My Ideal Home

With at least two of my friends in the process of buying a house at the minute, and my place full to bursting with accumulated STUFF since Gaz moved in, I’ve been spending a lot of time thinking lately about what I’d like out of a home.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not moving any time soon. For starters I’ve only had my mortgage about 6-7 months, and securing that was hard enough. Secondly, now that the bulk of my income is from self-employment I’d need to seriously beef up my accounts before any mortgage company would come near me (although hopefully by the time moving is an actual possibility, I’ll have paid off a significant chunk of my mortgage) Still, a girl can dream!

So here goes…
In an ideal world I would have a big kitchen. I do a lot of cooking and food prep, so want a huge cooker and a ton of surface space. I’m also a big believer in the kitchen being the hub of a home, so there needs to be room for a dining table and a small sofa. Something like the traditional kitchen in this local property (left) or the more modern open plan kitchen from Real Homes mag:

big-kitchens

I would love a playroom for the kids. I dream of being able to shove all the kid’s toys away in a room and forgetting they exist (the toys, not the kids). It’d also mean I could bring some of the toys back out of their bedroom, which would give them a dedicated uncluttered sleeping space.

playrooms

1: Hugo’s Retreat (very slow to load)
2: Our Land of Nod Playroom
3: 35 Awesome Kids Playrooms

Once the kids have got their own playroom, and the dining table is tucked away in the kitchen (or a dedicated dining room if I wanted to be really posh), my living room can go back to being a grown up space. I don’t actually use my living room all that much but when I do it’s normally for entertaining guests or relaxing. It would need to be cosy, comfortable and have space for all my books (present and as-yet unbought). It would have to be clutter-free and ‘unfussy’, because too much stuff stresses me out. I like:

living-room

1: Another local home
2: 5 home feng shui tips to create positive energy
3: Err…

Although I have a thing about red in living rooms, so would need to decorate all of those!

I’d also need a dedicated office space. A room with a lot of natural light, space for my whiteboard on the wall, big enough to take two desks:

home-office

1: Studio Makeover: Before & After
2: 33 Crazy Cool Home Office Inspirations
3: 45 Awesome Workspaces & Offices

Obviously I’d also need a garden with extensive lawns for the kids (and inevitable horde of bunnies and guinea pigs), a master bedroom with en suite, space for at least 2 cars, garage for storage/conversion into a home gym, at least one guest bedroom so that cakefest-ers don’t have to sleep on my kid’s bedroom floor…

I guess I need to hurry up and get that mortgage-free thing sorted.

11 Comments

  1. I will definitely come to visit you in a house like that!

    • Jem

      04 Sep at 5:58 pm

      It would be good to see you as it feels like it’s been FOREVER.

  2. The photos are lovely, I like the idea of the bookshelf on the right hand living room one.

    I am fortunate enough to have enough space in my house (2 people, 4 bedrooms) but lack any really knowledge on how to decorate it to it’s best. Unlike most people, I have storage options everywhere and many shelves that are empty because I just have no idea what to put on them.

    Good luck on the mortgage free goals! I hope to be doing the same!

    • Jem

      04 Sep at 5:59 pm

      Yes, it was the bookshelves I liked in particular (the rest of the room is a bit over-crowded for my tastes)

      I think I shall come live with you … sounds like you have enough room for me and my modest possessions ;)

  3. I 100% agree about the kitchen. It’s good to have a kitchen you want to spend time in. I dream of a big farmhouse type kitchen. I recently moved and one thing I really looked for in a place was a decent kitchen . it made house hunting extra difficult- so many places have a nook in the living room with a tiny counter & a oven masquerading as a kitchen which is not cool.

    Also a big garden would be amazing. Growing up in South Africa my family had a huge, walled off private garden. My sister and I could play for hours in all its different sections. It was the best to have a place to run around ungaurded like that

    I would also go for turretts, a personal library, columns by the door, and a cleaner, if we are now talking real if-I-had-money fantasy… ;)

    • Jem

      04 Sep at 5:59 pm

      It’s the one regret that I have about my place – the kitchen is too small. I mean, it does the job and I’ve had smaller kitchens, but it always feels really cluttered and if there’s more than one person in there it’s impossible to get anything done.

      A personal library! YES! I knew I was missing something from my post…!

  4. Clutter seems to be the topic of the day ;) One of my major problems with all our stuff is that our apartment is just way too small. It’s a 50 sqm apartment with one bedroom, one living room, a (rather large) kitchen and a tiny bathroom. Actually the kitchen is probably what you’d dream of – but obviously such a small apartment just doesn’t have enough space for all the stuff of two people.

    Our next apartment definitely needs more cupboards and closets. We don’t really have any furniture with drawers and our kitchen is all open storage and not very space efficient. Too much stuff, too little effective space!

    • Jem

      04 Sep at 6:00 pm

      Heh, yes, thought it was an amusing coincidence while I commented on your blog this morning (as I was mid-way through editing this one!)

  5. Your house dreams are all so practical. None of that “I need crown molding to be happy” stuff you see on TV. It seems like storage and clutter are major themes. In the consumption and collection culture of the US and Western Europe (perhaps everywhere really) it’s so hard not to accumulate stuff. Then even hard to part with it. I have no kids but my husband’s and my house, 1600 square feet, feels full with just us and a couple dogs. It’s my goal to cut back our stuff rather than expand our living space size, but it hard…

    I agree about a big kitchen, a play room separate from the adult space, and an office space… These would all be so nice. The office especially since you work from home!

  6. That would be so good. It can be a reality and I am sure it will! :D

  7. This sounds lovely and like such a wonderful home for a family. Growing up, the kitchen was never a center of activity for us and I hate cooking (my dream is honestly to hire a cook) so I have very little interest in kitchens, but in the home where I grew up, I loved our playroom, our family room, and our living room. Regardless, I have no idea what my dream home would be. I don’t think I have one, because I don’t like the idea of being stable in just one place — still a large living room and a library/office would make my list of important rooms.