We're actually planning our dream house right now. It will be our retirement home and I plan to build it in 15 years (when I get to 65) on land that I already own up in Maine. No sense building it now and have to deal with a 15 year old roof, furnace, water heater etc and I figure the technology will improve significantly in the interval. As a result we're keeping our options open but some of the aspects Mrs. August and I believe are important would be:
1. Mobility. Although I love lofts and lookouts (and underground bunkers
) we've decided to go with a one floor design. Stairs really suck when you're old and i'd hate to have areas of the house that I couldn't get to easily. Along that line of reasoning go wide doorways and hallways. Walkers and wheel chairs require room to operate and that will be accommodated in the floor plan. Basically we're designing it for the ages in which we'll be living in it.
2. Spare bedrooms. We have no kids of our own but we do have a host of friends and extended family who visit fairly often. When not housing guests we figure we can use the rooms for other functions, office, sewing room, library, etc.
3. A heated workshop. There is no end of repairs and projects around a household, especially out in the woods and I want a place to work on them in comfort.
4. Interior access to the garage/workshop. ATM I have to go outside to get to the garage. That sucks when there is snow on the ground and i'm in my "jammies" already.
5. An easy to plow driveway. Something that is a necessity up here in snow country. Front walkways, porch and back decks will be accessible to the snow blower so as to cut down or eliminate having to manually shovel them.
6. The latest in solar and wind power generation and heating systems. We're presently beyond the edge of the electric grid up there but even if it is extended out to us eventually I don't want to have to rely on it. I want to be as self sufficient as possible.
7. That includes a big garden and fruit trees (the latter are being planted already). I may even keep some livestock which will require their own barn and facilities.