When you are designing your home, what is the best possible way to make use of the space?
Whether you are building your first home, or you have a budget to work to, the right design can make your home feel light and bright and somewhere you simply love to be.
Poor planning
From the beginning, think about how you are going to use each space and envision how you will furnish each area. In living spaces like the family room. Think about TV placement, where the couch will go and how that ties in with doors and foot traffic.
Floor plan
Next on the list is the floor plan and where each room will be placed within the home. Factors such as if you plan on growing your family, will you need a rumpus room for the children to play without bothering everyone else.
Underutilising rooms
Do you really need a games room or a sewing room? A home gym sounds like a great idea but how often will you use it? And you’ve seen pictures of a music room in a magazine and it looked fantastic – but how many spare hours in the day do you have to play the piano?
You might think you need a four-bedroom-plus-study… maybe it would make more sense to choose a home design without a dedicated home office/study and then use the fourth bedroom as a study space instead.
Not choosing the right fixtures and fittings
Fixtures and fittings set the style and tone of your home. They’re the finishing touches that create ambience – things like a carefully placed feature wall or choosing carpet versus tiles. Work out a colour scheme that complements your taste, and stick to it.
Lack of lighting
A home needs plenty of both natural and artificial light. Think about the size of windows and their placement – ideally have plenty of northern and eastern light, which can help boost your home’s energy efficiency, too.
