The ultimate dream for many people is designing and building their own home. The human instinct to build a nest and settle down is strong. When building our own homes, the key is the design! It has to have a good design that is appealing to the eye, as well as being a liveable home. Here is a simple guide of how to design your new self built home.
The big vision:
First thing’s first, you need a vision. You must have an idea of how you want your home to look and the style methodology that you’re going to follow. Do you want a gothic mansion or a brute modernist style? Do you want to follow in the footsteps of the swinging sixties or is a Georgian manor house more your style? Whatever design you choose to pursue, make sure you have a vision in mind. Then meet with an architect to put that vision down on paper and begin mapping out your blueprints.
Go on visits:
What is your favourite neighbourhood? Make sure you pay it a visit and take inspiration from the common designs that you find there! Is it a traditional kind of place or is it a lot more modern? Whatever you come across in your favourite hood, note it down and be inspired. You may just find your dream home there! You may be able to come up with a new look with simple designs, something that stands out from the crowd and has that real “wow” factor. Attend open houses and get interior inspiration too. Wherever you can go, I suggest you go and take note. These are all people who have been there before you, and you may get some amazing ideas for your dream home from open houses and visiting your favourite neighbourhoods.
Photographs:
Whenever you go on a visit and find something that you like, I recommend you take photographs of both the interior and exterior. These photo’s can be revisited when you’re mapping down your ideas. You can take further inspiration from them and could even ask your architect to mimic some of the design philosophies in them. In the photo’s you may find details that you didn’t quite notice in person, making them an indispensable source of information and inspiration.
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Be organized:
Make sure that everything is as organized as it can be. Sort your photo’s in the order that you like them the most. Rank your favourite houses from 1-10 to provide you with information to look back on. Draw sketches whenever you get inspired and draw loads of them! You want to have as much detail as possible when planning your new home. Write down things that your house simply must have and keep them in a prominent place in your files.
Follow these simple steps and you’ll be sure to be on your way to designing the perfect home for you and your family. Make your nest unique and make sure it reflects you! Whatever you do, stay organised throughout the design and build process and make sure you choose a style that matches the neighbourhood you’re building in, at the same time as standing out.
Image credit:
Image 1 – By Jameslwoodward – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=8510442
Image 2 – By Jan Tik – Flickr, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=373392
