The building a new home thread

[San Juan Sun]

My wife and I are going to be moving to our hometown in the next 18 months. We have our choice of lots on some property a little ways out of town. Once we pick it out, we'll get it surveyed, deeded, and then we'll be ready to go.

My brother in law is a contractor, and will be building it for us. It'll (hopefully) be the home I die in, so I want to get it right the first time. I have several things that I'd really like to do:

- master bedroom/kitchen/office/ultility room all on main floor
- in ground heating, maybe solar if feasable
- a basketball court (maybe underground)

Any suggestions on where to start, what to avoid, things you wished you knew before you built?

[TripletDaddy]

Radiant heating is awesome. Big fan of that.

What about a sweet media room/home theater? Any interest in that?

[San Juan Sun]

Yes, there WILL be a theater room. With a nice HD projector and a 100 inch screen. I told my wife that this is non-negotiable.

Probably will only have one other TV in the house though.

[Donuthole]

Cool (and wacky, in some cases) features that I've seen in some of the custom homes designed by the company I once worked for:

- 10-foot ceilings on all floors; you'd be surprised how enjoyable a basement space is when it has 10-foot ceilings. Doesn't feel like a basement at all.

- Radiant heated deck and driveway; no need to shovel the snow off; flick a switch and it melts away

- Bidets in all bathrooms

- twisting slippery slide from loft upstairs to family room on main floor

- dumb waiter

Those are all fun and luxurious, but the two things I think most people get wrong when building a house are:

1) they fail to get the kitchen/great room area right. That is the most used space in the house, but people often get so wrapped up in the mudroom, office, media room, laundry room, workout room, etc. that they eat away at the space designated for the kitchen/great room. It's the heart of the house, and it is much more important to get that right than to include all the tangential ideas;

2) they fail to include adequate storage. Make sure your pantries and bedroom closets are good sized. Make sure you have adequate closetry in the halls and kitchen (broom closet, vacuum closet, etc.). Make sure your garage is big enough to fit your lawnmower and other tools comfortably.

People can add all the bells and whistles they want, but rarely does someone complain about a house where they have a huge kitchen/great room area and plenty of storage.

[pellegrino]

how many square feet will that be? Are you planning on building two stories?

[kccougar]

When (if) I ever build my own house it will have:

1) A library

2) A secret passage/room

[wuapinmon]

Servants' quarters!

[pellegrino]

Servants' quarters!

my first thought was something along the lines of saving enough money to pay someone to clean it every week.

[TripletDaddy]

One house I looked at recently had a great kitchen...it was awesome. Huge, nice layout, etc. What made it extra awesome was this really cool twisty staircase that went directly from the kitchen to the upstairs. It sounds weird but was actually a really nice custom touch.

[Donuthole]

2) A secret passage/room

I forgot about that one. One of the Parade of Homes houses in Farmington about 7 years ago had a secret passage that went from the basement to the main level and up to the upstairs level, all in the same passage.

[old_gregg]

I forgot about that one. One of the Parade of Homes houses in Farmington about 7 years ago had a secret passage that went from the basement to the main level and up to the upstairs level, all in the same passage.

i think these mystical pathways are called stairs

[Donuthole]

i think these mystical pathways are called stairs

Yes, and when the stairs are hidden behind a wall with hidden entrances they are called secret passages.

[HuskyFreeNorthwest]

Master bathroom urinal. That has been the greatest argument I ever won. Though I do wonder how awesome a fireman pole from upstairs to downstairs would have been.

[TripletDaddy]

Master bathroom urinal. That has been the greatest argument I ever won. Though I do wonder how awesome a fireman pole from upstairs to downstairs would have been.

you have a urinal in your bathroom? i could actually be convinced that it is a good idea. Where do you buy the urinal cakes? Do they sell them individually?

I assume you are talking about a traditional urinal and not the trough kind?

[HuskyFreeNorthwest]

you have a urinal in your bathroom? i could actually be convinced that it is a good idea. Where do you buy the urinal cakes? Do they sell them individually?

I assume you are talking about a traditional urinal and not the trough kind?

It is just a traditional style, trough would have been awesome though. I'll post a picture when I get home today.