Dream Home - List of Favourite & Dislikes of Houses You've Lived In

Likes
1. Right orientation - large veranda over Western side
2. kitchen beside Laundry
3. 4x3 m min bedrooms
4. Granite or granite composition kitchen bench tops
5. Very High ceilings/windows to see the sun rise as you're making a cuppa
6. Privacy - kids/adults zone, and something in between to hang together
7. Triple garage, as a minimum :
8. View of anything
9. Enjoying the outside when you are inside/large windows

Dislikes
1. Bad orientation - feeling the cold/heat
2. Spread out floorplan of main working areas - kitchen/laundry

 

Triple garage minimum? You must have quite the car collection.
I'm actually not a fan of big open plan areas, I like to have a separate lounge area.
Like to have extras, or potential to be able to add something to the house.

 

Likes:
Views
Visiting Wildlife
Quiet streets
Good access to transport
Sandstone classic home ~1900 construction. Heritage listed
Scarcity factor
Modern kitchen - I look after it better than a dodgy kitchen
Clawfoot bathtub. Slate flooring used appropriately
Beautiful wooden beams
Comfortable living areas
Good sized bedrooms
Right side of suburb
Good sized land (on corner block!)
Large verandahs
Dishwashers
Great neighbours and friendly neighbour pets
Friendly neighbourhood
National park walks nearby (even from the end of my street)
Well maintained neighbouring houses
Good floorplans
High ceilings
Storage space
Love the stained glass windows that you can see from the front of my house
Pull cord light switches
Huge garage
Full Hills hoist washing line for huge loads!
Gas cooking, gas hotwater and gas heating (but gas heating can smell)
Purchase prices and sales prices
Low strata fees
Capital growth
And going back to when I was a kid:
A wall I could hit tennis balls against
Mango tree/s

Dislikes:
Too cold and hot (talking about my old house!)
Shower cold temp too fiddly
Too small bedroom - ok but hurts resaleability
Garage where it was too difficult to park the car in if no other parking options.
Unlevel land to mow. Divots in ground. Plus not as easy to sell.
Bad transport (old house)
Bad Wifi
Bad carpet (in hindsight, it should have been removed from the living area before we moved into that house)
Uneven steps (adds to charm but not good for visitors)
Clutter (not the house's fault!)
Narrow balcony
Narrow living room
Poor pantry space
Weeds taking over!
Garbage truck noise

 

Only previously had a double garage, never felt big enough I'm hating a double carport - dirty car, maybe spoilt!

 

Do you have more than 2 cars?
Or just like the extra storage space?
My next place has 4 undercover car spaces. I'm sure I'll be able to fill them all eventually

 

• Watertight
• Mould free/good ventilation
• Secure
• Solid floors (not springing)
• No water leaks
• No tap washers anywhere
• No dripping taps
• Adequate external hose cocks and power outlets
• External lighting
• UPVC drainage
• Breezy
• Terrain category 2-3
• Ample trees/ not bare but not bush fire zone either
• Flood free/Located near top of a hill
• Stable soil profile (shaley clay below 1 m).

 

Yes, four spaces even better. Just 2 cars between us adults, + trailer, tinny/boat, two teenagers - one on learners/one not far behind

 

You're a Plumber?? - mould free is a must also/good ventilation

 

Yeah, that's an important one. I would take that as a given. But important to get a decent B&P done, and maybe get someone else in to check it out if you're not sure.

 

Good lighting and plenty of power points

 

Plenty of separate living spaces to for parents and teenagers- preferably noise dampening and a locking door ....

 

My old house was on a main road five minutes walk up the hill from the train station. Every Sat and Sun morning the front yard was strewn with junk food containers. I nearly set fire to it after the alco neighbours tipped a box full of empty cans and bottles into their wheelie bin (near my bedroom window) at 3 am just that once too often.

My new house is at the end of a cul de sac and it backs onto a nice park. We live in a family-friendly neighbourhood where most of the neighbours are actually really nice and have the same values as we have. Alco and druggy pensioners cant afford to live in this neighbourhood.

Our home is mostly orientated to make the most of the passing sun. We are very warm in Winter but the back two rooms cop the afternoon western sun in Summer. I have planted two rows of trees in the park behind our back fence which have finally grown high enough to shade the back walls in Summer. TICK TICK TICK

My husband likes his motor vehicles and he likes where he parks them. He built his own carport which can fit 4 small vehicles or 2 really big ones. On the other side of the house we have a space where we park the trailers and the new boat*

* It's a ten foot long tinnie that leans up against the fence.

We also store several classic bikes - ours and his brother's. Our house is on a sloping block of land. Instead of getting the builders to lay a slab and do the normal house thing, ours is built up on stumps with a large storage area underneath. At the moment it is the workshop to beat all workshops, but I keep telling myself that next time it gets valued, the guy from HTW will find a second bathroom down there with a sofa bed and a kitchenette amongst all the blokey stuff and camping gear.

Earlier this week I went for a drive to North Harbour estate at the mouth of the Caboolture River, to have a look at a potential future home site. I was appalled to discover that they seem to think that people buying land near the bay and a *******' marina FHS, wont expect anywhere to store their boats and caravans on said land. Count us out.

 

Likes:
Good ventilation
High ceiling (3m or more would be nice)
Open plan
Natural lights
Close to greens/ parks to walk to
Not facing the road
Extra secure (full brick fence, solid double door) - my parents house has stainless steel gate, stainless steel and solid wood door, to break in you need more than a hammer.
View is a plus
Good size balcony (for apartment)
Modern interior
Energy efficient

 

I was woken at 3am by the local wildlife clambering around on the other side of our bedroom wall. The two Jack Russells have been acting weirdly recently so said wildlife must have been present earlier in the week. This morning they remained motionless in their beds, so I suspect wildlife visitor must be too big for the mighty warrior attack dogs. Maybe it is another snake or two. Last week in the local paper we were notified that the critters are currently extra cranky due to mating season.

I keep reminding myself that if I want to live in the country I'll have to get accustomed to snakes. We have been in this house since 1988.

 

Storage, storage and more storage. Not for hoarding stuff but stuff you have to keep handy.
If I build, I want a metre deep cupboard the length of that triple garage. We have a fairly big house and I hate stuff out of place, but with 4 of our grandkids 2 and under the double shower down the end of the house contains 2 portacots, 2 highchairs, stroller ,walker,boxes of toys etc. Then in the older ones rooms there is boardgames, books, toys, then clothes for when they stay. Then need somewhere for the suitcases, xmas tree and boxes of decorations.
Propins family of four may turn into 10 in a decade, mine was 6 now 19.

 

High ceilings, big windows, loads of kitchen bench space. Character - can't stand new houses that are cookie cutter. Need to be able to walk to something - beach, preferably, but the bush is fine too. Ideally walk to shops too. Bedrooms not on the street.
Separate living area for teenagers at other end of house! We go to bed earlier than the kids these days.

 

Likes:
- Views from main living level (prefer city lights rather than just bush)
- Huge outdoor entertaining area with good access to main kitchen and possibly a built-in outdoor BBQ/mini-kitchen. If in FNQ, then ideally a deck overlooking the views, facing East so that it is in the shade from mid-morning onward.
- Privacy / buffer zone from neighbours
- Huge study / office (big enough for desks/office setup for 2 people + lots and lots of bookcases and ideally a couple of reading chairs)
- Prefer to have entry + key living areas (kitchen/dining/living/study/laundry) + main bedroom at least, all on one level. Other bedrooms can be on a separate level, but if this is my dream home then I want to stay in it as long as possible so this is just planning for the future.
- I'd like a "no shoes in the house" policy and I'd love a Japanese/Korean-style entry area with shoe cupboards
- Plenty of storage, including for large stuff like suitcases
- Powder room on main living level
- Separate drying area undercover
- Fully screened / 'crimsafe'-ed
- Decent sized walk-in pantry (where you can also hide appliances when not in use). If I was going the whole hog I might do a butler's kitchen but I hate cooking so I just don't care that much - it would be all about having more storage.
- Wouldn't say no to a nice long lap pool, but might be over pool maintenance by then, ha.
- Outdoor shower near the pool, and/or easy access from outside via tiled floors to a bathroom
- Smart house controls (lights/aircon etc can be turned on remotely / security cameras can be checked online etc)

Dislikes:
- Too close to noise / busy roads
- High maintenance yards
- Badly laid out floor plan
- kitchen that is locked off from the outdoor entertainment area
- Too-small (or non-existent) eaves, which then don't shade the walls (if anywhere in QLD)
- Tiny en-suite
- Not enough storage
- Casement windows, which are hard to screen/secure

 

In my next house it would have to have:
-Study at front of house so I can see whats happening outside when I look up from my desk.
-Large master "retreat" with WIR and ENS(would like something twice the size of what I currently have). Didn't think about this when we built 6 years ago.
-min 4 bedrooms, all with ensuites would be ideal, as kids are growing up it is a PITA for them to share a bathroom. One of these bedrooms would be a spare room for guests etc, and they would get their own bathroom so I could make sure it was always kept clean! Would give up the main bathroom to have this.
-Alfresco- we love ours, but would be nice to have a pool.
-3 living areas, one for the adults up the front, one for the kids near their rooms and one in the kitchen in the middle for us to all share
-Butlers pantry. We converted ours to a semi butlers last year, but would be awesome to have a big one with the fridge, dishwasher etc in there.
-Wish we lived in a court, instead of a street.

 

Location. Love being a couple of minutes walk to the beach and to restaurants and train.

 

Some houses I've enjoyed living in and then outside factors have changed, so I didn't like them any more.
For me too much storage means having too much things...
I value good neighbours the most. Everything else is a bonus.
Accessible to lots of things is wonderful , but if you cant walk at all.. none of it is accessible.
Its all relative!
Currently my dream home is an Arts and Crafts mansion designed by an architect who hasn't been 'discovered' room, for a lap pool.... Studio, office, and is not draughty.. bring it on !