6 Things You Need to Consider When Designing a Home
More and more Australians are designing and building their dream homes every year, creating something tailor-made for their needs. Rather than buying an older home that’s flawed and spending a bomb on renovations on top of its initial price, designing your own home puts you in the driver’s seat throughout every stage of development.
It is worth noting that designing and building a home is quite a process, and requires time, effort and a trusted team of modern home builders on the job. When thinking about what you want your new home to look like, there are a few things that are integral to every house.
In this article, we’ll go over the 6 most important things to consider when designing your project. This will not only help your construction process go smoothly and successfully but help your home remain functional and liveable for the years to come.
1. North-facing bedrooms and living room
If your house is facing in the wrong direction, it could result in it being too cold in the winter and too warm in the summer. Orienting your bedroom and living room towards the north will give them optimal sunlight, and help to keep them comfortable and livable no matter what the weather is outside.
A north-facing living area and bedrooms will ensure that they not only get the most amount of sunlight but also receive shade from the eaves of the roof during the summer. However, depending on where in Australia you’ll be building your home, you may want to build northeast to avoid too much heat in the warmer months. You can discuss this with your architect and work out the best solution for your environment.
2. Suitability of the land you buy
Every piece of land is going to come with certain restraints, so you need to make sure that the land you buy isn’t going to come with constraints that will affect your design in particular. Buying the wrong land can add astronomical costs to your project and possibly force you into changing elements of your home.
The soil conditions and slope of your land will be the most important aspects, so always have these assessed before signing on the dotted line.
3. The power of an open floor plan
Open floor plans are the staple of the modern home, allowing for an abundance of light flowing throughout, easy entertaining and an aesthetically pleasing look. An open floor plan generally consists of the kitchen, living room and dining area all being combined into one large space, rather than being segregated into their own separate corners.
While an open floor plan comes with many advantages, make sure that your home has plenty of smaller, more intimate spaces too. While we all love to spend time with our family, everyone also needs their alone time and having a separate home theatre or study can work as a welcome reprieve when needed.
4. Choosing a designer
Choosing the right designer is one of the most important decisions you can make and can mean the difference between a smooth, easy process and an absolute nightmare. Not only do you want a designer that has experience designing the type of style of home that you want, but one with positive testimonials from past clients, valuable industry connections, and strong communication skills.
You and your designer are going to be working closely together for some time, so you need to be able to trust them and be on the same page throughout this entire process.
5. Think about the future
While you of course want to build your home with the current needs of your family in mind, you can’t forget to consider what the future will hold as well. How many children do you see yourself having? Will you be getting pets sometime down the track? Will you need a home office one day?
This should also impact where you wish to build your home as well. Maybe you don’t need to be close to public transport, but will your kids in the future? What about schools, parks and playgrounds? These are all questions you should be asking yourself throughout the design process seriously taking into consideration. You’ll thank yourself for it in 10 years time, trust us.
6. Sustainability and its long-term savings
A home with sustainable design features will not only reduce your carbon footprint but make it cheaper and easier to maintain as well. The more environmentally friendly your home is, from its insulation to the appliances you use, the lower your water and energy bills will be.
Although these sustainable features tend to be more expensive upfront, the savings you’ll make over time will far outweigh any initial extra costs. No one wants to live in a home that’s completely reliant on artificial air conditioning to keep it warm in the wintertime and cool in the summer, nor does anyone want to pay more than they need to pay in bills every month. Investing a little more in your home in the beginning will be well worth it in the end, and will help you do your part for our planet.
Designing and building a home from scratch will always come with its fair share of challenges. But working with a reliable team of professionals and considering all your options carefully will make the process as stress-free as possible, and put you inside your dream home in no time.