How Your Home Layout Impacts Your Daily Life

Home should be a place that caters to your every need and delivers the best quality of life possible. When you plan for your luxury dream home, you definitely want as many amenities and comforts as possible. But don’t forget how important your home’s layout is.

Your home’s design needs to be beautiful and functional architecturally, but it also needs to fit with your daily routine and the flow of your life.

Practical Home Layout Tips

As you consider possible house floor plans for your whole-home remodel, don’t forget to think through the best way to set up the placement of each room and the placement of the components of each room so they make your life simpler.

The best location for your kitchen

Ideally, the kitchen will be close to a main entrance of the home that is stair-free, if possible. Remember that someone in your home will have to carry heavy groceries in from the garage or from the driveway.

Hopefully, that won’t be you. But just in case, you don’t want to have to haul several gallons of milk all over creation. Unless that is your workout plan. In which case, have at it!

Also, if you plan to have an outdoor entertaining or dining space, it’s really helpful to have that area adjacent to the kitchen. Again, unless you happen to enjoy carrying everything back and forth one hundred feet.

If it’s also possible to have your breakfast nook facing the morning sun, we highly recommend this. Getting a big dose of natural light and sunshine in the morning boosts your mood and may even help you sleep better at night.

What could be better than enjoying your cup of coffee while watching the sunrise from your eat-in-kitchen or, on pleasant days, outside on your deck, facing the glorious new day.

The best location for your master bedroom

It’s ideal to have the master bedroom in the rear of the house, away from any street noise on the main floor. If your master suite is too close to the front door, it’s awkward.

If your children are young, having your bedroom close to theirs is handy. But if they are older, trust us, you’ll enjoy having your bedroom removed from theirs, a bit.

It’s also wonderful to have your master bedroom positioned facing East just enough so that you can catch some early morning sun. There’s something rejuvenating about waking up to the warm glow of sunlight.

Let the mudroom catch all the dirt and gear

The mudroom works best if it can be by a side entrance near the driveway or adjacent to the garage.

Then if a person, or a pet, happens to be filthy, they can remove their muddy boots and take off dirty clothes immediately without soiling the rest of the house.

This is also a wonderful setup because family members can hang up their coats and backpacks and whatever else they were carrying right away in their assigned cubbies and hooks so there is no mess or clutter.

Having a mudroom-laundry room combination can make a lot of sense. Then you can throw really dirty clothes into the washing machine right away.

And if you have a large laundry sink or a pet shower, you can also hose people or animals down, when needed, before allowing them to venture into the rest of your beautiful, clean home.

An Entertaining Home Layout

If you love to entertain guests, you’ll want to design your home to be entertainment-central.

A large living room, open concept living space, or luxury finished basement will allow your friends and family to have enough space to mingle and move around freely at a party.

A wet bar (or dry bar) close to the entertaining area is a must for many homeowners. It can be in a butler’s pantry, adjacent to the kitchen, or in a cozy nook in the living room.

For those who plan on entertaining large crowds frequently, a double kitchen island or duplicate workstations allow you to have additional workspace should you need help in the kitchen. Or conceal extra workspace in a large pantry and do your prep work there, out of sight of your guests.

Don’t forget to set aside a stunning outdoor space for entertaining that has a roof to protect your guests from the weather. You may also want to splurge on a custom outdoor kitchen if you enjoy grilling.

Choosing the best house layout plan for your lifestyle

One of the most exciting things about designing your dream home is that you get to tailor every element of the design to your family’s preferences and needs. Whatever your particular lifestyle or how many square feet you may have to work with, there is a perfect home layout just for you.

For food lovers

For those who are passionate about cooking, the kitchen is where it’s at. Go all out on the best appliances. Think about a large kitchen island or even two kitchen islands—one for prep work with a prep sink.

Give yourself as much counter space as possible and choose counters that are durable and easy to clean, as well as gorgeous like marble or quartz.

A double oven or two entirely separate ovens would be a big help. Invest in a warming drawer, too, so all the food stays at the proper temperature before serving.

Consider an appliance drawer or cabinet instead of storing smaller appliances on the counter. Use a microwave drawer and think about floor-to-ceiling cabinets for beautiful storage.

The details matter! Be sure to have plenty of task lighting, under cabinet lighting, and natural light streaming into your kitchen. Also, a butcher block countertop would come in quite handy, as would a very strong exhaust ventilation system.

For families

The larger your family, the more you need an equally large laundry room. Make it a multipurpose space, if you like. With room for studying or working. Or maybe it can be part of your mudroom, to make your life easier.

If you have younger children who will be studying at home and you are working from home, arrange their study space to be close to your home office so you can offer assistance when needed.

You just can’t have too much storage when you have children. Plan for more than you think you’ll need and you’ll be set.

Design a kid-friendly kitchen with plenty of seating for them at the kitchen island—for snack time and help with homework. Consider a microwave drawer to make it easier for little ones to take some responsibility for themselves at lunchtime.

When the children are younger, an open concept living space is wonderful so you can oversee the kids while they are in an adjacent room.

Don’t forget to think about an inground swimming pool, custom fire pit, or a large custom playground in the backyard.

For pet owners

Our pets are truly part of the family, so why not make them feel right at home as you create your modern home design?

In the kitchen or under the stairs would be a fantastic place for a custom built-in dog pen or pet bed area. While you design your kitchen island and cabinetry, include a built-in feeding station and even a water spigot for filling your pet’s water dish.

If you have cats, consider creating some shelving for them to climb on so they’ll feel like they are up in the trees.

And if you have a dog, a built-in pet-shower in the mudroom or laundry room will do wonders to help you keep your pet clean and the rest of your home mud-free.

For multigenerational families or caregivers

Many families see benefits in sharing a home to boost each other emotionally and financially. En-suite floor plans are wonderful for providing each generation with their own sanctuary and privacy.

Consider a home layout that includes a full kitchen or a kitchenette in the secondary suite, as well as a sitting space and a separate outdoor entrance.

If your in-law suite won’t have its own kitchen and you want to share the main kitchen, consider an extended kitchen with additional or duplicate workstations so no one has to feel overly crowded.

For hobbyists

If you have unused space in your home, do something fun with it! Go ahead. You’ll love it. How about a:

Home workout area
Craft room / sewing room
Hobby room
Music room
Art studio
Writing nook

Ready to find a great home plan for your whole-home remodel in the Columbia, SC area?

Whatever your preferences, at Phase One, we can help you discover the best home layout and design vision for you. That’s our speciality.

We are experienced home designers and contractors who help you turn the home you have into the luxury home of your dreams. We’ll walk you through the design process to discover all the incredible hidden potential in your home.