How do you know how to design your dream family home? One that will suit you and your family now, and into the future?
With so much information (and sometimes misinformation) and inspiration out there, it is hard to know what is really important when you are thinking about and designing a new home.
Home designs need to suit the families that will live in them, so it is important to decide what is important to you and your family.
However, here are 7 easy home tips you need go through and think about so that you can start to get the family home you have always dreamed of. These steps are just the tip of the iceberg.
Here you go….
Step 1: Where is the Sun?
The single biggest thing you can do to create a home that works and feels great, is to understand how the sun moves, and design your home for it. In Australia the Sun moves along the North side of your home and is at different heights in the sky throughout the day. It is due North at 12 noon every day. The quality of light in your home is the single most important element that will give you the sense of space and luxury you have always dreamed of. Knowing where the Sun helps you create a home with amazing light, window openings, overhangs and open spaces designed correctly that truly work with the position of the Sun.
Step 2: Create privacy and protection from the outside
Part of the beauty of our homes is that we control them – who enters them, who visits them and enjoys them. They’re our own private castles. So, design your dream home with the ability to maintain privacy and protection. Think about where people can see into your home from next door or the street, and use landscaping, screening and window positions to cut those view angles. You don’t always need a wall or fence. You are creating your own sanctuary, so you should control who can and can’t see into it.
Step 3: Keep connected within your home
Our busy lives often mean we juggle many jobs at once, and this is no different in your home. Think about how spaces are connected. What can you see from one space to another, what spaces and rooms are physically connected, and what can you hear from different spaces in your home? Think about how you want your rooms connected – do you want open plan living, or separate adult and children areas, or uninterrupted links between your indoor and outdoor spaces? The choice is yours to make.
Step 4: Useful Space is beautiful Space
Spaces can be used for more than one function, so why not think what can be grouped together that fits in with your lifestyle. You may not have all the space in the world, but you can make the space you have do lots of jobs so it’s always really functional. You can make your outdoor space a usable space for all seasons, not only just for summer. Remember to look for opportunities your land provides you with – amazing views, existing trees, the list can be endless.
Step 5: Get it right with space and flow
Think how big you want you indoor and outdoor spaces (literally in square meters), size them for what you will use them for, well and connect them well to each other, and especially to the outside. Start measuring spaces with a tape measure (including the height of the room) to understand how big rooms actually are. They are not always as big as you think they are – bigger isn’t always better – it is how the space it designed.
Step 6: Instantly declutter with proper storage
Create storage solutions that give things their place, and the chance to keep things organised, plus quickly tidy up when the need calls for it. Homes need more storage than most people think, so make sure you have sufficient storage for whatever activity will take place in that particular room.
Step 7: Everyone has Sweet dreams
The arrangement of bedrooms in family homes can impact how the whole home works. Remember those little ones you want right near you in the early years will be bigger kids you may not want so close ... and they're big for longer than they're little! SO design for what you need for now and in the future.
It can be super exciting to think about creating and building a home that uniquely suits you and your family.
It can also be a little stressful as you weigh up all the options, and worry you might overlook something, or make hasty decisions you’ll regret later.
The design stage is where you get to create the future lifestyle your new luxury home will help you Enjoy for a long time to come. And change on paper is so much cheaper than moving walls during a build … so it’s so much better to get it right at this stage, rather than when the building starts.
You need to start playing with ideas, and exploring what’s possible.
This is the fun part as you get clear on what will really work for you and your family.
Why wait? Want to find out more? Click here to have a chat with us to help you on your exciting journey.