Here at Pratt Homes, we make custom homes that fit your needs. We know that a designing a great home relies on four key design elements. The four key design elements are the following; entertaining, de-stressing, storing, and flexible living. When designing your new home, don’t get ahead of yourself. Rather than thinking about how you want you home to look, you should consider how you want your home to live.

So, before you start thinking about what kind of carpet you want, or what kind of countertops you’re going to use in your kitchen, you should start designing your home from a livability standpoint. Will your family be entertaining a lot? Will you be converting rooms within the next few years to accommodate for additional family members? There are some of the things you should consider when designing your home.

Here is an overview of the top 4 design elements that we use to help design your home. Take a look at them and determine which attributes are more important to you and your family. Of course a home can, and should, have all of these elements, but in each home some attributes will be more prevalent than others.

Entertaining

If you’re the type that likes to entertain, you should make sure you have entertainment areas in your home that allows you to carry on conversations throughout multiple areas of your home. For those who like to entertain, an open floor plan is a must. Some of the areas in your house that could be great as entertainment areas are the following; a formal entertainment room, an informal living space, outdoor rooms and decks, large kitchens with center islands, media rooms, and rec rooms.

De-stressing

On the other hand, if you simply want to come home to a place that you can alleviate some of the stress from your day, you’ll want to consider building a home with spaces that make de-stressing a breeze. These spaces could include some of the following; a private master suite, a walk-in shower or whirlpool, a porch, a crafting room, split vanities, mud rooms, and a drop zone to place keys, backpacks, briefcases, and other items.

Storing

Finding enough storage space in your home should never be a problem. A well designed home will have multiple areas in which you can store items and organize your life. Some of the main storage areas that can be built into a home are; rear foyer storage, more space in the garage, over-sized bedroom closets, a walk-in pantry, linen closets, and additional areas in the basement or upper level.

Flexible Living

Flexible living areas in a home are necessary if you’re planning on staying in your home for longer than 15 years. Children grow up, move out (and back in), parents stay to visit, a family member may need to come stay for an extended period of time, and in general, life happens. Building a flexible home ensures that you’re ready for just about anything. That office may seem like a great idea now, but in the future you may regret not adding a closet and window so that it can easily be converted into a bedroom.

Pratt Homes has made it easier to design a home with livability in mind. Designing a home can be very intimidating as it can be hard to visualize the finished home and how it will live. We’ve created a livability quiz that will help you determine which of the 4 main design elements are most important to you and your family.

Click here to take the livability quiz. 

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