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Building the house of your dreams takes a great deal of time and effort. Plenty of planning and preparation goes into each step of the process, and short-term considerations are equally as important as long-term ones.
✔ Some design elements are impossible to implement without foresight, like a walk-in residential safe, for example. So, before you get any plans approved, take a look at eight critical features that every prospective homeowner should keep in mind.
A. 8 Must Haves for Building Your Own House
1. Sustainable building materials
✔ Eco-friendly construction is incredibly important nowadays. Focusing on sustainability and energy efficiency will not only ensure that you conserve natural resources, but it will also reduce waste and improve your air and water quality.
✔ Synthetic building materials should be avoided at all costs, as well as anything that contains formaldehyde and phthalates. These materials can impact your health and well-being dramatically, and it’s always worthwhile to find suitable, renewable alternatives instead.
2. High-quality windows
✔ Natural light is another key factor when designing your home. Window spaces should be chosen strategically to ensure a maximum influx of ambient light. Additionally, the glass itself should either be double-glazed or triple-glazed.
✔ The thicker the glass, the less noise pollution you have to deal with. Ensure the glass you use has UV protection to protect your furniture and flooring, and keep in mind that a window is at its most effective when there’s a view to going with it.
Photo by Daniel McCullough on Unsplash
3. Space for a mudroom
✔ A mud room isn’t absolutely necessary, but it makes it a lot easier to keep your house clean and tidy. Essentially, it’s a transitional space between an entryway and the rest of your home, where you and your visitors can store coats, bags, and shoes.
✔ Mudrooms were extremely popular back in the ‘60s, but they’ve experienced a resurgence in popularity in recent years. For added utility, you can even add a small shower and drainage area, which is especially useful if you have pets and other mud-loving responsibilities.
4. Unrestricted access to outlets
✔ It’s easy to forget about the smaller details when you’re building a new home. If you want to save yourself some trouble down the line, remember to include electrical outlets and light switches in your planning, and avoid placing them in hard-to-reach positions.
✔ The last thing you want is to run out of plug points or walk across a dark room just to reach the light switch. In order to avoid these situations, picture yourself walking around the house and think about which electrical appliances will be used in each space.
5. Smart-home technology
✔ Smart home devices make your life easier by adding some much-needed convenience, whether it’s a self-correcting thermostat reducing energy usage when the house is empty or motion-activated lighting with programmable shades and brightness levels.
✔ The most significant perk is that you can control all of your smart home features from a single device, like a smartphone or a tablet, for instance. You won’t have to worry about light switches, and arguments over temperature control will be a thing of the past.
6. Energy alternatives
✔ A self-sufficient abode will always be better than a house that relies on external power sources. It’s not cheap to install solar panels and generators, but these alternate energy producers allow you to save on monthly energy bills and keep the lights on during outages.
✔ Renewable energy installations are rapidly becoming the norm for property developers, and as homeowners continue gaining awareness of the long-term cost savings, the high initial investment to set up these systems is fast becoming less of an issue.
7. Storage
Having enough storage is a fundamental component of interior design. Only you will know how much storage space you need, but the great thing about building your own home is that you can be creative with your cupboard layout, and there are no limits in terms of innovation.
✔ You can have floating cupboards, hidden cupboards, sunken drawers, or a combination of all three. You can design a walk-in closet space or dedicate an outhouse to random items. There’s no limit to the possibilities, so explore your options to find out what works best for you.
8. Suitable landscaping
Every homeowner understands the importance of holistic landscaping. No matter how much of the property you build on, the rest of the area has to complement the design and layout of the house.
✔ You could just let nature lead the way, but your guests definitely won’t appreciate an unkempt front lawn. On top of that, the more effort you put into keeping the outdoor environment neat and pleasing to the eye, the higher the property’s value becomes.
