Now I always thought that my husband and I would build our own home. This is probably because my parents and both sets of grandparents did, so I just assumed that's what people did. Plus I had a good friend who would draw home designs for fun in middle school and high school, and I picked up her habit.
My husband, however, shakes his head and reminds me of the glut of houses out there. The thought of building our own place had never crossed his mind.
Regardless of whether we build or buy, the dream is one of the following houses on a couple acres.
Now if we were in the market for a ninety-three hundred square foot mansion, this one would probably be the winner:
And while we're pie in the sky dreaming, let's throw in a tree-lined drive, a creek for the kids to play in, a small orchard of mature fruit trees, and a barn for the cow. And perhaps most importantly, kind Christian neighbors, who have kids for our kids to play with and who raise chickens so we can buy eggs from them. We'll be in the same 4-H club.
Tell me about your dream home! And tell me I'm not the only one who browses house plans in their spare time...
I've been drawing ideas for my dream home for 10 years. My husband says it is a bigger waste of time than Farmville simply because we will never have the money to build our own home.
ReplyDeleteMy dream home has a huge eat-in kitchen. It is the hands of the home where all the cooking, eating, and schooling happens. There would be a library for anyone to read or study in and my husband to work in. The bedrooms (aka cloister) are quiet with no toys, tvs, computers, etc. There is a play/family room for all play, noise, movie-watching and merriment. And the heart of the house is the chapel, where the family would gather for prayer twice a day. Put it on a few acres with a vegetable garden and a fruit orchard and I'm in heaven.
I don't expect to have it in this life, but I get to enjoy the dream just the same. :)
My dream home includes a spacious dining room, huge eat-in kitchen, spacious room for the girls (they would still share!) and a spacious room for the boys (they share, too!) connected by a bathroom they'd all share. and of course a nice sized master bedroom for us and a second master for guests. I'd probably like an "in-law" suite for either Craig's mom or my parents to stay when they are too old to care for themselves. I don't care much for a big yard, but I would like a large garage and a wrap-around porch.
ReplyDeleteAh, dreaming...nothing like it!
I do it too! My dream home is like this one http://www.rosschapin.com/Plans/Houses/PlumCorner/PlumCorner.html or this one http://www.rosschapin.com/Plans/Houses/Plumrose/Plumrose.html or this one if I'm dreaming big http://www.rosschapin.com/Plans/Houses/Vinnlee/Vinnlee.html!
ReplyDeleteI love that our first house was a little Cape, and now dream of buying/building a Colonial with a porch with a swing, an eat-in-kitchen, a couple of fireplaces, and a nice soaking tub. And I agree ideally located near a farm stand where we could get fresh eggs and produce or maybe pick our own.
ReplyDeleteThis post made me smile, because we're in the middle of the home-seeking, maybe even home-buying process (pray for us, actually, we may be making an offer on a place this week!). My *dream* home would be a farmhouse on several acres - maybe 5 or 10 - enough for sheep and horses and anything else besides that I might want. Lots of bedrooms, a fireplace, and a sun porch, and room on the property for a sugar shack and a big garden.
ReplyDeleteOur *actual* house? well, that's probably more apt to be a tiny cape on less than 1/4 acre! There's nothing wrong with dreaming, but what I've realized recently is that all my dreaming made me really unrealistic when we actually started looking for a place. We live in a very expensive part of the country, and salaries are very low; my husband makes a decent salary (and has gotten really good raises in the last two years), and even so there is no way we could live on his income alone, so I work part-time from home to make ends meet. I had to really pare down my expectations radically in the last two years as we looked and looked and looked again, and it was a pretty painful process to have to let go of some of those "big dreams". I say this only to caution you to think realistically as well, lest you be disappointed when you actually start crunching numbers. But the financial restriction has let us look very long and hard at our actual lives, to see what the real priorities are; things such as "land for a horse" went by the wayside, once I realized that, with babies and kids, I'm not apt to have *time* for a horse in the next ten years, so we can re-evaluate that want down the road. It's a lot better to be 10 minutes from my husband's work in a decent place, than an hour away in a shack with land for a horse but no time for one :)
Now 4-H? That's another story, and is a non-negotiable :) My kids will be in 4-H whether we have 10 acres or a postage stamp - they'll probably just have to do craft 4-H instead of sheep :)
My dream house is actually smaller (less to clean & maintain) I would like a fenced in yard and a soaker tub as well, but a living room and kitchen with 3 beds and a bath sounds good to me. :)
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ReplyDeleteThanks for stopping by the old blog! I've started a new project if you're interested. I'm glad to see you guys are doing so well too!
ReplyDelete~Molly
www.mollymakesdo.wordpress.com
ReplyDeleteI've heard it said somewhere that if you procrastinate on a blog topic another blogger will blog about it before you do! I've had this exact same topic on my mind for awhile now but just never had the time to write about it! Now I will have to do so!
ReplyDeleteWe've been dreaming for years too. This is the one we are going to build:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.thehousedesigners.com/plan/the-smithfield-6245/
The master suite will be upstairs though, and everywhere upstairs where it says "open to below" will not be open -- we're going to close it in and have 4 bedrooms upstairs.
Thankfully we have the land already. Now we just have to keep praying that hubby gets a job that will be enough that we'll get approved for a mortage.