Ed and I joke about the house we’re going to retire in. It will be in the mountains, within driving distance to a beach and will be by a lake in the country. We especially talk about it when we’re driving west to Iowa and hit the rolling hills just east of the Mississippi River. It’s a beautiful area, and we would love to live there some day even though it’s not really mountains and not by a beach.

Some “must-haves” in our retirement house, aka our dream house, are below. We love the house we live in now, but it was built in the 60’s and there are quite a few improvements that still need to be done. Our dream house, of course, will be completely updated before we even move in!

1.  My dream house will have a wrap around porch with rocking chairs so Ed and I can sit for hours and look at the lake. Which will be close by. There might even be loons on our lake, and there will definitely be deer in the woods. But they will not come and eat my garden.
2.  The kitchen will have walk-in pantry, instead of a tall cabinet with no built-in shelves masquerading as a pantry.
3. There will be beautiful kitchen counter tops that have no seams and that don’t slant forward and drip water on the floor when I’m not paying attention.
4. I’ll have a wonderful laundry room–a clean, spacious laundry room on the first floor–not a dirty, cobwebby basement laundry room in the same space as the furnace and water heater and a sewer drain that backs up in bad storms.
5. The large master bathroom will have two sinks and a big, clean tub that I can soak in, unlike the pink bathtub we have now that never looks quite clean because the enamel is wearing off from years of use. Oh, yes, not having a pink toilet would also be lovely.
6. On the top floor, perhaps in an attic garret, will be my quaint writing space. It will have a window that I will be able to look out of and become inspired.
7. As a writer, I’ll also need to have a library so I can keep all my books in one place and never give them away because there’s no more room on the shelf!
8. I’d love to have a large stone patio with a built-in grill and fire pit with comfortable outdoor furniture and a covered area to sit when it rains. And why not…throw in a hot tub while we’re at it.
9. Since this is supposed to be our retirement home, I’ll throw in a workroom for Ed to do whatever he wants to do. Wood working, fixing things, putzing around…a retired man definitely needs a room to putz around in.
10.  We’ll also need a barn. Technically this is not part of the dream house, but we need a place to put our riding lawnmower and other lawn implements for our large acreage. And we’ll also have barn cats and maybe a chicken or two!

What would your dream house have?

Tuesday Ten is hosted by Lisa and Rabia. Visit their blogs to find more Tuesday Ten lists!