These are a Few of My Favorite Things

Plugs in the eves and duel fuel AC.  

Storage for kettles and chargers you can’t see. 

A tankless water heater and the joy that it brings. 

These are a few of my favorite things. 

Seriously though, I have had so many friends ask me when they begin their builds what I was glad we did in our house. This is really a personal preference but maybe my list will help. 

Two dish washers! Living in the country there are not a lot of options for restaurants. I cook a lot, and we use real dishes. (I hear that a lot of people use paper plates. We do but not often.) With two growing boys the dishes are never ending. Having two dishwashers has been an amazing luxury I am so thankful for.  

 Large Walk-In Pantry As per the aforementioned growing boys and cooking, I needed a large space to store all the food. I also try not to drive into town that often, so we try to buy two weeks of groceries at a time. I love that the pantry has closed storage, open shelving (where I can easily see what we need when making a grocery list), and the countertop for extra appliances you don't want cluttering up the kitchen. The extra fridge in here is also very helpful. It is mostly for drinks and overflow. 

 Pop-Up Outlet with Phone Charger This has been a big hit in our home. With such a large island I wanted to use it for prep space, but I knew I would want to plug in mixers, crock pots, electric knives and the like, so this was the perfect solution. Our pop-up has regular plugs, USB plugs, and the top is a wireless phone charger. This has come in so handy, and my kitchen would not function without it. 

 Glass Rinser So, if you have not heard of these, they are a sink attachment that when you press a cup to them, they shoot high pressure water into the cup to clean it out. Y’all, do you have a million cups that can’t go in the dishwasher? I mean, I love that these cups keep our beverages so cold, but they are a pain to wash. (First world problem, right?) Anyway, this little guy is the answer. Put a tiny drop of dishwashing liquid in the cup and blast it. Done! This would also be amazing to clean bottles if you have babies at home. 

Drawer instead of cabinets In the kitchen I went with mostly drawers instead of cabinets on my lowers. I no longer have to dig behind other pots and pans to get to the one I want. I even have my cups in drawers. While there were skeptics in the family, everyone has come over to the light side. Really this is just a better more efficient use of space. 

Automatic fireplace My family loves a fire in the winter. We are so busy there were nights we would choose not to light one because we would not have time to make sure it was out before we went to bed. Now we can have a fire for as short or as long a time as we want. Other benefits are that there is no smoke in the house and no one must go out and get wood to build it since it runs on gas. 

 Smart fans Many of our fans can connect with our Alexas. It is so convenient to be able to control the light and fan speed from bed! 

Automatic Shades with a Hub Along with beautiful views we also get a lot of heat and at times blindly bright light through our windows. We decided to get automatic shades to help us combat these problems. It really did get like greenhouse hot at times because of all the windows. With the Bond Hub we were able to synch each blind so that they can be controlled by voice through the Alexas, or it can be programed to go up and down on its own at different times of the day. 

Frame TVs Above the fireplaces we have the Samsung Frame TV. I love these TVs because when they are not in use they look like art! The best part about it is you can change the art (for a fee) anytime you want.  

Microcement If you have not heard of microcement yet let me tell you, it is amazing. It has a cement look so it can really add a natural or modern look to your space. We used it in our master bathroom shower and it is so nice because there is no grout! Don’t limit this to only the bathroom though. We also did it on our fireplace and it looks great. 

Tankless Water Heater I hate cold showers. Not having enough hot water for everyone to take a shower is no longer a problem for us. We can have a shower going in all three bathrooms and no one ends up in the cold. Also, with a tankless water heater you save so much space. 

Light Dimmers I love light. I love light fixtures, lamps, twinkle lights, all of the lights. My family does not. I call them my vampire family because they would be perfectly happy to sit in the dark. This is not high on my list, but my husband would list the light dimmers high on his list of best things for a home.  I admit that sometimes it is nice not to have glaring light at night and it can be nice for ambiance. 

Christmas Plugs in the Eves Another of my husband’s favorite things is the plugs in our eves for Christmas lights. It makes putting up lights so much easier. I love Christmas lights, so I am all for anything that makes them possible. 

 Dual Fuel HVAC This last one is also from my husband’s list. I had to look up what this even means but I know it saves us money, so I am for it. Anyway, it just means that your system can use a gas furnace or an electric heat pump. According to google this is energy efficient, environmentally friendly, saves you cash, gets your home warmer faster, and it gives you a backup if one of the heat sources breaks. So, all and all, I agree with my hubby. This is a good pick. 

I hope my list of favorites helps as you consider what you want to include in your own home. All I know is we are so blessed to live in a time with all these incredible options that make our life so much more comfortable and enjoyable!