My friend Ellen is house sitting a relative's neighbour's house. Yesterday I went to visit and take advantage of the massive widescreen plasma TV. We watched a downloaded copy of The Gilmore Girls on it, and it looked pretty good.

It got me thinking that a massive TV, if done right, could be intergrated unobtrusively into my fantasy house. My house, however, unlike the house Ell is minding, would have fewer doilies. Infact it would be a doily free zone.

My dream house would be the kind of house with a lot of light. Sure, the more windows the less privacy, but my fantasy neighbourhood is the kind of place where people don't mind others seeing them in their pyjamas. That's half the fun.

It will be a very technologized house. But there won't be extension cords all over the place. All the technology would be hidden within the floor, and will appear when needed. The big screen TV will be mounted inside a hole in the wall and, in it's resting state, will be indistinguisable from a window - as it will display a live image from the outdoor camera. All the windows, blinds, heating, Roombas etc, will be controlled by a Linux server, running opensource home automation software. Needless to say, there'll be wifi everywhere.

Surfaces. Lots of clean surfaces. Books will be digitised, mementos will be photographed, and the surfaces will remain completely bare. Mugs of coffee must never be put down, even with a coaster, i don't care - no mugs.

For that human touch, every room will have a single Sentiment Screen (TM) - a display that cycles through family photos and other assorted nostalgia.

The garden...will be holographic.