Home of Well-Being
Our houses in the past were built to just maintain us inside them. Smart home technologies have improved our living experiences through convenience, however, there is still a large design emptyness in our living space. Our mental and physical wellness have not been well integrated into our current residential designs.
Traditionally, our homes were designed with minimal space and rooms, and they have not kept up with accommodating our needs of today. With greater time now spent working from home, of which our homes were not designed for, more people are feeling isolated and enclosed.
With all the time people spend at home now there is a desire to escape their homes during the week, weekends and evenings. But what if our homes instead had space designed specifically for work, Zen, family time and entertainment. Truly living in the homes we live in.
This is my specialty, designing homes where people truly want to live in, entertain in, grow families in including multi-generational experiences (see my article on ‘Rethinking the In-Law Suite’).
If working remotely from home is a long term trend then let’s create a private space that feels like you have entered a professional work environment, away from the hustle and bustle of kids and dogs that pulls you away from being in the zone when working.
If we must be tied to our homes during the day and evening, let’s create a healthy space where we can decompress, reflect, a room of Zen where we can retreat to and take care of our mental wellness. Let’s also make time to care for our physical wellness by designing a fitness room that friends will be envious of.
Separating sections of your home specifically dedicated for work, mental and physical health, family and friends will truly create a home that you want to live in, stay in, work in, entertain in and take care of your family in.
I call this transformational design – transforming a house to a home of well-being.
Traditionally, our homes were designed with minimal space and rooms, and they have not kept up with accommodating our needs of today. With greater time now spent working from home, of which our homes were not designed for, more people are feeling isolated and enclosed.
With all the time people spend at home now there is a desire to escape their homes during the week, weekends and evenings. But what if our homes instead had space designed specifically for work, Zen, family time and entertainment. Truly living in the homes we live in.
This is my specialty, designing homes where people truly want to live in, entertain in, grow families in including multi-generational experiences (see my article on ‘Rethinking the In-Law Suite’).
If working remotely from home is a long term trend then let’s create a private space that feels like you have entered a professional work environment, away from the hustle and bustle of kids and dogs that pulls you away from being in the zone when working.
If we must be tied to our homes during the day and evening, let’s create a healthy space where we can decompress, reflect, a room of Zen where we can retreat to and take care of our mental wellness. Let’s also make time to care for our physical wellness by designing a fitness room that friends will be envious of.
Separating sections of your home specifically dedicated for work, mental and physical health, family and friends will truly create a home that you want to live in, stay in, work in, entertain in and take care of your family in.
I call this transformational design – transforming a house to a home of well-being.
Rethinking the In-Law Suite
The traditional in-law suite has been around for decades and with many families re-thinking long term care or nursing home care for their loved ones these days there is much to debate. I’m not going to debate however the merits of cultural differences in this article just to say that there is a lot more thought, regardless of culture, to having aging parents moving into our homes and stay out of institutions.
I have a new theory about sharing our homes with loved ones – one that re-envisions the use of our home spaces rather than the traditional in-law suite.
My view of traditional in-law suites entailed pushing our aging parents to the basement or to a semi-detached area of our house – basically not inviting them into our home space. This was believed to be of their own request and maintaining independence. However, if we’re making choices away from nursing care or long-term care then we need our parents close to us so that we can keep an eye on them. Not locked away in the basement where it is difficult to monitor their ongoing needs. Most people who require longer term care are not safe to be on their own and sometimes require medical attention or support with their activities of daily living. This is challenging when separated by walls or stairs. Even if our parents (and sometimes only one following a death) don’t need on-going support, blocking them from our day to day routines and lives leaves them feeling socially isolated.
We all want to help support our aging parents to continue to age in place – whatever that place is – so why not re-consider the traditional in-law suite.
Regardless of your cultural background I want you to consider a distinctive living space for our loved ones in our homes. As a designer of unique living spaces and homes, I envision bringing our loved ones back into our homes as part of our extended families (be that of our aging parents or adult children). I challenge the idea of creating a second home inside a home.
There are many advantages to bringing our loved ones back into our family homes such as:
sharing meals and cooking together – since we would both be cooking dinner at the same time why not share that task and while we’re at it share those special family recipes handed down through the generations. If your house is truly designed correctly with a spacious kitchen design that invites creativity, developing gourmet dishes with fresh ingredients from our garden, then making meals together becomes a love affair promoting a healthy family conversation while catching up around the dinner table.
As for independence and space, here’s where my idea of creating a second master bedroom ensuite in the home makes sense.
Their space should resemble our own master ensuite needs. They require a bedroom, bathroom, their own walk-in closet (for additional storage), and finally a sitting area (mini living room) as their own private space. And voilà, we have just designed a second ensuite above ground that holds more real estate value than renovating a basement and brings our loved ones close and connected.
A second ensuite offers many options - If it doesn’t work for your aging parents you could also consider your adult children – supporting them to get a head start on life while sharing space and saving money.
This is how we create a space of unity within the family.
I have a new theory about sharing our homes with loved ones – one that re-envisions the use of our home spaces rather than the traditional in-law suite.
My view of traditional in-law suites entailed pushing our aging parents to the basement or to a semi-detached area of our house – basically not inviting them into our home space. This was believed to be of their own request and maintaining independence. However, if we’re making choices away from nursing care or long-term care then we need our parents close to us so that we can keep an eye on them. Not locked away in the basement where it is difficult to monitor their ongoing needs. Most people who require longer term care are not safe to be on their own and sometimes require medical attention or support with their activities of daily living. This is challenging when separated by walls or stairs. Even if our parents (and sometimes only one following a death) don’t need on-going support, blocking them from our day to day routines and lives leaves them feeling socially isolated.
We all want to help support our aging parents to continue to age in place – whatever that place is – so why not re-consider the traditional in-law suite.
Regardless of your cultural background I want you to consider a distinctive living space for our loved ones in our homes. As a designer of unique living spaces and homes, I envision bringing our loved ones back into our homes as part of our extended families (be that of our aging parents or adult children). I challenge the idea of creating a second home inside a home.
There are many advantages to bringing our loved ones back into our family homes such as:
sharing meals and cooking together – since we would both be cooking dinner at the same time why not share that task and while we’re at it share those special family recipes handed down through the generations. If your house is truly designed correctly with a spacious kitchen design that invites creativity, developing gourmet dishes with fresh ingredients from our garden, then making meals together becomes a love affair promoting a healthy family conversation while catching up around the dinner table.
As for independence and space, here’s where my idea of creating a second master bedroom ensuite in the home makes sense.
Their space should resemble our own master ensuite needs. They require a bedroom, bathroom, their own walk-in closet (for additional storage), and finally a sitting area (mini living room) as their own private space. And voilà, we have just designed a second ensuite above ground that holds more real estate value than renovating a basement and brings our loved ones close and connected.
A second ensuite offers many options - If it doesn’t work for your aging parents you could also consider your adult children – supporting them to get a head start on life while sharing space and saving money.
This is how we create a space of unity within the family.