Homeowners getting overwhelmed is quite natural when it comes to designing a new home. Sometimes a residential architect might also put in few confident-sounding words along with the design to ease the whole process.
And that helps folks! A reliable architect means you could breathe easy and watch your new home come into existence.
Most people do some inventory and categorizing before meeting with a residential architect. The process helps them realize what kind of a design do they desire for their home and how to make it happen.
But it’s easy to overlook some critical elements during this processing that could make a significant impact on the result. So, here are ten tips that could be useful to you as a homeowner when designing a new home.
Budgeting
The design of your home is under the command of your finances. In other words, your bank account is going to dictate the entire process. So, when you’re deciding on your finances, don’t just limit it to the design and construction costs.
Other aspects are a part of this process. Quite a lot of money is to be spent on elements that may seem minor but can collectively come up to thousands of dollars.
And it can be easy to forget about these aspects that need to be accounted for other than the building costs. A reminder of these extra costs could be the residential architect.
Remember to budget for:
Surveying
Landscaping
Insurance
Planning fees
Professional fees etc.
Storage/Extra Space
A huge concern for homeowners is the lack of storage space in their houses. Even large houses seem cramped if the storage space lacks efficiency. Additionally, in the preliminary stages of the design, it can be easy to underestimate your possessions and the space they will acquire.
You have minimal storage space to thank for your car being parked on the driveway instead of the garage. Most homeowners store their garages with seasonal decorations, bikes, boxes, and other stuff.
A generous amount of storage space can be incorporated into a new design for your home but it needs to be thought over in the initial stages. A few options include combining storage with the furniture, utilizing the ceiling height, or creating space in the living area, etc.
Exterior Finishes
If you think that the exterior of your house will exactly look like those software-rendered images or the architect’s hand-drawn sketches, then you need to communicate the intricacy you’re expecting beforehand.
Software’s use textures and effects that aren’t easy to replicate in practical terms. But that doesn’t mean the actual work will be anything less than pristine.
The exterior finish will define the outer aesthetic of your home and hence is the MVP! Exterior finishes could also function as a long-term investment and impact the life of your home.
Noise Control
Soundproofing is often overlooked when it comes to residential designs. Ironically, unwanted noise is a pretty common problem. That’s why is critical that the fabric of your house is as solid and well-sealed as possible.
The layout of your home could essay a crucial role in reducing the disturbance caused by noise. If you have young children, then the noise is a given. A residential architect might suggest placing their bedrooms at a distance from other spaces to reduce the noise. A decent suggestion could be placing built-in closets or washrooms between the rooms.
If you’re opting for open-plan layouts, your architect might advise putting in a niche or a smaller living room that can be isolated from the main areas for some quiet to get your work done in peace.
Home Maintenance
Sooner or later, every element of your house will require upkeep and maintenance. Predicting the general upkeep of your house will influence how the materials should be integrated into the design.
One of the materials with a long service life is brick. Bricks offer an economical answer in terms of aesthetics and durability. Hence, using brick as a primary construction material is popular globally.
A stairwell with skylights might fulfill your fantasy of residing in a dramatic house, but it’s a task for whoever must clean the glass. It’s the same with chandeliers or intricate lampshades. Another hard-to-achieve task is cleaning the gutters, especially when they are placed in the high-level valleys between pitched roofs.
As a homeowner, you need to be smart when it comes to maintaining your home. Regular upkeep requires a lot of money but can be achieved reasonably as well.
Lighting
Artificial lighting is an extensive tool that can be utilized you accentuate the features of your home. Once the sun has set, artificial lighting is what keeps your home well-lit and presentable. It can change the character of your home in different possibilities.
One example is the primary living area that’s combined with the dining and kitchen. Such a layout provides residential architects with the opportunity to play with artificial lighting and enhance the spaces.
As the hub of your home, this area is responsible for preparing and sharing meals with your family, watching tv, and even relaxing. As such, artificial lighting needs to be at par with the interior of your home.
Mess Control
This is a well-known fact that homes tend to get messy. Even residential architects will agree to this. All those spotlessly clean homes that you see on the tv, or architecture magazines are just a facade.
A well-designed house should be robust enough to withstand the stains, hits, and other abuse that it must endure as a haven for a family and walk scratch-free. The process of residing in a home involves mess, even for the most streamlined people.
However, you can reduce the mess by regular cleaning, or utilizing the excess storage space your residential architect creatively incorporated in your home.
Furniture Arrangement
House plans generally don’t indicate the actual size and shape of the furniture that will go there once it is built. In later stages, this could be an issue especially if you’re planning on using intricate furniture.
Efficient residential architects will include the symbols for furniture in their drawings, but, they are just diagrams and may not bear relation to what you have in mind. However, these symbols help understand the layout.
If you decide on keeping some unusual furniture in your home, it might not fit or not match the overall layout of your home. Hence, it is necessary to have this discussion with your architect in the early stages.
Think of the Future
If you’re planning on living in your newly-designed home for decades, then you might consider making it a bit flexible for the future so that it can evolve over the years. Consider an increase in the size of your family, whether its children, parents moving in, or relatives visiting for a weekend.
You could also incorporate your house to be more accessible in the future in case a member becomes infirm. A house designed to age in place could maintain the quality of life in the future as well and give you a sense of autonomy.
Additional Room
If your house gives you the liberty of creating an additional living space in the future, then a residential architect might suggest utilizing it to the fullest. Your children might want their separate rooms before they head off to college or your in-laws might decide to move in. What then?!
In such a case, it’s always best to have your options open. And who knows, once the additional living space is empty, you could always turn it into a bed and breakfast!
Conclusion
That’s it for the tip’s folks. 10 tips for a new home design that could make your life more convenient and the architect’s job easier. Whether you’re redesigning your current home or designing one from scratch, these tips could come in handy when you’re searching for that extra storage space or reading a book in extreme noise.
If you’re looking for some additional tips or knowledge about the process of designing a new home, then consult a residential architect and get started. You might even discover some useful tips of your own!