Question of the Day: Describe Your Dream Home

by Mandi on January 24, 2011

source: kthypryn

We’re incredibly blessed to live in a home that is, in many ways, our dream home.

We bought a lot that is a little slice of heaven and customized our house plan to include many of the features we’ve always dreamed of. It’s not huge (about 1900 square feet, with options to expand in the basement and the attic), but it fits our family perfectly, and we can see ourselves living here forever.

I wouldn’t complain if we could magically move all of it a little closer to “town”, but I’m willing to trade the 30-minute drive to Walmart for the peaceful, quiet neighborhood nestled between farms.

How about you?

How would you describe your dream home?

Do you already live in your dream home?

Where is your dream home located?

What features does your dream home have?

Looking forward to reading your answers!

P.S. Be sure to check out Farmhouse Love for a peek at Life Your Way editor Andrea Dekker’s dream home — I think many of us could claim it as our dream home as well!

Berit

We live in a nice sized house (almost 3000sq ft) on several acres with a small lake. Having all this space is great after living in military housing for years, so I am very thankful. If I were to think about a dream house and location, I would probably move us from Florida to someplace that got all four seasons. (Although a short winter with only a few days of snow would be fine.) Since we would be getting a little snow, a big brick fireplace would be really nice! I also like to entertain & cook so I would love to have my kitchen open into the family room. And … if I get super dreamy … a double oven & two dishwashers ((blushing)). It is a dream after all
Berit

We live in a nice sized house (almost 3000sq ft) on several acres with a small lake. Having all this space is great after living in military housing for years, so I am very thankful. If I were to think about a dream house and location, I would probably move us from Florida to someplace that got all four seasons. (Although a short winter with only a few days of snow would be fine.) Since we would be getting a little snow, a big brick fireplace would be really nice! I also like to entertain & cook so I would love to have my kitchen open into the family room. And … if I get super dreamy … a double oven & two dishwashers ((blushing)). It is a dream after all
http://www.mommymisadventures.com/ Michelle

I started typing out what my dream home would be and realized that much of my “dream home” is what I already have or could make happen in my current home. That sort of put things in perspective. Although, I would love to be out of my current, crime ridden neighborhood and in a safer area. Oh and have solar panels! That’s a must have in a dream home for me
Ginghamcherry

We have been moving around the world for the last 4 years (we are on our 3rd country in that time) and I don’t live in my dream home. It is a lovely home and I have had the luxury of living in enough homes that I really know what I want now. Definitely has to be a New England style home with a basement (I come from Australia and basements are non-existent), open plan kitchen/dining/family room with a white kitchen and soapstone style countertops (no idea if soapstone exists in Australia), big cooking range with a gas cooktop, two ovens, big pantry, you get the drift. Just enough bedrooms for our family. A big verandah to catch the breeze. On a little bit of land so the neighbours aren’t too close. In a town close to my parent’s farm so my kids can enjoy weekends at the farm like I did when I was a kid. Most everything thrifted or handmade. Cosy. Ah, I can feel my vision wrap me in it’s warmth!
Calliope (Greece)

My dream house is an apartment in the centre of a town (the size of…Florence! for example).
It’d be serene and neutral with long windows, wooden floors, exceptional natural light and within walking proximity to the Uffizi gallery.
It’d be located in a quiet street near a piazza and when inside all the hustle and bustle of the town would fade.
It be small, just enough to house my son, my husband, myself and the ever expanding pies of books.
It’d have a small balcony with a plant or two, my canary and a small table to drink the morning cappuccino.
That said:
I live in a 2 storey house in a small sea town in Greece
The house is newly built and big in what must be the safest (and boringest) neighbourhood in the entire world.
It boasts big verandas and a garden.
Anyone with my dream house would care to flip??????
Lorraine

This is a great question. I have a paper on my inspiration wall with examples of what my dream home would be. I really just want something simple. Although I love the house I’m in now, it’s just in the wrong place. Unlike the previous poster, I want to move TO Florida from PA where winters last 9 months. lol. My dream house would be one story, (no stairs to vacuum). The floors in the main areas would be tile. It would have at least one palm tree in the yard. It will be in a quiet neighborhood and it may have a nice view of water. It will have a lanai so the cats cat sit out there and look outside. It will be very comfortable and we will be very happy there. Very simple.
http://twitter.com/LivingOrganized Andrea Dekker

Thanks Mandi…isn’t it wonderful to have your dream home! And while our dream home does need a lot of work yet, I never though we would get it so soon!! {maybe because it isn’t an extravagant dream home}

So anyway, in a few months my dream home will have wide plank hardwood floors, crisp white trim, neutral walls, a candle in every window, old iron beds, and a chandelier in every room {well, I’m still trying to convince Dave on this one!!}
http://www.itsawahmlife.com Jackie Lee

These are great tips. It IS really scary to unsubscribe to emails. It’s easy to think you’re going to miss out on something… but I’ll tell you I have unsubbed from a LOT of lists (and to my knowledge) haven’t missed anything I really needed.
http://www.itsawahmlife.com Jackie Lee

These are great tips. It IS really scary to unsubscribe to emails. It’s easy to think you’re going to miss out on something… but I’ll tell you I have unsubbed from a LOT of lists (and to my knowledge) haven’t missed anything I really needed.

http://yourway.net Mandi @ Life Your Way

Chances are you’ll hear about it somewhere if it’s important enough, right?

Elizabethrhode

I do unsubscribe, but I still get some of them! Unsubscribing doesn’t always work. does it? Am I doing something wrong?

http://yourway.net Mandi @ Life Your Way

If a site is legitimate, unsubscribing absolutely should work. In fact,
they’re legally required to respect your request. However, there are
spammers who don’t care about the laws, and trying to unsubscribe from those
emails probably doesn’t work and may even result in MORE junk email since
they have confirmation that the email address is actually used. In general,
unsubscribe from anything you’ve signed up for or a service you’ve used, but
if you don’t recognize it or it seems fishy, mark it as spam or create a
filter (if you use Gmail) to automatically send it to the trash.

Blaclilac

I have a junk email account…if it is something I’m not sure about or if I have to put my email address on something I use the junk address!

http://yourway.net Mandi @ Life Your Way

This is a great suggestion — thanks for sharing!

Blaclilac

Oh yeah…I check it every so often when I have nothing better to do…that way I don’t have to keep messing with them every time I’m in my email
Anonymous

I’ve been working on unsubscribing from junk mail! I think one day I unsubscribed from at least 20, and I know there are still more I need to address. It’s amazing how quickly that got out of control.
Anonymous

Unsubbing is so freeing! And turning off notifications is a big key as well. Since I get email on my phone, I don’t want it dinging every time someone follows me on twitter, lol! And another thing, a little off topic, consider your settings on your phone as well. Do you need a full tone when you get a text or email, or just a chirp? Consider changing your ringtones to something you enjoy, and maybe even turn the volume down. Less grating on the nerves!
Bernice
Would starting a business help your work/life balance?

http://yourway.net Mandi @ Life Your Way

I agree with you on notifications. I try to avoid them at all costs!

http://www.itsgravybaby.com/ Whitney

Such a great time for this post. I have been unsubscribing from lists every day this week.

http://yourway.net Mandi @ Life Your Way

It’s kind of liberating, isn’t it?!

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1425901378 Mary B. Martin

My safety net on some items in my email is to filter them to folders. I do like to get sale alerts from a few companies and then when I PLAN to shop I just look in that folder. Works for me.
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1425901378 Mary B. Martin

My safety net on some items in my email is to filter them to folders. I do like to get sale alerts from a few companies and then when I PLAN to shop I just look in that folder. Works for me.
Nelly Ramirez

i think for me busy feels good, fun and purposeful… relaxed, even. too busy is when we start to forget things, feel run down and the first sign that we listen to is when we don’t have time left to cook for ourselves.

http://yourway.net Mandi @ Life Your Way

I love the standard of when you don’t have time to cook. That’s a really solid rule to live by!

http://greenwoodfarms.blogspot.com/ Lisa

Being busy can be good, but not if it leads to stress. When the activities are no longer fun for everyone and kids start whining and you are harried and hurried then it is too much. I like to plan down time in our busy weeks. Take a night off or a day off every once and a while. Recharge your batteries, relax, do nothing at all. The world does not stop if you do. It is all about balance.

http://yourway.net Mandi @ Life Your Way

Great thoughts, Lisa — I think you’re right that we all just KNOW when we’ve reached the point of too busy! Love your advice to just take a break when that happens. It really does make all of the difference to be willing to do that!

Cathy G

I think if you have a busy lifestyle then to sustain it you have to be well organised and you have to prioritise, and have a simple focus definitely helps with that. I am very busy, I work full time and I am Chair of Governors at my son’s school (a voluntary role but with statutory responsibilities). I love to craft and I like to live in a clean and tidy house, but to maintain some balance we schedule in quality family time (movie nights, camping weekends, lots of walks) and we say no when things are getting are getting too much…

http://yourway.net Mandi @ Life Your Way

Scheduling in quality time and down time are great suggestions!

Jennifer

There’s organized busy and crazy busy. I love the first, but in spurts and always avoid the second. Organized busy makes me feel energized, efficient and effective. Then I love to have some days that I just have home stuff to do, can fold the laundry while watching a movie, catch up on some calls, read some e-books, magazines. To avoid crazy busy I have my time organized with an iphone that tells me when I have appointments, things I need to do. I write lists in a planner, keeps meals fairly organized and have downsized in so many areas of our life (and have learned to say no).

http://yourway.net Mandi @ Life Your Way

I like that — organized busy and crazy busy! That describes the two states in our house too, and organized busy is definitely more doable!

http://twitter.com/kalynbr00ke Kalyn Comings

My definition of busy is having to do something every single minute so you can accomplish the items on your to-do list. I have a hard time seeing busy and simple in the same sentence. But that’s just me! If I’m busy, I’m not really energized, I’m more stressed. I like to accomplish things in a more laid back manner.

http://yourway.net Mandi @ Life Your Way

What about busyness related to other activities rather than your to-do list — visiting friends, doing extracurricular activities, etc.? Does that type of busyness leave you stressed as well?

(I definitely get where you’re coming from — just trying to think it through more!)

Anonymous

I love that you’re saying this. So often, with bloggers and online business owners, you’re told that your first priority is to “build your list.” But seriously, as annoyed as I get with all of these emails that I get (from free ebooks I downloaded, etc.), I’m thinking, “if I have to harass people to make money online, then I never will.” I know how annoying it is to get random generic sales pitches and I know how I just tune it out and let it collect until I *check all* and hit delete.

Anyway, I really respect you for writing this, knowing that you are a successful blogger. I might just go subscribe to your daily newsletter.

http://lifeyourway.net Mandi @ Life Your Way

Thanks, Delina (is that your first name…I’m guessing!) — I appreciate your words of encouragement!

http://yourway.net Mandi @ Life Your Way

Busy with purpose — I think you hit the nail on the head with that description. Intentional busyness versus letting it happen TO you! I think it also helps when it’s just a season and not permanent!
http://yourway.net Mandi @ Life Your Way

Is the struggle because one of you is an extrovert (energized by being around other people) and one is an introvert (energized by being alone)? I think you’re right that it can be harder when you’re not quite in sync!
http://yourway.net Mandi @ Life Your Way

“We’re able to find harmony between active fun and time to relax together.”
This sounds like a wonderful way to define “good busy”!