A hot topic of conversation in our home is our home!  We moved here four years ago and though it was the second home Ben had bought, it was my first.  I moved in quite naively with rose tinted glasses, not realising the extent of the work that needed doing to update our home and make it our own.  Four years later and we’re still working our way through lists of home improvements.  To say I’m a little over it is an understatement.  Whilst Ben would happily potter around making things and fixing things in the home forever more, I’d rather the house be finished so we can get on with our lives and spend our disposable income in other ways.

It’s so difficult to decide what to do.  Do we move home?  Do we stay here?    The thought of starting all over again fills me with dread.  If we were to move then the home would have to be near perfect, or we’d have to have plenty of money upfront to modernise it to our taste.  If we stay here, then we need to work out a way of making the home work for us.  Truthfully, if we could go back in time then I wouldn’t buy this house.  But perhaps that’s just part of the learning curve and being my first owned home, I can’t expect to get everything right the first time!

If money was no object, here are the features my dream family home would have:

Tall ceilings

Our home is a chalet bungalow.  This means the downstairs is like a bungalow with really low ceilings.  Ben and I are quite tall and it makes me feel quite enclosed downstairs.  I can reach the ceiling from standing on the floor!  I think some people would find this cosy, but I find it claustrophobic.  My ideal home would have tall ceilings throughout and large sash windows to flood the room with light creating an open, airy, spacious room.

Kitchen-diner

At the moment we have a living room-diner which is the wrong way round if you ask me!  I’d rather a cosy carpeted living room, perfect for us adults to snuggle up and watch a film in the evening.  Then I’d have a large kitchen-diner with a family room.  This would be the hub of the home where most time is spent cooking, doing homework, eating together, playing and so on.

Annexe

I’d love an annexe in the garden which can be used as a guest room, but mainly as a second income source to rent out for short holiday lets.  I’d love a property we can make money from too as renting out a room or outbuilding can provide a really decent extra income.

Ensuite

Our last home had an ensuite and I really miss it.  Ben isn’t so bothered, but I hate having to go across the hall to another room in the middle of the night.  I’d much rather have a door off our bedroom for those late night trips!  I also love how an ensuite is totally private and not used by guests.  My very own private bathroom.

Downstairs toilet

One of our main requirements when house hunting was a downstairs toilet.  If there wasn’t one then we made sure there was space to fit one.  In four years of living here this hasn’t happened.  I didn’t realise our planned location would mean installing a Saniflo and based on other friends and family member’s experiences, we don’t really want to go down this route.  This means we are sharing a small upstairs bathroom between four of us.  It’s getting quite cramped and an extra loo would really make a massive difference.

Separate office

We have a garage conversion which is currently the playroom and my office.  I’d love to separate the two so I have a private work space that I can shut myself away in and ‘go to work’.  It’s fine when the kids are at school and nursery, but when they are here it’s impossible to work if I need to.

Utility room

Aah, I bet a lot of parents wish they had a utility room!  I’d rather keep the muddy boots, toys, paints and so on in a separate ‘messy area’ that is not where I prepare food.  It would also be great to have a space dedicated to our mountains of washing that I can close the door on and it not be in my kitchen or living space.  I’d also double up the space as a boot room.

Porch

I think a porch is a nice way to enter a house.  Somewhere to step out of the rain and off the street.  It’s also the perfect place to hang coats and stack regularly used shoes so as not to clutter up the house.

We definitely have quite a list of requirements if we do move house again!