This week we are asked to describe our dream house.

When I was a kid, I actually drew plans for my dream house. As I recall, it consisted of a lot of bedrooms and bathrooms,(I never had my own room and we always fought over one bathroom), and it had STORAGE.

I was always insecure and wanted to keep everything. In that dream house, I had rooms of cabinets and even deep containers built into the middle of the room where things could be placed and found.

Finding things is still a problem in my house.

Now I don’t feel the need to keep everything. And although I would like a bigger house with room for everyone and everything, I am seriously considering downsizing.

But we are talking dream homes. OK, here goes:

I want a really good kitchen. I have suffered through having a really small one with a really small oven for 23 years and it’s been a real trial for me. I want multiple ovens, two big refrigerators and a large, built-in dishwasher. I did not want to sacrifice cabinet space to have one put in when I moved into my present house, but the portable ones we’ve bought have tied-up the kitchen at least once a day for an hour and it is really annoying. I should have sacrificed the cabinets, though, since they were put in badly and have blind corners that are really hard to reach. I just had The Grandson pull most of what was in the bottom ones out so I could take stock; you would not believe how much old stuff I found in the ‘dead end’ corners of the upper ones. So, I want easy-access cabinets, too, with shelves that glide out easily. It needs to have a large table and open up into a ‘family room’, and probably a screened-in patio.

I’d like a big bedroom with a sitting/study area. I am also spoiled with en suite bathrooms, but I also want one with a big bathtub. I have hardly used the one I now have; it’s small and annoying.

I’d like a few spare rooms for family and friends, with sufficient baths as well, perhaps on the opposite side of the house from mine. I want some privacy and I don’t want to hear them getting up, conversing, listening to media, etc., as I have to now.

Plus, I want many closets! We have pathetic closet space here. When the realtor who bought my townhouse listed what he expected me to leave, (fridge, stove, etc.), he listed the walk-in closet in my bedroom(!) and I often mutter under my breath that I should have tried to bring it with me.

I’d like my library back. Yes, I had one in what was built as a den here. In fact, we had it as a classroom when I homeschooled, but since no one in Kentucky would sit on my daybed, when someone offered me a sofa bed I jumped at it and put the daybed in the library, which meant that I needed to move some of the bookshelves into the living room. I’ve regretted that, too. I suppose I want an office off of the library, but somewhere that is quiet with a view .

I guess it comes as no surprise to anyone that all of we Foxes and the Hound want to include a library in our dream homes.

I’d like a music room, (since the piano ended up in the ‘library’ as well), I’d like a game room, a craft/sewing room and probably a small theater, since we enjoy our movies. I almost never go to the theater anymore.(Not since the last Harry Potter movie. I even skipped going out to see the last of the “Pirates of the Caribbean”.)

And I’d like all of this on one floor, with a nice yard with flowers and trees, gardener included. (My mother once pointed out a very nice, very big house. I said, “I’d hate to have to clean it.” Mom answered, “If you can afford a house like that, you can afford help”. )

I want this in a place that is temperate, (five months of Spring, five of Autumn, one of Winter, one of Summer would be great), and I want a nice view, preferably on or near water.

Hey, you asked for my DREAM home, didn’t you?