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Building a Dream House | Pad Patter 1.26.16

bestcee

bestcee

In love with places I've never been to
Joined
Dec 18, 2013
Messages
19,337
When I was a kid, I loved imagining that we bought our school to live in. And my brothers and I would plan out which rooms would be what and whose, and where we would add a kitchen.

When I got older, I started to dream about building my dream house. The chatter about what you would change in your current house, and the few people who are closet architects and have designed or helped design their dream house made me wonder.

Have you ever designed your dream home? Or do you plan to one day?

And yes, I would still love to buy a school or church and turn it into a home. Preferably an older one with lots of fun architecture.
 
I used to draw houses when I was a kid. Since I grew up in a really old farm house, they always were made to look like really old farm houses, but with all new stuff inside. I even toyed with the idea of being an architect in college. I finally decided that I really just like to look at already finished houses. I love to browse Houzz.com and dream.

Having said that, I really love my current house and I will never build a new one at this point. The one I have will be paid off soon and that is worth WAY more to me with two boys inching towards college.
 
Karen said:
I used to draw houses when I was a kid. Since I grew up in a really old farm house, they always were made to look like really old farm houses, but with all new stuff inside. I even toyed with the idea of being an architect in college. I finally decided that I really just like to look at already finished houses. I love to browse Houzz.com and dream.

Having said that, I really love my current house and I will never build a new one at this point. The one I have will be paid off soon and that is worth WAY more to me with two boys inching towards college.
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We built a new house a few years ago and and my design MO was a modern farmhouse. The exterior and floors look like they've been here 150 years, but all the finishings are polished nickel/NYC bright.

Anyway, we worked with an architect and started from scratch. We had a good idea of some main things we did NOT want, which is actually helpful, and our lotsize is odd (very narrow, but long) so we had some limitations to work through.

We wouldn't change a thing about our house. :)
 
That's awesome Molly! I'd love to see your house! Sounds like perfection! :) Funny enough, I live in a one story ranch... what? Lol! My hubby was not excited about the farmhouses I kept showing him when we got married.
 
It isn't realistic that we would ever have a house built and I'm fine with that. I don't even need a house, really. I like condos and rowhouses fine, but I just need more space than this one has.
 
My parents planned and built 2 houses when I was young and I have thought about building my own house one day. But now that 2 of my kids are grown and out of the house, the other is half way there, and I am almost to retirement, I am finding that I really don't have that much interest in it anymore. I have owned my own home for 25 years, almost have it paid off, and have had my fill of keeping things fixed, updated, mowed, redone, refinished, etc.... LOL
 
We have a cute little house (for our area, it's a ranch small 3B&2B) right now.... I just need to expand it. :) Off of the back of our house, we would like to add MBR with small bath, a family room, and extend the kitchen. The basement is finished, but I'd like to re-finish that to be 1/2 game room, and 1/2 storage.
Then I would be estatic. If not, I would take the family room expansion/kitchen without the MBR. :)

My parent's built a family shore house and created a wonderful home there. We love going down every weekend. Our bedroom (which will end up as the "teens" room as they grow.. has the built in beds/shelves, and a queen stand alone bed. It's got everything in there, so they can game it up late, and then crash. She really thought of everything in that house, and it's great! When we add on, I will leave her in charge!
 
That dream has become a reality far too many times for me actually!!! My husband is a builder, so we are currently in our 4th home in 15 years - all designed and built by us! Each one has gotten better, and I think we will stay in our current home for a while! We have done everything from the starter bi-level economic home, to the ranch, to the two-story, and now back to a ranch - loved the one floor open concept idea, so we did it again! I am super indecisive, so each time is painstakingly difficult for me - my husband always has to step in and make the final decisions because I agonize over things too long! I am thankful we have stayed married thru 4 builds and 4 moves (each time moving in with my parents too yet, while we build!) There are definite fun parts to designing and building your own home. We do dream of buying an existing home and renovating it - in a cute downtown area, but our hangups are that it would cost just as much if not more, and with a new home at least we know what is behind the walls, and what we have as far as foundation and workings of the home...does that make sense?! My husband is very anal about what kind of HVAC system we have, and how the electrical is done, etc...and with an older home, you either need to redo all of that so that you know what you have, or just get over the fact that you just don't know everything - builder's problems! :)

We have an old one room school house just outside our subdivision that was made into a home, and the thought always intrigues me!
 
I always have had dream homes floating through my mind. I doubt that it will ever be a reality at this point. We are big DIY-ers, but I can't see Mr. Practical (aka Mr. I-hate-spending-money) getting in on the idea. He bought this house from his uncle, who bought it from *his* father (Tim's grandfather), so it has literally been in Tim's family for over 100 years. I'm not sure what we'll do when we're too old to get up and down the stairs :giggle We bought the little beach place, but it is far from a dream home.

I probably would never be able to make up my mind on what I'd want in a dream home (although I have my dream kitchen picked out at Ikea), but I've always liked the Craftsman style. We've literally been searching for bathroom sconces for over four years because everything I find that I like is insanely priced. I've come to the unfortunate conclusion that while I am totally a low-maintenance type of person, I have expensive tastes that are far beyond our budget. :giggle
 
bestcee said:
When I was a kid, I loved imagining that we bought our school to live in. And my brothers and I would plan out which rooms would be what and whose, and where we would add a kitchen.

When I got older, I started to dream about building my dream house. The chatter about what you would change in your current house, and the few people who are closet architects and have designed or helped design their dream house made me wonder.

Have you ever designed your dream home? Or do you plan to one day?

And yes, I would still love to buy a school or church and turn it into a home. Preferably an older one with lots of fun architecture.
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I used to imagine the same thing about different churches we went to. I thought it would be so awesome to live in a church building!

mollyc said:
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Gorgeous!

MandaKay said:
That dream has become a reality far too many times for me actually!!! My husband is a builder, so we are currently in our 4th home in 15 years - all designed and built by us! Each one has gotten better, and I think we will stay in our current home for a while! We have done everything from the starter bi-level economic home, to the ranch, to the two-story, and now back to a ranch - loved the one floor open concept idea, so we did it again! I am super indecisive, so each time is painstakingly difficult for me - my husband always has to step in and make the final decisions because I agonize over things too long! I am thankful we have stayed married thru 4 builds and 4 moves (each time moving in with my parents too yet, while we build!) There are definite fun parts to designing and building your own home. We do dream of buying an existing home and renovating it - in a cute downtown area, but our hangups are that it would cost just as much if not more, and with a new home at least we know what is behind the walls, and what we have as far as foundation and workings of the home...does that make sense?! My husband is very anal about what kind of HVAC system we have, and how the electrical is done, etc...and with an older home, you either need to redo all of that so that you know what you have, or just get over the fact that you just don't know everything - builder's problems! :)

We have an old one room school house just outside our subdivision that was made into a home, and the thought always intrigues me!
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My dad was/is a builder. We moved at least 10 times growing up. He would build a house and then turn around and sell it.


We just built our "dream house". And I say dream house very loosely. I could never have my dream house....it would cost too much & even if I had the money I would feel bad spending that much. But I really do have my dream house because it's everything we need and more. It's not top of the line, but it's spacious & custom built for our family. My hubby and I designed it with the help of my brother who is the builder. It's a cross between a mountain home, coastal home (I know, a weird mix but it works), and craftsman. We love it.
 
I also designed homes when I was younger! My older brother took an architect/drafting class in HS and taught me! I still play around designing some! My girls and I like to play around on roomsketcher.com and Houzz.com. The girls will find photos of rooms and houses, and I will draw the floor plans based on those photos! We have a LOT of fun doing it!

I would love to remodel an old fixer upper, and make it totally our own. BUT, we are stuck in our house for quite a while (the houses in our neighborhood have dropped in value, and they are selling for about 30,000 less than we still owe on our house!) So, we make the most of it! We have "finished" our basement- pantry, laundry, and our bedroom, with one more room that is like a storage/play/office room. This spring/summer we hope to update our Kitchen. These projects make our home work better for our family!

And, by the way, Liz's house is beautiful!!! I've only seen photos of the kitchen and mudroom/entry, but I LOVE It!!! I want to include her mudroom/entry idea into my house, and have a slight idea how to do it too! :)
 
We built in 2008 and it comes pretty close to "dream house" although after being here for almost 8 years, there are things I would change now. I grew up in a family business related to construction and remodeling, so I knew WAY TOO MUCH going into the process. I am confident I drove our builder nuts...and nearly myself too. LOL In the end, he said it was the best house he ever built, so there's that...hahaha. I was on-site every single day with my then two year old in tow. Stressful! In the end, it was worth it though, it's been a wonderful house to raise our family.
 
lmccandless said:
We built in 2008 and it comes pretty close to "dream house" although after being here for almost 8 years, there are things I would change now. I grew up in a family business related to construction and remodeling, so I knew WAY TOO MUCH going into the process. I am confident I drove our builder nuts...and nearly myself too. LOL In the end, he said it was the best house he ever built, so there's that...hahaha. I was on-site every single day with my then two year old in tow. Stressful! In the end, it was worth it though, it's been a wonderful house to raise our family.
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Some days I'm surprised our builder still speaks to us. ;)
 
I built my dream home many years ago and lived in it for 15 years. I like my current home and we've talked about renovations but I would much rather build a brand new home where I can have exactly what I want. I hope to do it again one more time.
 
I drew some houses when I was a kid, and I enjoyed looking at those magazines with floor plans. I learned to draw them from my mom and my sister. My mom had pondered being an architect but was discouraged from going through with it by her high school guidance counselor. Isn't that awful?

I lost interest in drawing houses somewhere around college and have been content with this house my husband and I bought in 2000. However, I don't want to stay here when my kids have flown the nest. My dream is to live in a little house within walking distance of a town (possibly Fredericksburg; I live 5 miles away now and love walking downtown). Before my husband and I moved here, we lived for a few years in an apartment in downtown Glendale (Los Angeles County) and we could walk to so many things -- the post office, the YMCA, lots of stores and a huge mall, restaurants, Office Depot, grocery stores, banks, Michael's (paper scrapping starting becoming a big deal at that time) -- it was wonderful, and I miss it (except that my now 5-member family wouldn't fit in that apartment! LOL)

So yes, I drew dream homes long ago, but now my dream is to find a comfy little home ready-made in a great, walkable location someday.
 
I used to draw floor plans when I was about 8. Pretty sure bathrooms didn't feature but I always had a second story with a grand staircase and always red velvet curtains and matching red carpet - all very plush...

We have built two houses in our time together (no red velvet curtains in either place). The first was pretty much what we could afford rather than what we dreamt of. Pretty basic but we were happy there for a long time. We moved to be more central as my husband is a contractor and moved locations a lot. The house was a 1960's house that had been renovated badly and we finally got around to knocking it down and rebuilding a couple of years ago. Our new house is very modern, all angles and glass, stainless steel and wood - it's a lot warmer than it looks and I love it. Best thing is that the kids stay home now and their friends come and hang out here, always people around.
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