completely OT... what would be your dream house?

Hattysattic

Hattysattic

VFG Secretary
this is SO nothing to do with anything vintage but my passion for old stuff doesn't just stop with clothes - just found this whilst browsing my counties estate agents and had to share...couldn't afford to modernise it but it's very tempting! i think it would solve my storage need from a previous thread!!
(sorry i just had to share :) )


http://www.ddm-homes.co.uk/saleprop.php?f=residential_sales/500011597/500011597.html


it was the 1930's working oven that got me!
 
The Martha's Vineyard house would be a beautiful B&B. :)

The first one is in such a lovely location! And what a beautiful older home! It has so much potential for the right buyer!!!

As I live in an older home with windows that are very hard to open and clean, modern windows would be a must for me!!!! :P

Gail
 
You know what...as much as i would love to own the home my dad grew up in...a turn of the century number with a carriage house or as much as i love the 1930s homes that much of my family has lived/lives in, I love our "new" home (2 years old). I never thought i could love a new house!
The only thing missing about it is land for a horse.

However, the one thing i have always wanted since i was a little kid was a house with (or retrofitted with) a book case that is a secret entrance to another room, or has some other hidden compartment behind it. Well, maybe not a rotating one like in "Young Frankenstein", but even something just hinged right out of Sherlock Holmes or some other mystery or gothic tale. I can't remember...i think one of the Bronte's had one in one of their books.

I saw in some architectural mag...no it was the sunday magazine section where a guy had a book case that opened like doors but it was not too deep because it had his paperback collection in it. I forget if it was hinged or on a slider. I saved that picture. I don't know where it is since we moved. I even thought of as a kid...would i make a wooden book to nail in there and be the "handle" or would i get a book that is really beat up and beyond reading or use and hollow it out and make it into some sort of handle. You know...pick the right book that opens the secret door.

Either that, or have a library ladder. you know...a few tall bookcases with a lader mounted on a rail that slides acrossed the room...

But i think i would really love to have that secret book case door most of all.

I know...I'm nuts.
Chris
 
ooh, a pink house! i think i would paint the first property pale pink if i bought it!

i know, i have a terrible tendency toward the old and delapidated...not at all practical! i've gone from one victorian terrace (needed some work) to a slightly bigger victorian townhouse(still needs a mass of work!) but i can't help myself! i am a pain as our current house still has the old stove etc. in the brick washhouse and even though it's no longer safe and takes up a great big corner which could otherwise be used to store bicycles etc. i refuse to let anyone remove it as it's 'part' of the house...

my husband wants to buy a plot of land and build one of those wooden/log homes and i must admit i do see the appeal of a clean, modernist open plan design - but i would have to have an aircraft hanger out the back to keep all my stuff in!

chris i know what you mean about the bookcase thing - a friend of mine had a pretty ancient house near the cathedral which had a monks tunnel behind a secret door next to the fireplace. it had been blocked up years ago but that was pretty cool too, along the same lines!
 
Right now my dream home would be one that is all one story...maybe from the 60s. So tired of going down 13 steep steps to basement laundry room and 13 more steps up to second story. Yes, and a big laundry room on first floor!!

I also would love a huge kitchen (now have a corridor kitchen) with a big island and lots of cabinets and storage.
 
My dream house.....is MY HOUSE!

OutsideHouseSM.jpg


Peeling paint
Outdated bathroom
Patched up roof
Sagging Shutters
Shot boiler
No A/C
Foundation bricks need tuck pointing
Poison Ivy patch
Wild Onion bed
Overgrown trees
One outlet per room (ok, some have two)
"servant's" stairs have original peeling wallpaper
Nothing but dust insulating the attic
Leaky windows that are stuck shut..go figure

But...we love it! We're helping preserve a piece of history (National Registry Listed...ladeedaa) and hubby and I can work on it together.
Jenn

PS, we have built in bookcases, but no secret rooms...there is a trap door to the basement in a closet, though!
 
Well, my hubby and I really want to find a 2 story warehouse that we can make into our home. We love open spaces and like that a warehouse would give us the space we need for my husband's car collection, car parts and car theme items (pictures, emblems, lic plates, etc) and then I need room to display my Marilyn collection and a place to put all our family that live out of state and a place for the vintage clothing of course.
Also we like the fact that if we did find one, that it would be preserving the building and helping to maybe keep the building up for another 100 years or more.
Also would give the kids alot more room to play in hot weather in Texas and maybe just maybe allow us to be able to be foster parents for children and/or animals.

Design elements would be simple. Stain the cement floor a dark color b/c I love the earthy tones and maybe expose brick design.

I could go on and on, but instead I will show you an example of a place that I would like to restore. Needs more windows , but still worth saving.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=15825&item=4384368031&rd=1
 
jenn, your house is amazing - i totally understand the attraction, and sure i would do the same if there were properties like that round these parts! it really will be worth the effort too.

but then i certainly see the appeal of a warehouse jamie - imagine all that space! :bouncing:

sigh. i think i ought to stop looking - and you realise that now i have discovered the ebay real estate section (never looked at it before) i will now widen my imaginary property search to include north america. and never get any listings done!!
 
My parents bought a downtown building here, on the "main street" of sorts. They have as much room as they did in the house I grew up in, plus my Dad's office is the storefront...a clown room (his hobby) and an in building garage and loads of storage, and a rooftop garden/gazebo. They absolutely LOVE it.
My little guy likes that he can ride his Big Wheel through Grampa's office...it's a half block long!

Jenn
 
Harriet I agree. I didn't know about the ebay real estate either. Spent a good 2 hours looking at the residental places plus the commerical places.

Can see in the future that I am a sucker at looking at places. My hubby tells me I need to go into real estate so I can look at houses all day!!!!!:bouncy:
 
a clown room?

Does he collect clown items or is his hobby portraying a clown? (doing b.day parties, etc.)

My husband always wanted to buy a loft because he likes open floor plans. Our house is open concept so that is good enough for him. I am not as good at doing "minimalist" as he is
 
He's a real clown, does birthday parties, parades and the like. The Knights of Columbus have a pretty good sized clown brigade, he got started through them, but does stuff on his own, too. Mild mannered home inspector by day....

Mom liked the big building because that stuff could all go down on "his floor" and not interfere with her antiques and mature decorating style.

The thing that stinks about having a big home OR a big building is that when you forget something upstairs and you're out in the car, it's a real hoof to go get it! Says something for the 50s ranch style, that's for sure!

Jenn
 
What an interesting thread. Jenn I love your house. Chris I would adore a hidden room. My house is dilapidated Victorian painted in lilac, we live in London and have created a tiny very pretty cottage garden in the front. The back garden is a jungle with butterflies, ladybirds, and other interesting creatures. My dream house would have no mortgage and would automaticly redecorate itself (my husband took a year to do our bedroom and we camped in the lounge). Also my dream home would have a ballroom and a double staircase and would repair itself lol
Louise
 
That's cool Jenn that your dad has a hobby that makes him happy. that's cool!

Harriet i love the "secret door near the fireplace" idea :)

I will show a picture of my real house tomorrow.

My hubby tells me I need to go into real estate so I can look at houses all day!!!!!
my great grandmother broke her nose once. my grandparents and great grandparents lived a mile from eachother so the elder grandparents used to walk to my grandparents for sunday dinner when my mother and aunts and uncles were young. She used to walk looking sideways so she could look in people's windows to see how they decorated as they walked down the street. Well, that's how she fell on her face. checking out curtains and chandeliers that were on view at night with the lights on in people's houses.

Chris
 
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