My house.

When I can't sleep, I can't turn my brain off.  I start designing jewelry in my head.  And houses.  Over the past few years, my dream house has been conjured down to the last floor board.  (I have trouble sleeping.)

John has a major issue with the term "dream house."  But I think that's because the definition of the term for most people is big and lavish.  Mine is not.  Mine is smart.  Mine is convenient.  Mine is comfy.  Mine is a ranch with a walk out basement.

I've thought about actually drawing it out on paper and/or gathering images to illustrate my smart dream home, but haven't yet.  Jim's friend, Kyle, is going to be an architect.  Maybe we should have a sit down. But I'll just give you the highlights of what goes through my head at 3 a.m.

It's a pretty typical looking ranch from the front, with a prairie home/arts and crafts look to it.  3 car garage. Gotta keep the Miata someplace.  The style inside matches the outside.  All wood flooring.  Think black and tan colors (you can add any accent colors to go with black and tan).  The windows along the back of the house are all sliders or French doors that lead out to a covered deck on the main floor and a patio on the lower level.

Here are the only details I will bore you with:
1) The kitchen has 3 big slider drawers for recycling that push out into a separate little room in the garage.  Then on recycling pick up day, the bins can be taken from there to the curb.  This little room is just a little slice taken off of the mudroom.
2) I want heating coils under the the driveway and sidewalk.  Flip a switch = no shoveling show.  I'll be sure to omit this if we live south of the Mason Dixon.
3) Picture the kitchen, living room and dining room in sort of a very loose triangle layout, with a 2 sided stone fireplace in the middle - mostly enjoyed from the living and dining rooms.
4) Moving down the hall...  We have an office and a "project room" on one side of the hall, a half bath and the laundry room on the other.  The laundry room has a door that goes into the master bedroom closet.  Why do so many houses have the laundry at the furthest point away from where clothes are kept??!!  That project room can take a whole night of no sleep itself.
5)  Downstairs...  Like I said, it's a walkout.  Slider or French doors along the back.  Rec room with a bar area.  2 bedrooms down there with a jack and jill bathroom - but a door separating the toilet and sink from the shower, so it's sort of like a half bath with access from the hall too.
6) Workout room in the basement - double doors can be opened so you can see the TV while on the treadmill or whatnot.

Now if I can incorporate Jen's idea of the suction tube from the mailbox to my office desk, my dream house will be complete.