Floor Addition

Rightsizing – What’s the Ideal Home Size for Your Family?

Highlight Homes Atlanta Custom Homes, Luxury Renovations
Rightsizing – What’s the Ideal Home Size for Your Family?

It’s likely that you’ve heard of upsizing and downsizing in homebuying, but have you heard of “rightsizing”?  The act of rightsizing is basically just what it sounds like – building a home that’s the right size for your family or reconfiguring your current home to make the best use of your existing space. There are several factors to consider when determining the ideal house size for your family…

Household Composition

There was a time when the general thinking was that the perfect house size for a household of four was a four-bedroom home. A bedroom for Mom and Dad, a bedroom each for the kids and a spare room for when company came to visit. But with more and more multi-generational families coming into the mix and a greater number of parents seeking the privacy that a master-on-main affords them, traditional thinking has given way to more innovative home designs that include things like dual master bedrooms, a large bedroom devoted to more than one child with built-in bunkbeds or an entire floor devoted as a guest or teen suite. If building a custom home, talk about your current family’s composition, but remain forward-thinking. According to the National Association of Realtors, the average length of time a family stays in a home is 10 years. A lot can change regarding your family composition over the course of a decade – from adding new family members to inviting an aging parent to move in to college-bound children moving out.

Collective Personality

Does your family love its together time, or does everyone crave their own quiet space in the home? Are you a family who loves to entertain guests, host friends and family overnight or do you prefer to keep to yourselves? Your answers to both of those questions can impact your ideal home size. You may be that family who loves its together time but doesn’t really entertain others – meaning you could probably get away with a smaller home. However, you could fall into the other end of the spectrum – a family who appreciates space, but also loves to entertain – meaning you’ll need more room to spread out. For families who like together time and regularly invite others to join in the fun, an open concept design on the main level might be the ideal move for you.

Family Interests

This is another area where entertainment plays a major role. For one, if you like to entertain – chances are you’ve shared that “gene” with your offspring. If you have teenagers who like to host their friends at your house (the COOL house), you may want a dedicated space for them where they can watch YouTube or play video games on the big screen. This could be an upstairs bonus room, a space in the basement or a room you’ve never even imagined. A family of movie buffs may benefit more from a media room or home theater than they would a formal dining room. A health-conscious family may prefer an upstairs gym not far from their bedrooms for early morning workouts or a room in the basement where it’s quiet. If your household is full of family members who like to pamper themselves, you may want to put more of an emphasis on number of bathrooms and bathroom space. And if you have a home full of aspiring chefs, kitchen space and configuration is a major consideration.

Existing Property or Starting from Scratch

You’ll also want to determine whether It’s time to move or if you plan to stay in your existing home and simply “reimagine” it. Starting from scratch with a set of blueprints to your dream house can be exciting – allowing you a rare opportunity to create the interior and exterior of your new home with a custom builder using things like family composition, collective personality and family interests as your guide. However, that endeavor can be expensive and time-consuming. If you love your current neighborhood, your kids have lots of friends there, it’s a short commute to work and the schools are good, why move? A great renovation company can help you redesign the exterior and interior of your home to fit many of the same specifications outlined above. Live on a slab in a one-story home? That doesn’t necessarily mean you’re limited to existing space. Pop-the-top renovations are growing in popularity, where the roof is removed, and a second story is added to create TWICE the amount of space that existed before. This will require you to live off-site while the renovation is ongoing, but – if done properly – it’s well-worth the hassle.

Budget

Last but certainly not least comes the amount of budget you have to work with to get your custom home or renovation project off the ground. You may want to speak with your lender first to get a general idea to how much money you can access, then speak with a custom builder or renovation company to discuss your vision and hear their ideas. They can pull together a proposal that will give you a better idea of what your vision will cost. OR you can share your budget with them first and they can tell you what is doable and what may have to wait. If a custom home just isn’t in the cards, make a list of the things you want in your next home and explore up and coming communities to see who can get close to your vision AND budget. More and more builders are incorporating “flex spaces” into their floor plans – allowing you the flexibility to use spaces the way they’ll see the most use. If your family is small and doesn’t really entertain, do you even have a need for a formal dining room?

Long story short, no one knows better than you what’s the best size for your “home sweet home.” Working closely with a custom home builder (like Highlight Homes) or skilled renovation company (also Highlight Homes) is a great way to determine not only the appropriate size of your home, but also the most beneficial uses of your living spaces. The Highlight Homes’ team welcomes the opportunity to meet with you to discuss the home of your dreams – whether that’s a brand-new custom home or a complete renovation of your existing home. We can design to your specifications, offer our own suggestions or find an existing plan that’s the ideal fit for your needs and wishes. To learn more about Highlight Homes and our signature design-build method, please visit www.highlighthomesga.com. Once you’re ready to get started, contact us at 678-874-9234 or info@highlighthomesga.com.

Room To Grow: Highlight Homes’ Guide to Home Additions

Highlight Homes Luxury Renovations
Room To Grow: Highlight Homes’ Guide to Home Additions

 

Modern families often face critical growth points – whether adding a baby or two, welcoming home a young adult after college graduation or inviting a parent to join the household. The option to move into a new home can be a daunting one for all involved – particularly if you love your current home, benefit from a great school system, have strong ties with your neighbors or share a fondness for the area as a whole. The great news is that many homes offer room to grow that you may not have previously considered. Through a reimagining of your current home, you could stay put while enjoying more spacious quarters in which to grow your family. Here are just a few that Highlight Homes suggests:

Finished Basement: Obviously, one of the easiest options is – in the event that your home is already equipped with a basement – to finish it to suit your needs. Adding a bedroom or two, plus a full bathroom and possibly even a full kitchen (a particularly great option for older parents) is like adding an entirely new floor to your home. Best of all, your parents or young adult child can enjoy the independence of having their own apartment with private entrance.

Room Addition: If a basement is not an option, it may be possible to add a room to your existing floor plan and potentially reconfigure some of the layout to make this addition seamless. The room addition could consist of a new secondary bedroom and full bath to accommodate an additional family member.

Floor Addition: Again, if a basement is not an option and a room addition would not provide you with enough space to accommodate the up-and-coming change to your living arrangements, all hope is not lost. Depending on an evaluation of your current home, a floor addition may be an option. This is particularly true of well-built ranch-style homes. Two story homes with an attic may offer an opportunity to finish a portion of that space to make it suitable for an additional secondary bedroom.

Separate Garage with In-Law Suite:  If you have a fair amount of land surrounding your home, you might want to consider a completely separate structure in which to house part of your growing family. An extremely viable option is to add a separate garage with an in-law suite built overhead. Not only will the garage accommodate additional cars that often come with multi-generational families, but the in-law suite can be customized to include a bedroom, storage, full bathroom and kitchen. Once again, this is an option that could provide your parents or young adult child with an ongoing sense of independence thanks to their own apartment with private entrance.

Highlight Homes welcomes the chance to explore all of the options listed above with you! We can evaluate your current home and determine which possibility might prove the best fit for both your family and your needs. To get started, simply call us at 678.873.9234, email us at info@highlighthomesga.com or fill out our convenient online contact form. To learn more about Highlight Homes and sneak a peek at some of our previous projects, please visit us at www.highlighthomesga.com.