First of all, I’ll say that this house will probably be in New Hampshire because I want as little government interference as possible.

Second, I’ll say that if our permaculture homestead dreams do come true and we do purchase land, then the priority will be planting (and preparing the soil) before building the house.

Thirdly, I’d like to remind anyone who may be reading this that these are just things that I like, I don’t at all think that I need any of these things, because this world is not my home. But if you are going to live in a house, you might as well make it nice, right?

And if you want to see more eye candy posts like this one, here is the KITCHEN (recently updated), HOMESTEAD (outdoor stuff), and MUDROOM.

First and foremost, I’d like to be really smart about building – by that I mean that I want EVERYTHING to be really intentional. So, passive solar – facing the house with lots of windows to the South would probably be the first priority. Also, I want a smallish house (really inspired by Susan Susanka’s Not So Big House series) that takes advantage of every inch of space with built-ins and window seats, etc.

I also really want an open floorplan – by that I mean a kitchen that is open to the living room/great room, with a nearby laundry, pantry, e-space (desk w/ charging station). Another benefit of a small house is that everything is close to everything else. I love efficiency. And less to clean!

I really really really want a window seat – or five! I love that they can be used as a cozy couch away from the busy part of the house (a reading nook) AND they can be a guest bed when needed.

This particular image (above) is just so amazing. I see it in my dreams and I hope I can put something like it in our home someday.

This one combines my desire for little nooks, window seats, and BOOKS! Love it!

Books! Everywhere I want books! In addition to an actual library/away room that could also function as a project room/craft room, I hope to incorporate lots of bookshelves in a wide hallway with window seats. What can I say, we are homeschoolers and we love books.

Although similar to a window seat, I also want a banquette – as a breakfast nook or some casual built-in seating in addition to a separate dining room which would be open to the large living room.

I just love a gorgeous stairway/bannister

I like how these shallow drawers are built between the wall studs to add in some bathroom storage.

I hope to have a summer kitchen outdoors:

And Kent would really love to have a wood-fired pizza oven. He has a book on how to build your own out of cobb!

We might need a pizza oven indoors too! I am REALLY excited about rocket stoves and rocket mass heaters!!!!!

I like the idea of just one large “family bathroom” with a long sink so that multiple people can brush teeth at once. I like the idea of having only one bathroom to keep clean =) I really want our whole house to be completely off grid (for both power and water). I’d like to have a Lovable Loo (kind of like a composting toilet, but more like humanure) and use rainwater for incoming sink water and then managing the water as greywater in the garden.

Hot water for our enormous tub (I want my shoulders and knees to me able to be in the water at the same time) and showers (as well as hot water for the kitchen & laundry) will be supplied by solar hot water panels on the roof and also the wood burning stove in the winter.

Normally I don’t love the look of interior cobb (typically lots of curves and improvisational shapes), but I really like this image. I especially like the idea of a warm spot to sit near the fire in the kitchen

I so love pocket French doors!           

I love this pull-out shelf (available when needed, stowed away when not).

Here are some floorplans I really like (all the same designer):