A common topic of discussion during the preliminary design consultation is creating a home that is kid-friendly. Ahead of your consultation have a think on some of these recommendations that not only allow a home to be kid-friendly but also to make a home more comfortable, stylish, and durable.
Your Kitchen Design
If the design allows, a butler's pantry is a great way to create more bench space for those busy hours and to set aside the mess until after 'you' time. The butler's pantry allows your appliances; toasters, kettles, air fryers, etc. to be hidden away also - reducing clutter and making the clean-up so much easier!
If your homes 'area budget' does not allow for a butler's pantry it could be worth considering an appliance cupboard which is a super-compact way to hide the clutter!
Your Kitchen Benchtop
When considering a benchtop to be low maintenance and as well, scratch and stain-resistant, we will usually recommend porcelain for its unbeatable durability and luxe aesthetic - it is also incredibly hygienic. Benefits aside, the cost of a porcelain benchtop covers an entire range of colours and styles. Your kitchen deserves the best
Your Flooring
Flooring can be easily overlooked when accounting for kid freindly design. By standard PJ Burns Builder uses high-quality vinyl plank flooring in the main areas of the home for its water resistance, durability, underfoot, and its 'soft and comfortable feeling underfoot. Vinyl plank is available in a massive range of timber-look colours. As far as the carpet in the bedrooms and if you have a media room that has carpet; it's worth considering a neutral tone of carpet that can hide small mishaps and keep its clean look in-between visits from the robo-vac.
Our consultant is more than happy to help you pick out the perfect colours for your home from our massive standard range available.
Your Tile Grout
Tiles are important! It is equally important to get tiles that look great in your home and compliment your fixtures, furniture, and decor. As for grout; the paste that fills the spaces between each tile hardly seems like the most significant element of your design, however, the grout that you choose can change the look and feel of a space significantly as well as have implications on the amount of maintenance you will need to retain that fresh tiled look.
During the colours consultation, your consultant will walk you through the different tile/grout combinations and select the best combination with you for your aesthetic and lifestyle. As a rule of thumb, the grout should match the tile colour while being anything darker than a light grey on a floor to mitigate discolouration. Otherwise, grout can be changed up from the tile colour to present a refined and unique aesthetic.
Where is the 'Drop Zone'?
Every house has a 'Drop Zone' and usually there is one per entrance to the home. The trick is to provide a space so that the drop zone is NOT in the middle of the floor.
Be sure to provide a place for hats, school bags, shoes or even dirty work clothes. Ideally, it is best to have this space in a nook of space to the side of say, the garage, or a nook in the hallway near the entry door and the garage. This can be a table, a seat, a washing basket and a rack or a full cabinetry solution.
Thinking about the flow of traffic in the busy hours of the day can really take the pressure off so that you can have more valuable time to enjoy time with your family and less time looking for missing shoes or keys.
Your Family/Rumpus/MPR, Dining, Media and Living
Nothing helps with keeping the home organised than setting clear thresholds and spaces. Large families will always benefit from having a separate family room that can keep the noise and mess in one part of the home. Usually, this will be designed to adjoin with some of the bedrooms of the home. It can also be beneficial to keep the living rooms and dining rooms uncluttered and removed from a big distracting TV - Keep the big TV for the media room.
Different types of thresholds can also have both a practical and psychological effect on space. sliding doors or double-swinging doors can isolate a space, doorless openings can either have a head that helps define the space and keep sound in or, be headless so that the room feels more connected to the rest of the home. Open doorways can also be accented with feature columns and room colours can be changed to give a space a sense of purpose so that intended activity can remain in the room.
Chat with us
Have a chat with our staff to discuss how to design your home to achieve your goals. We are always more than happy to provide our wealth of experience and expertise in construction and design to you. You can contact us via the Contact Us section of the site or give us a call any time