How to Create a Functional Living Space to Support Family Life
When it comes to designing the perfect home, there will always be a ton of different things you need to keep in mind. It can be overwhelming when you’re starting from scratch, or even when you’re trying to make positive changes to your existing home. But at the same time, it’s always about stripping it all back and focusing on the things that matter. When you have a family, focusing on family life above all else is so important. And when you make this your number one priority in your design, things start to feel a lot easier. So, in this blog post, we’re going to help you to do exactly that.
Focusing on functional living is such a great way for you to streamline the renovation, building, or decorating process. It’s easy to think that you need to focus purely on the design side of things from the beginning, when really it’s all about how it all fits together. So, let’s work through exactly how you’re going to do this.
1. Understand Your Lifestyle
First of all, you need to make sure that you’re focusing entirely on your lifestyle. When you know that you want to be able to build a home that enables you to live well, you need to think about what you need. Do you like to cook? If so, maybe you want a pantry and kitchen garden next to the kitchen. Do you like to entertain? Then it could be an open-plan living space or a separate entertaining area that you want. It’s all about being able to create a home that serves you best in life.
2. Focus on the Layout First
With that in mind, you then need to turn your attention to the layout of your home. Depending on where you live and your renovation plans, you may not be able to (or want to!) change too much. But ideally, you’re going to make sure that the layout of your home flows well and facilitates the way you live your life. Nailing this can make everyday living so much easier.
3. Do Any Major Works
At this point, you’re then going to want to start any major renovation works that you want to focus on. Renovating a home can be such a lengthy and stressful process, but it will always be worth it in the end. If you know that you want to do any construction, extend your home, change the layout, or even convert any spaces, this is where you’ll begin. With the overall structure ready to go, you can then start bringing in key parts of the decor.
4. Choose Your Decor Style
But, before you do that, you need to make sure that you know what your decor style is. After all, you want to start picking out things to bring into the home, and you want to make sure that it all goes together well. So, make sure that you’re looking for inspiration and identifying what you like most. You can then start the buying process.
5. Pick Out Your Main Fixtures and Fittings
While it can be exciting to start bringing everything together, it’s always important to pick out some of the major elements of your home first. This will often be things like your kitchen and bathroom fittings and fixtures, along with paint colors, the styles of roman blinds you want for all of your windows, and even flooring choices. When you have picked these out, you can get to work on completing the base of your interiors.
6. Choose Functional Furniture
The next thing you can start working on here is picking out your furniture. When it comes to bringing the design of your home together, it’s always going to be important for you to choose furniture that fits each space. Even if you’re working with small spaces, you will be able to source functional furniture styles that fit the purpose of each room. That way, you know that your home is best equipped for your lifestyle.
7. Focus on Organization
With that in mind, you also need to make sure that you’re nailing the organizational side of things. After all, when you’ve worked hard on pulling together a beautiful new living space, you won’t want it to get messy quickly. So, as you’re thinking about how you live your life, make sure that you work in the right storage solutions. From shoe and coat storage in the boot room to school bags and lunch boxes, there’s a lot you can be smart with here.
8. Create a Cohesive Design Theme
When it comes to bringing everything together, you also need to keep in mind that flow will make all the difference. When you have a cohesive design theme that flows from room to room and throughout the house, it makes decisions easier and ensures that your home looks great without you even trying. It also makes it easier for you to go about your life, because everything is in a convenient place.
9. Aim for Maximum Comfort
And, of course, don’t forget about comfort! Although your aim is to create somewhere functional, you also want it to feel like home. This means bringing in comfort spaces, soft fabrics, and anything you need to relax and unwind. With this element ticked off, you know that you can come home after a long day and recharge in your safe space.
10. Adjust as You Go
However, you may find that things might not be perfect from the get-go, and that’s okay. They’re certainly not always going to look the best or flow in the best of ways right from the beginning. Because that’s the thing about creating a functional living space that is there to support your lifestyle–you need to live in it first! So, even when you think that everything is all planned out and looking great, make sure that you just throw yourself into everyday life. You are likely to find that you’ll figure out the best places to put things or what you need to move around as life goes on. Once you’ve been living in your new living space for a few months, it will really start to reflect your everyday family life.
