floor

Ok, I guess I better keep doing a good job at my job – gonna take some bucks to realize THIS dream house!

Some steps to take
1. Finalize general design
2. Estimate the costs of the bathroom/kitchen fixtures, door knobs and other house “jewelry.”
3. Get the newest edition of Owner Builder Book (www.OwnerBuilderBook.com) – the first ed. was very good – I believe they are several editions past that now
4. Start recording the costs of everything you can think of
5. Resurrect the files and such from the last time I thought of doing this

The difference between the last time and THIS time is that THIS time I will really finish the design.

Ah, another nice, long-term goal.