There’s a world of difference between purchasing a house and designing your own custom home.
Sure, an existing home can fulfill your needs and be a wonderful place to live. But with a custom home? You’re designing the literal home of your dreams ‒ the one you’ve envisioned your entire life! Every square foot is a reflection of your imagination and tastes, a physical representation of all that is you.
While personal style plays an important role in the process of designing your home, functionality is just as important.
With this in mind, as Ontario gets a better handle on COVID-19, homeowners have learned they need to adapt their homes’ features to a world where lockdowns can occur in an instant.
Here are 5 of the biggest features that have come to the forefront when planning a custom home in the post-pandemic world.
1. Keep Your Mind Sharp with a Home Office
If you’re retired or bordering on retirement, a home office might not be top of mind.
But let’s be honest: finishing your full-time career doesn’t always mean you’re done working. And when sudden lockdowns are a possibility, having work to do ‒ and the space to do it in ‒ helps keep your brain sharp and your mental health steady.
Once COVID-19 is entirely in the rearview, this space will still be valuable. You’ll have a sanctuary for reading, writing, thinking, or anything else that engages your mind!
Considerations for your custom home office:
- Don’t settle for your kitchen table or the cozy nook in your living room. You need a designated space for work and related activities.
- Fill the room with comfortable furniture.
- Consider upgrades and perks such as a snack fridge, a separate entrance, or a dedicated bathroom.
- Proper lighting keeps your eyes from straining too much while you’re working:
- Be mindful that you’ll likely work at different times of the day, so your lighting should be adaptable around the clock. This way, you can work when the sun is shining, at dusk, or when it’s pitch black outside.
- Leveraging natural daylight will help you remain productive during your time in your home office.
2. Make Your Home Ideal for Guests with Entertainment Rooms
As COVID numbers continue to improve, restrictions on gathering are slowly being lifted. As such, even if you aren’t comfortable about going out, you can make your custom home a hub for your closest family and friends. Do so by designing your entire home for entertainment purposes.
You can then ensure that social distancing doesn’t lead to complete isolation and spend valuable time with people who matter most!
Considerations for your custom entertainment spaces:
- Ensure there’s some distance and coverage between public and private spaces (e.g., build larger powder rooms but keep them out of sight from public areas like the living room).
- Build large dining rooms.
- Driveways should have plenty of space for guests.
- Finish materials should be more durable to deal with lots of foot traffic.
3. Make Your Home a Haven for Hobbies
COVID-19 made us all bakers, painters, knitters, and experts in every other hobby imaginable. Chances are you fell in love with some type of activity, and it’s turned into something more than fighting boredom during lockdowns. In other words, you’ll be enjoying these pastimes for the rest of your life!
Therefore, in a post-COVID world, your custom home should be an ideal environment for your hobbies.
Considerations for your custom hobby spaces:
- Whether your home is built with a woodshop, garage, gym, art studio, or greenhouse, familiarize yourself with the specific planning requirements.
- Factors such as environmental controls, power, and lighting should all be strongly considered when designing hobby rooms.
4. Building Your Home to Remain COVID Strong
It is now clear how quickly new viruses can spread throughout Ontario and the world. Though we hope we won’t have another pandemic like this one, your home can be made to ease the transition from living in communal areas to isolated areas. This will be essential to keeping safe if things get dicey again.
Considerations for your wellness-oriented home:
- Indoor air quality is now a top priority. High-quality air ventilation and filtration will be integral to remaining safe from transmissions.
- For mental well-being, focus on sunlight exposure and natural ventilation ‒ this can be a welcome relief from the greyness of isolation.
5. Design Your Home for Year-Round Outdoor Enjoyment
Canada isn’t known for warm winters. But spending more time inside our homes during the rest of the year has made many people more open to enjoying frostier outdoor conditions.
Fortunately, nowadays, you don’t need to build an igloo or wear 20 different layers to enjoy the outdoors surrounding your home. You can be warm and comfortable in the snowy conditions and enjoy the natural beauty!
Considerations for your winter-proofed home:
- Screened outdoor heaters and heated porch floors are becoming the norm, maximizing the time you can enjoy the outdoors during the winter.
- Panoramic windows, placed to encompass the very best view from your property, can bring the beauty of the outdoors into your home.
Getting the Most out of Your Custom Home in a Post COVID-19 World
After a rough year and a half, it’s hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel. But you’re building a custom home, meaning ‒ pandemic aside ‒ your dreams are about to come true!
From there, you’ll have a living space that reflects your biggest, boldest dreams. And you’ll also have a home that enhances your overall well-being, keeps you smiling when times are tough and maintains your safety in the last days of the pandemic.