What layout is your dream house?

[shortylickens]

I been playing too much Sims 3 and it got me thinking about what kind of house I'd love for myself. I kept making L's and U's and I think thats what I'd want in the real world. U shaped home with a garden or pool in the middle. Maybe a giant BBQ pit and a sauna.
The front section of the house would have the kitchen, dining room, living room, den or home theater and maybe a library or something like that. The big corner room would have huge glass windows and plants. The right leg would be bedrooms and guest rooms and possibly the laundry/sewing room.
Left leg of the house would be garage, workshop, and storage room. Possibly a big cattery as well. Put up lots of ledges and ramps for the cats to go crazy.
Somewhere in the back yard I'd need a garden shed, big enough to hold a riding mower and all the other junk. I hate keeping that shit in the garage.
Oh, and a heated garage, with room for rolling tool bins.
Whole house is ranch style, I hate going up and down stairs all the time. Especially when moving furniture. The bedroom side of the house would have a double wide hallway. All the bedrooms on the outside. On the inside would be big windows overlooking the courtyard/garden/pool area. Maybe a basement for the utilities. Or perhaps the utility room could be in between the garage and workshop, on the left leg of the house.

Thats never gonna happen, but its nice to fantasize about.

 

[Greenman]

A bathroom would be a great addition to that plan.

 

[shortylickens]

A bathroom would be a great addition to that plan.

the bathroom would be one of the rooms between the bedrooms.
Not every detail is in there.

 

[herm0016]

all depends on the lot/view i do like a sort of 2 story tall with single plane roof, tall end facing the view about 25 feet deep. kitchen along back wall, living and dining in front of that. one end gets the garage and the other gets the master. laundry by the master. mud room, half bath, utilities by the garage. upstairs in the center is open, each side has 1 or 2 guest rooms with full baths. maybe stairs on each end, mayby one and a catwalk. 6 or 8 ft overhang over all the windows on the tall side with patio. small decks on each guest room upstairs. full length porch on the short side. all metal roof and exterior. very energy efficient, very few corners, no peak or valleys on roof. lots of windows. full thermal break with poly iso outside the sheathing or use something like zip-R

 

[bbhaag]

all depends on the lot/view i do like a sort of 2 story tall with single plane roof, tall end facing the view about 25 feet deep. kitchen along back wall, living and dining in front of that. one end gets the garage and the other gets the master. laundry by the master. mud room, half bath, utilities by the garage. upstairs in the center is open, each side has 1 or 2 guest rooms with full baths. maybe stairs on each end, mayby one and a catwalk. 6 or 8 ft overhang over all the windows on the tall side with patio. small decks on each guest room upstairs. full length porch on the short side. all metal roof and exterior. very energy efficient, very few corners, no peak or valleys on roof. lots of windows. full thermal break with poly iso outside the sheathing or use something like zip-R

Dude you would love my house. It hits about 85% of the interior points you named and about 90% of the exterior points. No catwalk or dual staircase but the main floor is a dead ringer and the upstairs is really close minus full baths in each room.
The exterior is pretty close to minus the upper level decks, metal roof, and overhangs but damn it's really close do what you described

I should do an "ATOT home tour" like I did for my garden. I'm pretty sure you would agree with me if you saw the layout of our house.

 

[shortylickens]

I've seen big luxurious cabins with open centers. I like those too.
House is basically square. The second floor is mostly bedrooms and the inboard side is a balcony so people can look down into the open middle of the house, usually right on the living room.

 

[Micrornd]

I know a family that lives in a house that is almost identical in layout. It's on the edge of a golf course. Been to several pool parties there.
It has always given me the feeling that I was at a small mom 'n' pop motel since it has an excess of doors from the various rooms to the pool.

 

[Hans Gruber]

There is no such thing as a dream house for men. There are tools to build. But if we are talking a dream house, there is only one.

 

[MrSquished]

It's more about location but ideally like a 1600 sq foot 3BR with 2 BA condo in the Village in Manhattan, with a decent sized outdoor space whether a rooftop area or large balcony. Open concept layout. In unit laundry. Elevator building so when I get old no stairs. Doorman. Not facing an avenue but a street. Parking spot, rental or deeded, doesn't matter. The key is solid construction more than square footage, whether concrete and steel construction or heavily insulated, with cityproof windows, don't want to hear neighbors or street noise.

A slightly smaller 2BR 2BA really is fine, master plus a large office/computer room that can hold two L-shaped large desks for me and someone else, and a pullout couch for guests, but maybe want a small guest room too, though really not necessary. Small weekend cottage in the Catskills would be a bonus, or just Airbnb one sometimes.

Need to be in the city for all the amenities, food, culture and experiences it has to offer. Unless you have kids and need the space, the burbs are just a place to whither away in big homes for no reason. The only thing the burbs are good for is for space and big yards for kids and dogs. I do want a yard for my dog but not enough to suffer in the burbs.

 

[shortylickens]

If I were filthy rich I wouldn't mind a small penthouse in Manhattan. Ideally with a view of Central Park.

Not during lock down of course but any other time.

 

[jmagg]

Ill take fresh air and nature anytime over crowded, on top of each other big city life. We have a couple acres with a small unassuming ranch house, a couple out buildings for hobbies and storage, and great well water.
Everyone withers away, but id rather breath clean air and grow veggys, trees, and flowers, rather than smell garbage and exhaust wafting thru the windows. There's always something todo which is another huge upside. Id like a bigger ranch with wings, but that want is fading since the kids are gone, and it would just be more to keep clean and dusted.
Nature is art.

 

[herm0016]

my house would be on as many acres as i could gather, 40+ sounds nice.

 

[Greenman]

Ill take fresh air and nature anytime over crowded, on top of each other big city life. We have a couple acres with a small unassuming ranch house, a couple out buildings for hobbies and storage, and great well water.
Everyone withers away, but id rather breath clean air and grow veggys, trees, and flowers, rather than smell garbage and exhaust wafting thru the windows. There's always something todo which is another huge upside. Id like a bigger ranch with wings, but that want is fading since the kids are gone, and it would just be more to keep clean and dusted.
Nature is art.

As I often say, I want little, I need less.

 

[MrSquished]

Ill take fresh air and nature anytime over crowded, on top of each other big city life. We have a couple acres with a small unassuming ranch house, a couple out buildings for hobbies and storage, and great well water.
Everyone withers away, but id rather breath clean air and grow veggys, trees, and flowers, rather than smell garbage and exhaust wafting thru the windows. There's always something todo which is another huge upside. Id like a bigger ranch with wings, but that want is fading since the kids are gone, and it would just be more to keep clean and dusted.
Nature is art.

I appreciate and enjoy nature. I've been backpacking, camping, hiking and want to do more. I appreciate nice quiet time, like I was in the Catskills for four days this past June. It was great. Nobody around, lots of acreage and woods around, small little town with a grocery store and a few restaurants. But man, after a while, that shit would get boring to me. Same few restaurants or just strip malls mostly with chains in them. It's great for a getaway, whether a long weekend every few weeks or a month at a time, but certainly not for a permanent residence. Would just be so dull in the long term. That's what Airbnb is for. Or rent an RV and do an adventure for a month in the west and the national parks, amazing. But get back to where I can eat the best of dozens of international cuisines, and I'm not talking fancy high end restaurants but casual to street food type places. Exhibitions, parks, take a bike ride, live music (something I've been slacking on), comedy shows, whatever. It's all a small jaunt away. That's what will keep me entertained and engaged and feeling alive. To each his own. Though I dunno what cities you've been to, I've been to many major cities in this country and they don't smell like garbage and since the EPA started cracking down on auto emissions, exhaust is not so much a problem. Sounds like you are talking about the wrong country. Sometimes a subway entrance will smell bad though. It's a small price to pay. I lived in the burbs for many years. I can see the appeal for raising kids so they have room to play and run around outside, it's fantastic for that. But if you don't have kids? Nice for a little while, gets old fast.

As I often say, I want little, I need less.

Pretty much agreed. I live quite happily in just over 700 sq feet. But I put my ideal place at closer to 1500 with some outdoor space, though really just like a 1000 sq foot 2BR would be perfect, just with some outdoor space. Way smaller than a lot of folks on here with big suburban houses. Just more to clean and fill up with stuff that I don't need.

 

[Red Squirrel]

I don't have a specific layout in mind but I do dream to own large acreage on a lake or even just in the bush and build a really nice house that is efficient and practical. Be able to have a low carbon footprint while being close to nature would be great.

One thing I'd like is a sort of wrap around enclosd porch so I have full view of outside from any direction. This is something my current house lacks just because of the layout, it's hard to really see anything outside as there's obstructions either outside or inside that stop me from getting a good view. So like stars etc I can't really see that well. So having a indoor conditioned porch area with large windows to look at stars would be pretty awesome. Or maybe even an observatory tower. Just a place to hang out and watch nature or the stars, or northern lights, or pretty much anything cool that might be going on.

Actually been looking for land so I can start this dream, it will be a camping spot at first and once I hit a point where I don't need to be at a certain place for a certain time (ex: work) then I will move there.

I also want a nice big garage so I can have projects and stuff. In general I just want lots of room, inside and out for hobbies, projects and just general living. My thought process is why pay money to go on vacations when I can build my own vacation destination and own it and enjoy it forever. So having such property would fulfill that. If I don't end up with lake front but acreage instead it still opens tons of possibilities for cool projects.

 

[jmagg]

The single story house i'm in now (5/12 pitch roof) has a few cool old school designs, one is that the soffits are 30" wide, and with the living room in the southern elevation, sun beams through picture and side windows in the winter months, but in the summer, the wide soffit blocks the sun from entering. Our deck is on the north side and there is always shade and sun available. If I were to build another out of the ground, I'm sure i'd stick with this design.

 

[herm0016]

The single story house i'm in now (5/12 pitch roof) has a few cool old school designs, one is that the soffits are 30" wide, and with the living room in the southern elevation, sun beams through picture and side windows in the winter months, but in the summer, the wide soffit blocks the sun from entering. Our deck is on the north side and there is always shade and sun available. If I were to build another out of the ground, I'm sure i'd stick with this design.

large overhangs are pretty much the best way to protect your house from water damage as well. I never understood why everyone went to 12 in overhangs, beyond cost. using a 24 or more would probably reduce the warranty work done on production built houses.

 

[jmagg]

large overhangs are pretty much the best way to protect your house from water damage as well. I never understood why everyone went to 12 in overhangs, beyond cost. using a 24 or more would probably reduce the warranty work done on production built houses.

Absolutely agree, and so easy with trusses.

 

[Micrornd]

large overhangs are pretty much the best way to protect your house from water damage as well. I never understood why everyone went to 12 in overhangs, beyond cost. using a 24 or more would probably reduce the warranty work done on production built houses.

Uplift from high winds was the predominant reason. They found that reducing the overhang actually forced the winds to flow around the house more, rather than hit the wall and try to flow upward.

 

[Autonomous Inc]

I love to have my kitchen at the center of the house where all members can gathering!

 

[Scarpozzi]

My house was built like an L shape and I added a garage with an upstairs on the other end to make it L back the other way. One issue with the addition is that the back faces West so we get a lot of wind hitting the corner. The height is so much that the wind has no where to go...it ends up feeding the eaves, but also whistles on occasion. If you ever build your dream home, consider wind direction and whether or not you can break up wind with trees....I can't change my setup because of a road.

 

[sdifox]

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