START WITH A WISH LIST BEFORE BUILDING YOUR DREAM HOME

In DESIGN82 Views Colin Goff

If you are planning to build or renovate a home this year, now is a good time to start the design process. Many people simply select a standard plan available from various books, magazines or building suppliers. However, a much better way to achieve what you really want in a house is to have it specifically designed to suit your own unique lifestyle. While a standard plan may accommodate the most basic needs, a purposely designed home will do much more for the same amount of money.

Start your dream home with a “Wish List”. Write down everything you want your house to be. List all the rooms required for your family’s needs, then detail everything that is desired in each room. Major components of the house should be considered first, such as the number of storeys, the exterior appearance, an estimate of the total space required and maximum cost. Relate the house to the outdoors regarding siting, views, sunlight, access and landscaping.

Inside the house establish the desired relationships between·each of the rooms. Some people prefer an open style plan, where rooms flow into one another; others prefer well separated rooms as in a closed style plan. In terms of day to day living, the relationship between spaces is a critical factor which affects your satisfaction with the house plan.

Walk through each room in your mind and decide what is required in terms of functional needs and aesthetics. Will the room be best facing north or south, should it have large or small windows, what furnishings will it contain? Consider the mechanical and electrical needs in each room. How will it be heated or lighted?

Detail the arrangement of things in each room. Give the kitchen and bathroom special attention. How many sinks are required, where is the fridge in relation to the stove, is a separate shower needed in addition to the bathtub? Think of how many people will be using a space at the same time. Will the kitchen allow more than one chef? What about the bathroom early in the morning? Maybe an additional half-bath would be good off the master bedroom.

Think about the finishes in each room. Take each surface in turn and decide what will go there. Floors may be carpet, vinyl, hardwood or tile. Walls may simply be painted or enriched with wood mouldings, wallpaper or ceramics. Ceilings can be left plain or enhanced with a stuccoed pattern, plaster mouldings or even a change in height for special effect. An angled and exposed wood ceiling structure will add warmth and style to your living room.

Decide on the type and placement of light fixtures for night time use. Perhaps some rooms would be best served by having two separate lighting systems for different activities. Think of window placement in each room to capture as much natural light as possible, which reduces your electricity use during daytime hours. Also consider exterior lighting types at entryways for safety and security.
When renovating, the same considerations apply. It is quite possible, and probably cheaper, to modify your present house into a dream home, rather than start over by building from scratch, especially if you are happy with your present location.

With your wish list firmly established, it is then quite easy check it against any standard plan to see how closely it matches your ideal design. For example, a plan may have just the right size and shape living room, but the bathroom may be too remote from the main living areas.

A wish list is best used in the hands of an architect. The house will be designed to exactly match your requirements with all the desired things in just the right place. As well, the·overall cost is controlled in the design process as an architect will cross check the·design with current construction costs in the preliminary stages. This prevents the sudden disappointment many people encounter when, after selecting a standard “dream home”, the construction quotes exceed the owner’s budget.

At first, preparing a wish list may seem like an unnecessary chore, but it is the surest way to crystallize your dreams the first time around.

MAKING A WISH LIST – THINGS TO CONSIDER:

1. List all rooms by name or use:
Examples: living, dining, kitchen, bedroom #1, #2, #3, bathroom #1, #2, storage, laundry, recreation, vestibule, family, den, workshop.

2. List all the items required in each room:
Examples: furniture, appliances, equipment, fixtures, fireplace, wood stove.

3. List the desired spatial qualities of each room:
Examples: shape, length, width, ceiling height, open or closed to other rooms, arrangement of contents. The amount of space required can be estimated by measuring rooms in present house.

4. Relate each room to other rooms:
Examples: kitchen to dining room, living room to front vestibule, bedrooms to be acoustically separated from recreation room.

5. Relate indoors to outdoors:
Examples: back porch near driveway, view to backyard from kitchen windows, dining room to have direct access to patio, bedrooms located away from noisy streets, sunlight during breakfast or supper, window size, door locations.

6. Services:
Examples: heating type, air conditioning, air exchanger, lighting, location of outlets, central vacuum, well and septic on unserviced lots.

7. Aesthetics – Inside and Outside:
Examples: architectural style, finish materials and colors, trims and mouldings, hardware, fixtures, resale value.

8. Collect Ideas:
Examples: photograph existing houses you like, cut out pictures from magazines or newspapers, talk to different architects.

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