If you built your house: What's the biggest mistake you made

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amother

Hawthorn

Mon, May 01 2023, 5:42 pm

amother OP wrote:

I'm building my own house now and would love to hear what mistakes to avoid. It can be anything. Interior design, exterior design. Who not to hire, who yes to hire. From a mistake you made with your kitchen cabinet to your flooring. You name it.

Any tips and ideas are also welcome.

Thank you!

make space in entryway for carriages, boots, etc

separate thermostats in different parts of the house so ur not heating dining room all night when u only need the bedrooms to be warm

laundry room near bedrooms

amother

Hawthorn

Mon, May 01 2023, 5:42 pm

amother Hawthorn wrote:

pesach kitchen

amother

Beige

Mon, May 01 2023, 5:50 pm

Not putting sound proof floors in. My guest room is under my dining room and kitchen. it sounds like a herd of elephants when people are walking upstairs. Also I cook late at night and I get so stressed when I have company sleeping over. I tiptoe when cooking and I am terrified I will drop something and they will get startled.
I regret not putting in a drain in the bathrooms. So many times we had a flood in the bathrooms that went down to the floor beneath and everything got ruined. Plus one bathroom is on top of my guest room and I tell eveyone that they shouldn't put anything under the ceiling that has water damage especially a crib.
Our plumbing was put in so cheaply that I wish we upgraded on that.

amother

Butterscotch

Mon, May 01 2023, 5:56 pm

Instead of using a blech, we have a warmer drawer made special for that. It looks great and is very convenient.

Two countertop cabinets that close like a garage door. We keep appliances in there like mixer, toaster, can opener, food processor and when Shabbos comes we just roll down the garage door.

Central vacuum system is another good one. Instead of lugging a vacuum around, there's a closet on each floor with a long hose that you plug into any central vacuum outlet on that floor. It all gets sucked into the central vacuum tank hidden in a closet under the basement staircase (it looks like a mini boiler so it only has to be emptied once a year).

One mistake is to make a laundry chute that doesn't go straight down. Ours curves at one point and if the kids throw down a damp towel it just sits there and gets stuck. It takes hours of maneuvering broomsticks to give it the push it needs to go down.

A faucet above the stove is great for filling up large pots. I recently saw it at someone's house and thought it was a super idea.

A garbage disposal beside the sink that you can peel vegetables straight into and it gets suctioned down. It's not a necessity and you have to be careful with little kids sticking their hands in but I'm mentioning it so you know it exists.

amother

Lightgreen

Mon, May 01 2023, 6:13 pm

amother Butterscotch wrote:

My mother had central vacuum 30 years ago, it's great.
Teach your kids to put their damp towels in a plastic bag, that will solve the problem.

amother

Antiquewhite

Mon, May 01 2023, 6:24 pm

I abhorr my white cabinets. I am a slave to them.
I chose to put shelves into my laundry room instead of a slop sink and I regret that. I would have loved to have a place to wash my wigs instead of bending ovwr my bathtub.

amother

Orange

Mon, May 01 2023, 6:32 pm

Hire a good architect! I can not stress this enough; it is not the place to cut corners. Someone good will pick up most of the things listed here, and present you with information and choices you wouldn’t have thought of yourself.

BusyMama1

Mon, May 01 2023, 7:06 pm

I made too many cabinets and it would be way more useful if they were drawers instead.

I hate my walk in toy closet.

Things that I'm really happy with:

One of my dishwashers are a double one so I have for Milchig, fleisheg and pareve
My 'costco' closet is a lifesaver that I wouldn't manage without

Happykind

Mon, May 01 2023, 7:38 pm

-To small kitchen and dinette ( didn’t use a space designer could have done way better layout)
- not long enough counter to prep food. The counter keeps getting cut by either a Dairy or meat sink or an oven or cooktop. Could have used a long counter space.
-Master bedroom off the steps upstairs ( too noisy when people go up and down)
-Not redoing coat closet with hooks and kid friendly. We kept an old big closet. Lots of coat and briefcase dumping. ( young kids can’t reach hangers to hang up).

Things were happy with:
- adding a master bathroom with tub
- shiny white Formica cabinets. ( white will always be in style, super easy to clean, just windex and it’s also affordable ).
- garbage draw pull out right under prep counter.
- back deck- off dinette with sliding door.
- not bringing much furniture to our new home. It adds an open look. We bought some modern chairs and a modern couch. Adds whole new look. Plus new chandelier.
- we couldn’t add a pesach kitchen so I just put an extra oven in the corner with some cabinets. ( the same cabinets as kitchen for a seemless look) The pesach stuff stay in cabinets all year ( tapped close on bottom with clear tape) and oven gets covered. Comes Pesach and we have no shlepping from attic all is there. We also don’t have to clean an oven.. it’s all there. Makes holiday much easier.

amother

Wine

Mon, May 01 2023, 7:50 pm

best things: sat long over plans and reworked and reworked every square inch and maximized a lot of spaces like for a pantry or extra kids coat closet...

I hate the way my counter and splashback tiles match. They are both so pretty but don't go well together.

amother

Snowdrop

Mon, May 01 2023, 11:39 pm

Think about where you might need more outlets than the building code requirements. For example, will you put a newborn in a walk-in closet - and do you need an outlet for a baby monitor. Will you iron or charge a phone in the laundry room? Do you have a landline? Does the phone jack include an outlet?

tichellady

Tue, May 02 2023, 12:10 am

we are limited in space so a lot of these choices for us would be pick one and lose the other. but interesting to hear about all the cool things people have space for.

amother

Molasses

Tue, May 02 2023, 1:16 am

We are building now. One of the things I’m ensuring I’ll have is lots of natural light. This is probably a personal preference but very important to me.
I am also putting my laundry upstairs. This I’m a bit nervous about but I mostly use the dryer… and I will have a walk in pantry/ pesach kitchen off my main kitchen…

amother

Marigold

Tue, May 02 2023, 1:19 am

amother Snowdrop wrote:

Also make sure you have enough for the counters. Consider putting it under the cabinet rather than on the backsplash.

amother

Pansy

Tue, May 02 2023, 6:41 am

I am also considering having a house built from scratch. What is the realistic timeframe I would be looking at?

amother

Honey

Tue, May 02 2023, 7:18 am

amother Pansy wrote:

I am also considering having a house built from scratch. What is the realistic timeframe I would be looking at?

Twice as long as you projected.

amother

Orange

Tue, May 02 2023, 7:24 am

It depends on the people you hire. Figure 2 years

amother

Aqua

Tue, May 02 2023, 7:25 am

Bh I have only one complaint: we have no gas and cooking on electric is so iratating. I wish I had put in propane.
Also, if you're able to do an attached garage that is my lifesaver with getting little kids in and out the car especially in heavy winters.

Bnei Berak 10

Tue, May 02 2023, 7:26 am

BusyMama1 wrote:

What is a Costco closet?

amother

Cappuccino

Tue, May 02 2023, 7:35 am

To add to the dining room post, if not having a very large one just make sure to place it off the living room where you can extend tables into if having a lot of guests or a simcha.

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