Dream home

Over the years I have lived in a number of properties. By the time I reached my teenage years the number of houses I had called home was in the double digits. Some of the houses were ones we owned, others privately rented.

Having lived in numerous houses and experienced the benefits and downsides of both owning and renting a house, I have developed my own views on what makes a good home.

My thoughts of what makes a good home has inspired me to dream of the perfect home. As my life has changed over the years, from being a single 20-something with no responsibilities to a mum in a family of 4 in her early 30’s my dream home has also changed. Before having my own little family my dream home consisted of a spacious, modern apartment. Then I met Lee and settled down and had kids. Now my dream home is a large home fit for a growing family.

If money was no issue my true dream home would be building our own home.

By starting from scratch we could build the home of our dreams. It would mean we could design and build the house as we want so that it is a home ideal for us and our needs.

My dream home would have a large kitchen diner as the heart of the home where the family could eat and chat together. It would have a spacious living room for relaxing in and a generous room that we would have as a playroom for all of the kids toys.

The home would have bedrooms large enough for the family to grow. Both the boys would have a bedroom to call their own rather than having to share, and we would ideally have a spare room or two for adding to the family in the future as well as giving us a little bit of room for having family visit. The family bathroom would be a generous size with a spacious, luxury tub for lots of splishy splashy bath time fun. The master bedroom would also have an en-suite bathroom.

The house would be built with a garage for the car so we no longer have the struggle of parking as we currently do and a grand garden ideal for the kids play in and for us to entertain in with BBQ’s in the summer.

Now all I need is to find that money tree down the bottom of the garden and then we could make our dream come true and build our own home.

Whilst it is only a mere dream right now I am always keeping an eye out for tips and advice about how to go about building a home. If you plan on building your own home here are a few things to remember - 

* Hire the right people for the job
Building your own home is a large task and if you have no building experience yourself it is wise to hire the right people for the job. Find and hire reputable builders and architects to help make your dream home come reality. It is wise to remember to look at their past work and get references before deciding if they are the right builders/architects for you.

* Insurance
To help protect your property investment and dream make sure to take out specialist building insurance such as the policies provided by CRL .

* Plan, plan, plan
Whilst it may seem like common sense, make sure to plan all details of your home before setting in stone including finer details so that your vision will be ideal for you and work well within your home. Make sure to look at key things such as location of rooms and flow of the house. Also ensure to look at the finer details of location of fixtures and fittings, along with keeping in mind furniture placement when everything is complete. It is also wise to plan as much as possible beforehand such as fixtures and fittings so that you don't have to waste time during building (time costs money) to decide on what tiles work best in the bathroom or what kitchen worktops look the best.

* Collaborative post *