During the development of your custom home design, there are numerous floor plan features that should be considered. Maximizing the enjoyment of your custom home can be accomplished by devoting ample thought to key areas of the overall floor plan. Areas of consideration for your custom home design should include and open layout concept, ceiling heights, traffic flow, recreational areas, sight lines and exterior views.
Becoming a key feature of almost every custom home design, an open floor plan concept allows better flow between spaces. A good custom home design floor plan will maximize the useful square footage of the custom home while also creating a sense of special separation. One way to achieve this effect is implementing half walls as a design element between rooms. Maximizing the open concept for your custom home design can also be done by separating each space with a change in floor treatments. The open concept can also have some influence on how the ceiling heights affect the whole design.
Varying ceiling heights or changing the design elements of the ceiling can also create an open feeling throughout the custom home. Tall ceilings and vaulted ceilings are popular trends used to create the open concept of the custom home design floor plan. It is common to see ceilings in great rooms achieving heights of 20 feet either by vaulting or 2-story space. Additionally you will find ceiling heights of 9 to 10 feet in kitchens, dining rooms and bedrooms of new custom homes.
Particularly in an open concept custom home design, the floor plan must cater to the overall traffic flow throughout the home. Single story custom homes typically have bedrooms adjacent to a family room or media room. When designing these areas, Design Alternatives also makes sure too much traffic flow doesn’t cross over one another since the kitchen is usually located in proximity of the family room as well. Although the importance of traffic flow is often neglected in custom home design, experienced designers will also give much consideration to the location of stairways in the overall traffic flow scheme.
Home technology and home theaters have also increased the necessity and importance of recreational areas as a key aspect of custom home design. Adequate thought must be given to not only identify where the television screen will be located, but also how the furniture will lay out around the home theater speakers and components. If the recreational area is not attached to the kitchen, consideration must also be given to including a wet bar as part of this floor plan concept.
As previously mentioned the open concept has become an increasingly important feature of new custom home design. By creating an open floor plan, it opens up sight lines between spaces and to the outside. A quality custom home design incorporates wall openings and doorway locations to utilize critical sight lines. Limiting sight lines not only creates a mundane space, but will also make the whole house feel smaller due to the visual obstructions. These sight lines should open up all the way to the exterior surroundings as well.
Locating the house on the building site is just as important as the custom home design itself. Care should be given in considering how the sun will enhance the natural lighting throughout the home. If there are certain views that should be maintained, window type and positioning are also critical features which need to be planned out. Design Alternatives Custom Home Design incorporates all these important aspects when designing each and every floor plan. Your dream home is a big investment, so your custom home design should be completed by a designer who knows how to maximize all these important features.
August 5, 2010
Custom Home Design – Important Floor Plan Considerations by Design Alternatives
June 13, 2010
How to Profit in Your Bathroom
Power of Showers
Showers will be more popular than baths with over 70% of people preferring showers over a long bathe. If there is enough space make sure at least one bath is still installed as people prefer to have the choice. Electric and Mixer showers are popular choices for a powerful showering experience.
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Add a Bathroom
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Adding an extra bathroom can be beneficial to a larger property. In a smaller house don’t just add extra bathrooms that may be a hindrance to the size of the bedrooms. Lofts are a great way to enhance your properties value by adding an extra bathroom it can increase your properties value by up to 9 per cent.
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Accessorize
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Replace tired and worn accessories, do not leave it for another year. Bathroom tap, showers and radiators are a great place to start. Tiny adjustments may make all the difference.
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Less is more
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Your bathroom décor is crucial, keep it clean cut and simple. White is the ideal choice keeping the space relaxed and fresh. Regrouting the tiles and sealing the bath again will add to the finishing touches that really count. When using paint select beiges and creams so that it doesn’t overpower the room and destroy the peace.
Bathrooms of 2009
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Combining both natural and high-tech elements will be the main design feature of 2009. Waterproof televisions and whirlpool baths will be a great hit this year. Make sure you find the balance of both a minimalist yet simple bathroom design, remember not to overpower people with your personal designs. Bathrooms are a great investment for the future of your property.
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June 6, 2010
Refuge In Your Bedroom
There is perhaps no other room in any home that is as important or as used as the bedroom. The bedroom is our own personal refuge when we have had a hard day. A bedroom gives us the perfect opportunity to lie back, relax and read our favorite novel or newspaper. Maybe that is the reason we often spend so much time deciding on what we put into this one room.
Our interest with bedrooms is evident right from the start. When we go looking for a flat or a home of our own, one of the first things we ask is how many bedrooms are available within the property. Usually, the more bedrooms, the more you will spend on rent or on a mortgage. Of course, we also show concern with the size of those bedrooms. The larger a bedroom, the more personal space we will end up with.
Once we have that bedroom of our very own, then we go looking for some bedroom furniture. Finding bedroom furniture can be fun, but we always want something in our personal refuge that is comfortable and is a direct display of our personality and tastes. Of courese there are beds, dressers, armoires, and various other pieces of furniture specifically designed for the bedroom.
Speaking of furniture, let’s talk materials. There are a great many materials that can be used and often found in a bedroom. You may find that there is wood, metal, plastic or even paper. Each type of material has its own benefits. Sometimes, all of the furniture will match, but other times, a bedroom is a mix-matched collage of favored pieces gathered over time. Choosing bedroom furniture really comes down to picking the option best suited to your individual taste and needs.
Bedroom decor is another aspect of our bedroom where you can add that personal touch. Do you have flowers decorating your room? Do you have sports cars decorating your room? Maybe you even have fairies and princesses. No matter what the decor, you can tell a lot about the occupants of a bedroom simply by checking out the bedroom wall paper or other decorations. More often than not, the first thing you can tell by the decor is the age of the occupants and the second thing that is usually obvious, is the gender of the person.
The amount of money you spend on your bedroom is evident in many ways via the furniture and decorations of that bedroom. Having a mixed collection of expensive and inexpensive furniture and decorations is a great way to have a cost effective bedroom that can look great, without the added expense. For the more affluent, there are actually bedroom designers that can help make your bedroom the resting place that is best suited to you.
Bedroom furniture is often so cherished you may even find and decide to buy antique bedroom decorations and or furniture. Why? Because antique bedroom furniture is often sturdy and built to last. You will find that there are many options when you start looking for a way to decorate your bedroom to suit your taste.
One tip when planning and decorting your first bedroom is to stick to just painted walls. This will allow to change the appearance simply by adding a new coat of paint. Add in some pictures of your choice and you will soon be well on your way to creating your very own place of refuge.
