Did any of you see the movie "Twlight"? I liked the vampires house in the woods. Modern....lots of glass walls, in the woods....a grand piano. Lots of rain so everything looked very green!

The house I have now is modern, in the woods, lots of windows, were in our rainy season.....so I'm good! :0)

Life is good!!!!

Hmmm. A small stone cottage w/ a thatched roof and an eyebrow window. It would have real wood paneling and a cozy library w/ built in seating underneath each window.

There would be big windows and the top windows would be either those bottle glass bottom or diamond shape panes. And shutters on the outside. Sweetly scented climbing roses would be at every window w/ windowboxes full of trailing flowers. The front door would be an arched front door w/ a big old iron door knocker and the biggest iron hinges that you ever saw.

Although the home would be dark it would be filled w/ light due to the windows. It would feel moody but bright and elegant and rustic at the same time. The curtains might be a heavy wool or tapestry as well as the throws.

It would be decorated in rich woodsey tones and colors but the larger upholstered pieces would be white or off-white slip coveres.

Somewhere there would be a stone round turret type thing on a corner of the house w/ an iron spiral staircase leading to an office type area (not sure yet) and a place for our telescope to look at the stars.

There would be an amazing wooden tree house for the kids w/ little furniture and all.

There would be white fresh cut flowers everyday.

Mine is a little stone cottage (either 2 or 3 bedrooms, kitchen, DR, LR and that's IT!) with reclaimed hardwood floors, rich oriental rugs and family antiques (my favorite pieces that I already have - buffed up version), located in a small but beautiful garden near the northern California coastline.

Well, I have two dream houses and since this is fantasy, indulge me.

My first house would be an Dutch Colonial built in the thirty's or fourty's restored to perfection with some killer updates.

It would be about sixty miles from Atlanta on three acres.

My living room would have white leather chesterfield sofa's w/big nail heads going up and down the arms and down the legs.

Big distressed armoires and french chandeliers with blinding prisms and beaming heartpine hardwoods all through the house.

Leather bound books,huge sea shells, bulls eye mirror, ornate mirrors, signed art, old mercury candleholders, silver coin pieces. Cabinets filled with old transferware, old paris, lusterware, staffinshire figurines and old white Iron stone.

A massive marble fireplace that burned real wood, no gas for me.

My kitchen would be a chef's kitchen with Viking everything. A stacked stone fireplace, huge farm table that seats 10-12 with real antique windsor chairs. Old cabinets filled with face jugs and old crocks and other interesting southern items.
A island with a huge pot and pan holder above it. White marble countertops.

Allison's horse head would no longer belong to her, it would be hanging high in my kitchen. lol

A butler's pantry with (hotel domes and silver pieces) and a regular pantry filled with food and spices of every kind.

A library and four bedrooms. My bedroom would reak of sex appeal and my bed would be waist high with sexy bed curtains.

The grounds would be filled with all sorts of gardens. Rose, herb, cutting, shade, butterfly and a full time gardner that was a idiot ser vant. Or however you spell it. lol

The other house would be a big New Orleans bayou Creole Cottage right off Magazine street in NO filled with everything french. Gaundy as He--.

...Jane

My husband would be smart as a whip and clever and humble and rich rich. And he would buy me my own horse's head and not embarrass me trying to buy Allison's head. lol

ttodd you have great style and Allison I hope you know I am just having fun. Remember imitating is the greatest form of flattery.

I have two dream houses: this one here in the mountains of New Mexico and a cottage on Lake Huron in Michigan.

My NM dream home is this one . . . with moderations ;^P
I'd blow out the family room wall and extend it into the backyard another 15 feet. I'd add a guesthouse and game room, connected to the main house by a glass hallway, essentially turning this place into more of a walled-in hacienda compound. Outside, adobe walls would enclose the entire compound keeping a built-in pool, outdoor firplace, large multi-tiered Spanish fountain, extensive gardens ~ and my dogs~ safe from rabbits and coyote. That dream house also includes a gardener!

My Michigan dream summerhouse would be a two-story cottage on the shores of Lake Huron. The outside of it would be white with green shutters with lots of happy, colorful, unruly flower beds . . . and Adirondack chairs . . .lots of them! Inside would have creamy white walls, simple white curtains on the (big) windows and comfy old furniture, slipcovered in blues and white with Cottagey accessories and art and a couple of fireplaces, too. A few knotty pine walls and built-in bookcases overflowing with lots of my favorite books. A big but simple guesthouse out back to help house my friends & family. A nice, private sandy beach out front with a place for bonfires in the evening. A small dock and boathouse for my little sail and ski boats. Hmmmmmm, this actually sounds very much like the summerhouse I grew up in. I miss it so much!

Nice thread!
Lynn

Lynn, I forgot you have Michigan roots! You can get that dream house at quite a bargain now! I've been to that area many times, it's lovely!

Any of these:

1) A completely intact, unremuddled Arts & Crafts bungalow, small Queen Anne or Gothic Revival cottage loaded with built-ins and untouched original woodwork, lighting, and other such goodies. A few simple stained glass windows. Double drainboard porcelain sink, vintage stove, one of those fridges that looks like an old wooden icebox. Real linoleum. Clawfoot or two-sided corner tub (the kind where one long side and one short side are against walls, and one long side and one short side are exposed), wall-hung sink, recessed cabinets in the bathroom. Bathroom Machineries' Lydia toilets. Tiled fireplace in the LR, with a cast-iron summer cover. Wallpaper. High wainscots with plate shelves on top. Decor a la "Grandma's attic". If a Queen Anne or Gothic Revival, a cast-iron fence. Dark shingles and a deep, shady porch for a bungalow, polychrome mixed fancy shingles and clapboards for a Queen Anne - Painted Lady style, in miniature. Vertical board and batten or brick for a Gothic. Gobs and gobs of gingerbread on the Queen Anne and Gothic. Screened back porch. All are single story with a study/guest room and small bath in the attic. On a quiet, tree-lined side street among other historic homes of all different styles.

2) Count me in on the little fieldstone cottage, but heavy on the Tudor Revival or Storybook style. Dark brown hand-hewn exposed beams with unpainted white plaster between (the only time I really like white walls). Low ceilings. Leaded-glass and divided-light swing-out casement windows with small panes (ideally bullseye glass) and deep, deep windowsills for a cat to sit happily on, with interior shutters that fold back against the sides of the window niches. Scarred old wood floors with plenty of worn Oriental rugs. Leather upholstery and chunky wood furniture - think of an old monastery. Situated in a small clearing in thick woods with a rocky spring-fed stream running through it.

3) Ultra-traditional little Cape Cod with weathered cedar shingles, white trim and black shutters (real ones, please), with the strip of tiny bullseye windows over the front door. Doghouse dormers properly centered over the paired front windows. White picket fence and sprawling wild rosebushes in the front yard. Painted beadboard cabinetry and cast-iron hardware. Enormous brick fireplace with granite-slab hearthstone in the main room - the only time I really like an all-in-one room for the public areas. Simple design with one half of the main floor the main room and the other half two bedrooms with a bathroom between. Study/guest room and small bath in the dormered attic. Wide pumpkin-pine floors. Armoires instead of closets, beds made up with crazy quilts, furniture a somewhat heavier version of Shaker style (most Shaker furniture is too delicate for us). Located on the side of a windblown hilltop with an occasional glimpse of the ocean a few miles away.

4) Bag End from "Lord of the Rings". 'Nuff said.

I was just logging on to say thick walls w/ deep sills so the cats can lay in them!

Thanks Newdawn!

What are bullseye windows? Are they those ones that look like bottle bottom windows?

I also really like old wavy glass w/ air bubbles. Sort of makes everything look like a dream. Not at every window though.

That modern glass house in te woods sounds like a nice place too!

Bella,

Just wanted to thank you for posting this question. Just when I was about to go off on a tangent again you posed this question to us. I was quickly able to regroup and remain focused on where I was heading and want to go. I will have to print this out and place in my decorating notebook to remind me of my goal.

Yes, bullseye windows are the handblown windows with the concentric rings and blob in the middle that might be called bottle bottom windows elsewhere - it might be a regional term, I dunno.

It tends to change, but I always am drawn to something like the sweet cottage that Kate Wislet lived in in The Holiday.

Hey ttodd, I have been away for a while. Yes, bullseye mirror's are explained by Johnmari above.
The mirror's are round and always have an eagle at the top of them. And yes, they do look like the inside of a coke bottle, that's a great analogy.

I also too love the ones with wavy glass that are somewhat chipped away and distorted and resemble mercury glass. Ever try and do your hair and makeup with one of those numbers? lol

Jane

I love reading a/b everybody's dream house. Surprise nobody has asked for a castle :-D

ttodd: it's so easy to go off tangent isn't it? My DH called my style "design by serendipity" because my style is depending upon what I found on CL. :-D I got a bit schizo lately, and bought some stuff for my dream house which I don't know how they would look in my real house :-D

newdawn: You cracked me up. I want your dream kitchen too...except then my DH would expect me to cook a lot and that's won't be so dreamy :-)

Johnmari: I love bags end & how they have tree/moss growing on the roof. Yike -- I watched movie just for the set decor, that's how bad I am. :-D

Thanks for sharing your dream houses.