Bank Holiday fun: the cherry on the cake!

[Dreadnaught]

For a bit of bank-holiday fun, tell us the one feature of your house design, or future design, that is your favourite — the cherry-on-the-cake, the wow-factor, your pièce de résistance, your pride-and-joy? 

 

Choose anything at all: on show or hidden away, aesthetic or structural, thematic or specific, real or imagined, present or future, sensible or just plain silly.

Edited May 26, 2018 by Dreadnaught

[ProDave]

It has to be the location. Why else would we be building a house less than 100 metres from the last house we built 15 years ago?

 

But this time it is better than the last one, we get a view of the mountains to the West of us, which is made a feature in the views from the kitchen / diner windows. The previous house was robbed of those views by trees in the neighbours garden so we only got to see farmland and relatively low hills.

[joe90]

Well I will kick this off with my newly finished stairs, stairbox for wood and a foundry in Hull for the spindles.

[Mr Punter]

Very nice indeed.  It looks very well finished.  Rather eclipsed by the stairs of @AliG https://forum.buildhub.org.uk/topic/164-hello-again-work-has-finally-started/?page=7

which I suspect was on a rather larger budget.  Can I put his forward, as I haven't done anything as WOW?

[lizzie]

I think I have 2 wows my kitchen and my view......and I do love my shower.... 3 then!

[Onoff]

Erm...read this earlier. Couldn't think of anything. Re-read just now and still nada. I'd change everything if I had the £.

 

[newhome]

My favourite part is my kitchen / family room. I never actually use any of the other rooms, well apart from the master bedroom and bathroom. Hubby fitted the whole kitchen including the electrics and plumbing on his own and I think he made a pretty decent job of it. 

 

I also like the integrated blinds as they mean that I don’t have to be bothered with curtains or blinds, or better still cleaning them. 

 

Oh and the oak floors, staircase and skirting. I like those too. 

[Barney12]

Certainly the most talked about is the cat flap. It’s become somewhat infamous in the village. Mostly because I don’t have a cat  

 

But a close second is my Quooker boiler water tap. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to go back to a kettle!

 

 

 

[SteamyTea]

The A30, gets me places really quick.

[Gone West]

12 hours ago, Dreadnaught said:

Choose anything at all:

I'm struggling to come up with anything at the moment, but I'll keep pondering.

[Trw144]

46 minutes ago, Barney12 said:

 

But a close second is my Quooker boiler water tap. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to go back to a kettle!

 

 

 

Agreed, it’s my biggest recommendation to everyone. 

[Ferdinand]

I didn't build this, but some things are good. Most satisfying points are probably the location, finishes, and the excellent design given that it is the wrong way round (back to North).

 

But the shower cubicle gets people talking, and is enjoyable. Gas on right, electric on left. Always have a chair in a shower.

 

 

My favourite current item is probably the Bear-Fridge. ("Lee-Bear").

 

 

The un-wow thing is the out of line doors in the utility room.

 

 

F

Edited May 26, 2018 by Ferdinand

[Onoff]

Actually it's got to be the Super King size bed I made from a standard double bed base. 

 

When then I'm asleep I can forget about everything else for a bit.

[epsilonGreedy]

17 hours ago, ProDave said:

It has to be the location. Why else would we be building a house less than 100 metres from the last house we built 15 years ago?

 

 

And for me its the location too.

 

The first thing I look for in any property is how it relates to the local topology, next comes community. My plot sits within some interesting folds in the Lincolnshire Wolds which remind me of the ups and downs in south Devon. I recall standing behind Swmbo on our first visit to the plot, pointing to a hill 1/2 a mile away and saying if we are up early on a spring morning and look out of the bedroom window the sun will be highlighting the pastures at the top. On a subsequent walk around the village we encountered happy folk leaving the weekly woodcarving class and further up the lane an old gent was selling cottage garden plants from his front garden in aid of the village hall.

 

Grand designers will find little of interest in my future modest house however for the past 15 years I have often described my dream house as a Georgian rectory sitting on some rural hills about 15 miles from Exeter. My mini faux Georgian rectory does not fall too far short of that dream house.

[Declan52]

Has to be my mhrv. Previous house was always stuffy and generally had enough condensation to fill a bath when it got cold. Now it just works away with no effort and the house just feels so much better to live in. 

[Cpd]

When I got my property it was very neglected and in a terrible state, its going to take many years to pull it all together. I spent my life savings on it and the main reason was location location

location. My dreams are endless And living in such a stunning location is very inspiring.  

Looking south through the shed door down the property.

Looking west from top of property.

Looking north 2 minutes walk from northern end of property. 

[PeterW]

@Cpd that is just a set of stunning views ...

[Onoff]

And with @Cpd we have a winner!

 

Can't compete with that. 

 

Could you ski down that Northern view?

[Cpd]

 

1 minute ago, Onoff said:

Could you ski down that Northern view?

As its so close to the sea we rarely get snow and when it does snow it does not last for long. However as soon as it snows all the kids shoot down any available shitty sheep  hill they can find on plastic feed bags...... looking north towards the Nevis range where there is plenty of skiing. 

[vivienz]

37 minutes ago, Cpd said:

When I got my property it was very neglected and in a terrible state, its going to take many years to pull it all together. I spent my life savings on it and the main reason was location location

location. My dreams are endless And living in such a stunning location is very inspiring.  

Looking south through the shed door down the property.

Looking west from top of property.

Looking north 2 minutes walk from northern end of property. 

Bloody hell, that's amazing. I'm not even going to bother posting now other than I have what I have and I'm quite content with getting my house built and moving in.

Edited May 26, 2018 by vivienz

[lizzie]

Thats a big wow @Cpd fabulous must gladden your heart every time you look out

[CC45]

@Cpd fantastic views. Truely awsome.  

[Cpd]

7 hours ago, lizzie said:

Thats a big wow @Cpd fabulous must gladden your heart every time you look out

It totally does. One of the reasons the houses are taking so long is that I spend so  much time in the gardens trying to transform them from fairly mono cultured environments (sheep paddock, bogland and craggy hillsides)  into something that will one day be able to at least compliment there surroundings. But the surroundings are soooo stunning that even with ones best efforts its hard to bring the two together, but I do like the challenge..... 

[newhome]

1 hour ago, Cpd said:

into something that will one day be able to at least compliment there surroundings.

 

Have you put the plans up on here @Cpd  would love to see what you plan to do. There is some stunning scenery in Scotland and you’re right in the thick of it there. 

[Cpd]

1 hour ago, newhome said:

Have you put the plans up on here @Cpd  would love to see what you plan to do.

Not as yet as I am trying to get all my ducks lined up, pull together the various fragmented ideas and present it in a legible format. The paper stuff does not do justice to the wild picture in my head !