Concerning the Coxes: Bits & Pieces of My Future Place

I journeyed to my folks’ house recently to spend some time with my family. The Sunday morning before I left, we got on this huge home-themed topic and wound up talking houses for about two hours (that’s my kind of conversation). We discussed planning and building a home, particularly which features to include and which to avoid.

My parents have built two homes together, and they currently live in the second one. They did their research and wound up with two beautifully built, well-planned homes. They really have a knack for working together to bring great ideas into fruition. Now if only my husband and I could get along so well in matters of decorating taste.

In my initial thinking, daydreaming and wishing, I’ve come up with a few of my own must-haves for a future home. Well, I suppose I should call them “wants,” but whatever. We love our current place to death, but as with any dwelling, there are some things I’d change or add. Here are the biggies:

Spacious, three-car garage with ample space in front of and behind vehicles
Large laundry room with built-in ironing board and hanging clothes closet. We’re tall. We hardly throw anything in our dryer for fear our clothes will shrink. I’m avoiding highwaters and exposed midriff at all costs.
Open floor plan; our current home has an open floor plan that I adore. I can whip up something in the kitchen and connect with company in the living room at the same time. It’s wonderful.
Farmhouse sink. Country charm and friendliness meet easy elegance – definitely my taste.
Built-in shelving in the living room
Mudroom. This is lower on the list, but it would certainly be convenient to have, especially to hide away the coats, boots, wet clothes and other things that I don’t want guests to see. I’d be more apt to build one of these when kids come along.
A transparent, glass cabinet or two in the kitchen. Not gonna lie – this scares me.
A neutral color scheme. I know, I know. It will be impossible to keep clean once we have kids, but I can dream, right?
Hardwood or polished concrete floors. Dark, wide-planked hardwood is just gorgeous, but I recognize it’s a horror to maintain and keep clean. Polished concrete would be easy to maintain but a little more modern and cold on the feet than I’d prefer.

As you can tell, I’m a wishful thinker. The house of my dreams would contain all of the above, but when it all comes down to it, I’d rather be practical and build a standard home than go nuts and wipe out our bank account. A gal can always dream, right?