Planning For the Way You Live

Beyond the usual rooms and spaces

Rather than design your house with the usual rooms, your custom design can create spaces around the way you live.

One way to prepare for this is with a visualization exercise. First write down all the activities that will take place in your home – think about basics like cooking, eating and sleeping, and also about your family's hobbies, the way you interact and the ways you entertain.

Then imagine doing all these things in a home without walls, and without sizes or shapes. Just imagine yourself and other occupants of the home in floating in open space, going about the activities of life - using furniture, getting things out and putting things away, entering and leaving the house, and engaging in various activities.

Write down what you thought of during this exercise and bring it to your designer. Keep this vision in mind as your design enfolds.