When it comes to home additions there is a lot to consider. This isn’t a small menial task you are undertaking, rather a large investment into the value of your home and your quality of life. While there are your typical questions of what your budget is, where your property lines are, and the like; there are some other things to consider that might now come to mind immediately. With that, LBK Design Build is here to help you with 7 things to consider before adding a home addition.
7 Considerations To Take Before Adding A Home Addition
When discussing the home addition with your design-build team, it’s important that they cover all of the bases your family has in mind. While planning, it’s important that they understand your families current desires, needs, and routine around the house.
This information will help them structure the design plan around your families specific needs. Your home addition is something that your family will come to cherish and include into the home, not just an addition to your house!
It’s important that while discussing with your team that you take into consideration the 7 items mentioned here. These items will help clarify the plans of the addition and paint a clearer picture for the design team to work with!
1. Think Of Your Current Floor Plan When Designing For Your Home Addition
When first designing your home addition plans, it’s crucial you take into consideration your homes current floor plan. You don’t want your space to clearly have a home addition, either interior or exterior! The home addition should look flawless and carry the flow of energy throughout your home.
If you get stuck in trying to understand this, bring in a friend or another guest to walk through your space and see how they move around your home!
2. Match Your Home's Current Aesthetic
Along with making sure your home addition looks seamless, it is important to match the addition to your home’s current aesthetic. This, while important for the exterior look of the house, is even more important for your home’s interior.
Try to match your home’s current flooring, wallpaper/paint, and even ceiling texture. While it’s easy to match and some home’s even come with a bucket of paint from the last owners, if this step is not done correctly it has the ability to date the rest of your living space.
If you’re unable to match these item’s exactly, go for something that well complements the space. Consider bringing in some of your home’s current paintings and tchotchkes into the home addition to give it an air of familiarity.
Ultimately your family knows what they enjoy and the space will fill up naturally to your families style.
3. What Are You Wanting To Add?
While designing your home addition there are a number of questions and affirmations you want to keep asking yourself. Always come back to what it is you are wanting to add. This might seem like a useless point to make, but during the process of adding the home addition you want to ensure that the design plan and your family are still on board with the original plan of what you are adding.
This decision can change and comes with the freedom for your family to make changes to the plan as it is unfolding. But, these changes can take you far from your original plan. So keep reminding yourself of what exactly it is your intentions were for the home addition!
4. Know The Desired Size Of Your Home Addition
While a home addition is a very exciting time, it is important to be aware of the size of your actual addition. Don’t allow the excitement to push you into dreaming too big. Understand that you may have only a small addition to give you a little more square feet to your current kitchen, maybe you’re only putting in a new mudroom. Or perhaps you are adding an entire additional floor to your home!
Regardless of the size, understand that any additional space can be added on in the future. Know that this is not your only chance for your family to create your dream home and space. This is only one big step closer in your ever changing plans for your dream home!
5. Always Be Asking What This Adds To Your Home's Value
This is a question you need to be asking yourself constantly. Depending on the size of your home addition, this investment may add a lot of value to your home. While this is a change that is improving your quality of life, why not also ensure that this change is improving your financial assets.
Ensure you are talking to your design-build team about the added value to your home through this process. Make sure that this home addition will improve your finances in the long-term, rather than just the short-term!
6. Consider How Long The Home Addition Will Take
Again, depending on the size of your home addition the process of adding it may take longer. It is important that you draw barriers for the build team on when and where they can work. If this is a project that will take a number of weeks to complete, it’s important to understand how this process will effect your daily routine.
It’s important that you talk to your design-build team so they can understand your families routine. This will alleviate any major inconveniences to your family while the home addition is built. Ensure that you have a clear schedule of the work that is to be done, but understand that any number of roadblocks can present themselves during the process!
7. Plan For The Future!
Your home addition does not just have to be a static sun room, extra bedroom, or home office. A home addition will allow you to make any number of changes to your space in the future. When designing and developing the home addition make sure to consider any other future projects you might have for your home.
For example, if you think you will want a gas grill in the backyard, why not bring a gas line over through the home addition. Why not bring in a water line if you are considering adding a new bathroom in the future, or bring in another line for some future electrical work! Think of the future!
Ready To Take The Next Step For Your Home Addition?
Dreaming and designing your home addition by yourself is only the first step in the process. We hope that we have given you more things to think about while you are in this process!
The next, and most important, step is the home construction project. To ensure you get the results you expect, find a design-build firm that is passionate about their work and also understands how to incorporate your families needs around the project!
A home addition is not just an added space to your house, but increases your quality of life and your families financial assets!
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