Building a new home? You probably already have tons of ideas about how you can make the house your dream home. Here are seven more ideas for making your new home a perfect fit for your family’s needs.
- Smart Outlets
You have myriad options when it comes to adding extra outlets. Using recessed outlets in your living areas makes furniture arrangement easy and, because they can be more easily covered up, they are safer for curious fingers. Consider putting extra kitchen and bathroom outlets in drawers or slide-away fixtures. Not only does this open the space up, but it decreases the chance of accidents. Out of sight, out of mind.
- More Storage
If you are working with home builders, like Sartori Custom Homes, on your dream house, take advantage of that freedom to create extra storage space. Install drawers in your stairs, between wall studs in the bathroom, and below beds. Put a window seat cubby on your stair landing, or add shelves to a hallway for books and toys. Don’t rely on that shelf at the top of your closet or the free corner of the garage—create plenty of space for organizing toys, displaying books, and putting away seasonal clothes until they’re needed.
- Heated Floors
Make it that much simpler to get the kids out of bed and ready for school: install heating systems in the floor of your kitchen and bathrooms. You may find heated flooring motivates you get out of bed just as much as it helps your kids! Heated floors are an easy way to regulate the temperature of your home on chilly mornings, and are more efficient than baseboard heating or forced-air heating. Radiant heating also does not spread air-born allergens like other heating systems can, making it ideal for families with children who suffer from asthma, allergies, or other respiratory conditions.
- Dutch Doors
Dutch, or split, doors are a great option for toddlers’ rooms. These doors allow you to keep an eye on their play, while they’re safe behind a built-in child gate. The top of the door can be closed for privacy (or to hide a mess when company’s over) and reopened to allow for supervised play. Bonus: top closed, bottom opened Dutch doors work great for castle portcullises, dog doors, or space ship entrances during games of pretend.
- Slide-Away Steps
Until the little ones are tall enough to reach everything themselves, you may find yourself hauling a step-stool all over the house. Install slide-away steps in front of the bathroom and kitchen sinks, and in front of permanent shelving to eliminate the need for carrying the step-stool from one end of the house to the other the next time your kids want to help wash veggies for dinner or brush their teeth themselves.
- Reused Rubber
If you are planning to install a swing set, playground, or tree house in the backyard, consider using recycled rubber as your ground cover in the place of sand or wood chips. Not only is reused rubber eco-friendly, but it is more forgiving to little knees and elbows than other kinds of ground cover.
- Night Lights
Night lights aren’t just for chasing the boogeyman away. Install low-wattage lighting under the edges of cabinets or along the baseboards in hallways to avoid stubbed toes and lights being “accidentally” left on after nighttime bathroom trips.
When building your new home, the sky’s the limit. Use these elements to design a home that encourages safe and creative play, and makes your family’s life convenient and simple.
