Ideas for fun/cool/interesting house features?

[Anonymous]

My DH built a two level Montessori style play house in our basement at the start of the panemic. It's been a huge hit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our friends have a bifold window from their kitchen to their patio and it's awesome. The wife will be in there cooking or refilling drinks while they entertain and stand at the window to chit chat. They put appetizers out on the counter.

I’ve wanted to do this forever! When we replace our windows it’s happening.

[Anonymous]

I love a home with a lot of trees

And a courtyard enclosed by 3 sides of the house

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I love a home with a lot of trees

And a courtyard enclosed by 3 sides of the house

Courtyards are wonderful but need so much space.

[Anonymous]

What i got in my new house and really liked:
- Reading nook/bay window with built in seat (but wide enough to be confortable for kids to curl up with a book.
- Built in storage and bookcases. Thoughtful ones that i didnt want to rip off to change placement of furniture

what my son really wanted and we are considering adding: secret bookshelf door.

[Anonymous]

Mud room with under counter dog crate, and utility sink.

Outdoor kitchen

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our friends have a bifold window from their kitchen to their patio and it's awesome. The wife will be in there cooking or refilling drinks while they entertain and stand at the window to chit chat. They put appetizers out on the counter.

I would love this. We grill a lot and this would allow us to pass things in and out without having to take the long way through our back door and then into the kitchen.

The bugs!

Easily solved with a retractable screen.

[Anonymous]

My grandparents midmod house had a cedar chest built into a wall - it was my playhouse and was a 6 ft by 6 ft cube.

They also had a long narrow storage room beneath their basement steps accessible from one side door. Another playhouse!

Also had a space age toothbrush and cup holder that operated like a lazy Susan- press on the shiny stainless steel side door and your toothbrush and cup would appear. Otherwise out of sight and sanitary.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Favorite features we were able to put into our house:

Fruit trees (they are great for climbing too!)
Steam shower
Built-in speaker system
Nooks and clever storage under stairs

Things I dream about putting into the next house:
- a full and epic play room with built in climbing
- more posh looking built in bookcases
- hanging chair
- movie watching place that is on a separate floor so I can banish the kids … I mean, enjoy some quiet while they watch a movie
- fruit forest

This is so bah humbug of me but I don't love our fruit trees. We have two pear, an apple, and a plum and even with picking as much as we can, the amount of bugs and animals they attract to our yard (including bears!) is a deterrent. They are really lovely to look at out the window, though.

+1 I despise the fruit trees that came with our house for the same reasons

[Anonymous]

+1 love the fig tree hate the wasps required to produce figs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our friends have a bifold window from their kitchen to their patio and it's awesome. The wife will be in there cooking or refilling drinks while they entertain and stand at the window to chit chat. They put appetizers out on the counter.

Is it a screened in patio? I would not like that because of bugs.

[Anonymous]

We built a playroom/reading nook under the stairs in our basement. Kids love it.

[Anonymous]

From a design article in the NY Times. One of men in the couple had always wanted a firepole like in a firehouse. When they had kids and redid an old historic house they put one into its own closet on the second floor. Cool and also sort of a safety feature.

[Anonymous]

1. Spiral staircases -- who knew how remarkably affordable spiral staircases are to have installed?!
There's a company (can't remember the name) who just cuts a hole in the upstairs floor where you want the staircase to be (and they can install the staircase almost wherever you want it, with a few exceptions).
If the staircase leading up goes directly into the floor of an upstairs bedroom, then they create a hatch door in the bedroom, so access to the staircase can be closed off for privacy.
https://www.paragonstairs.com/hunstman-spiral-stair-diy-kit/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=PLA&utm_term=Huntsman&device=m&gclid=CjwKCAjwgsqoBhBNEiwAwe5w0xqCFN9DrJpvywFmaw_rqxMw04bksa5TDQHRueJFvXkR_UlBwlNc8BoCY8EQAvD_BwE

2. Murphy beds with usable furniture & storage on the underside such as this:
https://www.wayfair.com/furniture/pdp/xtraroom-avalon-murphy-bed-w004097390.html
They just seem so efficient and helpful.

3. Juliette balcony -- We had a Juliette balcony added onto our bedroom two years after buying our house.
We love it. It overlooks our backyard, so my husband and I will have our coffee while sitting out on the balcony most weekend mornings, or we'll occasionally have a cocktail while watching the sunset sitting out there (by "occasionally", I mean we've done that exactly 3 times since we had it installed 4 years ago).
If I would've known how affordable it was to put up, I would've had it done to our previous home too!
https://decoholic.org/these-26-juliet-balconies-are-straight-out-of-a-fairy-tale/

[Anonymous]

Probably not what you meant, but I think this listing’s garage is pretty cool!

https://redf.in/N1vqMY