I currently live in my dream house because:
a) We own it outright, and
b) It has walls, heat, running water and room outside to garden and play.
I’m not awfully picky. 😉 Just (a) would have had me happy.
BUT…
If I were going to design my dream house, here’s some things it would have in it…
- A fireman’s pole from every floor
- Swings in the children’s rooms
- Room for a piano
- Windows everywhere
- Woods in the back yard
- Lots of places to climb (inside and out)
- A dining room table big enough for twelve (minimum)
- An art room with built in easels, a drain in the floor and a hose for quick cleaning
- A hot tub
- A play room with a built-in trampoline
- And a slide like this to get downstairs:
But not just for the kids to use!
(See more of this house at Dezeen.)
Honestly, I do love my house. I love that it came to us so old and bedraggled, because it gave us free reign to do whatever we liked.
The old door to Victoria’s room was so banged up, blackboard paint and magenta trim was perfect for it.
The weathered, painted stairs called out for words stenciled on them like Hope and Dream and Imagine.
(Speaking of imagining, I can’t find the lovely picture of the girls on the stairs that I was going to put here so you’ll have to imagine it!)
And what’s the harm in letting the children paint the inside of the cupboard doors when they’re so old and tacky to begin with? 🙂
But just the same, it is fun to dream sometimes.
Join in!
What would be in your dream house, especially for playing?
we have just moved into our new house, we had it built for us. although cost is a massive limiting factor in imagination games when building a very simple livable structure, there were two things that we insisted on having in the house. My insistence was on the 2 train tunnels running thru the rammed earth wall from the kids bedroom into the kitchen. and my partners insistence was the 80cm high door that goes between the kids bedroom and ours which will be incorporated into the back of a wardrobe, and or part of the playspace/cubby room in their bedroom. they both have truely to come into their own still, but once they are I think they will be fun! something that we always wanted.
oh fun! i love your ideas! i’ve been dreaming of having a loft like this one: http://tinyurl.com/49d4rjk for my kiddos. 🙂
I want that slide!
I would like – a big pond in the garden, with lots of frogs and fish –
-tons of space for the kids to run around in (we don’t have much!)
-that art room you mentioned, that can be hosed down – so useful!
-one room that is a huge ball pool
-a soft play area big enough for adults to join in
-beds in cupboards in the wall (saw this in a cartoon and loved it)
-a laboratory with tons of useful equipment for science-y things
-self-cleaning bathrooms
-a bath the size of a small swimming pool, with an island in the middle for Playmobil people to live on.
I could go on, but…
Can you tell I never relly grew up? : )
I hopped over from your FB link today… and the first thing I was going to say was… a twisty slide between floors! Somewhere in my journals I have a page ripped from a magazine that has an indoor slide from one level to the other, with spiral stairs connected to it so you can get back up to slide down again!
I also have the picture (printed from the internet somewhere along the way) of the staircase bookshelf, where there are books housed under each rise. Aaah.
Mostly, what my current house lacks is space to have permanent play areas set up. I’d love to have a room or an area where I could have a tiny playhouse, an indoor treehouse, a mini stage for puppets and performances… but, like you, I’m happy to have walls and a roof and plumbing and electricity and love. 🙂
My dream house has a strong connection to the outdoors…as in you always know what’s going on all around you…and all around you are trees. Play areas indoors, no matter how fantastic, can get old. (I would dig the art room with a floor drain though!) But the great outdoor always has something new for all of us. So I would put that at the top or our list.
I want to live in a barn. I’d love to have a treehouse somewhere on the premises for daydreaming and spying missions. Window seats for reading and napping, skylights in the shower, pebble floor underneath to massage your feet, a gym where no one worries about making as much noise as they wish and secret nooks for my boy to use for reading, resting or thinking.
I’d like a bath 🙂 Dutch houses tend to have showers only, so a Roman bath big enough for all 5 of us would be great! Maybe some off those magic taps like in Harry Potter…
I was lying in bed the other morning, enjoying a quiet moment with my newborn before the kids awoke and mentally redecorating the bedroom when it occurred to me. I would HAVE to have a secret room. One that can only be reached via a wardrobe or a secret doorway behind a bookshelf or maybe a slide beneath one of the bathroom cabinets… It would be small and super-cosy, with a chaise longue or two together, blankets and pillows to snuggle up and read…