Ten things we love about our house - in no particular order

1. No more moving: Can't say too much about that. It's sooo nice that we have no more deadlines of packing (or unpacking for that matter). We build this as our forever-house and have no intention of leaving it willingly.
2. Instahot: We are avid tea-drinkers and having instant hot water is a very nice and much-used feature. Regardless of point 7, this is the most used feature in our kitchen. Love it!
3. Neighbors: It almost sounds too good to be true and somewhere in the back of our minds we think about the 'Stepford Wives' but we love our neighbors and the 'hood. Summertime is knocking on our door and all the garage doors open and all the kids play together. We love the sidewalks and the overall sense of community.
4. Fireplace: We picked an electric fireplace with a remote and love it. We use it everyday and we can even change the colors to fit our mood. It also acts as a secondary heater if we want to.
5. Cork floors: One of our must-haves to make this house usable for Jen. Love the sound-deadning, how soft it is, how 'green' it is since you don't have to cut down a tree for it. Plus, everyone who walks in loves it.
6. Utility bill: The winter bills barely break $100 total. Who says that green building doesn't pay off?
7. Kitchen in every way: You'd think we almost did a 'design a house around this (kitchen)'. It truly is the heart of the house and due to its comfortable size is lending itself extremely well to either having the whole family in it or a good amount of guests; either sitting at the bar to talk or even 6 people being in various stages of preparing 1 or more meals.
8. Pantry: Goes hand-in-hand with the previous point. So nice to have our own little mini-mart right next to the kitchen. A well-stocked pantry is an absolute must for an avid cook (just ask any chef) and my wife loves to cook.
9. Mudroom: Our main entry/exit is through the garage and mudroom. So nice to have a bench to sit in to put on or take off our shoes/jackets/etc... Plus, the tile makes cleaning it very nice and easy.
10. Security of ICF during storm season: Even though we are north of 'Tornado Alley' we do get some strong winds here in NE Ohio. This year's odd winter with tornadoes reaching into Ohio we truly appreciated our all-concrete house. Party at our house when the next NWS warning goes out ;-)