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My bathroom is the size of a litter box. It’s absolutely perfect for my three-year-old son—or a Smurf. My husband, who is 6 feet 4 inches tall, can stand in the middle of this bite-size space, stretch out his arms and frisk each opposing wall. A mere 9 3/4 inches reside between the tub and toilet. I attempt to look on the bright side and imagine the tub as a built-in ottoman while I use the commode. As Oprah would say, this I know for sure: My bathroom is not part of anyone’s utopian dream house.
If money trees flourished in my pretend, impeccably landscaped garden, I’d have a pristine claw-foot tub, a spa area with temperature-controlled massage tables and an on-call masseuse. And a separate bathroom for my children. And another one for my husband. And a mirror that says, “What baby weight?”
The nonsensically affluent have the means to acquire at whim. And, yes, dream homes may require big budgets, but it’s not all about money.
“It depends on personal taste,” says Colleen Ertl, senior designer and vice president of Diane Breckenridge Interiors. Most hunger for comfort, which can be achieved with such uncommon elements as a Thermique towel warmer. Comprised of engineered glass, the device heats towels electrically, dispersing heaven into every fiber.
Likewise, Ertl adds, floor warming systems are dream home must-haves. Installed just beneath a floor’s surface, custom-built warming systems conquer the chill and radiate a cozy splendor throughout every room. (Some extend the system outside to eliminate any ice on the driveway.)
Warming systems take second place to lavish floors—the foundation of a room’s aura. Interior designers crow over brilliant marble, custom-created porcelain tile and limestone. According to Michael Pepper, president of Edwin Pepper Interiors, “high-end, luxury homes can achieve exquisite looks with limestone in different finishes, porcelain and ceramic tiles in many colorations and designs.” Meritorious woods, such as walnut, cherry and teak are extravagant, yet effortlessly veer a mediocre room into another stratosphere.
But what really resides at the root of rapture isn’t flooring--—it’s kitchens. From countertops to cabinets, a dream home’s kitchen is a source of unbridled glee. “Elegant onyx countertops are unsuspected,” says Pepper, and unrivaled. Among other necessities of the high life, refrigerated wine closets and flat-screen televisions can be built right into the cabinetry.
Ertl speaks of built-in espresso machines, while Pepper notes the importance of professional-grade appliances. “Branding is important,” says Pepper. Viking, Wolf, and Sub-Zero are all premium brands with unique features, such as hidden control panels, wok grates for lovers of Asian cuisine, and top grills.
Susan Raney, owner of Design Potentials, believes that it’s not necessarily what’s new, “but what makes life easier.” Because of this, Raney sees plenty of double-drawer dishwashers that blend into the kitchen with custom-wood panels to match cabinets, as well as double sinks and multiple warming drawers. A new feature in some dream kitchens, Raney notes, is the refrigerated range—a dream for any busy person. Called the Whirlpool Polara, any dish can be placed inside the range while in refrigeration mode—then, at a certain programmed time, the range will turn up the heat and fully cook the meal while the homeowner is away.
Another convenient, all-in-one is the washer/dryer combo, a new appliance from LG designed to alleviate the hustle and bustle of laundry duty. These one-unit dynamos use less energy and water, and ensure that a load of laundry forgotten in the washer will never again be lost to mildew.
Architect Helen Lee of Tao and Lee embraces the opportunity for creative indulgences. “For a child’s bedroom, we created a secret door because of his love of Harry Potter books,” she says. Glass handrails that “disappear” into the wall or metal-roof houses are elegant touches, says Lee, who believes “people appreciate the details.”
Emily Castle of Castle Design mentions the Lutron Grafik Eye as a favored splurge item. “It’s a control panel that controls the lighting in the room by scenes used in place of standard dimmers.” So, with a light touch of a button, rooms can be set for entertaining, at home romance or extreme low light that enables a midnight wanderer to see the steps before tumbling down them.
Luxury can also be showcased in every area. “If you can imagine it, someone will ask you for it,” says Paul Doerner of The Lawrence Group, who designed a karaoke room for one client’s dream home. Home theaters are more embellished than ever, says Pepper, with “old-fashioned soda machines and ticket booths leading up to the theater.” More collectors are adding art galleries with authentic gallery lighting, Doerner says.
Sports like golf and basketball are moving indoors with golf simulators and basketball courts built in lower levels. Meanwhile, indoor activities are moving out. “You see people living outside more—an outdoor kitchen is another entertainment space,” says Doerner. Outdoor kitchens with brick ovens, motorized rotisseries, refrigeration and gas chimneys make patio dining accessible during multiple seasons.
Indoor spas, in- and outdoor swimming pools, wine cellars complete with cigar rooms and even batting cages reflect dream-home owners’ passions. Of course, let us not forget the now standard item on anyone’s dream list—the room-sized closet, built by the closet specialists with a place for everything and everything in its place.
When Bob Walpert, president of Walpert Properties, had his dream house built, he ordered up a separate garage (with a spotless black-and-white tile floor) just for his vintage cars.
And sometimes—though probably not often enough—the priority is not just the homeowner’s own comfort, but the environment.
Helen Lee encourages her clients to consider eco-friendly options. “As a responsible architect, I always ask if they really need the square footage,” Lee says. Clients usually swear they do, so Lee’s motto then becomes, “build better, not bigger.”
For Susan Raney, clients who buy antiques are unknowingly helping the environment. “There’s a reclaiming of old products,” she says, which doesn’t require the use of new resources.
Environmentally friendly flooring materials like bamboo—which is pricey, but re-grows quickly—as well as cork and terrazzo enhance rooms without causing unnecessary damage to the planet. “With all that’s going on in the environment, sustainable products make sense,” says Raney.
When chatting with clients about building a house, architect Phil Durham of Studio Durham says they often “talk about how they wish they could have a house all to itself in a secluded wooded setting and at the same time, have a highly urban loft so that they could have the best of both worlds, rather than the typical suburban compromise.”
Asking a person about his or her dream home is akin to asking a child about the perfect birthday cake. Both will close their eyes, take in a deep breath and release their own true love. The beauty of this is that there’s no right or wrong, good or bad. And the last I checked, dreaming is still free.
DREAMER’S BLOCK?
Here’s some fantasy fodder to get the (solid gold, diamond-encrusted) ball rolling.
When the sky’s literally the limit, homeowners’ imaginations soar. So, we ran a quick and informal survey of designers and consumers asking what they would include in their own dream house. Here’s what they listed:
- Wine cellar with a cigar room
- Wellness spa with yoga room and ballet barre
- Fitness room with flat-screen TV, surround-sound and the latest workout equipment
- Movie theater with surround sound, soda machine, wine bar and popcorn machine
- Two-story library with a librarian’s ladder
- All of the best of the best appliances
- Warming drawers
- Refrigerated drawers
- A catering kitchen (with the caterer)
- Smart House electronic system
- A separate room for wrapping presents
- Coffee bar in the master suite
- Laundry rooms, upstairs and down
- Game room with pool table, ping-pong, video games, batting cage and racquetball court
- Secret passageways behind a bookshelf
- Meditation room (with a lock on the door)
- Central vacuum system
- Pneumatic tubes from the kitchen to furtherpoints throughout the house
- Elevator
- Step-up tub for the dog
- Solarium
- Multi-tiered terraces
- Eternity pool with waterfalls
- Outdoor pool house with its own spa
- Guest house with its own kitchen
- Tennis court with backboard
- Greenhouse
- Rotating turntable in the driveway so the car is always headed in the right direction
- In-garage car wash
- Remote control closet (like the dry cleaners’)
- A closet for every season
- Indoor lap pool
- Heated floors inside and out in the driveway, around the pool
- Sensor system so you know when people are approaching
- Irrigation system everywhere, including the window boxes
- Maze
- Secret garden
- Greenhouse (preferably with the gardener)
