dream house

Many people I know, talk about & spend their lives living & working & dreaming toward building their dream house, but we are talking more & more all the time of turning any house into a dream house. at this point I think anything in the country would seem like a dream house for us. something with its own hunting land, neighbors just out of ear shot, & space to wander. Something with 2 or 3 bedrooms, a living room/family room big enough to house the normal furniture + my scrap furnishings so we can spend time in the same room again, eat in kitchen with lots of storage options, storm cellar if no basement, & the option to build a deck or front porch (or both) for relaxing in the evenings or waking up on the weekends. That still sounds like a big list, but doesn't everyone have a list of what they are looking for? We aren't specific about the flooring, heating source, or set up as all of that can be rearranged to fit out needs. We just want something rural.

Now if we do start talking specifics: I picture original (old) hard wood floors with giant rugs in appropriate places,  East, South & West facing BIG windows. an open front porch with a roof that both run the length of the house, a covered back deck with room for the table, chairs & grill.  Three bedrooms: one for guests, one for the work out equipment & one for the master. 2 bathrooms, one main one that might not need to be a full bath, right inside either the front or back door & then one off the master bedroom. Farm sink, island work space, pan rack(but not sure that's safe since we are switching over to all cast iron) & pantry in the kitchen. wood heat, either a fireplace in the family/living/scrap room or wood stove centrally located in the house. A big open family/living/scrap room in one. a mud room entry from the back to store small garden tools, muddy boots & gloves from the timber, pasture or garden. enough land for both, hunting & feeding some livestock & maybe even some rescue horses to live out the end of their days the way a horse is supposed to. OH, a barn & garden shed & shop for Tim's car/boat/truck would be nice too. 

hmmmmmmm funny, the first floor plan I opened on the first website that popped up on swagbucks search is something we could totally make work-we are NOT planning to build a brand new house- but this definitely gives me great ideas: http://www.connorbuilding.com/HomeDisplayc283.html?HomeID=130

changes to the main-floor plan: the dining room could easily be my scrap room, I would figure out a way to make a mudroom entrance from the garage to the kitchen, & the study, would be the 'weight room' for our treadmill & bow-flex OR it could be the guest room. the bathroom off of the study, I would put a door on the wall instead of the shower & put the furnace & water heater in the unfinished basement/cellar area.

 

So see, as much as I talk simplicity, I can still get extravagant too  :)

dreaming

still sorting thru old drafts, this one is from May...

a girl's gotta dream, as dreams become goals & goals become reality!

dreaming of:

• a house in the country
• a smaller house (I cannot believe I just typed that! but with out childcare in our home, we won't need all of this space to clean)
• a vehicle with out car seats buckled in
• a vehicle that doesn't have to seat 7 passengers
• enough land for timber for deer hunting, peaceful photo walks, & mushroom hunting + pasture for a few farm animals
• a shop for the 'toy' car and boat
• garage space for our drivable vehicles
• a job with benefits to come available around the time I am ready-the benefits aren't as important now in September as they were in May.

the dream has become more detailed as this year has passed:

• a simple, rustic house in the country

• the floor plan is almost constantly on my mind, what we need, what we want & how to mix the two in as little space as possible
• being open to just about anything as long as the land is right
• dreaming of going to work-out of the house, leaving work truly at work, loving a new job as much as I love the one I do now
• dreaming of something less emotionally taxing, definitely time for a change
• being able to breathe in country air- being able to just breathe, starting to feel stifled in town
• dreaming of a slower pace
• dreaming of growing more of our own food & maybe having enough extra to have a table at the local farmer's market
• dreaming of having that table to justify spending Saturday mornings and Tuesday afternoons in a circle of tables holding wares of like minded folks-I really love the energy of the market

Don't get me wrong, I am perfectly happy where I am.  I love my job, my home, my life. I am perfectly content to be where we are right now-for now.  I am not angry, unsettled or depressed about where we are. We are being good about taking care of what we have & where we are right now. We are just looking forward and planning our future and having fun doing it.

What are some of your future dreams & plans? You have to dream.