What I have learned from my new house

[Ottakee]

We have been in our new house a week now....a 20 year old basic ranch.  Here are a few things I have learned.

1.  Very dark countertops show EVERYTHING....given a choice, go with a mid tone color.

2.  Dishwasher racks make a huge difference in how many dishes you can fit in a load.  The Bosch at my old house held way more dishes than the one at the new house.

3.  Pantry cabinets with roll out drawers are WONDERFUL....I really miss the ones I had at the previous house.

4.  A smaller, freezer on top fridge holds WAY more food than my previous side by side did.  I hated that old fridge, but love this new one.

5.  The gas dryer seems to dry faster than my old electric one but the lint trap on the top is a pain to clean and leaves lint all over the dryer....the one inside the dryer by the door seemed much easier and less messy to use.

6.  Even though we downsized a great deal, we still took too much stuff to this new house ...so I already have a van load for Goodwill.

What have you learned about likes/dislikes, features, etc when you moved or changed things.

[Liz CA]

As far as rolling pantry cabinets, you can buy some hardware and convert existing non-rollers into rollers. May need to ask a handy neighbor / friend to do this. I don't know how easy it is but I know a friend's husband did this in her kitchen and she said it was an inexpensive solution.

[1GirlTwinBoys]

1. I liked how our old house had the kitchen sink under a window. I really don't like having it in the island like we do here. 

2. I much prefer a ranch style home vs. a two story. Ours is nice with a loft, 3 bedrooms and a full bath upstairs, but I just prefer a ranch. I also love how a ranch has a much bigger basement vs. a two story.

 

[Ottakee]

9 minutes ago, Arctic Mama said:

I’m so happy you are in a new place.  Can I say that?  

 

And YEA!  Roll our pantry cabinets rock my socks.

Yes, we are adjusting.  One of the kids said tonight they like this place better than the previous one.  That says a lot as we are in a home 1/2 the size on a lot less than 1/10th what we had before.....but they can bike to a big box stores so they love that.

[Halftime Hope]

We are almost empty nesters, so I nearly died laughing when hubby recently recommended to adult children that, all things other things being equal, they pick the house with a circle or oval traffic pattern so kids and pets can chase each other around through the rooms.  Apparently he has great memories of same in the last two houses.  :-)  Who knew that he'd look back on that with fondness?!?

I love a kitchen sink overlooking the action in the main area of the house.  I'd rather be able to watch and talk to my people than to be sequestered looking away from all the action. I never knew I'd enjoy that, since all the kitchen windows at the houses in my childhood looked out onto lovely back yard views.  My mother's kitchen window, the last 30 years of her life, overlooked a lake...I suppose that's not too bad if you have no children at home. 

Edited October 22, 2018 by Halftime Hope

[cjzimmer1]

1 hour ago, Ottakee said:

 

4.  A smaller, freezer on top fridge holds WAY more food than my previous side by side did.  I hated that old fridge, but love this new one.

 

Funny I have one of each and I vastly prefer my side by side to my freezer on top.  Granted my side by side is one of the larger models (so it holds pizza boxes, half sheet pans, my 4 gallon soup pot etc just fine) but it is just so much easier to keep things sorted and easier to find on all the smaller shelves.  I hate my freezer on top and the only reason I have it was because it was a super cheap second fridge when my 2nd side by side died and we couldn't afford another one at the time.

[May]

I need light and bright. Also layout really does matter. We currently live in 2500sqft but a house we lived in a house with 1400 sq ft. That house utilized the space better. Inside storage space is a wonderful thing especially if you get humidity. Those roll out shelves are wonderful. Only wished we put in more while doing a kithcen remodel. When your electrician says to put in under cabinet lighting, do it. I regret not spending the money. We are done with all our remodeling projects in this house, praise the lord!. The forever house will be move in ready, I’m so over projects!

[Liz CA]

30 minutes ago, Halftime Hope said:

We are almost empty nesters, so I nearly died laughing when hubby recently recommended to adult children that, all things other things being equal, they pick the house with a circle or oval traffic pattern so kids and pets can chase each other around through the rooms.  Apparently he has great memories of same in the last two houses.  ? Who knew that he'd look back on that with fondness?!?

I love a kitchen sink overlooking the action in the main area of the house.  I'd rather be able to watch and talk to my people than to be sequestered looking away from all the action. I never knew I'd enjoy that, since all the kitchen windows at the houses in my childhood looked out onto lovely back yard views.  My mother's kitchen window, the last 30 years of her life, overlooked a lake...I suppose that's not too bad if you have no children at home. 

 

This is an eternal truth. We had sort of a circle / oval in one house and all kids who ever visited chased around it. I have observed this phenomenon in other people's houses who had something that could be circled. 

I'd like a kitchen window overlooking the Pacific...

[Ausmumof3]

I have a side by side and feel like for the freezer capacity you can’t fit as much in as a less shelfy top freezer.

my thing is a well laid out small galley kitchen is much more efficient than a massive farmhouse style kitchen with poorly designed cupboards.  Also they leave less possibility for pile up.

my other thing is - have a laundry that’s actually big enough to do laundry and store the cleaning stuff and linen.  

And the biggest one.  Never ever buy from an owner builder.  And if your first impression was run but then the price/necessity convinced you go with the first impression!  If it looks bad and you notice some problems you are going to uncover literally a million more.

[happypamama]

I haven’t moved in almost twelve years, but after recently doing a massive kitchen remodel, I can say this:

 

I agree with ArcticMama that living in a construction zone isn’t fun, and neither is DIY, but it’s sooooo worth it in the end!

 

Infrastructure matters. It is SO much easier to do anything in a kitchen that has a reasonable amount of storage and counter space. 

 

I love a big, deep sink, preferably one with a big window overlooking the pretty view of my back yard with the mountains in the distance. But even without the view, the big stainless sink is so wonderful.

 

Husband took a small, odd space and turned it into a shallow pantry with custom little shelves for spices. It was the perfect use of an otherwise dead space. 

 

Yes to mid-tone countertops.

 

We learned that we prefer a traditional fridge with freezer on top over the bottom freezer style. 

[mom@shiloh]

I love having my kitchen sink in my island so that people can sit around and talk to me while I'm at the sink.  So much better than having my back to everyone, and I still can look out the windows since we have almost floor to ceiling windows on the wall opposite the sink.  If that sounds strange, it's because my kitchen was originally the dining room, and we left the windows when we renovated the house. 

[Pink and Green Mom]

I agree with you about alot of these - #1 is my nightmare.  I hate my dark granite in the kitchen.  It looks dirty and streaky within 5 minutes of cleaning it.

What I learned:  having a sink that is deep (front to back) enough to hold your largest pan and handle so it is flat on the bottom is the only way to go (my mom's sink is so narrow front to back that she can't have a pan full of sudsy water sit flat on the bottom to soak)

[SKL]

I like a window in the bathrooms.  And good-sized closets.  That's all that comes to mind immediately.  ?

[Bambam]

Things I've learned from various houses:

1. You don't want a light/white ceramic tile floor nor do you want a dark tile floor. Both show *everything*. You want a tile the color of your local dirt. Grout should be darker.

2. You do not want a dark hard wood floor. Go with medium. Dark is beautiful, but if you have girls with light colored hair, you will see they shed *all* the time and *everywhere*.

3. People who install a granite countertop on TOP of front loaders are not forward thinkers. Should you have to replace said washer or dryer, they will need to fit in exactly the same place. Bummer. Or you could remove the nice granite countertop in  your laundry room.

4. Pull out spice drawers by the stove top (above) are wonderful! Love that idea!

5. Pull out trash can drawer in island. 7 years later, and I'm still not sure of this. I love the fact the trash is hidden. But, people don't always hit the can and sometimes people don't remove it when it needs to be, so you need to clean out the cabinet it is in = PAIN. 

6. Rough ceramic tile backsplash in a light color is a bad idea. It might be a good idea if everyone cleaned it right away if they splashed something on it, but someone splashed (pre-us) something blue on it, and it is still there. 

7. Cherry wood cabinets are beautiful. They are stunning. But ... cherry is a soft wood, so if you hit the cabinet door/side/whatever, you mark it up. BAD. Bad. BAD. 

8. We have the pantry pull out drawers and at first I hated them. They have grown on me. But sometimes something falls off the back of the shelf, and it is a pain to retrieve. 

9. Fireplaces in Texas make no sense whatsoever. 

10. Electricians should be consistent with setting up multi-throw switches as to the first one always being the light, second being the fan, etc. This dude was random. We can easily fix it, but we still haven't gotten around to it. 

11. I now see the advantage of two ovens (stove top & ovens are separate). Just a plain oven is not as big as the one in a stove unit. 

12. Glass stove tops are beautiful but a pain to keep clean. 

13. I love our natural gas tankless water heater.

14. I think kitchen sinks should overlook the driveway. I liked that when the kids were littler so they could play in the driveway and side yard while I worked in the kitchen.

 

Edited October 22, 2018 by Bambam

[Ann.without.an.e]

6 minutes ago, Bambam said:

Things I've learned from various houses:

1. You don't want a light/white ceramic tile floor nor do you want a dark tile floor. Both show *everything*. You want a tile the color of your local dirt. Grout should be darker.

2. You do not want a dark hard wood floor. Go with medium. Dark is beautiful, but if you have girls with light colored hair, you will see they shed *all* the time and *everywhere*.

4. Pull out spice drawers by the stove top (above) are wonderful! Love that idea!

5. Pull out trash can drawer in island. 7 years later, and I'm still not sure of this. I love the fact the trash is hidden. But, people don't always hit the can and sometimes people don't remove it when it needs to be, so you need to clean out the cabinet it is in = PAIN. 

6. Rough ceramic tile backsplash in a light color is a bad idea. It might be a good idea if everyone cleaned it right away if they splashed something on it, but someone splashed (pre-us) something blue on it, and it is still there. 

12. Glass stove tops are beautiful but a pain to keep clean. 

 

 

I was going to write the same things.

You can't have too much storage nor too many windows.  Seriously .... you can't.

We have light tile in a small area and I think I would have hanged myself if it was my entire kitchen!  Horrible idea.  

 

Edited October 22, 2018 by Attolia

[SanDiegoMom]

We've lived in about 8 or 9 different houses, but the last two were in the same neighborhood, so comparable in size. (all the rest varied from really tiny to medium ranch).  The last two are ginormous, but the layout makes them SOOO different. The first had a HUGE kitchen with tons of storage and a large island (dark granite, never looked clean) and then a large  breakfast nook next  to it.  It was like a giant bowling alley -- to walk from the kitchen to the living room was so far and of course I was always walking back and forth.  Also it was very open -- the ceilings were two stories high in the living room so it was ALWAYS cold.  Our house now is 1000 sq feet smaller, but the layout makes so much more sense.  Kitchen in the middle of the house, bigger living room, smaller kitchen (which is fine, because I spend all my time in the living room next to the fireplace!) and an actual study that can be closed off. So much more functional space! Oh, and one wall of the living room is entirely built in bookcases. It's heaven. 

We are getting our kitchen redone, as it's so out of date and lacks a lot of storage.  We are taking out the stupid soffit that drops down all around the kitchen and replacing 30 inch cabinets with 42 inch.  And a new countertop (ours cracked when the original builder put the seam over the dishwasher) and we are getting mid tone granite ? . Hopefully it will hide the inevitable stains.  

His and her sinks in the bathroom are great too. 

[Bambam]

51 minutes ago, SanDiegoMom in VA said:

 Also it was very open -- the ceilings were two stories high in the living room so it was ALWAYS cold.  Our house now is 1000 sq feet smaller, but the layout makes so much more sense. 

75% of our houses have been 2 stories, but we always avoided the two story high ceilings except in the foyer (which we didn't want, but we wanted the house!). Yes they are always cold in the winter (which isn't often in Texas, but still!). And it is hard to change any lightbulbs in any hanging lights - which you must have! 

[SanDiegoMom]

1 minute ago, Bambam said:

75% of our houses have been 2 stories, but we always avoided the two story high ceilings except in the foyer (which we didn't want, but we wanted the house!). Yes they are always cold in the winter (which isn't often in Texas, but still!). And it is hard to change any lightbulbs in any hanging lights - which you must have! 

Yes, only our foyer has a high ceiling in this house.  And we re-painted almost every room when we moved in, except for the foyer.  Last month we finally sucked it up and painted the foyer.  It was awful.  We will hopefully never have to do it again! But the previous owner loved yellow and gold and, well, we don't! 

[PrincessMommy]

11 hours ago, Ottakee said:

We have been in our new house a week now....a 20 year old basic ranch.  Here are a few things I have learned.

1.  Very dark countertops show EVERYTHING....given a choice, go with a mid tone color.

2.  Dishwasher racks make a huge difference in how many dishes you can fit in a load.  The Bosch at my old house held way more dishes than the one at the new house.

3.  Pantry cabinets with roll out drawers are WONDERFUL....I really miss the ones I had at the previous house.

4.  A smaller, freezer on top fridge holds WAY more food than my previous side by side did.  I hated that old fridge, but love this new one.

5.  The gas dryer seems to dry faster than my old electric one but the lint trap on the top is a pain to clean and leaves lint all over the dryer....the one inside the dryer by the door seemed much easier and less messy to use.

6.  Even though we downsized a great deal, we still took too much stuff to this new house ...so I already have a van load for Goodwill.

What have you learned about likes/dislikes, features, etc when you moved or changed things.

Had a side by side when we moved here a year ago.  I hate side by sides.   We sold it and bought one with the freezer on the bottom.

I love roll out cabinet drawers.  We had them in a previous house and I miss those.

at first I didn't like my white corian counter tops... but they're growing on me.  I used to be a "natural wood only" person for kitchen cabinets.  But now that I've lived in 2 houses with internal kitchen's I've come around to brighter painted cabinets.  

But, one of the most disgusting discoveries was at my previous house.  It had the fancy granite counter tops, which I hated anyway.  But, I remember cleaning off the entire countertop once because it had been a while since I had cleaned back into the corners.  I found mouse turds on my wash cloth... eeewww... I couldn't see them on the counter top because they blended with the fancy speckling of the granite.   Yeah, it hid the dust and crumbs, but it also hid mouse poop.  Ick.    I'm a "never granite" person now. 

Yup - we downsized and have too much stuff... and a storage unit still waiting to be emptied.  We have friends who just moved to a smaller house last months (after being in one place for 22yrs).  They mentioned that they also brought too much stuff with them.  It's a process.   Some things are harder to get rid of than others. 

Not having a garage or a basement has it's pluses and minuses, but not having either is really hard.  I really wish I had a basement storage area to safely keep some things. 

 

[Carol in Cal.]

What i have learned:

--Grout gets to the point where you can neither seal nor clean it.  Reportedly you can then replace the grout without ruining  your tile, but I have not tried this yet.

--It is impossible to have too much storage or too many bookshelves.  Re. bookshelves, floor to ceiling built ins are best because generally most efficient in use of space.  Corollary--using high storage and display space is a great good thing.

--Old textbooks can be let go.  There is really no reason I should continue to keep my organic chem text from 1977.

--There is no fixing bad room proportions.  Conversely, having good room proportions covers up a lot of other bad design.

--Old fashioned hardwood floors, the kind with no fake nicks or deep seams, are attractive, warm, versatile, and my preference over anything else in living, dining, and sleeping rooms.  Corollary:  but LVP is pretty darned close.

--Storing appliances at the level you will use them at will greatly increase your likelihood of actually using them.

--If you prioritize windows and bookshelves, you won't have room to hang all your photos and art.  

--A bad flow through a room makes it very hard to decorate.  Ditto a gorgeous boulder or tree that your deck is built around.  Charming but challenging.

--Trees are always good, and fruit trees are even better.  

--A chest freezer in the basement is a hedge against fridge failures and power outages, and very valuable in taking advantage of bargains.

--ice makers and water dispensers in fridges are not for me.  Too prone to break, too noisy, and too space-consuming.  

--Measure, measure, measure.  And picture usage.  Can you open your top loader wash machine without hitting the overhead shelf?  Can you open your fridge door far enough to pull out the drawer?  Are those 5 stunning burners on that new stove so crowded together that you can only use two at a time?  Does your spaghetti sauce pot fit into the bottom rack of that fancy new dishwasher?  

--Old major appliances are generally more reliable than new ones.  I hope someday this stops being true, but for now, it is very worthwhile to try to keep your major appliances in use as long as possible, repairing rather than replacing them.  

--Having your main door on the side rather than in front of your house is extremely helpful.  It hides packages and mail from potential thieves, it makes it possible to have the door open for air without feeling wide open to the street, and it means that you can have your living room and dining room open to each other but also able to be closed off from the entry hall.  We use our living room as a guest room at times, with a large air bed on the floor, because we can close curtained French doors to the hall and give our guest a large room with privacy.  Since the couch is 6 feet out from the back wall, suitcases and the deflated air bed can be stored there during the day.  This kind of dual use has made our quite small house very functional.  We also have the dining room changeable to and from a family room, same idea.

 

Edited October 22, 2018 by Carol in Cal.

[PrincessMommy]

20 minutes ago, SanDiegoMom in VA said:

Yes, only our foyer has a high ceiling in this house.  And we re-painted almost every room when we moved in, except for the foyer.  Last month we finally sucked it up and painted the foyer.  It was awful.  We will hopefully never have to do it again! But the previous owner loved yellow and gold and, well, we don't! 

Your previous owners must be related to my previous owners.  Mine loved dark, dark heavy colors... like mustardy yellow or forest green or rusty orange/red (in my tv room).   The cathedral ceiling in my sunroom was a mustardy yellow color.   I just spent last week on scaffolding painting my 17 foot ceilings white.   While I do have a sense of accomplishment that I conquered the scaffolding... I'm glad I'll never have to do that again.  

Why would they paint a ceiling an odd color that matches nothing but that ugly forest green?  

[alisoncooks]

I've learned that a toilet you don't have to plunge (2-3x a day) is worth its weight in gold. If I'd realized how stressful the constant plunging would become, I would've dropped the $300 (2 toilets) A DECADE AGO! 

 

[Ellie]

Drawers in kitchen base cabinets instead of drawers/shelves--best.idea.ever

Blind corners in kitchen cabinets--evil. Happily, the builder of this house installed a lazy susan. Between the base-cabinet drawers and the lazy susan, I never have to get on my hands and knees to search for things.

Fridge with the freezer on the bottom (configuration of doors on the fridge is irrelevant)--love with all my heart.

Fridge close to the sink/prep area instead of across the room--why don't more designers do this? My kitchen isn't all that big, but I still feel like I'm walking myself to death when I'm cooking, because it's on the other side of the island from the sink. I have a gas cooktop (which I love) and an electric wall oven; the wall oven is close to the sink, where the fridge should be. I wish the architect had tweaked the measurements of the house a little more so that the fridge and the oven were swapped. It would be so much more efficient.

[Tree Frog]

1. I hate white baseboards! They show all the dirt and nicks from living in the house.

2. Don't put in tiled floors unless you want cold feet all the time. They're also hard to walk on and dishes shatter when they're dropped on the floor, but tile floors sure clean up well when the dog pees inside again.

3. Gas cooktops are fabulous! The pans heat up and cool off very quickly. You can also roast marshmallows on the gas flames.

4. Big windows make the house very bright! Until your DH closes all the blinds because he's concerned about running the air conditioner too long.

5. Did I say how I never want white baseboards and trim in a house again? They always look dirty!

6. Screen doors let in the air without letting in the bugs. I wish I had them on my front and back doors! 

Edited October 23, 2018 by wilrunner
Needed to clean up what I posted from my phone.

[Junie]

Black kitchen appliances and hard water don't mix.

A master bath is a must have.

Garden tubs are worthless unless your basement floods and you have to sanitize a million plastic things that were stored down there.

A plant shelf above the front door is impossible to clean.

[Jaybee]

1. Paint makes all the difference in the world. It's amazing how much it can change the character of a room.

2. Even an accent paint (on a built-in bookcase) you don't like by itself can become very, very nice when you realize it brings out beautifully that same color in some wall hangings you have.

3. A good gas range can be so satisfying to cook on/in.

4. Not filling up every nook and cranny gives a house such a pleasant spacious feeling to it, and helps "you" feel less cluttered as well. 

5. A covered patio is wonderful for relaxing in the evenings or drinking coffee in the mornings.

6. It's not a good idea to have the only flow path from the bedrooms into the main areas take people right between the sofa/chairs and the only practical place to put the TV.

7. Eclectic pieces you really like or that have value to you due to family history/good memories helps make a home feel like your own special place.

 

[Stacia]

If you have single-car garages, check the width of the garage doors. When I had repair made to mine, the person remarked that the kind I had were the narrowest doors ever manufactured. Add a 90 degree turn to get into them & it's tight. Doable because my cars are not huge, but it would be a problem for people with larger vehicles. Check the width of & ease of access to garage doors!

[AFwife Claire]

1.  I don't like fridges with bottom freezers because the ice maker only makes/stores a tiny amount of ice--and I really love ice.  Now I'm having to buy at least a bag of ice every week to supplement!  I miss my old side-by-side, which I never thought I would say!

2.  Houses built in the 70s are dark, dark, dark, with no overhead lighting.  I constantly feel like there is not enough light and I am straining my eyes to read.  We have bought 2 ceiling fan/lights, but we need an electrician to actually wire the ceilings for them, and we have had terrible luck getting one to do it.

3.  I need a sink with a larger area on the left so my big pots fit there, and the garbage disposal over there.  Then the smaller sided can be on the right, and I can set things there that I want in the sink but out of the way.  I had no idea my previous house had the perfect sink, but the house we're in now just has a standard sink, where both sides are the same (small), and my big pots don't fit, and the disposal is not on the side where I want to wash the dishes.  Also, I need the faucet to be one that pulls out and sprays, without me having to hold a separate sprayer.  I don't have enough hands to make that work!

4.  I need more electrical outlets, especially in the kitchen.  I have a long counter peninsula part that juts out, but there is no outlet on the end of it that sticks out, so I can't plug in my griddle or electric skillet or whatever.  And I have very few other outlets, so I always feels cramped when using things like that.

There are probably more . . .  ?

[MrsRobinson]

1. I don't like the kitchen sink visible from the front door. ?

2. I really hate carpet.?

3. I don't like side by side fridges.

4. I also don't like freezer on top fridges. Maybe someday I'll get to try a French door and see if I like it. Let's hope! ?

5. I love a decent sized laundry room instead of the washer and dryer slid into an open "nook". Where do I sit my rolling sorting carts? Where do I hang my delicates to dry? Seriously... I've lived here over three years and still can't get a handle on laundry!

6. I love a window in the bathroom. Bonus points if it opens!

7. I love having a basement. Finished or unfinished, its just great double space. If its unfinished, the kids can rollerblade down there in the winter, play dodge ball, set up huge appliance box/blanket villages that can stay up as long as they want, have indoor campouts with their friends. Love it. My current basement is partially finished. The finished side has our school room, which we actually do use everyday ? and features two huge storage closets that I credit 100% with our house looking as decluttered as it does in spite of all the kids. Man, I ?really love? those huge closets! ? 

8. Forgot about kitchen outlets! My last house had one. In the entire kitchen. Half of it taken by the microwave. Who designed THAT?! This house has a 4 outlet junction at each one and there are, count 'em, FIVE outlet junctions! I could plug in 20 things if I wanted! I have a night light in one, a charging brick in one, a cute oil warmer in one, and I don't ever have to unplug those. Never hurting for outlets. I feel for you guys with a lack of kitchen outlets. I've been there.

Edited October 23, 2018 by MrsRobinson
Added one!

[1GirlTwinBoys]

Yes, garden tubs are awful!  Lived here 7 years and haven't used it once.  It's nothing but a dirt/dust collector to clean and takes up 1/2 my master bathroom.

[Ottakee]

I love all the love/hates.....and how some love what others never want.

[KathyBC]

1 hour ago, AFwife Claire said:

1.  I don't like fridges with bottom freezers because the ice maker only makes/stores a tiny amount of ice--and I really love ice.  Now I'm having to buy at least a bag of ice every week to supplement!  I miss my old side-by-side, which I never thought I would say!

2.  Houses built in the 70s are dark, dark, dark, with no overhead lighting.  I constantly feel like there is not enough light and I am straining my eyes to read.  We have bought 2 ceiling fan/lights, but we need an electrician to actually wire the ceilings for them, and we have had terrible luck getting one to do it.

3.  I need a sink with a larger area on the left so my big pots fit there, and the garbage disposal over there.  Then the smaller sided can be on the right, and I can set things there that I want in the sink but out of the way.  I had no idea my previous house had the perfect sink, but the house we're in now just has a standard sink, where both sides are the same (small), and my big pots don't fit, and the disposal is not on the side where I want to wash the dishes.  Also, I need the faucet to be one that pulls out and sprays, without me having to hold a separate sprayer.  I don't have enough hands to make that work!

4.  I need more electrical outlets, especially in the kitchen.  I have a long counter peninsula part that juts out, but there is no outlet on the end of it that sticks out, so I can't plug in my griddle or electric skillet or whatever.  And I have very few other outlets, so I always feels cramped when using things like that.

There are probably more . . .  ?

If you ever do get an electrician to wire in your ceiling fan/lights, get him to add an outlet to your peninsula too!!

[almondbutterandjelly]

23 hours ago, Bambam said:

9. Fireplaces in Texas make no sense whatsoever. 

Noooooooooo.  Fireplaces in Texas make everything better!  When it's under 70 degrees outside, I can throw in a Duraflame log and watch it burn warm and cozy.  And if I didn't have a fireplace mantle, where would all my holiday decorations go?  I love my fireplace in Texas!!!  And I would insist on a fireplace if we ever moved.

[1GirlTwinBoys]

11 minutes ago, perkybunch said:

Noooooooooo.  Fireplaces in Texas make everything better!  When it's under 70 degrees outside, I can throw in a Duraflame log and watch it burn warm and cozy.  And if I didn't have a fireplace mantle, where would all my holiday decorations go?  I love my fireplace in Texas!!!  And I would insist on a fireplace if we ever moved.

Yes, I'd want a fireplace no matter where I lived. So cozy and fun to decorate!

[KungFuPanda]

22 hours ago, alisoncooks said:

I've learned that a toilet you don't have to plunge (2-3x a day) is worth its weight in gold. If I'd realized how stressful the constant plunging would become, I would've dropped the $300 (2 toilets) A DECADE AGO! 

 

If I realized how clog-prone new toilets were, I would have lived with THREE harvest gold toilets forever. I have only one now and I’m going to decorate around it forever. I’m just gonna call it Tuscan Sunset and go with it. 

[alisoncooks]

10 minutes ago, KungFuPanda said:

If I realized how clog-prone new toilets were, I would have lived with THREE harvest gold toilets forever. I have only one now and I’m going to decorate around it forever. I’m just gonna call it Tuscan Sunset and go with it. 

Wow. We put in a low-end Kohler 6 months ago and have plunged twice in all that time. We were previously plunging ~2x a day (stunner!).  But definitely -- if it ain't broke....!

[PrincessMommy]

12 hours ago, 1GirlTwinBoys said:

Yes, garden tubs are awful!  Lived here 7 years and haven't used it once.  It's nothing but a dirt/dust collector to clean and takes up 1/2 my master bathroom.

I had to look this up... when I saw it first mentioned I thought it was another name for a laundry room sink...but now I'm wondering what it is.   Now I see it is a free-standing bathtub.   

I love, love, love my soaker tub, but it is integrated into an old tub/shower space.  Same length but deeper so I can soak.  I use it just about every night - winter and summer.  But, I used to have a separate soaker tub (not a garden style) and then shower.  I still used it every day - but it was a pia to clean...much harder to get to the corners.  

Someone mentioned cathedral ceilings.  I so agree Our previous house had cathedral ceiling in the foyer to the family room.  Basically all the of the downstairs was affected by the cathedral ceiling and was always cold.  Our current house has a sunroom with Cathedral ceiling.  It's still not my favorite, but at least I can close it off from the rest of the house.  We're hoping to put a dedicated free-standing fireplace in there.  

[G5052]

We're renting, and these are my positives that I'm keeping in mind if I ever buy again. 

• I actually like split levels. The bedrooms are small, but we spend most of our time in the dining room/living room and downstairs in a small family room where we have the computers. Having small bedrooms at this stage of life isn't a big deal.
• The kitchen is small but has cabinets all the way around with counters. I actually like that over the island in our previous house.
• The new smooth top stoves are actually very nice to cook on and easy to clean. I had gas before, but would go with a similar stove down the road if I had a choice.
• We've enjoyed the carpet in the dining/living area. After dinner we plop on the floor with the dog and talk. It's a new tradition.
• Having a quiet walkable neighborhood is a must. We got that. The smaller yard works because we're set back some from the street and have a tiny backyard. It works because the people behind us are perpendicular to us and have a large back yard. Mowing is easy because the yard is flat.

Negatives

• For some reason they put in a tiny side-by-side, so the refrigerator space is at a premium. I had to buy a small refrigerator for the overflow. I have a deep freeze and would have prefered the old style with a freezer on top. In the other house I had a large side-by-side that was great, but no room here.
• The bathrooms are all original and need updating.
• The dishwasher and washer/dryer are original and are a bit quirky but functional. They are also smaller than we had.
• This house isn't well-insulated and tends to be steamy in the summer and cold in the winter no matter what we do. I had to buy some floor fans to get us through the summer.
• I don't like the gravel driveway.

It is nice renting because we have to take the house as it is and go with it. The rent is below market though and  in a great location for us.

[Junie]

32 minutes ago, PrincessMommy said:

I had to look this up... when I saw it first mentioned I thought it was another name for a laundry room sink...but now I'm wondering what it is.   Now I see it is a free-standing bathtub.   

I love, love, love my soaker tub, but it is integrated into an old tub/shower space.  Same length but deeper so I can soak.  I use it just about every night - winter and summer.  But, I used to have a separate soaker tub (not a garden style) and then shower.  I still used it every day - but it was a pia to clean...much harder to get to the corners.  

Someone mentioned cathedral ceilings.  I so agree Our previous house had cathedral ceiling in the foyer to the family room.  Basically all the of the downstairs was affected by the cathedral ceiling and was always cold.  Our current house has a sunroom with Cathedral ceiling.  It's still not my favorite, but at least I can close it off from the rest of the house.  We're hoping to put a dedicated free-standing fireplace in there.  

My garden tub is not free standing.  It is just a very large bathtub separate from the shower.  I think I've taken a bath in it once.

The water cools off much too fast.  And, yes, it is difficult to clean.

[Ellie]

2 hours ago, perkybunch said:

Noooooooooo.  Fireplaces in Texas make everything better!  When it's under 70 degrees outside, I can throw in a Duraflame log and watch it burn warm and cozy.  And if I didn't have a fireplace mantle, where would all my holiday decorations go?  I love my fireplace in Texas!!!  And I would insist on a fireplace if we ever moved.

I would gladly give up the fireplace in favor of the wall it is taking up in the family room. It makes the room devilishly difficult to arrange the furniture and TV. Because this is a *family room*. There will be TV in it. If the fireplace had been in the living room, where we just sit and chat, as opposed to the family room where we hang out and watch TV, I would keep it, but if it were a great room, e.g., the only gathering room in the house, I'd get that puppy out of there right now.

[Guest]

Quote

I will take smaller bedrooms and bigger living spaces ANY day.  

I always think this when people on TV complain about bedrooms (especially Masters) being too small. I grant you, I want a king-sized bed to fit in it, but I never could see the benefit in having a big, huge bedroom. Ditto for the bathroom. Some master bathrooms are as big as the bedroom. I wouldn’t want that. If we built a new house, I wouldn’t want a tub in the Master bath. I don’t personally use them hardly ever; it just turns into something I have to clean spiderwebs out of. 

[Selkie]

4 hours ago, Arctic Mama said:

We even just bought one of those new high end Totos on the recommendation of the hive and it’s been plunged two or three times in the last two months.  Now that’s not terrible compared to a lot of brands, but I HATE these low flow pieces of €&@?.

 

And add me to the (small) contingent of people who love tubs - we are installing one BACK into this master where it was previously removed, because I take baths every single day I don’t wash my hair.  I LOVE a soaker tub and it’s my main me/reading time. I tend to use a lot less water than I would for a comparably lengthy hot shower too ?

Oh no! We put in a Toto over the summer and have had zero clogs. I've actually been amazed at how well it works given how little water it uses.

[KungFuPanda]

5 hours ago, Arctic Mama said:

We even just bought one of those new high end Totos on the recommendation of the hive and it’s been plunged two or three times in the last two months.  Now that’s not terrible compared to a lot of brands, but I HATE these low flow pieces of €&@?.

 

And add me to the (small) contingent of people who love tubs - we are installing one BACK into this master where it was previously removed, because I take baths every single day I don’t wash my hair.  I LOVE a soaker tub and it’s my main me/reading time. I tend to use a lot less water than I would for a comparably lengthy hot shower too ?

We lost our tub when we installed the roll-in shower. I couldn’t live like that so I put the Kohler Greek tub in the master bath. It’s only 4 feet long, but the water is up to my shoulders. I love it and use it often.  I wouldn’t have the patience to fill a jacuzzi tub, but this is a great compromise for deep soaking. 

[KungFuPanda]

6 hours ago, alisoncooks said:

Wow. We put in a low-end Kohler 6 months ago and have plunged twice in all that time. We were previously plunging ~2x a day (stunner!).  But definitely -- if it ain't broke....!

The house was built in 74, so the toilets were/are that old. I’m sure we must have clogged the one that’s left in the 17 years we’ve lived here, but I can’t remember when. It’s been years. I encourage repeat clog offenders to use this bathroom to avoid a situation. 

[G5052]

5 hours ago, Quill said:

I always think this when people on TV complain about bedrooms (especially Masters) being too small. I grant you, I want a king-sized bed to fit in it, but I never could see the benefit in having a big, huge bedroom. Ditto for the bathroom. Some master bathrooms are as big as the bedroom. I wouldn’t want that. If we built a new house, I wouldn’t want a tub in the Master bath. I don’t personally use them hardly ever; it just turns into something I have to clean spiderwebs out of. 

 

Yes, we've adapted fine to small bedrooms and bathrooms. Frankly it's less to clean for three adults.

One bedroom is stacked with boxes as is the garage, so that's wasted space until we get it gone through. I could completely see an even smaller house, around 1800 sq. ft. or so would be fine. Maybe even smaller. Definitely not bigger, and not at all as big as the house we came from.

[Halftime Hope]

Interesting how different our likes and dislikes are:  I love our fireplace, and I'm in TX.  

The one dislike I agree with, which a bunch of posters have mentioned, is high ceilings creating a cold space in the winter.  If I ever win the lottery, I'll replace windows, and that should improve the heating and cooling in my house a great deal.  

I think I finally found a good use for that unused empty space above our living room, and the one above our entryway.  (Two distinct spaces.)  I'm toying with the idea of having hubby run a two by ten bolted to the wall around the entryway space, and then installing a cargo net floor stretched between the edges, to create a cool grandkid hangout above the entry way.  They'd be able to look out over the front yard and the street through the big picture window above the front door.  I'd then take down a section of the catwalk railing, so kids could access it from just past the top of the stairs.  How cool would that be for a fun sleeping/playing/reading space at grandma's house?  

When we sell the house, it would be simple to take it down, fill the holes, and repaint.  Or maybe we'd leave up just the bracing structure (the 2x10), and cover it with a high shelf lined with books.  I've always wanted a rolling library ladder.  :-) 

You can have too many windows, e.g. when there's no place to hang pictures because there are so many dad-gum windows, and they all look out on neighbors' fences which are only a spitwad away.  (Okay, I jest, but I wish they were a bit further away.)  

 

Edited October 24, 2018 by Halftime Hope

[moonflower]

We've lived in (incuding VRBOs where we stayed for at least a month at a time) 7 houses in the last year.  I have learned a lot about what I like and don't like in a house.

One thing I can't stand is those chandeliers that hang down where they want you to put your dining room table, and they're lower than head height so if you don't put your table there, you run into it constantly.  If I did put my table there, my 2, 3, and 5 year olds would find a way to climb on the table and swing from the chandelier - they're that kind of kid.

Also, duct tape is super useful for childproofing.  We do a lot of childproofing and we use a lot of duct tape.  

 

[SamanthaCarter]

I live in a house that was built in 1945. I am astonished at the size of bathrooms. I guess this might have been around the time bathrooms became a mainstream part of a house. The downstairs bathroom is so tiny that in order to open the door, the sink has to be teensy. So small I can’t wash my face without water all over the floor. Any bigger and the door won’t open. I have tried for two years to figure out how to reconfigure the space. The only way to make it better is to make it a half bath, but that’s not practical because it’s essentially the master bath. A shower stall, maybe? It would take someone with some mad design skills. 

The upstairs bathroom was actually worse. An adult could not easily use the toilet because the was not enough clearance between it and the tub. Nor could you clean up the left side easily because it was so jammed up against the corner. That one was actually easy to remedy, we gutted it and expanded it into the dead end hallway. It’s so nice now! 

I have a love/hate thing with old houses. 

[kbutton]

On 10/23/2018 at 11:39 AM, Ellie said:

I would gladly give up the fireplace in favor of the wall it is taking up in the family room. It makes the room devilishly difficult to arrange the furniture and TV. Because this is a *family room*. There will be TV in it. If the fireplace had been in the living room, where we just sit and chat, as opposed to the family room where we hang out and watch TV, I would keep it, but if it were a great room, e.g., the only gathering room in the house, I'd get that puppy out of there right now.

When we moved into our house, I was fairly glad that the fireplace will need to come out (or have significant repairs we don't want to pay for)--it's in such an irritating place that we don't plan to buy any new furniture until we've taken it out. And we've never had new furniture, lol! Our couch is way past its prime. We would eventually like to put in a gas fireplace in our front living room (more formal--has the piano).

[Ottakee]

Ok....another thing I just learned from my new house......I no longer have a direct line of sight from the kitchen to the lovebirds in the living room?