Since I very first joined Pinterest, I’ve had a board on there called Home Someday.  I love going and scrolling through all the pretty house-y things that I’d love to incorporate into my home someday. Working on the dollhouse has made me think about my dream house even more and so I decided it would be fun to do a post about it!

When I was growing up, my parents and I moved houses every few years. Nowadays it’s called flipping houses (thanks to HGtv) but back then we just called it moving a lot.  My childhood was spent in a double handful of wonderful old houses full of intrigue…there were butler’s pantries, hot pink shag carpet, secret closets, medicine cabinets that smelled of years old lilac talc, round rooms with turrets, cast iron stoves, musty closets of forgotten treasure, concrete lawn furniture, and stay cats.  Always stray cats.

Before I go any further I have to confess that I love the idea of tiny houses but I do not like their reality.  The first lesson I learned when living with an old boyfriend was that our house was TOO SMALL.  A bigger house is better. I’m not talking about a McMansion, but I firmly believe both parts of a couple need their own room to do with what they please. You think I kid, but I have a lot of hobbies and I expect any man of mine to have hobbies, too.  If it is a small house then there needs to be pout house* for each person.  I can adjust my lifestyle financially to account for my spatial needs. Space is important!

*continue reading for more on this idea.

Some of the things I want for my dream house are little details that remind me of my childhood homes.

FIRST AND FOREMOST: Beautiful door knobs!

via The Blind Peacock

Some of our houses had clear cut glass door knobs.  There was a door knob like this purple one in the kitchen of the Parish Hall at the Lutheran church I attended as a teen.  I’ve always been drawn to sparkly things and I coveted the heck out of those knobs. I came across these cute milk bottle lid knobs over on etsy.  I like things like knobs that can be taken with you when you if or when you have to move.

Drawer pulls from Lil and Jill on Etsy.

via Lil and Jill

Switch plates are a similar easily movable thing. There was a house that I used to clean that had different switch plates on nearly every light switch in the house.  The plates were something the family had collected over the years as they traveled. It’s such a small, light little thing to pick up to remember a vacation or adventure by.

These switch plates by Tin Can Sally are perfection!!

via http://www.etsy.com/shop/tincansally

via http://www.etsy.com/shop/tincansally

Anyone who knows me even the least little bit will know that I LOVE DISHES and that I love to display pretty things.  This custom made mug display is incredible.  The design seems more secure than some I have seen–like a rogue cat or kid could run by this and not destroy everything.  Which is pretty important.

via Sweet Nothings

I have always thought it would be so fun to have water fountain in the kitchen or hallway. One with a foot pedal would be the absolute best so that you could use it even if your hands were covered in flour or paint or some other such mess.

http://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/vtg-antique-westinghouse-water-cooler-1731322269

http://antiqueshopsinohio.com/franklin/worthington/historic_drinking_fountain_worthington.jpg

AND! I’ve always wanted a vending machine.

I would love to have one of these bad boys stocked with cans of coconut LaCroix and Natural Light.  Yes, I am the hipster your mother warned you about.

http://blog.retroplanet.com/1950s-classic-soda-machine-choosing-one-to-restore/

http://www.bitw.com/bitwrestorations.htm

I love painted wood floors.  One of my favorite houses that we lived in, the one we lovingly if not accurately called The Cabin, had old wooden floors that we painted dark green.  I thought they were the most beautiful floors in the world.  These floors from The Elliott Homestead are so perfect.  If you can’t keep floors pristine (and really, who can) I say go with the purposefully distressed look!

via The Elliott Homestead

via The Elliott Homestead

Speaking of DIY sorts of things, I love bottle windows like the one below.  I fell so far down the rabbit hole looking at bottle windows that I decided to do a whole post on the history of them.  Here is a pretty teaser until then. Another house want: a bottle window.

I cannot find a real link to who actually took this picture or where it came from.  I usually don’t include content that I can’t credit but I love this so much I am putting it out here anyway. Certainly let me know if it is your photo so I can tell the world.

Obadiah’s Cookstoves are apparently THE NAME in wood-burning cook stoves. I heard about them from Boss of the Swamp and I am so ready to have one of these in my life.  This model is especially wonderful because you can see the fire going through the glass door.

You’re probably wondering about that pout house thing. A few months back, I over heard two older married couples talking about moving into smaller houses. The one gent said he was fine with a smaller house so long as he could still have his pout house out back.  He suspected I was eavesdropping on them and his eyes started to twinkle.  He turned to me and said, “I think these days you kids call it a man cave but men of my age need a shed out back to tinker in.” My mind was blown by the articulation of this concept! There were many times my father went out to the workshop to work on a project and pout!  Everyone should have a place for this.  So especially if you have small house , there need to be enough spaces for pouting.  Or doing crafty stuff.  Or both.

POUT HOUSE exhibit A.

via Studio M

But when it’s all said and done, porches are probably the most important part of my dream house. There is nothing so wonderful as a porch that wraps around a whole house.  Or like many homes traditionally had in the deep, deep south: an outdoor kitchen. These spaces for outside living with cover over your head are invaluable for doing your living outside. I guess that makes porches sort of like outside living rooms.  Gosh, I may love them even more now.

via Anne Bastille

So to recap, I want cool door knobs/drawer pulls/switchplates, display areas that are pet safe-ish, a water fountain, a vending machine, painted floors, a cast iron wood stove, porches on at least 3 sides of the house, at least one bottle window, and a pout house. Check? Check.

Y’all want to come visit, or what?!