Designing Your Dream Home: Every Question to Ask, Every Detail to Consider, and Everything to Know Before You Build or Remodel

by Susan Lang

You can have the home of your dreams! This comprehensive guide walks you through every decision and addresses all the details that most homeowners don't even know to consider. In this step-by-step, room-by-room handbook, Susan Lang considers every aspect of your homebuilding or remodeling project, such as how to You'll find helpful forms and checklists that will keep you organized and assist you in clarifying your needs. And if you're worried that building your dream home might turn into a nightmare, Designing Your Dream Home covers the most common mistakes that homeowners make and shows you how to avoid them. Susan Lang has thought of everything , so you won't have to.

386 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2008

Reviews

[LuAnn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great resource if you're building a house.

[Rob · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good information for someone unsure how to proceed in building a house. Some of the items were not relevant to me, but overall it had a lot of good information.

[Jennifer Beckstead · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this book to be really helpful. Although, actually I'm still going through it. She takes you through the whole process, from finding an architect/builder/interior designer and how to pick a good one who will create YOUR vision, to checking off every lightbulb in the house. She shows you how to get organized so nothing is overlooked and everything is included in your bid so you don't go over budget. Also a lot of the common mistakes people bake when designing their own home. Just be warned though, that of the 370 or so pages of this book, probably 300 were forms and checklists. This is not a book you just sit down and read. And the forms were scattered throughout the book instead of all being at one place. But as a reference, it's probably the only one you'll need.

[K. Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

While all of these forms are great and some tips are a good reminder, it is quite obvious to this author that only obscenely rich people get their dream homes and obscenely rich people that more is more. I, personally, don't need to worry about designing a house that will include live-in staff quarters or a granite kitchen island that is larger than standard granite sizes (then it wouldn't be an island, it would be a continent). And there are downright paranoid things--like the advice that your door to the master bedroom should have a top and bottom lock as well as the deadbolt at the doorknob (what, are you afraid that the staff will murder you and steal all your money???). Yeah, that one was weird. That being said, I might use some of the forms found in this book.