Hello everyone!
I’ve often heard the saying, “Your first house is built for an enemy” — I wouldn’t put it quite that harshly, but after a year in a new build, I understand what they meant. 😀 Since we might move again, I’d like to collect some ideas here and benefit from your experiences: What would you do differently if you were to build again?
Here’s what I’ve noted so far:
What about you?
I’ve often heard the saying, “Your first house is built for an enemy” — I wouldn’t put it quite that harshly, but after a year in a new build, I understand what they meant. 😀 Since we might move again, I’d like to collect some ideas here and benefit from your experiences: What would you do differently if you were to build again?
Here’s what I’ve noted so far:
- electric roller shutters
- thermostats with displays
- larger storage room
- less awkwardly shaped rooms
- dedicated cloakroom area
- wooden window sills (?)
- more outdoor power outlets
- power outlets in window frames
What about you?
M
motorradsilke31 Dec 2021 10:38[Cute description, thanks for that. 🙂 ] My husband loves them, and I love my husband. ;-) They are meant to give a general idea; I can put as many table and floor lamps as I want. 🙂
Unfortunately, we can’t install pendant lights because, due to the last-minute 15.4% price increase, we had to forego raising the ceiling height. I’ll mention the price increase a few more times. ;-)
Why do you lower the roller shutters in the open-plan living area when you go to bed? Is there a practical reason? In our previous house, I always made sure to raise any lowered shutters before going to bed so that daylight could come in everywhere first thing in the morning. Generally, I don’t really like closed roller shutters and so far hope to mostly keep them open in the new house.
May I ask why? Thanks.
At a ceiling height of 2.50 m (8 ft 2 in), you can’t hang pendant lights? That’s a standard height for most rental apartments. People usually have pendant lamps as well.
We also only like spotlights outside; we have some in the roof soffit, and they work great there.
Indoors, I don’t like them because I think lamps can be beautiful and add character to a room. Just spotlights seem too bare to me. And you can’t change spotlights quickly—if I don’t like a lamp anymore, I can swap it out easily.
Roller shutters: security against burglary and energy savings. Also, I sometimes walk around the house naked early in the morning, so I don’t want to be seen. In the evenings, I still want to see our garden, so they stay open then. I also don’t like looking at closed shutters. I sleep better since we started closing them at night—it’s completely dark then.
Unfortunately, we can’t install pendant lights because, due to the last-minute 15.4% price increase, we had to forego raising the ceiling height. I’ll mention the price increase a few more times. ;-)
Why do you lower the roller shutters in the open-plan living area when you go to bed? Is there a practical reason? In our previous house, I always made sure to raise any lowered shutters before going to bed so that daylight could come in everywhere first thing in the morning. Generally, I don’t really like closed roller shutters and so far hope to mostly keep them open in the new house.
May I ask why? Thanks.
At a ceiling height of 2.50 m (8 ft 2 in), you can’t hang pendant lights? That’s a standard height for most rental apartments. People usually have pendant lamps as well.
We also only like spotlights outside; we have some in the roof soffit, and they work great there.
Indoors, I don’t like them because I think lamps can be beautiful and add character to a room. Just spotlights seem too bare to me. And you can’t change spotlights quickly—if I don’t like a lamp anymore, I can swap it out easily.
Roller shutters: security against burglary and energy savings. Also, I sometimes walk around the house naked early in the morning, so I don’t want to be seen. In the evenings, I still want to see our garden, so they stay open then. I also don’t like looking at closed shutters. I sleep better since we started closing them at night—it’s completely dark then.
H
Hausbautraum2031 Dec 2021 10:38Pinkiponk schrieb:
Unfortunately, we can’t install pendant lamps because we have to forgo the additional floor due to the last-minute 15.4% price increase. I’ll be mentioning that price increase quite a bit more. ;-)What ceiling height do you have?
Ours is 2.40 m (7 ft 10 in), and almost every room has pendant lamps...
B
blubbernase31 Dec 2021 10:46I wouldn’t have thought that roller shutters could be such a contentious topic.
In our rented single-family house, we have both electric and manual roller shutters, as well as pleated blinds on the street-facing windows.
As soon as it gets dark, they are closed—just like all the other houses on the street. You can see everything inside clearly when it’s bright indoors and dark outside. But we tend to be quite private. Manual roller shutters are a bit annoying, prone to faults, and the straps get dirty over time, as does the wall behind them if you’re not careful.
At the moment, we have Rademacher roller shutters with their home station included in the offer—let’s see if that stays.
We didn’t build our house, but we have been living in a rented single-family house for years. Things we would plan differently: a proper entrance area with a wardrobe, access to the garden/garage from the kitchen, no awkwardly shaped garden, recessed ceiling lights in the hallway, kitchen, and bathroom, washing machine and dryer near the bedrooms instead of in the basement, outdoor access to a shower (for dogs), much smaller bedroom, smaller home office.
In our rented single-family house, we have both electric and manual roller shutters, as well as pleated blinds on the street-facing windows.
As soon as it gets dark, they are closed—just like all the other houses on the street. You can see everything inside clearly when it’s bright indoors and dark outside. But we tend to be quite private. Manual roller shutters are a bit annoying, prone to faults, and the straps get dirty over time, as does the wall behind them if you’re not careful.
At the moment, we have Rademacher roller shutters with their home station included in the offer—let’s see if that stays.
We didn’t build our house, but we have been living in a rented single-family house for years. Things we would plan differently: a proper entrance area with a wardrobe, access to the garden/garage from the kitchen, no awkwardly shaped garden, recessed ceiling lights in the hallway, kitchen, and bathroom, washing machine and dryer near the bedrooms instead of in the basement, outdoor access to a shower (for dogs), much smaller bedroom, smaller home office.
I wanted to ask about the thermostats that were mentioned several times in the first posts. Are they included anyway because of heating control, and if so, would you prefer ones with a display? Or what's the reason behind it? Or do you currently not have any and would like to have some? (Why?)
B
Benutzer20031 Dec 2021 11:05mayglow schrieb:
I wanted to ask about the thermostats that were mentioned frequently in the first posts.Some people want “gadgets,” digital with displays and coffee maker functions 🙄. Others prefer to avoid them entirely because, in a new build, the temperature is controlled by the properly designed heating system, making thermostats basically unnecessary (although technically required). For example, I haven’t installed any in the whole house and therefore don’t spoil the walls with them.
I have never really thought about thermostats. They are just there and set to 21 degrees Celsius (70°F). That’s it. It’s just a rotary dial with numbers on it.
Lighting. I see it the same way as Silke. In living areas, it’s lighting fixtures. Only in the hallway do we have recessed ceiling spotlights. They are fine there.
Lighting. I see it the same way as Silke. In living areas, it’s lighting fixtures. Only in the hallway do we have recessed ceiling spotlights. They are fine there.
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