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Three things you adore about your house....


BlsdMama
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We've lived a lot of places, a lot of houses.  I wish our acreage was bigger, but frankly, this house is so perfect.  Okay, it is a constant work in progress, but that aside, the layout is PERFECT.

 

And DH and I are in heavy disagreement so it intrigues me what people like about their homes.... It can be yard or house. ;)

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1. Mudroom - this is my favorite room in the house.  No kidding.  I love it.  Kids come in, kick off FILTHY shoes, hang up coats, and my life is so much happier.  I love it.  Love. Love. Love it.

2. My backyard.  We live on an acreage so you'd think - what's the big deal?  But we have a patio door off our living room and my bedroom window looks out into it.  It is JUST for little people.  The dogs are electronically kept out - so no poo.  There is a baby swing in a tree, a laundry line, a few trees, my bird feeders.  I love my backyard.  It's total freedom for my toddlers and preschoolers.

3. My windows.  After living in the PNW, I figured out - I'm a sunshine person.  Our entire front room/dining room is a HUGE window.  It lets in light on the dreariest of days.  We spend 90% of our time in this room.  We had to knock down a wall, but I love this room.  There is nothing better than sunshine.

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I love both our yard and our house. We sit high upon a ridge in a flat golf course community. Our back of our house is all glass and sitting high like we are, we look down on a woody creek and the 13th hole of the course. Being high and all glass, combined with the woods - nobody can look in from the back. In the front - we live on 1.25 acres looking over the entrance of a wooded nature preserve that winds through the course. Nobody back on our cul de sac but three homes and lots of open and wooded space- lots of nature!

 

Our home - very cool and funky mid century modern home. Sunken living room with cool two sided fire place in the living room and kitchen. It's a long ranch with a large exposed basement. Kinda the reverse of. Two story in that the kids bedrooms are all downstairs. We have 11 glass sliding window walls. The fireplaces are all surrounded by floor to ceiling and very wide walls of limestone surrounds. - even downstairs. Cool house!

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Hah!  My toilets.  All my toilets are ADA height Totos.  Swoon.

 

I love my covered patio, strung with lights.  I adore sitting outside on warmish evenings, listening to owls and having a cocktail with my DH.

 

I love my cabinets.  I spent a long time picking out the colors and washes, and so often I look at them and think, dang, isn't that pretty? 

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We've lived a lot of places, a lot of houses.  I wish our acreage was bigger, but frankly, this house is so perfect.  Okay, it is a constant work in progress, but that aside, the layout is PERFECT.

 

And DH and I are in heavy disagreement so it intrigues me what people like about their homes.... It can be yard or house. ;)

The peace and quiet on this dead end street. My top priority.  If only someone hadn't moved in nearby with a pack of dogs, this would be constant.  Now it is intermittent, but at least still present.    I would move to a No-dog neighborhood in a heartbeat. 

 

One level.  Now that I am older, the lack of stairs is appreciated.  Recently, I acquired a two story at an auction.  I'm still not sure what I was thinking or whether we will move in, now, after some recent knee issues.

 

Extremely safe area where no crime ever occurs, filled with older people that watch out for you.  You can sell your house in a day here. 

I realize none of this things are about my actual house!  ;)  I guess the house matters less.  There are some things I don't like, like the cramped layout and lack of storage space.  

 

Edited to add:  My house is very bright and I never use lights in the daytime.  Large windows in every room, which I do appreciate. 

 

 

Edited by TranquilMind
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Hah!  My toilets.  All my toilets are ADA height Totos.  Swoon.

 

I love my covered patio, strung with lights.  I adore sitting outside on warmish evenings, listening to owls and having a cocktail with my DH.

 

I love my cabinets.  I spent a long time picking out the colors and washes, and so often I look at them and think, dang, isn't that pretty? 

I wouldn't have any other toilet but a Toto.  I have them in my house, the last house I renovated, and the one I am working on now is getting them soon.  I think I will go with the Nexus instead of the Drake this time.

 

Toto toilets are the best. 

Edited by TranquilMind
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I wouldn't have any other toilet but a Toto.  I have them in my house, the last house I renovated, and the one I am working on now is getting them soon.  I think I will go with the Nexus instead of the Drake this time.

 

Toto toilets are the best. 

 

After years of clogged toilets due to one particular child, the Totos brought blessed relief.

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Natural light

Location - generally safe and walkable to library and supermarket, dentist and optician

Floor plan - dining room is big enough to be a bedroom and living room is big enough to be a living/dining combo. Kitchen has plenty of useful cabinets.

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Our house was built in 1987 and is on 1/4 acre.  We moved here from a house built in 2004 and on 3 acres.  We ADORED our old house and neighborhood.  This one, meh.

 

1.  Lanai/pool cage.  We have no house directly behind us so that is nice.  The previous owners did a great job updating this area with travertine tiles, pebble tec pool, stacked stone on the spill over hot tub, nice palm trees.

 

2.  Kitchen.  Previous owner (a kitchen designer) re did the kitchen with top of the line appliances and finishes.  My DH would never in a million years spend that kind of money if we had to do it on our own. 

 

3.  We have sliders that completely open/pocket back to the house in our master bedroom, living room and family room.  When the weather cools down we can open them and look directly onto #1.  We live in FL so really the only time we can do this is late December-early March.

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Privacy, huge trees, hedges. I puffy heart huge tall cedar hedging. You can walk around undressed in our backyard for most of the year. I can't really see other houses...

Skylights.

Lots of windows.

A creek.

Location. We can easily walk to shopping and public transit.

Birds. I can hear birds pretty much all the time.

Other wildlife - raccoons, skunks, coyotes, the odd bear...

Open floor plan.

Huge fireplace.

Big deck overlooking the back garden.

I really like pretty much everything about our house...

 

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

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1. Our backyard: big, wooded, and fenced in.

 

2. The orientation of the house: the back of the house & the yard face east so that we get lots of sunshine in the morning and shade in the afternoon.

 

3. The layout of the house: less open than is common nowadays, so there are lots of nooks & crannies for everyone to have their own separate space to curl up with a book.

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Location: countryside with views to hills and sea, on the edge of a village, five miles from a university town and an hour by train to a major city.

 

Garden: three acres, one of flower/veg garden, one of trees, one of field with fruit trees

 

Wood stove

 

 

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1. Location. We are walking distance to the community college that my older kids attend.

 

2. Location. We are walking distance to light rail that my husband can use to get to work.

 

3. Location. We are between the intersections of three freeways and a expressway.

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In our new-to-us house:

1. Location. Exactly in the first square we drew on the map. Walking to everything, biking to most else. Still driving for swimming, but it is better.

2. The kitchen. The best part of the flip.

3. Front porch with our bright green door.

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1. Old house charm. Built in 1880, this house has some cool features. I especially like the 10 foot ceilings, original hardwood floors, and 85 inch windows. 

 

2. I love that I'm right in town. A block from the hospital, walking distance to the art museum, library, coffee shops, downtown shopping, and parks. 

 

3.  I love that the master bedroom is on the first floor. This means dh and I rarely go upstairs and that gives our two adult kids their privacy. They have the upstairs to themselves- bedrooms, bathroom, living room, everything but cooking facilities.  There is a second kitchen up there but we turned it into a workshop so no appliances there now. 

 

What I don't like: My nosy, hosta stealing neighbor and the expensive upkeep/renovation of a house that's 135 years old. 

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Our location (dead end of a mile long gravel road surrounded by woods and cattle pasture)

 

Our property (it's only 5 acres, but it's laid out well and my husband keeps it meticulous, so most of it looks like a pretty park with trees)

 

I'm not really in love with anything on the inside at the moment (it's not bad; just nothing I LOVE to pieces), but we are going to be doing some renovations in the next year and I think I'll love it much more after that. However, that does bring me to my third thing I love about it and that is the price. We bought it at a great price and put money into it then, but we have waited to the point where it can be paid off pretty soon, and we are going to do more updates at that time.

Edited by StaceyinLA
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  1. I ADORE that we can almost see the library from our driveway.  Less than 1/4 mile away.   :thumbup:

At said library is a 1-mile walking path -- I love that we have a safe, accessible place to walk whenever we want.

I love that my neighbors are quiet and don't judge me when my yard looks like cr@p.

Edited by alisoncooks
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I adore my kitchen. I have the tallest cabinets I have ever seen (I need a ladder to reach the top, luckily I have so much storage on lower shelves)

 

Basement-I hate to call it a basement because it is so amazing. I think my son may never move out because he likes it so much.

 

The overall layout of the house just works.

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We just had a custom house built, exactly what we want, so I adore most everything! Ă°Å¸Ëœ But I have a few favorites.

1. Storage! We have a huge pantry and closets. I finally have a dedicated place for everything.

2. My laundry room is ridiculously huge. I have more cabinets, drawers and counter space than my last kitchen. It has totally changed my laundry game. I used to be a "live out of the baskets" person and had clean laundry piles everywhere. Now I fold every load as it come out of the dryer because I have the space to do so. My last laundry area was also the back doorway and it was the only entrance we used. It was always dirty and shoes were everywhere. Now, my laundry room is a separate space, no more shoes and dirt and people trying to get through. It's heaven.

3. Porches! We have about 2,000 sqft of covered outdoor space, a large back porch, a small, separate master porch, a carport and front porch. I live in Texas, so the outdoor space gets used pretty much year round.

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1. walking distance to the subway, good bus lines, lots of retail and restaurants

 

2. the molding is pretty... no, scratch that, I love the sliding door between the living and dining room

 

3. it has off street parking for two cars, two!

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- Built-in dining room cabinets

- Having more than one bathroom

- Location that lets us have a wooded lot and suburban feel while actually being a short drive from anything (highways, airport, shopping, museums, whatever)--and unlike the newer houses, this one was affordable.

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Our yard is awesome--except when it's mowing time.  It's about 2/3 ac. fenced with a gentle slope and a dirt patch/mud hole (big feature for the kids ;)); we have a fenced garden out there, too.  One day hope to get some chickens, and some goats to eat all the weeds.  

 

Low mortgage, which helped a lot when the economy was doing its tanking thing.  The PITI is about 25% of our current income.  

 

The silver lining of its small size (almost 1200 sq. ft.) is there's not much to clean, not too many places for things to get lost, and it forces us to think hard about what's important enough to keep around.  :D

 

 

 

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1. It's paid off

 

2. My kitchen

 

3. The gas fireplace in our basement family room. Without it, the room would feel a bit too cool to be comfortable, but instead it's warm and cozy.

Edited by Sun
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My covered front (and back) patios.

My pool.

The outdoor kitchen & pool bath.

 

The remainder of the house is kind of meh (although I really like the tile work), it's just shaped perfectly to suit our needs.  Now, if only it had more built-in storage ;)

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The thing I think I like most about it right now is something I used to hate. It's an odd space created when someone added an extension to the back - too small for a family table, too big to not collect stuff. It took years before it was anything other than the odd bit we dump stuff between the kitchen and the rest of the house. Now it has a tall vertical drying rack, a large storage area to dump all the things neatly, a raised play area to dump all the lego and toys out of the way, and changing area with our family closet-shelves-thing. I love having that extra space within the flow of the house to deal with all those bits. 

 

I also love that it isn't open plan/is generally good at containing sound in place while the old flooring means I can still pretty much hear where everyone is which is oddly a comfort to me. 

 

Third is mainly the location - bus stop practically outside, post box and corner shop next to next door [next door is a takeaway - this is good and bad at different times], park, DIY and home stuff store within a block, and my front door is visible on at least 3 businesses security cameras which is, again, oddly a comfort to me. Also everyone knows where my road is when I give the address because it is a main road in and out of town so I rarely need to give detailed instructions. X Road near Y store or X road near the Y intersecting road roundabout is typically enough which saves a lot of headaches. 

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My kitchen. We designed it so it's exactly what we wanted. It's southern facing with lots of windows and full length storms which are open year round and keep it so warm and bright.

Our yard. Truly it's estate like. We had no part in making it this way--that was all the previous owners. There is a gunnite pool with a spa higher up which creates a waterfall flowing into pool. It makes a beautiful sound as it runs continuously. There is gorgeous landscaping all around it - some people have mistaken it for a pond. The entire yard is really well landscaped.

Its history. Almost 275 years old, with most original features likes walls and floors and corner cupboards. It's been well taken care of to keep it in great condition. Washington and Rochambeau ate here :) There is an encampment across the street where the army stayed on the march to Yorktown. Pretty cool history.

Edited by whitestavern
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1. My kitchen - pull out spice drawers on either side of the stove top, pull out shelves in the pantry, cherry cabinets (love/hate here - beautiful but it is a soft wood), cabinet for the trash can, island with a bookshelf.

 

2. The yard - back mostly - 2 acres of hill behind us so you can't see any neighbors out back. We planted wildflowers so it is beautiful in the spring (we mow a few paths so you can get around, but we don't mow the wildflowers till they seed - messy, but who cares?). We have a passion flower patch (?natural? I don't know - we didn't plant it but possibly the people before us did?) that attracts butterflies. A couple of trees that fell down (kids like to walk on them/balance beam). And a trail off the end of it through more natural area. And a back covered patio with fireplace and grill that has been great for teen parties. The back yard is used for capture the flag (although I have noticed as the kids get older, they aren't as interested in that game).

 

3. Location - It is like 10-15 minutes max to the places we go regularly. We used to live about 30 minutes from everywhere so this is wonderful! 

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We've only been in this apartment for two weeks and will be moving in 6 weeks, but I like being up high where I can see over the trees, that there is just the right amount of space for our family, and that my kids have lots of friends in the complex.

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1) Our walkout basement playroom and art room: light, airy, a very nice place to play (or supervise) and NO TOYS UPSTAIRS.  Plus a whole room to just messily create, and I don't ever worry about walls/carpet/furniture.  Love.

 

2) The windows: one of the things the previous owners did right is position the house perfectly on the lot.  We have gorgeous, mostly east facing windows all across the back of the house, and not a single one looks at a neighbor.  It's the feel of being out in the middle of nowhere with property with the benefit of living in a great neighborhood.  Perfect for our ages and stages right now.

 

3) I'm going to love our master bedroom, when we kickoff the reno project this summer.  I have everything planned, and I just can't WAIT to get it started and have a little place carved out of the house for quiet mommy time.  Or, you know, quiet mommy time with little people asking "What are you doing, mama?" every 30 seconds.  But at least it'll be someplace pretty!

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Isn't it funny what you love that others hate?

 

When we moved in:

 

Dad said - "You'll hate those cottonwoods, they're messy. " I love them.  They're huge, they're old, and they are getting swings next week. :)

Mom said - "Ugh, a real fireplace.  You're going to hate it. " I adore it.  It would beat out the mudroom if I used it year 'round.  There is nothing like a real fire.

 

And mauve.  My living room is mauve.  And purple - specifically Tibetan Temple.  My dad couldn't believe DH would live in it, lol.  I love it.  Love, love, love.  

So funny - I have never been into houses my entire life.  And this house has been nothing except projects.  Maybe that's why I like it?  Because we keep tweaking?

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Location. We live right in town, can bike to downtown in 10 minutes, 10 minutes to the countryside and organic farms and 15 minutes to the sea.

 

Built in storage. I have a place for everything and none of it is full.

 

My kitchen. It's perfect.

 

We didn't have to do a thing. I love the paint colors, all the details throughout the entire house were well thought out, and we have very little maintenance. I love not having to work on the house and not wanting to change anything. I find incredible freedom in that.

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#1. That it was built in 1949 so it has the charm of an older home, but it's not so older that it's a money pit.

 

#2. The room that we do our homeschooling in is always super bright and sunny. Just perfect for us!

 

#3. The crazy colors on the walls. Oranges and deep yellows and olive green and blue. So much color! I love it! In all the decorating and 'flip that house' shows I've watched, my choice of color is definately a don't. But it's a do for me. Every room is a completely different color from the room next to it and I love it. I think it works so well because of #1: that it's an older house and feels like a little cottage. There is no open floor plan and I'm glad of that. It allows me to add more colors.

 

There are more things, but you asked for only 3. These are the 3 that make me very happy in this house.

Edited by Garga
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I love the layout of our house. We have a fireplace between the dining room and living room. I have a big long kitchen with lots of pantry space and the storage is good too. 

 

The location. It is near everything!

 

Lots of windows and sunshine, not only that, when I look out my master bedroom window I see greenery instead of someone else's house. Also birds, especially a cardinal that greets me every morning outside my window.

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Big windows letting in lots of light.

 

Location - less than a mile to the library, community college, and our church.

 

Price - We bought at the low and 6 years later it's worth $100,000 more than we paid for it. 

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We just moved here last month, so I'm still figuring out what I love.  Right now I'll say --

 

Location.  We're just barely in the low-property-taxes-county that butts right up against the mid-sized city with all the conveniences.  So our taxes are extremely reasonable, it's very quiet with a secluded, country feel but I can be in the heart of civilization in ten or fifteen minutes.

 

The front porch, and specifically the swing on it.  Our view across the street is nothing but woods and it's a deep, mostly shady porch that just begs me to spend afternoons reading and gently swinging.

 

The yard.  There are just enough big trees to give a bit of privacy and shade and visual breaks w/o being too many.

 

And I'm going to cheat and add a fourth thing because it's so awesome -- The neighbors.  There are about twenty houses total on our (dead end) street.  We've met about half of the neighbors so far and every single one of them seems super nice.

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We built our house 3 years ago after 20+ years of dreaming about building a house.  I don't really like its location, but I do love our house.

Our wraparound front porch.  I LOVE it.  

 

I love my kitchen cabinets and pantry.  We've lived in a blue million houses over the years, so I was able to carefully plan out my cabinetry just how I like it.

 

The fact that we wasted no storage space.  We have complete access to the under-stair area, a full sized pantry in the weird little corner between the laundry room and half-bath, walk-in access to the attic over the garage from my office, accessible attic space IN the garage, and accessible attic space above our second story.  Oh, and we put in a huge linen closet in the girl's bathroom just because we could.  

I also like that it feels like a big house, although it is only 2000sq. ft.  It is still small enough that we won't be rattling around in a big empty house after the girls all move out.

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