Excellent design is more than creating a beautiful space. A thoughtfully designed space is not only visually appealing, but it will make the space as efficient and functional as possible. From reducing visual clutter to increasing walkway space, maximizing natural light and increasing storage solutions. If you want your life to feel easier, read below to learn how your home can help you accomplish this.
Maximize Storage Solutions
When everything in your home has a place, your living spaces feel lighter and easier to navigate. Selecting furniture that meets your storage needs, making remodeling and construction decisions, and keeping storage at the forefront will ensure every item in your home has a place.
Consider the Walkways
A home with generously spaced walkways will give you the physical room to navigate through the room easily. Allowing three feet between main walkways, such as between furniture pieces, will help the rooms feel open and generous.
Create Zones
Creating zones in your home will help contain your items, enabling you to find and store them easily.
- Establishing a drop zone at your home’s primary entry point, such as in your bedroom, will help corral coats, gloves and hats, sports equipment, mail, school forms and other items you accumulate regularly.
- Creating a zone for your household papers will help streamline your daily administrative tasks.
- Snack zones are another area you can create to make it easier for your family to help themselves to a bite to eat.
- Creating bins of easy-to-access snacks at a convenient level will give everyone a space to grab a bite to eat when they’re hungry.
Establish Breaks in an Open Floor Plan Space
Open floor plans can unite everyone, help a home feel larger and brighter, and facilitate more interaction. However, they are also harder to hide any inevitable messes, and need a cohesive design plan to feel unified, calm and organized. Visual breaks between rooms can help each room feel like its own space despite the lack of walls. You can accomplish this by adding casing to separate spaces, furniture, such as console tables or bookshelves, sliding glass doors or pocket doors that you can leave open when you’re gathered together or closed when you need privacy. Using the same paint color and trim color on all the walls that touch will also create visual continuity.
Consider the Flow of the Home
A choppy floor plan can make interacting with those in your house harder. If you’re in the kitchen and your children are in the family room and they require supervision, not having a sightline to them can make completing simple tasks feel near impossible. Creating a layout that provides visibility into the adjacent rooms can help you navigate the home more easily.
Maximize Natural Light
Natural light is an instant mood booster with transformative powers in a room. It can make the room feel cleaner and lighter and save energy. Allowing as much natural light as possible to shine through can help you feel more at ease as you complete your household tasks.
Consider How You Relax
Sometimes, minor tweaks can significantly affect how you live in a space. Assess each room to identify the places that cause you stress or discomfort. For example, in a gathering space such as a living room or family room, ensure that every seating area has an end table to place a glass or book and a light source. Hanging your TV at eye level will make relaxing easier, and having enough baskets and other storage solutions can help you quickly corral visual clutter.
