Low maintenance house - what is it to you?

[Gardenarian]

As dh and I are house shopping, I have said that one of the most important things to me is that the house be low maintenance. We had more or less chosen a house, then dh got cold feet. Anyhow, DH says a house is as low-maintenance as you make it. There is some truth there, but I've been trying to make up a list of things that help make a house easy to care for in itself. This is partly as a checklist when we're looking at houses, and partly because, heck, I just think he's wrong.

Here's what I've got so far:

Plenty of storage space:
Big closets in the bedroom. (Enough so everyone can keep their crap in their own room.)
Coat closets.
Shoe storage near the doors.
A place to keep the vacuum when you need it. (Central vacuum would be nice!)
Cupboards in the bathrooms for towels.


Appropriate storage:
Big storage for things like kayaks and bikes and weed whackers.
Closed storage for things we don't want to look at.
Ideally, glass fronted book cases for books, flush with the ceiling (no dust.)

No HUGE storage spaces (like attics) where you can just stick things and forget about them. (We have that problem now! Another suitcase? Throw it in the attic!) Closet=good. Junk drawer=good. Junk room or shed or attic or basement? NOOOOOO!

Hard surface floors (easy to mop) with machine washable, non-slip runners in high traffic areas. Easy to sweep and/or vacuum.

Well-placed ceiling and wall lights with easy to clean fixtures (recessed lights or glass/metal shades.)
Ceiling fan only if the ceiling is vaulted.

Metal roof would be nice.

Dog friendly: a dog door that leads to a fenced area with no muddy spots or places where skunks and raccoons can hide out.

Air-lock type spaces around entrances - porches, mudrooms, where people can take off their shoes and coats and leave the dirt outside. And paths leading to the door that are paved, brick, or otherwise clean.

Smooth design in kitchen:
No hardware (knobs, visible hinges.)
Easily cleaned counters and cooktop. Kitchen counters with integral backsplash.
Cupboards for big things, small things, heavy things. Special cupboard for trash & recycling.
Kitchen shelves that are designed to hold what you need (LOTS of kitchen cupboards.)
Cupboards that go to ceiling, with no dust trap on top of them.
An eat-in kitchen (not a separate dining room) to keep all the food in one place.
Even better if there is room for a screen (dd likes to surf music while she eats.)
No food all over the house - just in the kitchen or outside.

I plan on getting an entertainment armoire, with doors (they are so cheap on Craigslist) and using it to contain our laptops, phones, printer, cables, chargers, as well as our small flat screen television.

Simple windows without a lot of nooks and corners to collect dust. Identical blinds (roller blinds with chains are my favorites) on all the windows so we don't have to fuss with curtains. (Curtains are dust collectors and curtain rods, hooks, rings, etc. are a pain to deal with. And expensive.)

Rooms that are big enough for their purpose: A living room should be able to hold a sofa and two big chairs (or the equivalent) a coffee table, side tables, lamps, piano, books - without feeling cramped.
Bedrooms should be big enough for whatever sized bed you are going to use; you should be able to walk all the way around the bed to make it; also space for dresser, nightstand, a chair or coat stand for dressing, a full length mirror.

All rooms painted the same color (cuts visual clutter.)
High quality scrubbable paint.
Identical fixtures - same doorknobs, light fixtures, light switch plates, faucets, etc. throughout. Makes it easier to repair/replace things when they are all the same

Extra nice if everyone can have their own bathroom, though that is rather luxurious. (Living with a teen and a professional performer, I get little bathroom time. And they are both bathroom readers too.)
Trackless shower door (if any.)
Lots of hooks in bathrooms. And bedrooms. Hooks are great.

Laundry/cleaning room, with cupboards for cleaning supplies, ideally with space to dry things or access to space (such as garage/covered area/deck with clothesline in it.)

I like gardening, but don't want a fussy garden:
Perennial fruit trees.
Perennial flower, herb, and vegetable beds.
Greywater irrigation system (from laundry and showers/tubs.)

We are not bringing a lot of furniture with us, and very few decorative items. All our furniture is already very durable or it would be destroyed

A place for everything.

Sounds like a huge place, but I really just want an eat-in kitchen and living room, bedrooms and baths. We really only need one shower/tub. A lot of houses have all sorts of strange alcoves and nooks, bizarre open floor plans that seems to waste a ton of space. And full baths for every bedroom - seems extreme, and more to clean.

[iris lilies]

I see that by "maintenance" you do mean keeping it neat and tidy. What a great topic!

I agree with you about simple window coverings. While I'd love to have luxurious silk drapes, they are dust and pet hair collectors. Ummmm, no, in my household with 5 pets ugh, just NO! So we have wide-slat blinds, but your idea about roller shades is probably more practical for keeping dust down.

Mud room in the back, off of the yard, is good. An outdoor shower is an idea for people who work outside a lot.They are suddenly popular here.

While your view of unorganized attic space is right on, these basement and attic spaces with shelving are more manageable and yes, one does tend to fill up that space.

[JaneV2.0]

I think about this a lot. One of the things I want is a defensible perimeter --that is a fenced yard that defines my property. I don't have that now--the land slopes sharply and is generally irregular. I want a completely maintenance-free yard--ground cover, patio, hardscaping--with privacy. I wouldn't mind a smallish house, maybe 1200 sq. feet, but I do want a fully-insulated garage with sufficient storage. And save me from "open-plan" houses, where you might as well have a fire pit in your living room. I want my kitchen out of sight. Hard floors of some kind--maybe even sealed concrete or linoleum--a bath and a half. And a view of something soothing, not the neighbor's wall--or worse, their windows.

[pinkytoe]

For me, low maintenance means mostly exterior finishes. If I have to paint and scrape a lot of wood, forget it. So brick, stone, stucco with metal roof.
Interior, no carpet or heavy drapes that I can't throw in the washer.
Since I love to garden, I don't mind a lot of beds but please no vast lawns of grass to mow and trim.
I think the size of the house and yard also helps - smaller is better.

[herbgeek]

I think a smaller home with less storage would in the long run be lower maintenance, if it forces you to only keep what you need. All those big closets are nice to hide stuff, but at some point there is a lot of work pruning things out.

The only other things I would mention that you didn't is 1) undermounted sinks. I find it so much easier to wipe surfaces clean and into the sink, versus a sink that sticks out above the countertop and has grout to catch stuff. 2) furniture either needs to be built in to the floor or have enough clearance underneath to swing a dustmop. The worst are things with fabric to the floor (like sofas) where you know there is dust under there but you can't really see it.

[Gardenarian]

I've never had an undermounted sink - that is something I'll look for. We currently have a regular set-in stainless sink and I have run a toothpick around the edges to get the gunk out. Ew.

Not many brick or stucco houses in Ashland (I think I've seen them ALL.) Some do have that cement siding, which is supposed to be long lasting and very insulating.

I'm having a real problem with these open plan houses. Like, I could live here but I need to put a wall between the living room and the kitchen...and why no entry ways? What's the problem with interior walls? They give you a place to put your book shelves.

[larknm]

For me the smaller the house, the less to maintain of house or possessions in it. I also go for wood floors, simple windows like you said, and eggshell walls--they are a snap to clean, important since I have a bird who flings food around (they just do that) and a dog who sleeps next to walls. Oh yes, the ground-cover suggestion is really good.

[awakenedsoul]

A low maintenance house to me is something small and efficient. I prefer older homes for their charm. I like having lots of windows. It lets the light in, which helps save on electricity. I love my nice big kitchen. I spend a lot of time cooking and baking, so I appreciate the space. I guess I'm more romantic when it comes to choosing houses. It's sort of love at first sight for me. I can tell right away. I like to keep the original windows, etc... and restore. I lived in Europe for years, and I just love antiques and older buildings...My O'Keefe and Merritt stove, Big Chill fridge, and vintage washer and dryer would look strange in a modern house. Same with my silver and hand knit items. I don't mind having a small closet because it keeps me from accumulating clutter. I don't have a garage or storage room. I like wall to wall carpeting, but I enjoy vacuuming. Hope you find a house that you both love!

[JaneV2.0]

I forgot about entryways--gotta have one. I'll put that on the list.

[SteveinMN]

Open plans, no entryways, etc., all are geared to maximizing profit on a house. As a builder, if you don't need materials for construction (say, for interior walls or fancy millwork), you've made money. House sizes are a bit like restaurant portion sizes -- just as putting a few more fries on the plate doesn't cost much compared to the labor involved, it doesn't cost a builder much more to envelop more space and that lets the builder charge so much more for the house

To us, entryways may be smart little areas to buffer the weather and maybe hold boots and coats. But, to a builder, an entryway is a four-cornered deviation from square -- and that costs money; much more money than bumping the walls out a couple of inches to gain that much precious square footage. Boxy homes also cost less to pour foundations for and to roof (usually priced by the number of peaks). Carpet or "builder-grade" vinyl on OSB is much cheaper than hardwood or tile. Even putting in more efficient furnaces and water heaters isn't done primarily because the efficient models cost more but the builder does not reap the benefits of the lower cost of operation.

Houses styled like they were in Victorian times or even pre-WWII are very expensive to emulate these days. Even Sarah Susank, in her "Not So Big House" series, warns early and often that NSB houses are not really less expensive to build than McMansions, but they are more livable and better appointed. In a commodity market, however, that's not enough of a sell.