Ramblings of a happy helper

Blog Prompt 11/13: Imagine you save a man's life and later find out he is the richest man in the world. He offers to either buy you a new house and land or fix the house and land you already have any way you want. Describe either your new house and land or what improvements you would make on the land and house you already own.

First of all, I just want to say that if I were to save someone's life or perform any other service for another person, that just knowing I have helped is reward enough.

BUT, since this man is so generous....
Our current house is way too small, we've lived here for 15 years and it's always been too small. We have 3 bedrooms in a split entry home. There are 5 of us, a dog, and a photo studio all sharing the small area. Too small and no property space to expand.

My dream home would have 2 separate entries OR 2 separate buildings - one for our home and one for our business.

The home part would have bedrooms for all 3 kiddo's, a master bedroom that has enough room (right now we barely have enough room to walk at the end and on either side of our bed.)

I'd love a great room that flows into the kitchen - a nice open feel that has plenty of room yet is still cozy. Of course, the basement would be set up to maximize family fun time and keep the teens home more often - a home theatre, plenty of room for the teens and their friends to 'hang', maybe an air hockey or foosball table, and maybe even a bowling lane.

Oh, and a couple of little luxuries for me ... a central vac and a laundry shoot.

There would be a solarium with a pool and hot tub and lots of plants - kind of like my own little tropical island. I would like a big multi-leveled deck with an outdoor kitchen and lots of comfy places to sit and a fire pit for those cooler autumn (or warmer winter) evenings.

Once you step off of the deck, the rest of the back yard would be like an oasis - trails, trees, flowers, benches, a koi pond with a bridge. This space would be a nice place to relax throughout the year, but also a great place to take our customers for some outdoor portraits. Of course, there would also be a playground area (all this dreaming for me, I guess I should include the youngest Colbert, LOL)

The garage would be a 2 car plus an RV slot.

The business part would have a scrapbook store with plenty of wall space to showcase some of the portraits we have taken. Off of the store/gallery area would be several areas:
~ A play area for the customers children - probably a circular area with 1/2 walls to keep the kids coralled but still in view of their parents.
~ a 'latte lounge', with comfy overstuffed chairs - this space would serve as a waiting area for the portrait customers as well as serving beverages for our customers pleasure.
~ a portrait studio - this would be larger than normal with different sets at each corner and along the walls. There would be a door that leads out to the back yard for those outdoor shots.
~ an office area - with private preview viewing areas (maybe 2) that have big screen monitors for viewing proof slide shows and plenty of good lighting; a production area where the printing, sorting and packaging takes place and space for storage (good lighting is also essential in this area; plus private offices for both my husband and myself.
~ A crop room - this has room for at least 10-8 foot tables, with 2 rolling office chairs at each table. Each crop space would have a cup holder hanging from it. At least one full wall would be counter space for tools for the croppers to use (this room is another place that plenty of good lighting will be needed.)
~ It would be great if the register area was back by the crop area, but still in full view of the front door. The side of the register counter that faces the crop area would be lower - regular table level - so I could tend the register and still be involved in the crop. Next to this table level area for me to crop at, there would be a regular height section to do demo's and make 'n takes at. There would also need to be a slotted storage area under the register section of the counter to store customer’s portraits to be picked up. I'm picturing the register area as round. It would probably work well to also have that latte lounge close enough to the register so that whoever was working could easily see the barista area from the register and vice-versa. And, of course, you would need to be able to see the entire store area from the counter so that you could watch for customers who need assistance without hovering over them.


Once again, it is so nice to dream, and until this dream comes to fruition I will have to suffer with my too small house and no room to add my scrapbook store to the business.