Custom home building isn’t for everyone. But if you’re considering it or are in the early stages of it, get your virtual tour hat on so you can tour your floor plan for some detail mistakes commonly seen in spec homes:
- Entry. It’s lovely to impress your guests with a wide front door and huge open foyer with room for a coat rack or coat closet. But how often do you come through your front door versus the garage? I’ve seen a good trend toward labeling a space called “family entry” – acknowledging that whoever is in the family may likely be bringing in groceries, backpacks, golf clubs, suitcases and carrying out trash, recycling, furnishings to donate. I strongly suggest a wider hallway and wider door into the garage. Built-in cubbies or cabinets are nice but you can buy furniture or shelves to accommodate your changing needs instead.
- Door Placement. Model homes do not have many interior doors in order for you to move easily throughout the house and give it a more open feel. Caution! Design your floor plan so you limit how many doors converge in one place such as the garage entry door hallway where you might be planning to have a half bathroom, laundry room, or closet all in the same hallway. Also double check how much closet space is lost when a door is added and which way the door opens. And finally, consider the privacy factor: do you want a guest bathroom or your master bedroom opening directly into your living room?
- Kitchen layout. Can you be doing dishes while someone else is cooking on the stove? Is the best cabinet or drawer to store your dishes within reach of your dishwasher? Do you really need a low desk or could you use another counter-height (or higher!) work space so you can easily read your tablet/laptop and utilize the same seating as around the island?
- Accessibility. If you’re designing a 2-story house, in my opinion, it’s a crime not to include a full bathroom on the 1st level. Anyone who has trouble with stairs (and that could be all of us at any given life situation), will thank you if they can stay overnight without climbing.
Happy building!