Small things that made the house better

window-seat-61

Living in the place teaches you stuff the plans never show.

We are in outer Melbourne and added a few small things during the build that felt minor at the time. Extra hallway light switches, a hose tap on both sides of the house, slightly wider laundry doorway. All of them get used constantly.

What little change made a bigger difference than you expected once you moved in?

lisa-k-77

Sensor light on the garage path. Partner thought it was overkill. Now I am the one who uses it every night with arms full of groceries.

Also put a power point inside the pantry for the stick vac. Dumb little thing but it stays charged and actually gets used.

old-man-river-1962

Ceiling fans in bedrooms. Boring as anything. Summer in SEQ without them would have been rough and the aircon would have run non stop.

Cheap at the time compared to fixing comfort later.

toast-owl

Dimmers in the hallway and living. Sounds like interior designer nonsense until you are trying to put a toddler down and do not want floodlights at 7pm.

LED downlights on a warmer temp too. Small cost at rough-in, annoying to add later.

MumOfThree-SEQ

Row of hooks in the garage entry at kid height. School bags, hats, dog lead, all off the kitchen floor.

Partner rolled eyes when I marked the wall during build. Six months in it is the most used square metre in the house.

window-seat-61

Step-down shower grate instead of a hob. One less edge to trip on and the floor reads cleaner.

Builder said it was fiddly for the tiler. Still glad we asked for it.

SamC-2011

USB charging wall sockets in the bedrooms and hallway. Sounded like gadget talk until you are hunting for a plug block every night.

Also had the electrician put a GPO where the Xmas tree goes in the lounge. Partner thought it was mad. December comes and there is no orange extension cord across the room.