After months of house hunting, we put in an offer on a house today. Overall, we really like the house and it meets all our needs. However, it has two features that are on my list of pet peeves in houses: the master bedroom closet is in the bathroom and there is no porch or covering over the front entry.
I wonder what brilliant designer/architect/home builder first decided to that it would be a good idea to force a homeowner to walk through their bedroom to get to their closet. It must have been someone of substantial influence in the home building world, as this feature has been found in many of the homes we have seen during our home search. It doesn’t make any sense to me, and logic dictates that it can’t be good for clothing to be exposed to the high humidity of a bathroom. If our offer is accepted on this house, our first order of business upon taking possession will be to have the bathroom and closet remodeled.
I don’t understand why anyone would build a house without a front porch or at least a portico over the stoop. On rainy days, I don’t want my guests exposed to the elements until I can open the door and allow them to enter the house. Also, a porch or portico adds architectural interest. Obviously, it’s cheaper to install a front door with a simple stoop, but I find those designs don’t have the curb appeal of a house with a grander front entry. If we wind up buying this house, adding a portico will be high on our “must-do” list.
This experience led me to enumerate other house design pet peeves of mine.
1) Cook top in the island. I like to have a large counter space for chopping vegetables, baking cakes, and other food preparation. The island is the ideal spot and having the cook top in the island interferes with that. I won’t even consider a home with this pet peeve. I look forward to my grandchildren being old enough to sit around the island and help me make cookies.
2) Kitchen counter visible from front door. I don’t want my kitchen counter to be the first thing guests see as they come in my front door. If I had a kitchen with that design, I would have to keep my kitchen spotless all the time. There’s no possibility of that happening, so I eliminate houses with that design from my search.
3) Laundry room/closet in the kitchen. Fortunately we haven’t seen this often but we have seen it. My kitchen is the hub of my house and there is more than enough going on in there without having to deal with laundry there.
4) No foyer. Most of the houses we’ve looked at had at least a small foyer, but a few have come straight into the living room and one entered into the kitchen. That will not do for me.
5) Carpet in the bathroom. We aren’t seeing this often but we have seen it in a few homes. I suppose those homeowners liked the warmth carpeting provides, but I think it would be difficult to keep clean. At least this pet peeve is easily and relatively inexpensively fixed.
6) Walk up basements. Our preference is that the basement door be at walkout level. If that isn’t feasible, we would prefer no basement entry, as walk up basements are prone to flooding. This is one pet peeved that cannot be changed, so those houses don’t make it on our list of contenders.
7) Laundry in basement. We currently have a colonial home with a basement laundry room. It does provide for a spacious laundry area, but I am tired of carrying laundry up and down two flights of stairs. We’ll save those houses for homebuyers with younger legs.
8) Tiny showers. The home we are trying to buy has a shower that is larger than a cruise ship shower but not by much. I’m not sure that I could shave my legs in that shower. While we are remodeling the bathroom to get the closet out of it, we will be increasing the size of the shower considerably. We’ll probably add a built-in seat while we’re at it. My husband will much prefer that to me refusing to shave my legs.
Those are the top 10 things we are trying to avoid in our next home. We realize it is unlike we will find the “perfect” house without any of these features. However, we will only consider houses that can be modified to eliminate any pet peeves.
What are your biggest pet peeves when it comes to house features? What will make you say “no way” to buying a house you otherwise like?
Susan's Reflections 
Susan,
We have a huge closet that you walk through the bathroom to get to. It’s a room with a door. Mike can go into the bathroom in the morning, take his shower, and get completely dressed without bothering me in the bedroom. I like that. All your other points are spot on.
Bev
Interesting, Bev. Is the closet big enough for his dresser? I have my dresser in the bedroom, so I would have to go from the bathroom to the dresser and then back through the bathroom to the closet. The closet in the house we are buying isn’t large enough for a dresser. Also, do you have any problems with moisture getting into your clothes?
I cannot, will not have a house with a small kitchen. When Jeff and I were apartment hunting (we haven’t purchased a home yet) we had a very hard time finding something with a decent sized kitchen. We both love to cook and a small kitchen just won’t do. Other then that, I’m not too picky and would be willing to buy something I loved if it meant making a few, small changes (i.e. – carpet in the bathroom. I seriously hate that, too).
I agree that having a big kitchen is the number one priority when selecting a place to live. It’s fun to cook with a bunch of family or friends when you have the room to get everyone into the kitchen comfortably. Thinking about you, Samantha, and big kitchens make miss Papa’s Pizza To-Go a little bit. I don’t miss the work, but I miss all my wonderful employees, like you. And I’d love to have the counter space we had there.
I thought about you guys Saturday night when my hubby and I made a homemade pizza! I would be willing to bet that Papa’s was the last time I had actually made a pizza! Boy would I love to have that counter space AND the oven 🙂
We could bake a lot of pizzas in that oven!