More Braindump: Houses

[flea]

Dream house: lovingly restored with in-character modernized and green upgrades, historic house (bungalow? foursquare?) in walkable, established urban neighborhood. (Not in our current price range, duh.)

Probably deal-breakers:
Central air
Dishwasher

Not dealbreakers, but waaaant:
Screened-in porch
Working fireplace
Yard with enough sun to grow vegetables but some shade on the house
Gas stove
Efficient appliances
Wood floors
Built-ins, especially bookcases
Linen closet
Pantry
Sidewalks
Heat pump heat or some other not forced air heat
Energy efficient windows (or regular older windows with fitting storms)

Stuff other people seem to care about but I don't:
Fancy modern open-plan kitchens, enormous islands, granite countertops, and their ilk
Decks
Garages
Large numbers of bathrooms (if it's a one story house, one bathroom is enough for me; if a 2-story, a half-bath on the first floor plus one up.)
Finished basements
Walk-in closets
Master suites
Master bedrooms separated from other bedrooms (even on a different floor - this seems to be very common in new construction)
Great rooms
I see a lot of new construction listings vaunting "tray ceilings" (sometimes, sadly, "trey ceilings.") Oh I do find them ugly.

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

I got over the urge towards central air when I realized that most people put in central air (which is awfully nice) and ditched the radiators at the same time. Why? Radiators are so nice, forced hot air so very unpleasant. We ended up in a house with radiators and (oddly installed) central air, and some New-Ager can probably draw a lesson from this. I don't know what it would be.

Also, our house had an electric stove, which baffled me. House was built in 1927, so it didn't start with electric. When I bought a new electric stove, the guy who installed it found the old gas connection back along the wall. Moral: An old house will probably have a way of connecting a gas stove even if an idiot former owner replaced it with gas.

Our house also had a dishwasher that turned out to be quite ineffective. I prayed for its death, and die it did, a few months after we moved in. Right before we had houseguests.

Slim

[mightyurchin.livejournal.com]

What is it with the bathrooms these days??? I regularly see houses advertised with the same number - or more - bathrooms than bedrooms. I see great added convenience of two toilets in the house, but 5 bathrooms for a 5 bedroom house??? Who needs so many bathrooms (assuming that in most cases, these houses are intended for, purchased by, and occupied by a nuclear family - and I'm pretty sure they are not all occupied by families of 5 or more)?

One of the houses we rented recently (the one with the financially irresponsible landlord) had what appeared to be energy efficient replacement windows. But they turned out to be quite inefficient since they did not fit the window frame well. Some fit so poorly that they could not be opened; in others, you could feel the cold air wafting through. So my advice is to check the operation and fit of replacement windows in a historic house.

[dxmachina.livejournal.com]

Bookcases are easy.

Could be worse. Could be tres ceiling.

[haphazardmethod.livejournal.com]

What is a tray ceiling?