If you were building your own house.. what special features would you add? - General

I recently bought a house and am planning to demolish and rebuild it. I want this house to last us 30 years, so I want to forward think so we don't have to ever knock holes in the walls etc. This is the brief I've been working on. [url]https://docs.google.com/document/d/1uoawJe3p0OPD2rF4i3Ij7RhSPJfnWLpEEBA5Bxl1Iz8/edit[/url] What special things would you build into a house you were creating from scratch? Speakers in every room? Airplay? Wifi repeaters? Air con?

Underfloor heating in tiled rooms e.g. kitchen and bathrooms Heated mirrors in bathrooms (stops them steaming up) Rainforest shower/really fucking nice big shower nothing particularly exciting but nice little touches

I think you should put in neat shit for your kids sorta like Gabe Newell did, like he has that thing in the ceiling for exchanging notes, and he even built a secret room for his kids to find one day. It's stuff like that that makes me want to be rich, just to build cool shit for my family.

I've always dreamed about a neat rgb led lighting system.

When the kid gets a little older you should do their rooms to their liking (color, type of furniture, that stuff) Also teach them to build computers. We can't have 11 year olds buying OEM PCs, can we? [editline]4th October 2013[/editline] Also you should give us a house tour when you're done building it.

when designing services and electronics, if it's something that could go out of date (say, an electronically controlled ipad based lighting system or something) then make sure it is installed a modular way to allow upgrades in future without plastering or a lot of modification. i am not sure 100% how to implement such systems but it must be possible.

empty tubes through the entire house to route cables through in the future

In wall ethernet in all of the bedrooms/the living room/the cinema room/the office.

My only experience with this is my house which was built in the late '60s, but; every room on its own circuit. Because of the shoddy wiring and the wonderful idea to put it all on one circuit, if I plug in my computer and an electric heater at the same time the entire back half of the house goes dark. Also setting the parents' room on the opposite end of the house of the kids' rooms. I've [i]really[/i] appreciated that as I've gotten older.

[QUOTE=Lijitsu;42405525]My only experience with this is my house which was built in the late '60s, but; every room on its own circuit. Because of the shoddy wiring and the wonderful idea to put it all on one circuit, if I plug in my computer and an electric heater at the same time the entire back half of the house goes dark. Also setting the parents' room on the opposite end of the house of the kids' rooms. I've [i]really[/i] appreciated that as I've gotten older.[/QUOTE] I'unno, Garry's a modern guy, I'm sure he won't care in 12 years when his kid discovers the wonderful world of masturbation.

[QUOTE=Lijitsu;42405525]My only experience with this is my house which was built in the late '60s, but; every room on its own circuit. Because of the shoddy wiring and the wonderful idea to put it all on one circuit, if I plug in my computer and an electric heater at the same time the entire back half of the house goes dark. Also setting the parents' room on the opposite end of the house of the kids' rooms. I've [i]really[/i] appreciated that as I've gotten older.[/QUOTE] in the UK, generally every room or at most floor is on it's own circuit, usually with up to 10 sockets on a 32A breaker. lights never share the same circuit unless plugged into an outlet

[QUOTE=codenamecueball;42405503]when designing services and electronics, if it's something that could go out of date (say, an electronically controlled ipad based lighting system or something) then make sure it is installed a modular way to allow upgrades in future without plastering or a lot of modification. i am not sure 100% how to implement such systems but it must be possible.[/QUOTE] One thing I was thinking of what putting wooden laminated panels on the walls instead of plastering.. that way you could remove the panels, change the wiring underneath and put them all back.

[QUOTE=garry;42405597]One thing I was thinking of what putting wooden laminated panels on the walls instead of plastering.. that way you could remove the panels, change the wiring underneath and put them all back.[/QUOTE] Holy shit that's cool as fuck. I'd hide stuff in there, too.

Slide from the bedroom into a pool on the first floor.

Since I am a car-dude I would have a huge garage somewhere. Other than that I would love an office like you see in movies with a huge desk in the middle of the room, facing towards the door, with a bigass speaker system all around the room and a projector above the desk

[QUOTE=garry;42405597]One thing I was thinking of what putting wooden laminated panels on the walls instead of plastering.. that way you could remove the panels, change the wiring underneath and put them all back.[/QUOTE] that's a pretty good idea, if the panels are of an open design it would allow you to totally change the appearance of the house easily in a few years if it is feeling dated.

Plugs nearer eye level so you don't have to reach down to plug things in and your kids don't go poking at them.

dick shaped room for the kids to play in

[QUOTE=Alxnotorious;42405824]Plugs nearer eye level so you don't have to reach down to plug things in and your kids don't go poking at them.[/QUOTE] Some people consider that an eyesore, but you can get flush-with-wall plugs that would make that look really neat. [editline]4th October 2013[/editline] If theres any particular house design i love, its ones where you have an open plan kitchen with the living room. Also if you like the idea, you can have large rooms with those platted divider doors that can slide closed and separate the room into two ones.

There's gotta be some way of doing it creatively.

[url]http://www.houzz.com/[/url] is basically like an eyecandy resource for house ideas. make sure to take lots of notes on ideas you like, you only get one chance to make your major design decisions really. [url]http://www.houzz.com/ideabooks/18456216/thumbs/Brook-House[/url] here is garry's page [editline]4th October 2013[/editline] garry, are you looking for a modern color scheme (i.e. little wood floors and more solid colors, resin tabletops etc) or more natural (wood floors, warmer lighting)? or maybe just a bit of both? [editline]4th October 2013[/editline] also how big is your land?

[url]http://www.mkelectric.com/en-gb/News/Pages/MK-Electric-Greets-UK%E2%80%99s-Mobility-Boom-with-New-USB-Charging-Module.aspx[/url] get these fuckers installed

This is something I learned over the years: Make sure the bedrooms / entertainment-ish rooms have TV and LAN supplied. Never drill holes to route your cables from the router / wall socket anymore. And make sure to provide proper storage in bedrooms in case your future children tend to collect computer stuff, or anything else. My bedroom is practically piled up with multimedia equipment and computer hardware. And perhaps, this is just for some extra relaxation: A Philips Hue kit in your living room, or something similar. This is great to use to create the look your house is occupied while you're on vacation or something. Just control these lights using your smartphone.

[QUOTE=Venom Mk III;42405878]Some people consider that an eyesore, but you can get flush-with-wall plugs that would make that look really neat. [editline]4th October 2013[/editline] If theres any particular house design i love, its ones where you have an open plan kitchen with the living room. Also if you like the idea, you can have large rooms with those platted divider doors that can slide closed and separate the room into two ones.[/QUOTE] I have an open plan kitchen/living room now. It does look cool - but you quickly find it isn't that practical. You can't hear the TV when you're boiling the kettle or the dishwasher is running. It might be nice to have a kind of living-roomy thing in the kitchen - but have a proper living room somewhere else. [editline]4th October 2013[/editline] [QUOTE=codenamecueball;42406060][url]http://www.mkelectric.com/en-gb/News/Pages/MK-Electric-Greets-UK%E2%80%99s-Mobility-Boom-with-New-USB-Charging-Module.aspx[/url] get these fuckers installed[/QUOTE] Oh god yes. Definitely in the bedroom too!

[QUOTE=garry;42406286]I have an open plan kitchen/living room now. It does look cool - but you quickly find it isn't that practical. You can't hear the TV when you're boiling the kettle or the dishwasher is running. It might be nice to have a kind of living-roomy thing in the kitchen - but have a proper living room somewhere else. [editline]4th October 2013[/editline] Oh god yes. Definitely in the bedroom too![/QUOTE] Put a TV in the kitchen and maybe a couple comfy chairs.

I'd have a room specifically designed to be a workbench room. Modular and flexible. Built in mount points on the walls and ceiling for shelves and whatnot. Windows with a full, 1 piece sliding shutter so I can completely block light if I need to. Great ventilation and climate control, and an emergency fan system to suck craptons of smoke from the room should I need to. An adjacent single car garage would be excellent as well. [editline]4th October 2013[/editline] [QUOTE=garry;42406286]I have an open plan kitchen/living room now. It does look cool - but you quickly find it isn't that practical. You can't hear the TV when you're boiling the kettle or the dishwasher is running. It might be nice to have a kind of living-roomy thing in the kitchen - but have a proper living room somewhere else.[/QUOTE] What about secondary speakers in the kitchen?

Maybe you should AirPlay to every shower, and for the sake of it, get every TV an Apple TV as well.

do you run a home network? if so, a server room could be handy. nothing too great, but a place out of the way for cables to terminate and internet to enter the house. you will also have to consider wireless access points dotted around, but out of the way and not an eyesore. also have you thought about an addressable fire alarm system, if the house is big enough? with kids about it could be worth considering.

[QUOTE=garry;42406286]I have an open plan kitchen/living room now. It does look cool - but you quickly find it isn't that practical. You can't hear the TV when you're boiling the kettle or the dishwasher is running. It might be nice to have a kind of living-roomy thing in the kitchen - but have a proper living room somewhere else. [/QUOTE] You could go for a dining room with open-plan kitchen, or a dedicated kitchen with a large separate lounge/dining room. Another possible arrangement is to have Dining / Lounge / Kitchen all separate, but that comes at a cost of space, merging one with another to have two rooms total would be a good idea. Its also more modern. [editline]4th October 2013[/editline] [QUOTE=codenamecueball;42406344]do you run a home network? if so, a server room could be handy. nothing too great, but a place out of the way for cables to terminate and internet to enter the house. you will also have to consider wireless access points dotted around, but out of the way and not an eyesore. also have you thought about an addressable fire alarm system, if the house is big enough? with kids about it could be worth considering.[/QUOTE] A whole room for servers/wiring would be a bit excessive, I personally have a kind of semi-extended cupboard with vents for airflow. Also if you plan on getting a home alarm (which i imagine you might), you should be able to get a integrated alarm / fire alarm and sprinker / camera system from a company.

You should do a hallway or lounge room that you can see the pool from. Also, hot tub.