Lately Ben and I have been obsessed with building a new house.
Not that there’s anything wrong with our current house – it’s in great shape, serves its purpose very well, has tons of storage space and is…cute. Yeah, cute! It’s a nice starter home, but we’re ready to spread out. As much as we like them, we’re ready to not look 5 feet to the north, south, east and west and see our neighbors staring right back at us. Ready to not be in such a residential area. Ready to breathe in the sweet smell of SPACE! 
The next home we buy will be the one we’re in for the long haul, so we’re being extra picky about picking one out. So picky that none of the homes for sale in our area seem to come close to meeting our search criteria, which is why we, at some point, would love to build our own home. Here’s our wish list:
His:
- Absolutely NO FENCES. Ben has a highly – highly – irrational hatred of fences. This won’t be an issue if we build – I just really wanted to share this fact with you.
- Separate, dedicated man structure. A large shed/space off the house where he can play his music as loud as he wants, brew beer without having to drag his equipment up and down the stairs, and do other…manly things?
- Bedroom fit for a King. My man likes to sleep flat on his back, arms and legs spread as far as they’ll reach – ergo he wants a king-sized bed to stretch out on. (Personally I’d rather sleep in a smaller, more crowded Queen, like we do now as I can never seem to find him when we sleep in Kings at hotels. It’s so sad!)
- Washer/Dryer in the bedroom closet. Obsessed.
Hers:
- Big, beautiful kitchen. No explanation needed!
- Moderate sized home. Bigger home = more to clean. Pass!
- Large, mature trees. One of the things I love most about my parent’s house is the large, shady maple, birch & ash trees in the front & backyards. I know the probability of finding an empty lot with established trees is close to zero, but a girl can dream, can’t she?
- Gas fireplaces. Iowa winters demand cozy fires blazing in the family room, but Ben and I are both too lazy to trudge out in the snow and get logs to keep our wood-burning one going.
- Big, covered front and/or back porch. Someplace where I can go to sip hot coffee in the mornings, and watch fireflies at night.
Ours:
- LAND. Sweet, sweet LAND! Open land where we don’t necessarily see our neighbors and there’s nothing out back but open fields. We aren’t freaks or anything, we just like our privacy!
- Unique home design. Our current home is what you’d call a "cookie cutter" home (there’s 3 others like it on the block) so we’d love a design that’s original, unique and means something to us – like a double-gallery design a la the French Quarter in NOLA.
- 3-4 car garage. I need space to not knock over 1,000 things in the garage as I take my 1,001 bags to the car every morning, and Ben needs a stall for his future Ferrari.
- Separate bathrooms. Separate bathrooms is the key to a happy, joyful marriage if you ask us. If we built our dream home, we’d build TWO en suite bathrooms/walk-in closets off our master – MUWAHAHAHA!
Things we can do without:
- Bathtubs. Just don’t get ‘em.
*Edited to add – DUH – children need bathtubs. They stay!*
Ok, so now we just need about $500,000, a builder who won’t hate us for all of our ridiculous requirements (although the $500,000 should help ) and someone who owns a majestic piece of rural property nearby to knock down their home and give us the land! For free!!
Like I said…a girl can dream. 
Someday!
In other news, you know I’m a meat eater (I know, bad segue.) I’m pretty much always down for steaks, pulled pork, BBQ anything, brats, roasts, sausage – ok you get it – but I also adore vegetarian meals just as much as their meaty counterparts.
Dishes centered around veggies, tofu, eggs, squash, grains, pasta and other delicious things always leave me feeling super healthy after I’m done eating. Plus they’re just plain YUMMY.
One of my favorite vegetarian meals is Veggie Burgers (locals – Star Bars’ is to die!) so I was insanely excited (like, weirdly excited) to make it’s zippy cousin Spicy Black Bean Burgers from Jenna at Eat, Live, Run for dinner tonight!
These burgers are absolutely incredible and really easy to make, too. I followed Jenna’s recipe, except I used 4 teaspoons green Tabasco sauce instead of 1 jalapeno and only used 1 1/4 teaspoon cumin.
Oh and I made them ahead of time! Last night I mixed my burger mixture together, formed it into patties, then laid them on a foil-lined sheet pan to chill in the fridge overnight.
This evening all I had to do was heat up vegetable oil in a skillet and cook the patties for 4 minutes a side ’til they were golden brown and crispy.
After a quick drain on a paper towel, I placed my black bean burgers on a squishy sesame-seed bun, laid a few slices of mellow avocado on top and took a big ol’ bite.
Oh. Mah. Gah. Crispy, creamy, just a touch spicy and SO flavorful.
I could eat the whole batch!
I served mango "fries" on the side as an homage to the traditional burger and fries.
Loooove!
Alright, I’m off to definitely NOT freak out about the amount of stuff that has been covering our living room floor for the better part of two days as Ben prepares for an upcoming camping trip.
Where’s a dedicated man structure when you need one?
Bye!
~~~~~
"My dream home HAS to have ________."
YAY for house hunting!!!! I’ve been dying to try her burgers, too! Glad you give them such a great review, and I LOVE your addition of fruit “fries!”
I pretty much am lucky enough to live in what is my dream house… a bigger/newer kitchen would be ideal, but there’s nothing wrong with mine now!
Growing up my mom & I used to cut our “dream homes” out of the back of Home & Garden magazine; I still have the clippings. I think we would LOVE to build our own home too… yours sounds wonderful! I would have to put some horses on that land though *cuz I grew up on a horse farm*
Burgers look delicious!!
My dream house has to have a wrap-around porch.
Land and a wrap around porch!!!!
A beautiful sun room and/or 3-seasons porch. I love the idea of having an outdoorsy feel on the inside. Definitely needs some great windows
I’ve been reading your blog for a while and just HAD to comment! We built a dream home ELEVEN years ago. The build took one year. I dreamed about that home for EIGHT years before we turned one spade of dirt. Dreams, plans, ideas, tears, thoughts and plans are ALL worth it.
Don’t give up the dream. And good luck to you! You just never know when a dream will come true!
Love all your criteria. (Especially the tub). One tip? Don’t rule out Treeless. You can BUY trees and they grow fast. Like……trees!!!
Keep posting about this dream!
good luck when you decide to build. not sure what is available in your area but kit homes or modular work well. not in the style you are looking for but base plans can be modified, to suite your needs. I worked in modular and I think that a lot of homes came out well.
tubs… great for kids. try to get a yr old to shower. no go.
my dream house would need a HUGE porch.
that sounds like a nice home you’ve envisioned. and yeahhhh, i always cut mangoes into fries!
my dream home HAS to have…a 30-or less minute commute to NYC and at least 1.5 bathrooms. no, really—it doesnt take much to make me happy, lol.
My dream home has to have an island the size of a twin-sized bed. I had that in my last rental and LOVED it!
I’m with you on the kitchen!! But then again, I’m sure we all are, or else we wouldn’t read your blog everyday. I’d love an endless pool so I can swim “laps” without leaving home!
A pool (and obviously a cute poolboy!!), a nice water feature, and a nice patio with outside speakers. Oh and an outside “kitchen” with a frig and nice built in grill!
Too funny! We ate the same black bean burgers tonight too (Thanks Jenna)!!! One bit of advice, if you plan to have children, you HAVE to have a tub. Yes, they can shower with you but bath time is SOOOO much fun for kids and when you have three under five, bath time is the only time mom can flip through a magazine next to the tub while said children happily play (sometimes for a whole 30 minutes!!!)
A giant magnolia tree in the front lawn. That’s all I want from life
this made me smile…i have a beautiful magnolia tree in my front yard! i love it too! it was there when i bought the house.
If you’re gonna have kids, rethink that whole washer/dryer in the bedroom thing. Do you want to have all of the kid’s clothes sitting in piles in YOUR bedroom while you are washing them? Do you want your kids in your bedroom after you teach them how to do their own laundry? I’m guessing the answer to both questions, is “no”.
My husband and I had very similar wish lists to you when we started our home search this year. It was impossible to find a house that matched our criteria so we also decided to build! I love that our new home has the laundry on the second floor! No more walking down flights of stairs
I just love this post. it’s so nice that you can dream together about a new house!
My dream home would absolutely have to have an amazing kitchen garden! And an awesome kitchen to prepare all the food from the garden!
Ooh I didn’t think of this but that is an excellent idea!!
An open design with a nice kitchen.
If I could have had any house in the world it would have been my neighbors. Beautiful, open and airy two story farm house.
Those burgers look AMAZING. I need to try them! I saw them on Jenna’s blog and they are bookmarked for my next grocery shopping trip!
Living in SF the things you mentioned are serious luxuries – as is a dishwasher and a washer dryer in-unit… which are 2 of my must-haves for our next apartment! (Along with dog-friendly!) Buildings here don’t have back decks but we do have roof decks which are always nice! (but communal… booo)
Can you pleeease build so I can live vicariously through you?
My boyfriend just got back from a camping trip and before he went the family room literally looked like the wilderness threw up – SO much camping stuff – I totally feel your pain!
I’m a fairly new reader of your blog (I found you through your Peanut Butter Fingers guest post). I’m also a Midwesterner, living just next door in Wisconsin. I’ve definitely been enjoying your blog, but I especially identified with you on this post.
My husband and I just bought land late last summer. We wanted the same thing you described: property outside of town full of mature trees and surrounded by fields. We never thought we’d find what we wanted – in our price range anyway – but somehow, we did!
We realized that we wanted to move forward with our ultimate dream – building our own home – as soon as we could, which happened to be now. While we won’t build for 4-5 years, it feels good to be working towards what we really want. Keep your dream alive – you can make it happen!
A big open kitchen!
My dream house has to have a two car garage for me and the BF…up here in NH we are tired of cleaning the snow off our cars for about 8 months out of the year and having them bake in the sun for the other 4 months!
Oh and on that list is also a playroom for the kids and dogs to run around and scream and be as loud as possible and not bother us, I think that may be more important than the garage!
We built our dream house last year, and although I can say it’s definitely a dream now, during the process, it was more like a nightmare but definitely worth it!
Love the mango fries! Such a cute idea.
my dreamhouse has to have a pool and a fenced in yard so my dog can run around w/out his leash.
and a carrie-bradshaw closet….you did say dreamhouse right? ;p
For a local DM veggie burger, you MUST try the Continental’s! Best in town, hands down (yes, I’ve tried Star Bar’s but don’t care for the texture). I’m not a vegetarian either, but I get serious cravings for this cripsy, zippy little sandwich!
Solar panels and heading straight back to the 70s with one of those smallish greenhouse rooms. I am a bit of plant freak and would love to have tons of space for as many as I want!
I totally agree with you about the tree thing, we live in North Ankeny & it’s treeless and it’s sad. That’s always one of the first things I appreciate whenever I go to visit my parents in Illionois, their gorgeous mature trees. We used to be ok with it because the unpredictable Iowa weather can’t bring down the non existent trees to damage the house or knock out the power, but after loosing power for 19 hours yesterday becuase of the storm, that argument is invalid, ha!
Ditto on the his and hers bathrooms and closets!!!
My dream house would have to have a flat yard and I agree – some land would be nice. I made Jenna’s BB Burgers last night and I agree, they were awesome. I heated one up today for lunch and put some salsa and cheese on top and it was still so good! Plus they are super easy to whip up. My kids even ate them minus the jalapeno’s..but we put them on top!
I’d say my dream home would have to have a big, open kitchen. My parents have a huge kitchen and is open to the family room. I love that. I’d also like a nice sized backporch.
I have to agree, separate bathrooms are key to a happy marriage. We recently moved to an apartment with two full bathrooms, and it’s been a delight!
First, I love that your husband wants a Ferrari. I wanted one too, and then got one – I married a man whose last name (and now mine) is Ferrari =)
My dream house has to have the following:
-large, spacious kitchen
-his and hers sink/bathroom area
-land; about 5 acres
-be near a walkable, quaint downtown
-laundry on the main floor
-ranch; not a fan of “upstairs”
-finished basement for Mr. Ferrari =)
If I couldn’t get his and her bathrooms off of the master, I would definitely require a large bathroom with two sinks. Also, a kitchen with a large island, lots of hardwood floors, and a house that does not require any updating. While it’s been nice to change things around in our home (new countertops, carpet, windows, etc), I would much rather have all of that stuff done in our next house. I love dreaming about houses – looks like I’m off to watch House Hunters!
We are always dreaming of our dream house! I want a home gym!!!
After being a homeowner for many years, my ‘dream home’ is more about what I don’t want than what I do. No basement – hate them and they can become a big problem, no stairs (I’m looking toward the future as this would be my very last move hopefully). I would love a big soaker tub, again, maybe an age thing, but there’s nothing better than soaking old tired bones/muscles in warm water and LOTS of counter space and a walk in pantry. I like the endless pool someone else mentioned too. Now, since we’re dreaming, a lawn that’s self-weeding and mowing, a roof that NEVER needs to be replaced in a climate that I wouldn’t have to worry about heat in the winter or air in the summer. I don’t want much.
But I still want to experience the seasons.
Reminds me of a Jim Gaffigan joke… something about “I love seasons.” To which he replies, ‘me too, but I like to skip the crappy ones.’
My dream home has to have a sports cave!! Finished basement for sports viewing, family bonding, Iowa Hawkeye memorabilia hanging, and lots of DC Sports watching! I’d love to have a small kitchen down there too… just makes entertaining easier. I just dream of having my family sit on big comfy couches while watching the Hawkeyes or Momma’s Redskins!! Woop Woop! A girl can dream right?
I love this post btw… I love thinking about my future home. I also hope we have a fantastic patio for grilling!
a wrap around porch, for sure! but really, i’m just anxious to finish grad school + find a job + move into a permanent place (i.e. no more apartments)!
I plan on making these this week, I fell in love when Jenna posted them, yours look wonderful!
dream home~acres & acres of very private land w/lots of trees & a creek or pond. a brick cottage-y looking cutesy pootsy house w/lots of wild flowers around it. some old timey lookin stained glass windows scattered thru out. 4 car garage. a tornado room. a giant whirlpool bathtub and a seperate walk in shower w/a million shower heads. 2 wood burning fireplaces. a large counter depth fridge. a large deck w/a screened in room & a hot tub…oh i guess i have that now!=)) a barn for critter friends. a giant flag pole. a beautiful tall black wrought iron fence w/a remote control gate, camera & intercom (i like my privacy!). FYI…i wouldn’t put the laundry area in the master bedroom, maybe it’s own little room else where would be better. nothin like trying to do laundry when someone is trying to sleep….or is sick in bed resting.
My dream home has to have 3…no wait…4 things: a spacious kitchen with lots of storage and an island in the middle, a covered wrap-around porch, a walk-in closet in our bedroom and, finally, a spacious master bathroom with shower and bathtub separate (just like my parents’ house).
my dream home has to have a big garage with built in organizers for everything and closet double the size of mine right now!
you all really should shop for land, right now people are almost giving it away, then you can just sit on it (not literally) and build your dream home when you can.
Those look yum! And dream on with your dream house. Someday it may happen! You never know!
How do you get your mango to cut so neatly? Mine always winds up in sloppy chewed-up, mangled hunks!
Here’s how I cut them! Also, sometimes I peel the skin with a veggie peeler first!
http://iowagirleats.com/2009/06/08/how-to-cut-a-mango/
It’s funny how a dream home changes once kids come along. Lots of different aspects come up with kids. If you decide to build before children, I’m afraid you may end up unhappy with it once children come along. Like the no fence thing Ben has. It would probably not be good if you do get a good piece of open land and don’t have some area fenced in. Kids (even with supervision) tend to wander, and it could only take a minute to go peek at the little stream that’s in the woods behind the house
The washer/dryer thing too. When it’s just the two of you, it’s ideal. But when kids come along, not so much! Anyway, keep dreaming (it will change again and again and again) then BUILD!! 
I thoroughly enjoyed your his/hers lists. My requirement is pretty simple. My dream house HAS to be a two story. I don’t mind other people’s single story homes, but they just don’t say “You’re HOME!!” to me. Hopefully, I do not suffer from bad arthritis later in life. I need my stairs.
Really? IGE.. You like privacy? Seriously? Like… you are a private person? Hhahahhhahahhaha!!!!!
Silly!
I am pretty much I agree with you on all of your wish list items! I also love our house now but dream of wanting more, but yes we would also need that magical extra $$ first.
My dream house has to have my DREAM kitchen! I already have it all planned out, from the drawer nobs, type of sink, layout and my 6 burner gas stove with 2 separate ovens
Dreams are good!
My dream home would have to have a ton of character. I just adore craftsman style bungalows with their wood beams and charming features. But right now I’d take just about anything that doesn’t have carpeted bathrooms, wood paneled walls and yellow linoleum. Oh, the joys of renting…
I am actually starting to look for our dream home right now.. We’ve outgrown our starter home- but the great thing about a starter is you learn what you don’t want to live without (or vice versa).
On my list is 5 bedrooms, at least 4 baths (I completely understand the separate bathroom situation), a great kitchen for lots of cookie making and a really large FLAT back yard. We currently have a large hilly yard & playing sports has never been so hazardous
My dream home would be Prairie Style ( think Frank Lloyd Wright) and /or mid-century modern/contemporary. I love simple, functional, clean lines. Big, open kitchen, lots of light, gas fireplace, great outdoor space, amazing views, and major use of green energy.
My brother-in-law’s family is a builder in Ankeny. check out their website… Brezina Homes.
A porch and a great kitchen!
I love the looks of that burger, I think I might like bean burgers as much as regular ones (waiting for the lightning bolt…) and I’m always looking for new version to try, thanks for sharing!