What is your house/apt like?

[arivecchi]

We currently live in a narrow four level townhouse made out of brick. It makes for a good daily workout.

[HIU8]

2 story split level with an unfinished basement and narrow steep stairs to the basement. Attic is a crawl space. We have a one car garage that is part of the house (not off to the side) and I HATE that we lost a room due to the garage. We are currently in need of more house (we have no guest room and no playroom--no extra space and the cost of redoing the basement was daunting to say the least). The only really terrific thing about the house is that the living room/dining room/kitchen are all open to one another (so the flow for parties works well and the kids use it as a track to run around and blow off steam).

[LarsMal]

We're in a 3 level single family. The basement is partially finished with a playroom and a full bath for the kids. It's smaller than our previous house, but much more usable space. I consider the steps my daily workout, too!!

ETA: Or am I in a 2 story single family with a partially finished basement?! I always forget how the "story" thing works!! We have a total of 3 levels.

[WatchingThemGrow]

We live in a 1950's brick ranch - 1250 sf, but up to a whopping 1400 since we enclosed the porch. There are 5 of us, with no playroom, no garage, teeny tiny(lilliputian actually) bathrooms and closets, but we have a nice flat backyard that's fenced and has all the fun stuff for kids. Our attic is floored, so we have a rotating toy stash, boxes of diapers, all our bulk food purchases(kinda ewww) and a ton more stuff up there. Lots of days we like our house, but other days we wish we had the resources to have something twice the size. Then again, we're thankful we have it, can afford it and like it. Oh, my IL's have given us gifts of furniture (brand new, whatever we wanted!!!), so we feel like it is pretty nicely furnished. I also updated the kitchen and baths (well, gutted them) in 2003, so everything is basically new.

ETA: others might come in and think we live in a daycare. There are toys for all 3 DC - everywhere!

[JTsMom]

Well, until we get moved into our new house, we're in a smallish ranch, 3/2, fenced yard, 2 car garage. We have way to much crap to live here.

Hopefully, before the end of the month, we'll be in our new house. Brand new, 2 stories, 4/2.5, 1.6 acres (although a lot of it is wooded_, living and family rooms, formal dining room. I'm hoping it will be a much better fit for us, although really, 1 more room or a basement would have been ideal. The most exciting part is that we got to pick everything out ourselves, which has been so much fun. :)

[boolady]

2-story, 3 bedroom, 2.5 bathroom townhouse with a small private yard with a stamped concrete patio and a wide picket fence.

[jayali]

2/2, 1200 square foot apartment with a big patio that overlooks NYC. We really need a bigger place, but I don't want to give up patio.

We also own a house at the Jersey Shore which is 3bedroom 2.5 bath on three levels (if you count the basement/family room). Small lot - 50x150 - I can see right in my neighbors windows. Actually I can see in my neighbors windows in the apt also, but it doesn't bother me as much.

Some day I would like a 3 bedroom, 3 bathroom 2000 sq. ft apartment, either in the City or Hoboken AND a BIG ASS house on the Ocean in the town where we live. Not gonna happen unless I win Lotto, but hey a girl can dream can't she.

[elektra]

We live in a 50's ranch that we strive to keep true to it's mid-century modern design, inside and out. (Think the house from The Incredibles.)

[elektra]

Some day I would like a 3 bedroom, 3 bathroom 2000 sq. ft apartment, either in the City or Hoboken AND a BIG ASS house on the Ocean in the town where we live. Not gonna happen unless I win Lotto, but hey a girl can dream can't she.

Wow we have the same dream! ;) NYC, and West Coast though for me. I always say, "when I win the Lotto" too but then I am too cheap to "waste" money on actually buying the tickets. ;)

[MommyofAmaya]

3/2 1929 Cape Cod on a small corner lot. 2000 sq. foot including finished attic (our room) and a built-out garage as an office/storage (downstairs). I quickly learned about the benefits of an open floorplan after moving in... I'll certainly make sure we have on on our next move b/c I can't ever see the children from another room.

[lchang25000]

5400 sq. ft. 2 story rambler (main level with finished basement). Includes a total of 5 bedrooms, office, 4.5 baths, formal living room, family room, vaulted ceilings, and 3 car garage. We live on a hill with an amazing view of the valley. We see deers all the time on the hill behind our house, but they don't come down into our actual yard.

[scrooks]

Typical 2 story suburban late 1990's early 2000's house.
4 bedrooms, 2.5 baths and and an unfinished basement I would REALLY like to finish....I think we are about 2800 sq ft.

[MamaMolly]

A 3 bedroom cinderblock 2 story. I'd love another bedroom for visitors, and I don't like the master on the main with the other bedrooms on the second floor.

[AnnieW625]

one story post war cottage that was built in 1950. It's a 3 bed., 1 bath, 1100 sq. feet with a small covered patio (not enclosed) out back. It has a detached garage. It's small, but people used to raise 2 or 3 kids in houses our size (this was the standard size home in our area when it was built) so I know we can do it. It has raised foundation and hardwood throughout. We have an attic also.

We need to repaint the kitchen to a nice creamy color to coordinate with the black granite and some nice trim work the prior owners did. Our main living area is a nice light stone color and classic. We have classic furniture pieces, but nothing truly mid century modern. Our dressers came from my grandparents who bought it in the early 50s. Our dining room table and chairs came from a family friend and was built in 1948. We have a 1950s style flush mount light in the kitchen that I love, (http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=productDetail&productId=74239-43501-FJ05-018CH&lpage=none). We also have Kit Cat clock so our kitchen is slowly starting to get back to the retro look. I'd love a 1950s stove too, but that might look out of place with a microwave above it! I'd also like to eventually rip the cheapo Home Depot MDF cabinets out and put something in that has a more classic 1950s style to it. I love looking at various 1950s style home blogs.

[SnuggleBuggles]

2 main living levels plus a basement with laundry room, workshop area and a carpeted but not really used room. Brick. Traditional home for my area (3 bedroom, 1 bath) except we have an addition and that gives us that basement bonus room, a family room and one more full bath.

Beth

[caleymama]

1200sf cape built around 1940 with 2 br and 1.5 baths, an unfinished basement, and attic crawl space. The previous owners put on an addition and made a lot of improvements but there's plenty to be done. The basement is accessed from outside - it's walk out which is nice, but the washer and dryer are down there so sometimes (like when there's a lot of snow!) it's a pain to get to. DDs bedroom and the 1/2 bath (+ the attic crawl space) are the entire upstairs. We have a detached 1 car garage and the previous owners built a beautiful studio (they were artists) above the garage instead of just replacing the original roof.

We live in what used to be one of the area's summer colonies for leftist groups from NYC, so a lot of the houses in our development are from the same era and have gradually been improved over the years to be lived in year round and made larger.

[bubbaray]

Three storey home (main floor, upstairs and fully finished basement), 4000 sq ft. Large lot (6000 sq ft) comparably in our super-expensive Metro area (most lots in the city are much smaller), but I would love LAND. Unless we move out of this area or win the lottery, that ain't happening, though.

BTW, my next house will NOT be an open plan. We have 9' ceilings and hardwood on most of the main floor -- the living room is a 20' ceiling. Can you say echo chamber?

[g-mama]

BTW, my next house will NOT be an open plan. We have 9' ceilings and hardwood on most of the main floor -- the living room is a 20' ceiling. Can you say echo chamber?

Yes!! Same here, but it is our family room that is open all the way up to the top of the second floor. Dh and I don't even watch TV there at night once the kids are asleep because the noise travels so much. We have to go to our bedroom so the TV doesn't wake up the kids. I've been to events at friends' houses in the evening that last til their kids are already in bed and there is no way I could do that.

Not to mention our heating bills cost $600-$800 every month in the winter. Not at all energy efficient.

[GaPeach_in_Ca]

1947 post-war bungalow. :)

It had an addition and big remodel in 1998 so it is now 1675 sq feet with a master suite, so it is now a 3/2 with a great room instead of 3/1 with a small living area. Original hardwoods in the living area and the two remaining original bedrooms. We have a relatively roomy lot for the area, ~7300 sq ft. We have a 2 car detached garage with the original sliding doors. No basement, no usuable attic space.

It was featured in an article called "This Gold House" during the dot com boom in the local paper. It had the entire history of the house. Loved reading about the families that lived there before us. We are the 5th family to own/live in the house in the 63 years since it was built.

THIS GOLD HOUSE 1947 - $9,500 1999 - $XXX HOW WILLOW GLEN BUNGALOW TYPIFIES VALLEY'S HOUSING SAGA

The unpretentious bungalow on XXX Drive in Willow Glen has sheltered more than a dozen lives during the 52 years since it was built andsold for $9,500 in 1947.


From sleepy, midcentury San Jose to the present day, its walls have embraced the rites of passage for each succeeding owner -- first the XXXs, then the XXXs, the XXXs and now XXX.

But there is a vastly larger story to be understood from this modest beige home. It's the story of ...

The story is about the boom in housing prices, but this article is from 1999, before the big boom, so it's a little depressing for us. :p Oh, and the house is grey now.

[citymama]

We're one unit in a 3-level apartment house. Our apt is 2 BRs, 1 BA, and about 850 sq feet. We share a small backyard.

ETA Do I win the prize for smallest home? ;)

[daniele_ut]

We live in a 1955 Rambler that has NO mid-century modern elements. It had a bad remodel in 1985 that we have mostly undone. The main level has kitchen, large living room, 3 bedrooms, office and 1 bathroom. We are in process of finishing the basement in stages and right now have the guest room and media/family room done. Eventually there will be one more bedroom and another bathroom along with the storage and furnace rooms that are already there.

[tylersmama]

We live in a 6 year old, second floor ranch-style condo, with first floor entry and attached garage. I've got almost 1600 sq. feet, vaulted ceilings, 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, with an office. I love my condo. I do sometimes hate the stairs when I'm bringing up groceries or taking down the recycling or garbage, but it's bright, open, and quiet.

[elektra]

We live in a 1955 Rambler that has NO mid-century modern elements. It had a bad remodel in 1985 that we have mostly undone.
Hate that!
Mid-century modern isn't for everyone, but it's such a shame IMO when 50's ranches are redone in an 80's or Tuscan style!

[Cam&Clay]

We have a 5 br/3.5 bath 2-story colonial with a huge unfinished basement and 2-car garage. It was built in the late 80s and is in desperate need of updating, but we bought it for its potential and size. When DH retires from the military in less than a year (:cheerleader1:), we will no longer have rent for his apartment in NC and will be able to start fixing it up the way we like.

[AnnieW625]

Hate that!
Mid-century modern isn't for everyone, but it's such a shame IMO when 50's ranches are redone in an 80's or Tuscan style!

I agree 100%. Most of ours can easily be redone back to the original style, but both DH and I would've been really happy if the owner we bought the house from did a little less with the kitchen than they did. The granite is nice, but we would've been very happy without the green butterfly wall paper (that 5 yrs. later is starting to come off), and the MDF Home Depot special cabinets.

[catpagmo]

We have a 2800 sq. ft. two story traditional house. It's in the suburbs, about 15 miles from a major city. 4 bedrooms, 2.5 baths, 3 car garage, unfinished walkout basement, and a big yard (13,000 sq. ft. lot). We bought it when it was built in 2001.

We love the neighborhood, and the house/lot, but wish we had a bit more space in the family room, which is where we spend most of our time. It's amazing how small a room can get with little ones around.

[gobadgers]

We live in a 2-story plus finished basement, around 2600 sf. Its a corner lot with a small fenced in yard (good for the dog!) Its from mid-80's, has some updating done but needs some more. I'd love to redo the kitchen but am terrified of doing it...

[Nooknookmom]

A 1910 California Bungalow.

2 bedrooms/bathrooms/living/kitchen/dining. Cute, but seriously NOT enough space for 4 humans, 2 german shepherds, 2 cat's and a hermit crab!

[codex57]

Our house is a new build, so thanks to the internet, the floorplan is public:


http://sacramento.lyonhomes.com/wlh/images/print/fpp_1499.gifhttp://sacramento.lyonhomes.com/wlh/images/print/fpp_1500.gif

[elektra]

Codex- your house looks really nice!

[mommylamb]

2800 sq foot 3 level townhouse with 3 bedrooms and 2.5 baths. Small lot, though we are an end unit. I live in total stepford land. As stepford as townhouses can get anyway.

I'd love to have a single family detached house someday, but given the fact that we bought too close to the top of the market, I'm just glad we don't need to move now. If it happens, it happens. If not, this is enough room for us.

[Twoboos]

BTW, my next house will NOT be an open plan. We have 9' ceilings and hardwood on most of the main floor -- the living room is a 20' ceiling. Can you say echo chamber?

Yes!! Same here, but it is our family room that is open all the way up to the top of the second floor. Dh and I don't even watch TV there at night once the kids are asleep because the noise travels so much. We have to go to our bedroom so the TV doesn't wake up the kids. I've been to events at friends' houses in the evening that last til their kids are already in bed and there is no way I could do that.

Not to mention our heating bills cost $600-$800 every month in the winter. Not at all energy efficient.

:yeahthat: Our fam room has probably 25 or 30ft ceilings - it is BRUTAL, and the house never feels warm, and when DH is watching TV at night I can hear it in our bedroom on the opposite side of the house.

We are lucky in that our kids sleep pretty well - we start them out with music/white noise and they stay asleep. (Should not have written that out loud.)

Ours is about 4k sqft, 3.5baths, acre lot, 2 car. We have a finished walkup attic (DHs space), but the basement is unfinished, so it still looks like a playground in here. I would love to size down a little - sometimes w/the ceilings it just feels like you're lost in a cavern in here!

[AJP]

We have a 3000sq ft contemporary colonial on 3+ acres. We have 2 finished levels, plus the unfinished attic, unfinished basement and 2 car garage. I'd love to finish the attic for the girls one day. It has 2 double dormers and lots of light, but I think we'll have built again before they're old enough. This plan is not as open as I prefer and we're lacking a mudroom, access to the back yard for the dog that's not a slider and I LOATHE having to get to the garage from the basement. It is new though and we're lucky to have it!

[smilequeen]

We are in a traditional style story and a half house with a full finished walk out basement. 5 bedrooms, 5 bathrooms. Main floor master with 3 bedrooms and a loft playroom upstairs and a guest room in the basement. A total of 7000 square feet on almost 2 acres (a lot of which is wooded). We live on a hill overlooking the woods and a pond :)

[mom2binsd]

I think the style is Salt Box....it's 4 bed/2.5 bath and a huge unfunished basement...I only wish we had some type of front porch...but our lovely back deck makes up for it...

[MelissaTC]

2000 sq ft 1 1/2 story transitional built in 1993 w/ 3 bedrooms, 2.5 bathrooms, family room and formals. It has been completely updated and we can't wait to finish a couple more projects so we can get it back on the market in the next year or two to upgrade.

[alexsmommy]

:yeahthat: Our fam room has probably 25 or 30ft ceilings - it is BRUTAL, and the house never feels warm, and when DH is watching TV at night I can hear it in our bedroom on the opposite side of the house.

We are lucky in that our kids sleep pretty well - we start them out with music/white noise and they stay asleep. (Should not have written that out loud.)

Ours is about 4k sqft, 3.5baths, acre lot, 2 car. We have a finished walkup attic (DHs space), but the basement is unfinished, so it still looks like a playground in here. I would love to size down a little - sometimes w/the ceilings it just feels like you're lost in a cavern in here!

DH loves this look, but when we briefly considered moving out of state and building a house, I REFUSED because I had stayed over in frineds homes like this who had children and I was all too aware of how sound carries. Also, I hate being cold and I couldn't imagine heating it. The most I would consider was a two-story open entryway.

[Elilly]

An updated 1950's, 3bd/2ba, 1900 sqft ranch with a finished basement on 3/4 of an acre. DH wants a bigger house. I just want a mudroom.

[alexsmommy]

100+ year old four square, two story, four bedroom, partially finished basement. Love the character, hate the work we still have to do. We bought this particular home in part because I knew the seller and she had done a ton up updating with the mechanics. In my town, the big joke is don't dig too deeply into the electric or plumbing or you may have a heart attack to discover tracks of cloth wiring etc. I know she redid any ancient electric or plumbing in the 80's which around here qualifies as "new." We still need to replace all of the windows - still single pane, with storm windows we have to manually change out.

[mamicka]

2 story traditional ~2400 sqft. 4bd/2.5ba. 1/2 acre. 3 car garage, unfinished basement.

[fivi2]

1950's 2/1 1000 sqft ranch. No garage, unusable attic, tiny closets, no insulation, old windows, arrgh. I want to move. (Like my neighborhood, can't deal with the house and can't deal with renovating/adding on. )

[lizzywednesday]

3-storey duplex/townhome; 2 bedrooms, 2.5 bath, eat-in kitchen, living room, dining room, 1 car garage, utility room.

Like a lot of other posters, the ceilings are pretty high in our living room, so it does feel cold in the winter after the heat clicks off and there's a bit of an echo, but shutting the door works to block enough of the sound if DH doesn't turn things up to ear-bleeding levels.

[mecawa]

2 story Gambrel Cape, that has been expanded with a large addition out the back. Lots of details, wainscoting, crown molding, wide baseboard, chair rails, etc. 3 bedrooms 2 baths (about to expand to 4 bedrooms, 3 baths) on about 4 acres of land, very large kitchen and great room with fireplace.

[eliasmom]

1600 sq ft vintage but updated 3/2 2nd floor condo in the city. Tons of charm, beautiful kitchen and baths, but just not really enough space for our gang these days.

[Gena]

Mid 1950's Cape Cod: 1.5 stories. 3 bedrooms (2 tiny ones on main floor, 1 upstairs), 1 bath, partially finished basement, kitchen the size of a postage stamp.

[dcmom2b3]

Ummmm . . . messy? :bag Totally family un-friendly?

We live on Capitol Hill in a 3BR/3.5BA century-old rowhouse that was renovated and expanded to 3000 sf in 2001. I loved it when I bought as a single woman, and I expect that I'll love it again eventually. But right now I hate the way the space lives with a young child -- the fact that we have five levels, but really only live on three b/c the other two aren't child proof-able to my satisfaction. That the playroom is therefore the living room and I live my life stepping on Playmobil parts.

I hate that I do the stair-basket tango (stuff that needs to go up or down lives in baskets at the top and bottom of the stairs) that our washer/dryer is two and a half flights below the bedroom level, that the kitchen is on its own level two flights down from the BRs . . . I could go on.

But I love my neighbors and my 'hood. And I think about how lucky I am to have equity in these times. But dang it, I still hate all the stairs!!!!

[maestramommy]

We live in a two story traditional colonial. Basically a rectangular box:p Although the family room and garage make it look like there's this whole huge other part of the house. It's white with black shutters and trim. Very ordinary. What gives it a little snap is the bright red front door. I thought it was very weird when we were looking at the house, but now I like it! Apparently every house on this street was built by the same local builder who's something of a legend. His name is still used on listings. Top quality construction and materials. The house has central vacuum, and when I called the company to have it looked at, the owner still remembered installing it (almost 40 years ago), and the builder who hired him. Dh and I love how when the kids are running around upstairs and jumping off the beds, the house doesn't shake.

What I love most about this house is the number of rooms we have. It's traditional floor plan, with no cathedral ceilings. So even though on the outside it looks really big, on the inside it's rather cozy. And there's just room after room. The kids can either play in the same room or wander off on their own, which is really nice in the winter if we can't go anywhere.

[baymom]

Our home is a 3 bedroom, 2 1/2 bath, two story townhouse with a two car attached garage and 2100 sq ft. We have a small (think large patio) back yard and our living room, family room, kitchen and dining room are all open to each other, which gives the downstairs a nice flow, IMO. However, the cathedral ceilings make the house very, very time consuming to heat. Upstairs, is just one long hallway with bedrooms and the laundry room.

[jgenie]

We live in a split level 1950's ranch. I think we're about 3,000 sq ft. 3 BR 2.5 BA attached 2 car garage. We're currently remodeling the walkout basement. Separate home office off the garage with it's own entrance.

[jent]

Cape style home with finished upstairs, 1400 sq foot total. The downstairs is traditional 4-square cape: living room & kitchen on one side of the stairs, 2 bedrooms on the other. There is no true dining room, but since we have the two BR's upstairs, we use one as a makeshift dining room (now dining room/playroom/computer room) and the other as a guestroom/computer room. Laundry is downstairs in the unfinished basement. I store toys in rotation down there and DD pretty much thinks it's another playroom (guess she's not one for aesthetics).

Our house is very cute but the floor plan makes it totally cramped. It works ok for just the 3 of us but it's very cramped to have guests. I can't wait to move.

ETA: we have a large deck and great backyard, though!

[Sillygirl]

We have a four bedroom Tudor house, built by a good German builder in the 1980's. Realtors around here still put the builder's name in the listings when one of his houses goes on the market. Very solid, no drywall pops, traditional foor plan. OTOH, the former owners loved them some wallpaper and I can't believe we haven't gotten rid of it yet. New Year's resolution, I guess.

We did redo the master bathroom when we moved in as it was the one really dated area of the house. We sacrificed the bedroom closets, but our bedroom has a sitting room,we turned that into a huge walk-in closet with built-in shelves and racks. And the bathroom and walk-in multihead shower are my favorite parts of the house, especially in winter.

[lmh2402]

2 bd rm/2 bath condo - parlor floor of a brownstone

i wish we had more space

but what i love is that all the original detail was restored right before the building went condo in '06. beautiful moldings and wood carvings. pocket doors and 14 foot ceilings. we looked at a ton of places before we saw this and knew immediately it was the right one for us. of course, now we're thinking about #2 and will definitely have to move

[ThreeofUs]

Three story, 100+ year old brick center-hall colonial with partially finished basement. Official sf is about 3600 (on middle two floors), 11 rooms, 4 full, 2 half baths. A little over a 1/2 acre lot.

I love my house. It's Craftsman meets "a usable home", so the layout really works for modern living. It's also very welcoming - a happy house, kwim? - and not just because of the decoration (which is mostly "early child" any more).

I hate the:
-inability to insulate (brick on structural tile with less than 1/4" to lathe).
-lead paint falling off the extensive woodwork.
-constant, unrelenting need for renovation (see above bullet).

[cestkaren]

1100sq, 2 bed, 1 bath duplex. Small kitchen, open living/dining room, laundry room. Small for the three of us, I count space in cubic feet, if I get rid of something, I think about how much cubic feet it took up! Currently our living room space is filled with 'Little People' and other toys. I expect this will continue until we can find a bigger place that we can afford - unfortuately we live in an expensive area.

[Momof3Labs]

2600sf two-story plus an unfinished English basement (so about 4000sf if we completely finished the basement??). Built in 2001, open floor plan (with those high ceilings that so many of you hate), great room instead of a living/family room but there is a separate room off of the great room that serves as our TV/toy room. 4 bedrooms (one of them on the main level, but not the master), 2.5 baths. Wonderful master suite with a sitting area (currently my office) and a huge master bathroom. Modest yard, but backs up to green space. We live across the street from the neighborhood park, which is awesome. Previous owner spared little expense with fixtures/finishes, which just happen (for the most part) to be right in line with our tastes. The granite in the kitchen drives me batty, though - it has been so hard to pick a nice paint color in there!!

[vludmilla]

3 bedroom apartment all on one floor.

[C99]

1905 American foursquare, narrow (our lot is 25x150) with 2 levels of living and an unfinished basement (which we use) and attic (which we don't).

[JamiMac]

Ours is a 2 story suburban house about 30 minutes north of downtown. We've got 3400 square feet, 5 bedrooms, and and office. One bedroom and bath is down, but the master is up with the other 3 bedrooms, which goes against the trend here. We built the house 3 years ago and wanted to be on the same floor as the kids.

[Tondi G]

we live in a 4 plex building (built in the 30's) on the bottom floor. Our apartment is maybe 1300 sq ft ... 2 bedroom ONE bath. We have hardwood floors and our own washer and dryer (thank goodness for that, can't imagine having to pay for loads or waiting for a machine!). We can't wait for a home of our own and a BACKYARD!!!

[crl]

We're renting a 4 bedroom, 2 bath townhouse style unit.

Catherine

[Penny's Pappa]

2000sf, 1940's-era Cape Cod with one-car garage sitting on ~0.2acres in suburban Dayton, OH. Finished basement and second level. Hardwood throughout the first floor which has 2br/1ba, wood-burning fireplace, and a small galley kitchen. Upstairs is the master suite with a HIDEOUS, 70s/80s-era green bathroom. The walls are green. The ceiling is green. The shower stall is green. The toilet is green. It looks like the Jolly Green Giant vomited all over the place.

I have a decent sized, fenced in backyard with a shed.

Oh...and I have a laundry chute. Score.

[gordo]

2 story home on a corner lot with a nice yard. 4 bedrooms, 2.5 bathrooms and an unfinished basement. 2.5 car detached garage. We just moved in and I love my house, but I do wish I had a 1st floor family room. I hat that all the toys are in the living room.

[kijip]

It's your basic townhouse box. 3 levels total, narrow. It's is brown with a nice but small yard area. Less than 1500, but really we live in about 900-1000 of it and the rest is the garage, office, hall and a totally unused 3rd bathroom.

We love it. It feels like home.

[LexyLou]

I have always wanted a laundy chute!!!


Our house was built in 1994 and is about 3000 sq feet. 4 bedrooms, 3 baths. One bedroom is downstairs and we use it as the playroom.

Master is upstairs with an office off it, which we love. The master bath could use some updating but it's not horrible. I just envision nicer tile and a shower with multiple shower heads.:)

The girls each have their own room and have a large bathroom which they only use to brush their teeth before bed since they take all their bath in our bathroom since we have a large garden tub.

Decent sized lot for the area. It's a gated community, which honestly, I just find annoying.

[mommyp]

It's a 2 story, 3 bedroom, 2.5 bath townhouse. About 1400 sf, plus a little fenced in patio with a garden. It's a very nice, quiet neighborhood, lots of families. We love it!

[nfowife]

currently living in a 3rd floor walk-up 1500sf 3/2 apartment. We really like it overall. It has a great room that is open to the kitchen and a door that separates the back bedroom/bathrooms from the front of the house. Which we need because there is no carpet, anywhere. People in Italy don't do wall-to-wall carpet :). We live on a military base.

In late summer, we will move back to Oklahoma where we still own the home we built in 2005 (renting it out right now). It's a 3500 sf 4/3 on an acre, with a 3 car garage. Now that I've lived in a much smaller space for the past 1.5 years, I would happily downsize....but we will most likely be moving back into the big house when we leave here. It also has the family room open to the 2nd floor...we have to deal with the heating/cooling issues and also the noise issue :).

[pinkmomagain]

Expanded cape midblock. Stone front. Smallish fenced in backyard. 4 Bedrooms upstairs (my preference).

Our beach house, is across the street from the bay. Corner property. Small cottage/ranch. 2 bedrooms. Small fenced in backyard with inground pool/patio/enclosed porch. Expansive front yard. A very thin slice of heaven.

Would love a pied a terre (sp?) in NYC. But dh refuses to buy a 3rd property in the state of NY! Maybe down the road when the kids are grown, we'll sell our suburban house, get a city apt, a property in a warmer climate, and keep the beach house.

[octmom]

Mid-70s split foyer (not my favorite style *at all*), 4 bedrooms (3 up, 1 down), 3 full baths (2 up, 1 down, all small), big living room (up), small kitchen (up), decent-sized dining room (up), huge family room (down), home office off the utility room (down). Attached 1.5 car garage put on by previous owners. Our lot is a little over an acre, some of it wooded.

We bought it before kids but considering the school district. It has been a good first house for us, but I would greatly prefer a different layout. My ideal would have 4 bedrooms upstairs, family room/ great room open to kitchen, only a small living room space or maybe none at all and use that for home office, and dining room on the main floor, finished basement with playroom, bathroom, storage space in the basement OR a playroom over the attached garage. Can you tell I have thought about this a lot?

I'd love to move into a different house in our great elementary school district, but many were built at the same time as mine and have similar small kitchens, baths, and closets. Most of the newer homes in our district are HUGE and out of our price range. One of these days we will look for another house, but the idea of completing all the projects that would need to be done to put ours on the market makes my head spin.

[Melbel]

We live in a fairly typical newer suburban 2 story home. With about 3,900 square feet heated, we have 4 bedrooms, a large bonus room over 3 car garage, a separate playroom, and 3.5 baths. Master down, other BRs upstairs. We have a nature preserve behind our house which is great for privacy. We also love that we have a cul de sac filled with younger children for DC to play with. I love our large open kitchen with tall cabinets, stainless, and granite counters. I do not like that the homes look too much alike for my taste and that the trees/landscaping could be more mature. I would also love a basement, but that is not happening in FL! We have yet to find the "perfect" home for us, but are happy overall.

ETA: We also love our location - 10 minutes to school, downtown and the beach!

[NN317]

New end unit townhouse, 2 level 1700 sq. ft. 2 bed, 2 1/2 bath with a den/bonus room that we use as an art studio. Size and the open concept layout is perfect, but location is not.

[JBaxter]

We have a all brick 5 bedroom 2 story house built in 2000. 2 full baths , 1 - 3/4 bath and 2- half baths We finished our basement ( how we added the 5th bedroom nice lot nice neighborhood. I'd guess 3200-3400 sq ft since the basement is finished

[willow33]

1929 two-story bungalow with a one car detached garage and front porch, .25 acre corner lot with big backyard...the house is about 2,000 square feet. The house was totally updated before we moved in by the previous owners and I love having the combination of both old details and new features (beautiful crown moulding and built-ins and granite countertops).

We do need more room or a better lay-out though :( We have two bedrooms up and two down and the master is up. I don't feel comfortable putting any of children on the 1st floor by themselves so the boys share the 2nd bedroom upstairs and dd is in our walk-in closet (it's heated and has windows). Not ideal, but fine for now.

Ohh...and I really want a finished basement so the toys and NOISE can be downstairs :)

[salsah]

these threads are depressing. we live in 2br/2ba duplex, NO family room, NO dining room, one car garage, NO basement, NO attic, NO mudroom, NO laundry room. it is about 1000 sq ft and we pay rent of nearly $2,000/mo! we do have a yard and are in an excellent school district.

[vludmilla]

these threads are depressing. we live in 2br/2ba duplex, NO family room, NO dining room, one car garage, NO basement, NO attic, NO mudroom, NO laundry room. it is about 1000 sq ft and we pay rent of nearly $2,000/mo! we do have a yard and are in an excellent school district.

Well, I don't know if I can help you feel better but we're in a 2 & 1/2 bedroom apartment in an old apartment house with bad steam heat, 1 bathroom, probably about 700 sq ft. We're in an absolutely terrible school district (DD goes to private preschool and will NEVER go to school in this district). No garage, no dining room, no laundry of any kind on premises and we pay just under 1500 a month. It's the NYC suburbs. I can almost guarantee that your duplex is much nicer. Oh, yeah, and crappy yard too.

[KpbS]

:yeahthat: Our fam room has probably 25 or 30ft ceilings - it is BRUTAL, and the house never feels warm

Our family room/main living room is like this as well. Additionally we have one wall that is almost entirely 13 ft. windows. It is a beautiful view down a wooded hillside with great sunsets, but VERY chilly this time of year in that room. DH and I might "lower" the ceiling eventually by adding a bonus room in upstairs with the space at the top of the living room. We have some friends that just did this and the remodel didn't cost much and wasn't a difficult process.

We have a 5 bd. (really 4 bd. and a study or playroom room currently) with 3 bd. (kid's and guest) upstairs and master and playroom downstairs. 4 full baths, with a jack and jill bath for the boys. 2 car garage, laundry room, dining room, screened in porch, and huge storage space under the house. My favorite feature probably is the hearth room--a living space adjoining our kitchen where we hang out and read, watch tv, etc.

[hillview]

We live in an 1893 home (it seems to be a hybrid foursquare with colonial revival added? no real idea) with about 5400 sq feet. My parents live in the lower level and we live in the upper level. It was converted to a 2 family a while ago. My parents level has some original parts and some updates. Upstaris was renovated in the 1980s and is more of an open floor plan albeit somewhat dated at this point. We have a small back yard and a front porch.

Our layout is 3 br, 2ba upstairs that has an open balcony down -- great room below. Downstairs is 1.5 bath with a living area with fireplace (currently not working as we need to reline it), kitchen and play room with an office/guest room. My parents have 1 BR 1 BA with 2 large living rooms and an older open kitchen.

/hillary

[Nooknookmom]

Three story, 100+ year old brick center-hall colonial with partially finished basement. Official sf is about 3600 (on middle two floors), 11 rooms, 4 full, 2 half baths. A little over a 1/2 acre lot.

I love my house. It's Craftsman meets "a usable home", so the layout really works for modern living. It's also very welcoming - a happy house, kwim? - and not just because of the decoration (which is mostly "early child" any more).

I hate the:
-inability to insulate (brick on structural tile with less than 1/4" to lathe).
-lead paint falling off the extensive woodwork.
-constant, unrelenting need for renovation (see above bullet).

I have some great lead paint tricks up my sleeve if interested, lemme know!

[brgnmom]

these threads are depressing. we live in 2br/2ba duplex, NO family room, NO dining room, one car garage, NO basement, NO attic, NO mudroom, NO laundry room. it is about 1000 sq ft and we pay rent of nearly $2,000/mo! we do have a yard and are in an excellent school district.

I might make you feel better by writing that we live in a 2br/2ba as well -- but in an apartment complex, and so we have no private yard. We hardly have any storage space -- oh and we don't have a car garage, basement, dining room or attic. We have a shared parking lot that is not gated. our rent is still a little over $1500/month. I do appreciate the employees who maintain our apartment complex well and we have access to a nice pool and gym. we are moving shortly and still have yet to find an affordable place in CA.

[Cheburashka]

A crappy 1 bed/1 bath with no dishwasher and walls so thin I've been able to hear my neighbors brushing their teeth while I'm in the bathroom (which then makes me wonder how much they can hear through the walls). I'm holding out for when our lease is up and we get to move. I really want a dishwasher.

[catsnkid]

Did a bit of a balance with max space/price vs some downside to my house. I think it was orignally built as a bungalow in 1947 but had a big renovation in 1980 so it is now a dutch colonial. 3 bed/2 bath 1700 sq feet. Small lot, no garage but have a shed- dead end street next to a state forest. Also had a basement dug out in the 1950's, resulting in a odd floor plan. Downstairs- big finished basement with a tiny laundry room/area for the waterheater and sump pump, We use this area a lot.

Upstairs- living room with odd set up and the front door swings right over the basement stairs. Small kitchen but recently renovated with lots of cabinets. Small dining room. Would like to get rid of a wall to open up living room and combine the area. Tiny bathroom with tub. , small back hall.

Large master bedroom with walk in closet, bathroom with a shower. I hate using this bathroom. A renovation is on a wish list. It is cold and the toilet/sink is dark blue. 2 more bedrooms with small closets but adequate. Crawl space attic.

[codex57]

we are moving shortly and still have yet to find an affordable place in CA.

I don't think it's too bad in my neck of the woods (Sacramento area). Not too isolated (like Fresno, Tracy, Manteca, etc) but still pretty affordable. And the school district here is incredible. And we have the big area things like Whole Foods, Trader Joes, Costco, Target, and the mall has stores like LV, Tiffany & Co, Burberry, True Religion, etc.

[galvjen]

Typical mid-1990s cookie-cutter suburbia - 5 bed/3.5 bath, 2 car detached garage, updated kitchen, large playroom, study, and dining room. Decent, flat, fenced yard and first-rate school district. 30 minutes to downtown of major city and all the conveniences we need <15 minutes away. Work is also only 3 miles from home. It's a very good setup for us. Of course there are some changes we'd like to make, but we need to move forward from 3 in full-time Montessori before those are a possibility.

[SnuggleBuggles]

I have some great lead paint tricks up my sleeve if interested, lemme know!

Ooh, I'm interested!

Beth

[ThreeofUs]

I have some great lead paint tricks up my sleeve if interested, lemme know!


I PM'd you for more info.