Designing a home that is shaped around your family is essential. It’s where you all start the day, end the day and make memories in between. Your home is a hub for connecting with one another, laughing, playing, socialising, relaxing – and more common than not nowadays, for working. But how do you design a home to suit all purposes? A home that suits the needs of all generations living there, both children and parents alike?
The industry experts at Keenan Project Designs have put together our top tips for designing a home that your whole family can enjoy.
Include space to connect
We believe that any great family home starts with a well-thought-out layout. And, at the centre of your layout needs to be space for your family to connect and spend time together. After all, life is busy – adults are off being adults at work and kids are off being kids at school, childcare or socialising with friends – making sure there is space in the house to simply be a family has never been more essential.
With different ages having different demands, our solution to keeping connected as a family is incorporating open living space. Have you considered seamlessly blending your kitchen and dining areas, so the grown-ups can cook, while supervising the children doing their homework? If you have the room, why don’t you extend this idea further by adding space for relaxing or playing? The team at Keenan can help you design an open space to suit all purposes.
Is there room for your own space too?
While it’s fundamental for families to spend time together as a unit, it’s equally as important for family members to have their own space – especially working adults and older children or teenagers. This is especially essential if any family members are working from home, as a specific ‘office’ space will help cement the boundaries between home and work life.
With that in mind, have you got the space to modify into an office? Or perhaps a playroom for younger children, a place to keep and store their toys? What about a den, for your children, as they get older and want more independence?
If you haven’t got the space readily available, has your home got the potential to create it? Transforming your garage, converting your loft or building garden rooms all present you with the opportunity to create additional space, all of which can be built with specific purposes in mind.
Storage
If there’s one thing we know all families can never have enough of, it’s storage. For young children, it’s toys and games and as they get older, it’s the likes of sports equipment and bikes – and that’s not to mention the ‘stuff’ us grown-ups have. Having space to store such items doesn’t just make your home a more pleasant place to live, but it makes it safer for everyone too.
Can you design your home so that it includes specific storage space or rooms? Get in touch with Keenan and we’ll help you create storage solutions ideal to help make your home a safe, happy and liveable environment for everyone.
Are you ready to design your family home?
It’s important to acknowledge that the needs of your family members will change over time. Not only will your children get older, but you, as parents, will get older too. It might even be that older relatives come to live with you at some point as well, which is another generation to consider. Our advice? Be open to adapting the design of your home to suit the different stages of your family.
The friendly team of award-winning architects at Keenan can help create a design for your family home, built around your budget, needs and requirements. Whether you’re building a home from scratch or planning a renovation or refurbishment, get in touch with the team at Keenan Project Designs.
