If you had unlimited budget and professional staff to help, what would the setting and landscape be like around your ideal house?

For starters, a lovely water feature with a waterfall and fish. Lots of big trees, an Italian garden, and a vegetable garden big enough for canning and sharing with the neighbors. And a big fence all around to keep out unwanted critters and children/trespassers. I like kids, but not the malicious kind.

I’m not fond of swimming, but I might put in a pool too because it’s good exercise.

Some acres of greener-than-the-other-side-of-the-hill grass lawn.
Plus a beach and a shallow bottom piece of sea.

Actually, with virtually no money and a lot of hard work, my own yard is turning into exactly what I would dream it could be. We have two water features, two waterfalls, koi, lots of tall foliage and natural stone. It’s my little sanctuary. If we could have a fence (which would require a massive retaining wall… which is where that unlimited budget and professional help will be handy) and a bricked in grill & fire pit, I’d be set. The latter of the two projects will happen in due time… the retaining wall/fence, probably never.

@ANef_is_Enuf – Are you for hire? Our yard is a landscaping nightmare and neither of us is especially enamored of yardwork. There’s a lot of stuff I want gone so we can make it just grass in many places.

I’d have Bill Graham’s former Masada compound in Marin County, California. The interior would be minimalist bohemian if there is such a thing in actual practice. Most furniture would be built in and most rooms would have sky view ceilings. The grounds would be neatly groomed around the house but left to look overgrown and idyllic near common access. Several friends would be invited to come live there with us.

There would be fig, avocado, peach, apricot, nectarine, cherry, orange, grapefruit, Meyers lemon, Key lime and kumquat trees. Blackberry bushes would be allowed along with artichoke, wild currants and strawberries. We’d have organic/free range meats brought in from nearby private farms, maybe run by other friends/family. I’d seed/sponsor several friends to start up their studios locally and used Masada as a home office.

I like waterfalls and the sound of the ocean, so someplace where a stream flows into the ocean, and the weather stays in the 70’s year round would be perfect. I like natural, no care required landscaping. Inside will be cluttered, and I need lots of tables and shelves.

My house would be in a clearing in the woods. Surrounded by groomed trails with wildflowers planted all around.

There would be a water view.

I would go for the Amazon forest theme. A big waterfall inside the house as its main feature, enclosed in the thickest glass there is to minimize the sound. The bathrooms would look natural too like you are taking a shower under a small waterfall under a mountain. Can I use some of the budget to hire a butler that dresses up like Bigfoot?

@tedibear sure! ;)

@Neizvestnaya

“I’d have Bill Graham’s former Masada compound in Marin County, California.”

Are you referring to the former concert promoter?

@Brian1946: Yes.