(MCT)—New home buyers are coming back, but they don’t want the same old McMansion. They want a house they can use.
That means a “great room” where everyone can gather — and a spa-like bathroom to escape from the crowd.
But usefulness also extends to lots of storage space for big-box buys. It means “drop-off zones” for recharging smartphones and pet-friendly “puppy showers.” It means a home office actually designed for work and media centers made for play. It means big closets and little nooks.
These new homes combine practicality with the way we want to live now, builders say.
“We’re rolling out all new designs,” says Jeff Lake, national head of architecture for a major builder. “We completely re-did our entire inventory with a huge emphasis on design.”
These designs are the culmination of a three-year process, Lake said.
“We did a lot of research,” he said. “We studied how people actually live in their homes. We found they’re more connected than ever — and not just texting.”
