The ideal house thread

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The ideal house thread
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wellington womble

Joined: 08 Nov 2004
Posts: 15051
Location: East Midlands

Posted: Wed Aug 30, 17 9:35 am Post subject: The ideal house thread

Suggested by Slim, a thread to share your dream home ideas, big and small, design or construction.

I'm putting a washing machine in the bathroom. As well as a small cupboard for everyday clothes, and hanging space to dry them. It's where I take them off and put them on, so it may as well be where I wash them and put them away. Everyday clothes will only leave the bathroom on bodies. There will be no laundry basket, because you take things off, and put them straight into the washing machine. When it's full, I'll turn it on. Simples.

NorthernMonkeyGirl

Joined: 10 Apr 2011
Posts: 4630
Location: Peeping over your shoulder

Posted: Wed Aug 30, 17 10:56 am Post subject:

This is apparently common in the US (those that have machines rather than use laundrettes). There's a whole Thing about washing machines in kitchens being strange and unhygienic

I would be worried about mixing lights/darks, but I'm guessing you have a carefully curated selection of clothes where that doesn't matter

(I'm an idiot with about 3 items that need special treatment, urgh)

I bet binge-watching Grand Designs counts as research too.

Slim

Joined: 05 Mar 2006
Posts: 6612
Location: New England (In the US of A)

Posted: Wed Aug 30, 17 11:37 am Post subject:

I would end up with lots of pink clothing if the plan were for all household members to just throw their clothes into the washer....

Laundry machines in the kitchen is weird to us in the U.S., though I've never heard it described as unhygienic - though one might make that case in a cloth diaper ("nappy") household

Around my parts a lot of the homes were built around the time that those new fangled washing machines came about, and they were just about as likely to be gasoline powered as electric, and generally outdoor affairs. As such, most folks have their modern washers and dryers in their basements. My basement stairway is teeny, so that doesn't work for me, so I plumbed a stacked unit into a hallway closet. (the house didn't have a washer until at least 100 years after it was built.....)

I think that a lot of homes continued to have laundry machines put in their basements out of habit, until the past 30 years or so when people started to realize that it might be easier to hide them in their own purpose built laundry rooms on the first floor, to reduce lugging of full laundry baskets up dingy cellar stairs. That's probably a small part of the reason why average modern American homes are so enormous.

Slim

Joined: 05 Mar 2006
Posts: 6612
Location: New England (In the US of A)

Posted: Wed Aug 30, 17 11:44 am Post subject:

As I said previously, a wood-fired sauna is a must for me if it can be managed at all. Bonus points if the "waste" heat can be diverted to a greenhouse during the cold months. Further bonus points for outdoor shower next to the sauna.

This of course all ties in with my dreams of having a large climate-battery style greenhouse a la Jerome Ostenowski

https://www.chelseagreen.com/blogs/forest-garden-greenhouse-review-permaculture-design-magazine/

dpack

Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 46248
Location: yes

Posted: Wed Aug 30, 17 11:54 am Post subject:

low maintenance once built or fixed
decent sized kitchen and indoor working area/s,
style from stone age to hi tech as appropriate
easy clean including boot room/dog shower
cosy home areas, decent view, sitting in garden
energy efficient, off grid water and energy options
various outbuildings for storage,workshops and critters
a few acres for veg, orchard , chooks , dog yard and maybe a pig pen
access to or ownership of fire wood / woodland
access to good fishing
access to varied forage
rural but not requiring re supply by air and a four day journey to see a doctor or find a couple of bolts the right size.
weather is acceptable but the climate must be moderate which in my opinion is non life threatening with normal clothing and care most of the time

wellington womble

Joined: 08 Nov 2004
Posts: 15051
Location: East Midlands

Posted: Wed Aug 30, 17 12:38 pm Post subject:

Ah yes. A boot room. A walk through one, with a bench seat. Boot storage underneath, hooks over for coats etc, baskets on top for gloves, hats, torches, packets of seeds, forgotten trowels and other things which are permanently in transit between house and garden (here, anyway)

I never separate washing. My bedding is white, but that's a whole load anyway. Everything else all goes into together. School shirts, jeans, the lot. if it all came out pink, my seven year old would be ecstatic (me, less so, but it's never happened) If it was up to me, no clothes would be white anyway, but school says differently.

Our last house had a dog shower.

Shan

Joined: 13 Jan 2009
Posts: 9075
Location: South Wales

Posted: Wed Aug 30, 17 1:53 pm Post subject:
I basically want a Riad style house with an outdoor kitchen. With no neighbours. Nowhere near a road.

NorthernMonkeyGirl

Joined: 10 Apr 2011
Posts: 4630
Location: Peeping over your shoulder

Posted: Wed Aug 30, 17 2:06 pm Post subject:
I think I'd need to start designing at the garden, greenhouse / orangerie (hush, I want one!), boot room, cellar / food storage, and then I guess a bedroom and stuff

Slim

Joined: 05 Mar 2006
Posts: 6612
Location: New England (In the US of A)

Posted: Wed Aug 30, 17 2:07 pm Post subject:
You can put a bed in any room How much does it matter what it looks like? Most of your time in there you aren't paying attention to the surroundings anyway. Save your money for a good mattress.

Ty Gwyn

Joined: 22 Sep 2010
Posts: 4613
Location: Lampeter

Posted: Wed Aug 30, 17 3:45 pm Post subject:
Are utility rooms out of fashion these days?

Shan

Joined: 13 Jan 2009
Posts: 9075
Location: South Wales

Posted: Wed Aug 30, 17 6:49 pm Post subject:
Heavens no! Where else would one put the 500 litre chest freezers?

NorthernMonkeyGirl

Joined: 10 Apr 2011
Posts: 4630
Location: Peeping over your shoulder

Posted: Wed Aug 30, 17 7:18 pm Post subject:
In the food storage area, silly. I've only ever seen utility / boot rooms, which is fine until you drop your clean laundry on the floor because you're a bit of a twit sometimes

Shan

Joined: 13 Jan 2009
Posts: 9075
Location: South Wales

Posted: Wed Aug 30, 17 7:23 pm Post subject:
Oh no... the utility room has to be separate to the boot room, then you can chuck your washing on the floor....

jema
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 28239
Location: escaped from Swindon

Posted: Wed Aug 30, 17 8:49 pm Post subject:

Slim wrote:

Saunas a sore point, we have what is pretty ideal for us at the moment, but at the old place we had a sauna/shower room. Having got back possession of the place we have been back in the sauna and it annoys the hell out of me that it's not feasible where we are.

Slim

Joined: 05 Mar 2006
Posts: 6612
Location: New England (In the US of A)

Posted: Wed Aug 30, 17 8:58 pm Post subject:
so, in other words they are to be considered for any new build?

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