Friday, May 21, 2010

Dream House dreams (See, I daydream about all kinds of things, not just diapers)

I used to enjoy drawing house plans.  Not the official kind, just ones I did for fun as a teenager.  I used graph paper at first, and then I moved to a ruler and measuring carefully.  I guess it kind of goes along with my love of househunting (we looked at over 100 houses when we moved here, and I still wish I could have seen more).  I love seeing the layout and how the house flows.  I also loved--and still love--imagining my own designs.  I never really wanted to be an architect, though, because, frankly, I hate math.  But it was still fun to play around with the designs. 

Lately, I've had the home design bug again, this time in the form of imagining my dream house for my family.  Here are some of the things I would have if money, time, and reality were not issues:

1. A 3 story (basement, main level, second floor) music/man room for my husband, where he would be required to keep all of his crap stuff, as opposed to my living room.  The basement is because he really likes basements, having grown up in Chicago.  We can't really have basements around here because we're too close to the water and they'd just flood.  So he'd get a basement, plus a second floor.  I imagine that the basement would be for music, the main level would be for TV and stuff, and the second floor would be for storage and photography stuff.  The room would be at the back of the house, in a wing almost separate from the house, so that three walls faced the outside and one wall was connected to the rest of the house.  To get there, you'd go through a family room or study or library, I haven't decided.
2. A 2 story craft room for me, with stamping/scrapbooking stuff on the main level, and sewing stuff upstairs.  (No basement for me.) My craft room would have the most fantastic storage solutions and cubbies, shelves, and paper organizers enough to make my head spin.  It would have an island in the middle to work on, plus a desk along one wall, sort of like what I have now but a lot better.  There would be beautiful units to store all my stamps, ink, ink refills, punches, and embellishments.  I would have tons of storage for completed albums and a space for my computer and printer, too.  The upstairs would have shelving for seemingly miles to store my fabric and supplies.  The sewing machine would be on a table in the middle of the room.  My craft room would be opposite Bill's room, on another wing of the house, so I would never have to hear his annoying music blasting while I'm crafting. 
3. Our master bedroom would have the best walk-in closet the world has ever seen, and 2 beautiful bathrooms, because I don't share with Bill.  He's too messy.  The master would also have a separate little room with one little twin bed in it for Bill on the night's when he's snoring, and the room would be soundproof with a door.  I hate kicking him out of our bed, but man, sometimes I just gotta sleep! 
4. Lest I sound like I'm trying to get rid of Bill (I'm not!  I love him, but he has quirks that irritate me, and I have quirks that irritate him, so we need some separation for sanity's sake), we would also have a family room and dining area open to the kitchen.  Not that I do a ton of cooking, but I do have to boil water to make tea and oatmeal, and the refrigerator tends to be in the kitchen.  That would be where I store microwavable meals and cheese.  We like cheese here, and fruit.  These rooms would all be open, unlike what we have now (which is actually working fine for us) because Bill would not be keeping his miscellaneous TV/stereo components and stuff in these areas.  So Bill could watch TV and play with Karina and we could eat and still all be together.  And I could put dishes in the dishwasher or make tea or sandwiches or eggs and be there, too.  See, togetherness and separation!
5. In the kitchen, I would have a fantastic, French door refrigerator with NO ice or water dispenser (we barely use the one we have, but Bill wants the ice to be convenient to reach, so he would have a separate ice dispenser somewhere else in the kitchen).  Just thinking of a fridge like that is making me drool (figuratively, of course).

So these are just some of the ideas I've been sorting through, mainly in my head, thinking about a dream house.  Of course, we'll never live in anything like that, and I don't dislike our house now.  I actually really love our house.  But, just like 100+ houses wasn't enough to look at, having the best house out there doesn't prevent me from dreaming.

3 comments:

Liz Mays said...

Living with a husband is overrated. I feel like adjoining households with a connected walkway of sorts is good enough.

I LOVE your scrapbook/craft room idea!

Christina said...

oh my gosh!! i used to do the house designs when i was a kid. and i still mentally do it. when i go places, mentally i am rearranging furniture or rearranging walls. so funny. totally thought i was the only one.

Anonymous said...

I would draw out HUGE floor plans for houses too. I would love a smaller home so I could feel closer to my little family and do less dusting lol. It's hard when you can't hear your little one waking up from a nap because you are too far away.