- Whole house/attic fan - amazing.
- Single level home on a slab
- A private interior courtyard for relaxing/entertaining with sliding patio door access from kitchen/family/living spaces.
- Larger 2nd/3rd/4th bedrooms - go minimum 14x14 with walk in closets and private baths
- Avoid overly expansive master bedroom suite . Our master has a 12x14 retreat that is never used. Wasted space IMO. YMMV.
- Every room gets prewire for alarm/sound/data
- Walk in master shower done in natural stone. A curved/swirl entrance for privacy - no more hassle with water stained glass doors. Dual shower heads in said shower - very decadent.
- Heated floors in the bathrooms or as already mentioned heated slab foundation
- Tinted windows - the good stuff. Saves your furnishings and makes indoor lighting pleasant.
- Ceiling fans in all rooms with wall mounted switch for fan and light combo
- Larger (8-12") baseboards really frame a nice floor (stone or wood).
- Solid core doors
- 110v outlets on every corner of the exterior
- 220v dedicated circuit for garage

So fun to spend other peoples money :)

Geothermal is great but remember that if you're running it in a horizontal field, the soil needs to be dense and wet (clay) or underwater to work well. If you're in sandy soil, you may be looking at a vertical (open) set-up which can be a deal-breaker.

Again, tons of great info here. I'm at work and haven't had time to really go over it all yet. Thx again guys!

I am a habitual remodeler. Some of the best things I have done are:

1) Natural gas drops for everything I can imagine. Dryer, range, BBQ, Fireplace, outside firepit.
2) In house theater space. The components are not expensive on the grand scheme. I have mid++ stuff and the whole set up was about 5K for the gear. I did put extra insulation - blown in? Something dense that is very sound resistant. It is a fantastic addition and can be a multi-use room as well.
3) Kitchen design. Make certain that the kitchen is useable for at least two people to cook / clean without bumping into each other. Example: last night my wife and I cooked Italian food / drank a bottle of wine and had a nice time preparing the meal. It was as much fun to cook as it was to eat. Design let that happen.
4) I am a big advocate of having a family room / great room off the kitchen so that the cook can interact with others while cooking. I don't have this and really wish we did.
5) Outdoor living with weather protection. We have a nice patio and will probably add a wood-fired pizza oven. It is lovely. However, it would be better if we had a lid on the patio so that we could enjoy it for the 1/2 year or more that it rains here! Figure this out with out killing the light into the house and you have it made.
6) Light bulbs. Lots and lots of them. I am in a 28 x 15 kitchen now and it has 6 different light switch options - some small spaces and at least 30 different light fixtures. This is Oregon however. It gets dark here!
7) Light again. Plan big windows, reflective surfaces, light paint, etc. Light can always be brought down but never added! Hardwood floors are great for this - Maple is VERY light adding but shows some dirt if you have a dog.
8) Light yet again. I was in a U shaped Rancher recently. I never understood until I realized that every room had windows and was well-lit. It also allowed for a noise separation from one end of the U to the other. A nice plan.
9) That brings me to noise. I lived in a tri-level in my prior home. There was not a quiet place to be found in that house. A rancher needs to spread out to be quiet.
10) Resale. Make your decisions based on what you desire but always look to the final sale. This may be your most valuable asset and if you raise the counters 6 inches (for example), you may throw off potential buyers.

Have fun! I think you will do well as you are research oriented.

Larry

Hi Larry,
Very nice post and good info there!

On your comment above about the outdoor living area...have you considered Palruf sheets? You can get them in various colors & shades...including just clear if you want maximum lighting.

Here's the link: Palruf® Corrugated Sheet - Palram Americas

Best,
Baz

When a friend built his home he had a trench dug below where the basement floor would be. He laid concrete pipe in the trench which was later attached to duct work. The ducting took hot air from the top floor, pumped it through the buried piping, and brought it back to the top floor. Dropped the temp a full 20 degrees F just using low volume fans. Freakin' brilliant.

no so sure this is practical for your climate..
but if/when i do my house..or move. i am going to focus a bit on using my outside space..i would love to sacrifice an outside wall, and turn it into a series of sliding doors or window. if window, make them low enough so that a person can step over a short wall, and get outside. open it all up when weather permits. outside cooking, eating.

of course, that would mean a large portion of $$ would go toward building an outside space you want to be in. could blow the budget.

We ripped out a window in the MBR and replaced it with a slider. That gives us three sliders to access the back yard (living room, dining room, and MBR).

Assembling a pretty good list of ideas from this thread, thx guys.

Goal is 1300 sqft or less on the main floor. Master on the main floor and two kids rooms down (walkout).

A few other things I want to incorporate are:

Carpet in bedrooms only, hard floors in all other rooms.

Metal roof

No horizontal siding anywhere, especially vinyl or aluminum.

Master bath shower to be door-less, will be a walk-around tile set-up.

Some of my favorites from the suggestions so far are:

The small outdoor shower stall off the garage, see lots of advantages to this.

The kick-plate central vac for the hard floors

2x6 wall construction

9' ceilings downstairs

High mount faucets outside

Back-up gen

Door mounted on/off switches for closet/pantry, etc..

Attic fan

There are other too, but just wanted to thank you guys again. My wife has a pretty good sketch-up going.

If you're building, switched outlets under the eaves for xmas lights.

CFLs for outdoor lighting. LEDs aren't quite there yet.

Instead of thinking sq foot first build each room on paper to the size that you want and see what you come

Try to have two small water heater (tankless if you wish). This may eliminate a recirc. pump.

For your doorless shower, have it damnless so there is no tripping. I am not sure if this is the look for you, but we finished up one with steel troweled concrete (you can tile or stone) on all walls and floor with a 3x16" Stainless drain at one end. Maybe too modern for a Ranch style home.

I disagree! But the good ones aren't cheap....

We're using 8W LEDs that put out 60W worth of light. The 250W high bay unit is positively blinding! It is equal to about a 2000W array.

Air drying clothes in the summertime saves on the bills.
Having the laundry room next to an unused corner with a walkout on the same level makes it easy to haul wet laundry.
Table for the basket of course.

A couple places I stayed at in Japan use a simple covered area(inexpensive plastic panel roof), and dried them year round. They combined that nook with a storage shed, wash area, and other "undesirables".