Our homes are meant to be the place we feel the most relaxed, comfortable and like our true selves. But, due to the fear of devaluing our property, many of us never truly embrace our creativity and individuality when it comes to designing our homes.
We worry too much about what the person who might move in after us will think about how much we love dolphin ornaments or an entirely black room. Instead, many of us choose neutral or contemporary design choices.
Of course, these are wise and prudent choices but they can leave a home feeling a little uninspired. From interior design choices to major structural changes, let’s look at how and why you should create a living space just for you in your home.
Coming to terms with the cost
The first thing you will have to do if you are going to embrace your inner interior designer is to come to terms with the cost. Not only will whatever work you intend on doing cost you money but you may have to accept that large-scale changes won’t be financially beneficial.
For example, you may choose to lose one of your bedrooms to create the perfect leisure or hobby room. With each bedroom roughly adding 20% value to a property, it’s a big chunk of money to say goodbye to. The question you will have to ask yourself is whether the loss of x-amount, potentially several thousand pounds, is worth the years of happy and comfortable living.
Losing a room for an open plan kitchen
While it would be nice to live in a modern home that is open plan, many of us are living in Victorian homes where space is at a premium. The kitchen is one of the most important rooms in a home and it can often be the biggest bug-bear for homeowners. A cramped kitchen with minimal storage space makes cooking difficult, plus entertaining is commonly out of the question.
An open plan kitchen could be exactly what the doctor ordered but in a small home, sacrifices must be made. You might need to knock down a wall to integrate the dining room, or possibly extend into the garden to create the space for a cooking and entertaining space. In all likelihood, this will increase your property’s value but if the larger kitchen has to take away a different room, or reduces the living room’s space, it may become less valuable.
Rooms for other activities
One of the greatest needs in the home that people have discovered is a spare room. With many people working from home more frequently, office space is highly desirable for modern living. While not everyone has a few rooms to spare to dedicate to an office, creating a multifunctional space that allows you to work and enjoy your hobbies is a viable alternative.
You could zone off an office in part of a room while using the rest of the space for something fun. That might be a library, crochet station or even something like a gaming area. If sport is your thing, a games room could be the perfect solution, with the options for snooker tables and golf simulators popular choices.
Golf simulators are a great shout for keen golfers with families as they can double up as a home cinema that everyone can enjoy. Snooker tables may be a little less accessible and require a greater family compromise than other options.
Taking your interests to the next level
You may wish to permanently convert a room to become a walk-in wardrobe, art studio, fully kitted out gym or even an indoor swimming pool. A swimming pool, for example, might perfectly suit your lifestyle and it seems like a no-brainer to add one to your home. But they can be expensive and reduce the space inside your home so it’s a consideration that must be made carefully.
An art studio might require converting a basement but it can provide you with the kind of peaceful sanctuary needed to create your masterpieces. Commonly, concrete floors are ideal for art studios and they may not appeal to anyone looking to move in.
Home gyms can be a little bit lightweight for those who really like to dedicate themselves to working out. You may wish to build a fully-functioning gym which is a specialised area of your home that certainly won’t appeal to many buyers. But again, if it suits your lifestyle then that can sway your decision rather than the bottom line.
Are more bedrooms better than fewer?
The number of bedrooms has always been an important factor in determining the value of a house. It stands to reason that a house with more bedrooms than another is worth more, largely thanks to the additional square footage.
But what about two similarly sized properties, where one has fewer bedrooms than the other? People downsizing might be happier to have fewer rooms but more space in each, so reducing the number of rooms doesn’t necessarily impact a home’s desirability.
At certain stages in life, people are looking for different things from their homes. Young couples and families need the rooms for children, while a couple whose kids have already grown up and moved out don’t need that many rooms. Square footage can be a useful way to measure house value when it comes to quality over quantity.
Are bathrooms too important to ignore?
Property developer, Nicole Bremner, says the rule of thumb for bathrooms is to have one for every 1½ bedrooms. The logic makes sense as the more people you introduce to a home, the more likely confrontations over the bathroom will arise.
This might mean sacrificing one of your bedrooms for a bathroom but if it makes living in your home easier, then it’s worth it for daily life. An additional bathroom can also add value to your home but it’s a case of weighing up whether sacrificing a bedroom for it is worth it.
Does style matter?
Many of us are spending more time at home than ever, thanks to remote working and a better work-life balance. That does mean that it’s more important than ever that we make our homes as much about us as possible.
Before 2020, some of us used our homes as a base that allowed us to go off and do other things. Now many people are embracing life at home, so why not tailor our environment to our personal tastes? Whether that means adding textured wallpaper, bright and bold tiles or carpets on the walls, own your style.
The creativity doesn’t have to stop on the inside and if you want to be the purple or orange house on the street, go for it! It’s just important to remember that if you are worried about your home’s value then consider your design choices more carefully. Design choices do impact house price; avoiding fads, using natural light and catering to your target market adds value.
If, on the other hand, you’d rather live life at your pace and in your style, then you can be completely free in your design choices. At the end of the day, it’s only superficial and if you really feel it necessary, you can revert to a blank canvas when the time comes to sell up.
