2) Steam shower / wet sauna
3) Security system with home automation to warn of surprising movements before they reach your door
4) small aquaculture setup for fish and veggies
5) solar / battery backup
6) solar water heater
7) whole house fan - when it is hotter inside than outside (front comes through, some weird fall/spring days), it will cycle all the air in the house in 30 minutes
8) dedicated zoom studio with lighting, sound, sound deadening, mic
9) library with sliding ladder.... always seems like the epitome of cool
10) stretch rack in bathroom (https://www.roguefitness.com/rogue-stall-bar-3-0)
11) induction cooktop
12) plumbed coffee machine
13) kitchen appliance storage (rotational or other high density method)
14) we added cans through out the halls, kitchen, and dining areas - it made a world of difference and I wish I had done it earlier
15) through wall aquarium
I always thought about plumbed coffee machine though I figure that would just increase my coffee intake substantially. Though having friends come by for coffee might be nice.
What do you mean about cans through the halls kitchen and dining areas?
If you're playing with dimensions for rooms, a secondary bedroom that's bigger than 3m x 3m is nice; even if you don't want a larger sleeping area, it's a good win as an office or hobby room with fewer compromises.
I'd love to see what's the state-of-the-science in terms of insulation. I suspect when you shop for yourself, you can get stuff contractors may not be interested in because it's not lowest bid.
Since the market went red-hot, I notice builders are no longer advertising aggressively on how efficient their houses are. I wonder if they switched back to cardboard walls and 7-SEER AC units when they realized they could sell the houses faster than they could build them and no longer had to make anything compelling.
It's the less fancy recommendation here, but you will never regret having too many electric outlets.
Not one or two, but any place you think you’ll ever need one. It’s much easier to wire these before you have drywall up.
I did this in a basement reno at my old place. Square room, had one on each wall plus one in the extra bedroom. No wifi dead zones, Xbox and TV had no latency.
- tankless water heater
- if you want motorized blinds, have wiring go right to the window frame. You can do a battery otherwise, but you’ll have to recharge it every month.
- solar cells and battery pack
- home automation system (if you’re into that kind of thing)
- timer switches on bathroom fans
- bathroom fan in your laundry room
- hidden safe that’s built in (eg in wall or in floor)
Bathroom fan in laundry to get rid of humidity?? Interesting
Depending on how much work you want to put into things all sorts of things may be doable. Fancy stairwell with a fireman's pole is probably a bit ambitious.
Stone altar / sacrifice pit with plumbing and chimney can make a wonderful center to a den / conversation area room. Cook hot dogs or heretics with the neighbors.
p.s. There are a couple of Greenhouse groups on FB. If you do FB they're worth looking for. I get struck by jealousy and envy at least once per week.