ᐅ What features did you include in your house, and what did you decide to leave out?

Hello,

When planning and building a house, you focus on the essentials and the budget. Some wishes get dropped along the way. But certain small luxuries or nice features are important to you, even if they are not strictly necessary, and you end up including them anyway.

For us, a heated conservatory was an unattainable dream. However, we treated ourselves to tiled, walk-in showers, even though they take up more space.

I would love to hear what you have given up and what you managed to include.

Best regards

Location, location, location! We want to enjoy that and therefore plan to buy a house in the city instead of building a luxury home outside in the countryside.

We are initially opting out of a garage, but will have walk-in showers both upstairs and downstairs, and hardwood flooring everywhere except in the hallway, wet areas, and kitchen. We are also adding a bit more electrical work, such as recessed lighting in the floorboards and bathrooms... these are our little luxury touches in the house.

Allowed:
- Location with a view of greenery, not overlooking other houses like in the town 10 minutes away
- Walk-in showers
- And a few other extras

Declined:
- Larger plot where we could have built a flat roof (we were allowed to on our plot, but due to the eaves height restriction, it would have looked awkward next to the neighboring houses and wouldn’t have really fit the plot anyway)
- Fireplace
- Garage
- Photovoltaic system (empty conduits are installed)
- KNX/EIB home automation
- Swimming pool
- Outbuildings for cooks, cleaning staff, personal trainers, and au-pairs
- Oh, there are so many things...

Hmm, to be honest, I can’t really say we have missed out on anything yet, but we are just starting with the interior work.

So far, we have definitely treated ourselves to
- the large plot of land
- the big house
- many large anthracite-colored windows
- the double garage.

We would still like to have
- a sauna in the bathroom
- a walk-in shower
- rimless toilets (does this count too? )
- a fireplace
- a covered terrace
- ...

In the end, it’s about the complete package. After all, you choose what you like, and everyone picks something different according to their taste.

Hello,
very interesting, but quite different.

@milkie, you seem to be in a rather unique situation where your budget covers all of your wishes. Enjoy it!
But you are also right in a way—everyone realizes their essential wishes differently, and that is very individual.

Here, two have already decided against including a garage—I had also considered going without one. But I have lived without a garage before, and it was frustrating. Just removing snow and scraping ice off the windshield in winter causes too much stress in my daily life. Besides, we don’t have a basement.