When I was little, my builder, dad always told me that I could design my dream home and he would build it for me. Indeed, he built the home that I grew up in and I will always consider that my family home.
Then
I spent many a Sunday afternoon with my A4 pad of paper, pencil and ruler, drawing out birds eye view plans of my dream home. It was something I loved to do. I did many of these different plans but some features were always the same. I was definitely going to have a sweeping staircase modelled on the breathtaking “Gone with the Wind” entrance hall.
I was also insistent on the ballroom, which would turn into the swimming pool when the floor opened, such as in “It’s a Wonderful Life”. I obviously watched far too many movies!
One bizarre design I remember was due to me playing Cats Top Trumps. I decided that I wanted to own every pedigree cat that existed. They were each going to have a room of their own in my “mansion”. I decided one floor of the house would have to be dedicated to cats. I think at one point I wanted to do the same with dogs too- imagine all that dog walking!
I also loved “in the wall” fish tanks and decided that I would have one going all around the house.
In reality, my dad died suddenly and unexpectedly and when the time came for our own house, we bought a 1970’s three bed ex- council house. Not that any of those movie style homes would have been a reality for me anyway.
Now
Fast forward to today and my expectations of a dream house have changed somewhat slightly! I am definitely more concerned with giving all the humans of the home a room of their own than a room each per cat (the cats would prefer to roam our home with us anyway).
I would definitely swap my semi-detached for a detached house or bungalow, surrounded by a large garden.
My dream home would be bright, colourful and spacious. It would be modern with a retro vintage twist. As you know, I really did love the Brown’s Home in the new Paddington Movie.
I would love to have more rooms than we have in our current home, ideally we would have a large entrance hall (no sweeping staircase or balcony required but lots of storage for hats and shoes would be appreciated!), large smart living room for entertaining, a more relaxed living room, dining room, study, play room, band studio and a family den (I’m still influenced by American culture it would seem).
We would have a large fitted kitchen complete with a classic range and American style fridge (ooh, I’ve always wanted one of those water dispensers on my fridge too).
There would be a downstairs bathroom and also an ensuite in every bedroom. If I can afford a dream house, I must be able to afford a cleaner too, right?
An all year round swimming pool would be amazing, with half indoors and half outdoors. Stables and ponies would be good too.
In our garden there would also be mature trees so we can build a treehouse and hang swings from them. There would also be a cherry blossom for me to sit under and read as blossom would fall upon me.
Back to Reality
Of course, in reality, I know that you can easily make anywhere your dream home. I’m definitely as happy in a tent as in a five star hotel. I know with some decluttering and decorating our home can look lovely. Also with an extension and an attic conversion, we could make enough bedrooms for all. I always feel that this is out of our reach as we can’t currently afford it. However it could be worth talking to our mortgage company and using a mortgage calculator to find out if borrowing extra is worthwhile for an extension. It would certainly be more affordable than buying a new house.
For now though, my dream home is wherever my family are. Right here.
The dream home is where the heart is.
In assocation with TSB
what a lovely post! You're definitely right though, home is where the heart is. Yeah I would love a big house done to exactly my tastes but I'm happy in our little flat for now simply because it's ours 🙂
Yes, it's so true at the end of the day x