Form and Functional; Accommodating our New Non-Traditional Lives
Form and Functional; Accommodating our New Non-Traditional Lives
by Abeer Sweis June 28, 2018
Today we’re doing different things with traditional space layouts to accommodate our lives that are becoming anything but traditional. Our desire for space types seem endless. A few of the types being revolutionized are master bedrooms, home offices and living rooms.
Most of our renovations include turning the master bedroom into a master suite with incorporated walk in closet and master bathroom. These are an oasis for privacy, intimacy and solitude. A new trend is creating multiples of these master suites in a home.
These multiple master suites are built to accommodate multigenerational families where an elderly parent or an adult child has moved in, or for guest accommodations, or simply to accommodate the way we prefer to relate to one another during sleep.
All this master suite space has value too. According to a 2016 Wall Street Journal article, homes with multiple master suites are priced about 9% higher than those without.
Alternatively, converting a bedroom to a home office does not increase resale value because no longer is the traditional home office a necessity. Mobile technology allows us to work from anywhere. (Note that I said “anywhere” and not “everywhere,” boundaries are still in vogue people). Having the freedom to work anywhere, and on your own schedule, is an ideal working arrangement. The kitchen counter, a comfy chair in the family room, a lounge chair on the deck in the shade, are all viable working spaces.
Unlike a home office, creating a work homebase in the home needn’t be elaborate. A color wall, a work surface, an ergonomic desk chair and a few shelves or cabinets can delineate the homebase. And then only the reach of your WIFI limits your work oyster.
Including the living room, that is if you ever go in there. When touring a client’s home prior to remodel I can’t tell you how often the client refers to their living room as a room they never go in! No longer formal places to receive guests – my guests want to hang out in the kitchen and on the back patio – we are repurposing these rooms to be more functional for ourselves. Opening up the living room to create a great room, creating a library space with bookshelf lined walls and a comfortable loveseat, using it as a second family room, music room or home theatre.
Whatever your space plan objectives are, SweisKloss can help you make your space perfect for your life in size, in form, and function.