Money Matters
hoffse
member
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Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Not MM-related: What does your dream house look like?
Because it's been quiet around here...
If money and location were no object, what would your dream house look like?
If money and location were no object, what would your dream house look like?
Re: Not MM-related: What does your dream house look like?
1. New kitchen
2. New laundry/half bath
3. All new flooring
4. Add a master bathroom
5. Refinish the 3rd floor bedrooms into his/her offices
5. Completely replace the siding and the deck and add shutters
6. Annex my neighbor's yard that he doesn't use to add a garage and some extra play space for the dog and future kids.
I seriously LOVE my location so much it would take a lot for me to leave it even if I had all the money in the world.
My dream home is not that large but has a lot of land and a great view. I would want two bedrooms and a den upstairs, with the master on the main level. A separate living room and family room. The family room would open to the kitchen with french doors to the back patio. The living room would be in the front of the house to double as the office and have a big bay window for a baby grand.
The kitchen would have a large pantry that's also a reinforced safe room. There would be a legit butler's pantry between the dining room and kitchen. I would like a large kitchen garden to grow edibles, with a sunroom/greenroom that has brick floors and drains so I can garden inside when the weather is bad. Definitely a large back yard for entertaining.
Finally, I know this will sound absurd, but I want a small caterer kitchen between the garage and regular kitchen. I have attended a party at a house that has one of these, and it worked incredibly well.
And I would like a small, but separate guest house built on the property with main-level living for guests or my parents (I'm an only).
Everything would be new, the insulation would be awesome, we would have those solar roof tiles that Tesla is engineering, and the house would be designed to age in place. Nothing so huge that cleaning is a PITA, but enough space to make entertaining easy.
Ideally, this house would be located some place where I could grow citrus and avocado trees in the kitchen garden.
Funny you should ask. I was just driving down St. Charles Ave. at lunch and was surprised to see quite a few "For Sale" signs. I daydreamed about how awesome it would be to purchase one of those stately mansions...with the big white columns in front...and just roll out my front door as the Mardi Gras parades passed. Separated from the "riff raff" by my wrought iron fence. I'm teasing with the term "riff raff", but replace it with a less snobby term like "crowds", and heck yeah!
Steps up to a wrap around porch. Open front door to a large living/receiving room. 16 foot ceiling and enormous crystal chandelier. Walk through that room to almost a continuous wall of windows with a French door that opens to a patio and the spacious, lush backyard. I don't so much care about a pool, but a "natural" looking landscaped stone Jacuzzi with a rock waterfall behind it would be pretty sweet.
Okay, back inside. The kitchen is huge. Cabinets everywhere. With a large island...the size of my current kitchen, lol...in the middle. I'm picturing marble countertops and dove gray cabinets.
A game room/billiards room would be great. With a bar area in it, that included a sink and at least a mini fridge.
I think my last want would be a big master bedroom that had a sitting area with a fainting couch. Lots of windows again and a balcony that looks over the backyard. Enormous, fancy walk-in closet. Like at least 700 sq. ft. big. Master bath has a big Jacuzzi garden tub. Big walk-in shower. Spacious linen closet.
But I've really never thought much about it, lmao
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I also like those NYC penthouse apartments with floor to ceiling windows.
Also, always something to be said for a beach house with amazing views, somewhere tropical.
A "realistic" dream house would be something like what I have now, only a big bigger. I'd like a larger kitchen with huge walk-in pantry, another bedroom/office on the main floor, a big mudroom, and a finished basement. Oh and a master closet with built-ins. Outbuilding outside for H. More macked out finishes... wood on the ceiling, better hardwoods, better appliances, etc.
Instead of one big or upgraded home, I'd rather have small vacation homes in Orlando, Barcelona and Wellington, NZ - our favorite cities.
Once in awhile I peruse our city's market on realtor.com, and a few months ago I found what I would consider my realistic dream house. Beautiful exterior, gorgeous kitchen, lots of living space, great for entertaining. It was in the $400s so I doubt we'll ever be able to afford it, but ya never know
ETA to add crown moulding and a separate mudroom/laundry room off the garage.
1. Large estate lot - 3-5 acres. DH would LOVE to live on actual land, minimum 30+ acres but I'm not 100% sure I want that.
2. L-shape so the garage is to the side and you don't have garage doors as part of the front view of your home. Basically I want something like this facade. DH isn't crazy about dormer windows but in this home they are part of a two story foyer so you aren't losing space on the second level to steep roof and the windows.
3. I also second @hoffse. I would like either a guest house or a mother-in-law apartment over the garage sort of situation.
4. MUST have a large front porch and a big back deck made with Brazilian hardwood. I'd like the deck to have both open air and screened in spaces.
5. Large, walk-out basement.
6. Fireplace in the master bedroom, an outdoor fireplace, and obviously a large fireplace in the main living space at a minimum.
7. Large walk-in pantry and a butler's pantry.
8. Big kitchen with a large island, built-in fridge, double convection oven and maybe a warmer drawer, pot filler next to the stove top.
9. I would really like a yard that has different spaces...like not just your backyard and front, but a side garden, kitchen garden, and more natural woodsy area.
10. Hardwoods throughout, upgraded finishings in regards to crown moulding, chair railing, paneling, etc, tons of natural light.
11. DH needs a large shed or outbuilding so he can have his woodworking shop and I want a garden shed/greenhouse.
2. Floor to ceiling windows. But only if I'm rich enough to pay someone to clean them.
3. Commercial kitchen. I love to cook. It's my escape.
4. An amazing view. Whether it be of a lake, mountains, forest, ocean, farm land. I'm not picky. Just view of something.
5. Columns out front. Big white ones I can wrap with Christmas lights.
6. Offset garage. I don't like it being the first thing you see.
7. Red brick front. The sides and back can be siding, but I love the look of a red brick home with white columns.
8. In ground pool. With a deep end.
9. Heated soaker tub. Has to be heated. I don't like the water getting cold. Or better yet, let me bring my cast-iron claw foot tub with me.
Okay really, the outside of the home is what I care about more than the inside. I don't care if the house is only 2,000 sq ft. As long as it's a functional 2,000sq ft, I'm happy.
TTC since 1/13 DX:PCOS 5/13 (long, anovulatory cycles)
Clomid 50mg 9/13 = BFP! EDD 6/7/14 M/C 5w6d Found 11/4/13
1/14 PCOS / Gluten Free Diet to hopefully regulate my system.
Chemical Pregnancy 03/14
Surprise BFP 6/14, Beta #1: 126 Beta #2: 340 Stick baby, stick! EDD 2/17/15
Riley Elaine born 2/16/15
TTC 2.0 6/15
Chemical Pregnancy 9/15
Chemical Pregnancy 6/16
BFP 9/16 EDD 6/3/17
Beta #1: 145 Beta #2: 376 Beta #3: 2,225 Beta #4: 4,548
www.5yearstonever.blogspot.com
I would love to add a room on the back of the house that could be my office/craft room. Right now I'm in a bedroom (which it totally fine) but we want two kids and I don't want to give up our guest room.
I also want to gut our master bath, replace all the flooring, re-do the 2nd bathroom, replace the driveway, build a bigger back deck and upgrade the landscaping.
The only thing that might never get done is the addition on the back. The expense would probably not be worth the return, but it would increase the property value to have more square footage.
But even there I'd change some stuff... I don't like the bathroom sinks, for example. And, this is nitpicking, but if we're talking dream home, I want a gas line ran out to the grill with a big outdoor kitchen.... you can see the propane tanks in the picture, and that's not OK LOL
That made me chuckle.
But seriously. Your property taxes. So jealous. That many acres and that price, even in rural BFE Illinois, the property taxes would easily be over $20k/year.
TTC since 1/13 DX:PCOS 5/13 (long, anovulatory cycles)
Clomid 50mg 9/13 = BFP! EDD 6/7/14 M/C 5w6d Found 11/4/13
1/14 PCOS / Gluten Free Diet to hopefully regulate my system.
Chemical Pregnancy 03/14
Surprise BFP 6/14, Beta #1: 126 Beta #2: 340 Stick baby, stick! EDD 2/17/15
Riley Elaine born 2/16/15
TTC 2.0 6/15
Chemical Pregnancy 9/15
Chemical Pregnancy 6/16
BFP 9/16 EDD 6/3/17
Beta #1: 145 Beta #2: 376 Beta #3: 2,225 Beta #4: 4,548
www.5yearstonever.blogspot.com
http://www.realtysouth.com/homes-for-sale/3452-Argyle-Rd-Birmingham-AL-35213-172627640
Not going to lie, I would 100% stretch for property like this, even if the MM gods would strike me down for it.
http://www.realtysouth.com/homes-for-sale/S-10-Glen-Iris-Park-Birmingham-AL-35205-186970382
On our house, which recently appraised for over $500,000, our taxes are only like $2600. I think they may go up again this year, since the house is still new I don't think we're fully assessed, but I doubt they'll get over 4k. Our old house, which at the time was worth half of what this one is, had taxes of around 3k due to the metro district it was in. Taxes on my 560 sq ft condo in Chicago that I bought for less than 200k, were $3600.
Ok, done gushing.
I saw this episode! My only thought was DH would be SO annoyed if he had seen it because they tore out a workshop area to put in the dog bath.
And, for the record, it is a lot easier to wash a dog in an elevated dog shower than in a bathtub. We do ours in the tub most of the time but it's so nice when we can afford to take them to the doggie wash.