Dream House

As I grow with my family and we have moved several times, I am detailing in my mind things I want in our dream house. Hubby and I plan on building a house when he is out of school and we are settled in one place. I have a vision of the outside, but honestly, that doesn't matter much to me. It is the inside and the organization that matters, so here is what I am thinking:

As a SAHM I do a lot of organizing and cleaning and I want my house, to work for me instead of me trying to figure out a plan based on my house. Laundry is a huge task and I know that as my boys grow it is going to become even more so with sports uniforms and sweaty play clothes. As it stands now, I do lots of clothes, but I could do a full load of just scrubs for Hubby. I would love to have a small apartment sized washer/dryer located in my Master closet. Imagine, as you remove your dirty clothes actually throwing them directly into the washer and when it is full, add the soap, push the button and go! Then being able to pull them out of the dryer and hanging them right back in the closet they belong! Oh hello, time savings!

Continuing on the laundry theme, I want a huge mud room off of the garage. The house we live in now currently has a laundry between the kitchen and garage and the location is nice, but with the amount of people living here, it doesn't serve the purpose as I would use it. I would like a large room with a washer/dryer and a giant counter for folding. I picture wall to wall cabinets to store all of those holiday/party items you never know where to put. And in my most perfect dreams a large locker for each family member, labeled by name of course so that as each person comes in they can put their items in their locker- no mess, no searching for things in the morning. My mudroom would also have a second pantry for stock items. A flat screen t.v. wouldn't hurt either. Hey, I spend a lot of time in there!

My house needs a craft room. A pretty room with large work tables and tons of clear labled bins for storage. 2 comfy chairs for when my crafting buddy comes over with a cute end table in between to hold our yummy freshly baked snacks.

One thing that drives me crazy is my boys closets. I do not like having one long bar across the length of their closets. In my house, I want to use the side walls to hang clothes, so I need several short bars to hang on one side and baskets and shelving for the rest.

Closets are a big issue for us and Hubby has a HUGE shoe collection. The best way to make us both happy is to give him a nice big closet all of his own with enough shelving to hold his precious shoes and room to grow his obsession.

Our house will have to have a pool, because it has brought so much joy to this family. Friends love to visit when you have a nice big pool and your kids are always happy in the summer. It is a lot of work, but totally worth it.

I don't have a "vision" for my kitchen so much, but I know I want lots of counters and cabinets because I love to bake. I love having a center island, but a much larger size would be perfect. I'm sure by then, I will need another Kitchen Aid mixer too (wink wink Hubs).

Most importantly to me, I don't want to have a bunch of rooms that only get used on holidays or special occassions. Nothing worse than having to clean a room on a regular basis that you never use. I want a huge play room than can eventually turn into a game room for when the boys are older. Lots of shelves for toys and I would love to have a secret door leading a a little nook for each of the kids.

It is so exciting to think about and I know that time will come so much quicker than I expect. Living in apartments and now with my parents, has really helped me to deicipher what my family really needs and the function I would like in my own house. I want my house to be the "go-to" hangout for my boys and their friends and I want to enjoy living there because it is so organized and functional.

Decorating isn't my thing, it is more of my Mom's gifting. I would love a big beach house feel, with crisp whites and muted ocean colors, lots of comfy furniture, but not lots of "stuff". Kind of like this.

What things would you do in your dream house?
(Can't promise I won't steal your ideas. :)