Imagine waking up in a room with a stunning view, eating breakfast on a terrace surrounded by lush landscaping, working from your dedicated home office complete with floor to ceiling doors that open to a private deck, then sipping a cocktail at the end of the day sitting in your outdoor living room complete with a firepit and soft lighting.
By designing with a focus on a lifestyle experience, many architects and builders are creating and focusing on spaces that harmonize with the property’s natural environment at a scale that fits the life point their clients are at.
Today it is important for design teams to work on shaping a residence not based on how much square footage under roof can be built, rather how can they flawlessly mesh every interior space of the home with exterior spaces creating a lifestyle that is in harmony with nature.
Well-designed homes, no matter the location, do not focus on size rather on how the home functions for the residents. Some of the most exciting lifestyle homes I have had the pleasure to represent reveal stunning panoramas, retreat experiences, and create a harmonious setting that creates a life well lived even it is packaged in a small footprint.
What Should You Be Asking Yourself?
Answering these four questions will help you determine if you are living in a larger space than you need or have more care and upkeep than you want:
Are rooms you haven't spent time in for weeks, or even months?
Have you left areas of the home unfurnished?
Are your property taxes, care and upkeep costs and utilities bills a burden?
Are there items that you are storing for people who don’t live in the house anymore, or do you have bins and boxes of items that you haven’t even looked at for weeks, months or even years?
How To Right Size
This past week I had the privilege of previewing a stunning new construction residence listed by one of my Compass colleagues. The home was breathtaking, the attention to detail, the quality of the finishes, the floorplan, the amenities, everything you could ask for except for some people the size. The residence is 8000+ sq. ft. For some people, that size might be just what they need, for many it is simply too much house.
Another example is when you have a large home that holds a lifetime of memories, you know the home, the one where you raised kids, hosted birthday parties, entertained friends and curated the contents over the years. However now you feel you walk by rooms never occupied, see dust on every surface and have boxes of outdoor holiday decorations you no longer want to put out.
Lifestyle is the other consideration. Are you ready to drive less, walk more. Are you ready to have free time for activities and hobbies rather than lawn work or cleaning? Then maybe you don’t even want a house anymore, maybe you want a condo.
When exploring your options, think about your next steps. I am a firm believer in finding a new home or remodeling an existing home needs to be fit to the lifestyle you want to live.