Okay, so we've had a few topics that were kind of heated. How about something fun?

Let's pretend you won...$300,000 and you want to spend it on a house. What would you want in the house? What wouldn't you want?

Me:

I want it to be completely organized, down to closets, pantry, etc.
I want soothing colors on the walls - light blue, seafoam green, buttery yellow.
I want a kitchen big enough that I can have a dining room table in it. I don't really want a separate dining room. Lots of cabinet space (ORGANIZED!). Lots of counter space.
Big bedroom with walk-in closet
Front porch big enough that I can have a porch swing on it
Screened in back porch with an attached patio
Flat cooktop stove
Double sink in the master bathroom
Those huge wooden venetian blinds with the really big slats (just cleaned a house with these the other day - the slats are HUGE and they were so pretty and easy to clean!)
Lots of windows (I know this blows my "easy to clean" thing, but I love a bright house)
A separate office large enough that I can have a couple of projects going at once

What I don't want:
Marble countertops
Carpet - I love wood floors!
Clear glass shower doors (though I love how they look, they're a pain to keep clean!)
Stainless steel anything that's not fingerprint-proof (including shower faucets, etc.)
Double baseboards. Love how they look, hate to clean them!
Chair rails (same as above)

I dream of owning a house - can you tell?

Wow - you've thought this through! I hope you get what you want. Sounds pretty!

I would want a bedroom suite! I'd want a really pretty sitting area with a nice sunny window seat. I'd also want a Jacuzzi, but I would want my kids to be older, first, or it would freak me out to even just have one (too many horror stories about kids getting their hair sucked up to the drain, and then drowning). I'd also like one of those pretty three-walls of glass solarium (I can't be spelling that right, but I hope people know what I'm saying).

I'd want a lap pool built into the basement.

If I had any money left over, I'd want my driveway heated, so that I never had to shovel again! We can dream, right?

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"The errors of faith are better than the best thoughts of unbelief." - Thomas Russell

Log home!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I pretty much have my dream house. I am just waiting for that $$$ to complete the basement. The money would go towards putting in a nice bar and wine cellar area in our basement, an entertainment room, 2 bedrooms and a guest room plus 2 additional bathrooms. We have 2400 unfinished square feet. We've changed our visions over the last couple of years though. I would replace my kitchen countertops. I currently have 12x12 granite tiles and I really want solid granite. I hate cleaning the grout lines but it seems silly to take out 3 year old tiles and replace them. I am too practical. I would also put in a CA Closet system.

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Proud to say I haven't shopped at a Wal-Mart since Sept 2003

I, too, basically have mine. After moving with the military, surviving military housing,life, etc I finally have what I want. I have my own garage. And it's all mine, we built my husband's as a free standing building the way he wanted ( and yes, it's at least three times as big as mine)

We are often tweaking, doing projects, etc but this is it. When I am dedd, I want to be carried feet first out of this house.

dl

Who will be left to carry you? Aren't you going lastt?

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"The errors of faith are better than the best thoughts of unbelief." - Thomas Russell

Now, come on, that's lastt with 2 t's.....lol.............that was a good one.

Between last night having a furrything comment on the hair shaving/etc thread and you catching that tonight, I have another laugh.

Thanks......

dl

What's a CA Closet system?

I think sexysmurf is talking about "California Closet Systems" - you can do a search. I can see why she'd like one!

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"The errors of faith are better than the best thoughts of unbelief." - Thomas Russell

300,000 wouldn't begin to buy a dream house around Boston -- that *might* get you a fixer-upper!

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If this is going to be a Christian nation that doesn't help the poor, either we have to pretend that Jesus was just as selfish as we are, or we've got to acknowledge that He commanded us to love the poor and serve the needy without condition, and then admit that we just don't want to do it.

- Stephen Colbert.

YES! That's EXACTLY what I'm talking about when I speak of closet organization.

I have a part time job cleaning houses, and over the years I've put bits and pieces of my homeowner's homes into my "want and don't want" lists. There's so much you can learn from cleaning houses it's unbelieveable. But yes, as far as closet organization, that's just what I have pictured in my head.

$300,000 wouldn't ordinarily buy a decent house where I live either, but prices have dropped dramatically and if they'd drop another $30,000 and I could get the financing, I'd actually have a chance at a decent house.

For $300k I want a swimming pool, a few acres, lots of light and windows, a big great room, a kitchen with lots and lots of cabinets, a master suite with a huge bathroom and walk in closets. I want trees and flowers and a gazebo. I want a deck and a pond or waterfall area.
The way house prices are now I could get all that and more around here for that price.

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The political system is broke and it's a joke.

Yep...that's it! We have a walk in and we had about $1500 a couple years ago and wanted to do the closet over. CA Closets wouldn't even come out. The cheapest one they do is $2K and that's for something half our size

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Proud to say I haven't shopped at a Wal-Mart since Sept 2003

I think you need to increase the prize winnings! I couldn't buy the house I own for $300k, let alone a dream house. You must live in a much cheaper area....where is it? I wanna move!

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I was walking home one night and a guy hammering on a roof called me a paranoid little weirdo. In morse code. -Emo Phillips

My house is worth $280,000 and not any where near being MY dream house. Just a regular 2100 sq foot home here in the desert but I could use the $300K to fix it up.

I'll take an indoor, inground, heated swimming pool surrounded by flowers and plants with a 25 ft. waterfall. Little colored lights embedded in the sides of the pool would ne nice so I can change the water color with the flick of a switch..

I want a 3 -4 bedroom house that has a wrap around porch, a finished basement and about an acre of property so I can have an inground pool. I would also like the first floor to have a large kitchen with lots of cabinets and windows to let the sunshine in, a nice livingroom with huge front bay windows, and a half bathroom. On the second floor where the bedrooms will be I want a laundry room The master bedroom to be a master suite with its own full size bathroom and each of the other bedrooms to have their own full bathroom. The finished basement will be the tv/family fun room, so I would like a 1/2 bath down there, and a small kitchen so I wont have to go up and down the stairs for snacks. Outside in the yard I would like a covered area off from the deck for a bar and where I can put my grill (this way I can grill in the rain)

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~~~~**Maryann**~~~~

I just got a firm grip on reality....
Now I can strangle it

I have a screened porch, deck and smallish front porch, although it's big enough for several chairs. But a walk-in pantry, a two bathroom, two closet master suite, and more hardwood in the house would be nice. I also would like the exterior to be easily maintained. If there was money left after that it would go for a pool and paying a lawn service and cleaning crew.

Well honestly I already do have my dream house for now, however some day I woud love to live in a old old old house in Connecticut but thats another story for later.For now with the 300,000, I would add make my master bedroom bathroom suite bigger, I love love big bathrooms, of course it would have be old fashioned nothing modern at all. I would love a big old big tub, a chaise lounge and some really antique old pictures of furniture in there. The other change I would make would make my dining room huge because I do love to entertain and I would love to fill it with a really long old old table and alot of old handpainted pieces of furniture and old linens. If any money if left over I would love to have some complete sets of antique old old fine china.... Peace great thread... We all can dream and perhaps our dreams will come true, but just be happy to be alive and healthy and have love and family because all the above would be nothing without them.. Peace. Catherine

Mine would be fully furnished, no mirrors in the kitchen, no leather seats or furniture, no 'gold' accents, no carpetting, no glass table tops, no granite counter tops, with a bright and cheery decor in greens, royal purple and white, maybe with a spot of orange.............and most importantly..............it would be on wheels!!!

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Square dancing is friendship set to music!

I would want a gourmet kitchen for dh. Fireplaces in master bedroom, livingroom, and den. All hard wood floors, big walk in closets, jacuzzi bathtub, big windows with lots of places for my plants. A finished basement that I could turn into a pub for our family and friends. In the area I live (Maine), you could actually get a really nice home for $300,000.00.

I love the house we are in now. Just bought it in December.
What I would change, because it was built in 1870 so it needs some updating.
I'd like to find the fireplace, or where it was. For a house this old I think it had to have had a fireplace at one time. Anyway I'd like a fireplace.
Also I'd love to install an attic fan. They work so great cooling the house off.
I want to hire someone to redo the porches. The front porch needs the paint scraped off and repainted. Same with the little porch off the master bedroom.
Actually I'd like to buy the duplex next to us and tear it down and extend our yard to over there. This was my plan when we bought this house. The whole neighborhood would love if we did! We live in an older neighborhood, all old houses that have been restored. And then next door we have a rental duplex.
Anyway if we ever did buy the duplex next door and tore it down, that is where our master bedroom is and I'd like to move the door that leads to the porch to a different wall, get french doors and make the porch bigger.
We also have plans to eventually redo the kitchen.

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Insanity laughs under pressure we're cracking

Two years ago, you couldn't have bought a decent home here for $300,000 either, but prices have dropped so drastically. I live on a small island on the Southeastern coast of North Carolina. I just truly hate the house I live in. The landlady won't let us do anything to fix it up and I can't quite get the financing yet to buy one of my own...so for me, I guess OWNING the house is the dream, the rest of the stuff is the icing on the cake.

I did come up with something else I don't want yesterday (based on a house I cleaned, lol), Louvered closet doors! What a pain to clean those little slats! Oh, and no black furniture, either. You dust it and the dust seems to be attracted right back to it.

I feel the same way about my traditional cherry furniture - friggin' dust magnet!

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I was walking home one night and a guy hammering on a roof called me a paranoid little weirdo. In morse code. -Emo Phillips