Neighborhood hunting
While we were home for christmas last month my husband and I went looking in so many neighborhoods to try and decide where we will begin our home search when we finally move home someday.  It has prompted a lot of conversation between the 2 of us about what we like in a home.  So I wanted to make a record of some of my favorite home features that we have seen.  Here are some of them

Space for kids to put their bags and coats after school is a MUST.  If there is not something existing, I'd want a space indoors, or in the garage where we could create a "mud room" type of thing.

Because lets face it, their stuff won't end up in the coat closet.  

Opening a closet door is just too much for kids ;)

This one has a creative solution for no laundry room in the main house.  Instead of putting the laundry in the garage, they covered the porch and put it in there.  I'd much rather pull my clean clothes out there, than on a dirty garage floor if Its not possible for it to be in the main house.  And in the summer it would not make the house hot to run the clothes dryer.

 outside view of enclosed porch laundry room.  Its also a good idea for a mud room for the kids to dump their stuff after school.

This picture shows 3 of my favorite features -

• Hard flooring for walkways, but wall to wall carpet in the family room/living room.  (I know it will need to be replaced every 5 years or so with kids, but the comfort is worth it to me.  And if it is just the 1 room, it won't be terribly expensive to replace.)
• I LOVE built ins.  I think they really class up a home.
• A family/living room that is large enough for 3 couches.  We have a family of 6 now, so we need plenty of room for us all to sit down and relax together.  (I don't care about a formal dining room, or having both a living room and family room.)

 I am not afraid of upgrading stuff.  In fact, I think that sounds like a lot of fun.  So if something is functional, but looks outdated, I am all about buying it so long as the space allows for us to dream up something awesome when the time is right.

This was something I liked for a kitchen space not large enough for a feee standing table and chairs.  Put in a built-in table and benches for a work station and the kids to hang out while Mom works

This picture show 2 more of my favorite features

• the 3 sided wall with windows to allow for a round or oval kitchen table
• a bar counter in the kitchen for kids to sit at and feel like they have Mom's attention even when she is busy doing dishes or making dinner and still be out of her way :)

 built in desks in the kitchen are awesome and help Moms stay organized with their menu planning and reminders for school.

A BIG kitchen NO-NO in my mind is tile countertops (not so bad for bathrooms)   The grout gets food stuck in it, cookie dough and pie crust don't roll flat and  eventually the grout get stained in the well used areas of the counter.  NO THANK YOU!

I LOVE architectural features.  So attic rooms are very charming and visually interesting to me.

Saw this and LOVED it.  Especially because you could add this to just about any home with a little extra flat outdoor space.  If you put it in the front yard think of all the neighborhood kids that would floc to your house when you roast hotdogs and marshmallows for FHE.

 As far as the outside goes, again, I like dimension and character that is visually interesting.  So I love Trim and architectural detail.

 This house reminds me of the home in the "Father of the Bride" movies.  Love the movie, love the house.  Cute fence and…

 …Gables are a huge plus in my mind.  

 I also like brick or rockery on the bottom of the house.

I guess I am not very picky about bathrooms.  Just so long as there is

• storage
• a grown up sized shower (I don't want my butt to touch the side of the shower when I bend over that is gross to me for some reason.
• a bath tub somewhere in the house for little kids
• And they are easy to clean.  If we bought something with an outdated bathroom that had bad grout around the toilet or tun, that would be priority 1 on the renovation list.

Obviously no home will have all of these features, but it is fun to dream.