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Remember as a little kid the anticipation, planning and excitement of rearranging the furniture in your bedroom? Maybe you and a sibling took different parts of the bunk or made a loft with bean bag chairs and one bed turned at a 90-degree angle under the top bunk.
Or if you had your own room, the adults helped you move your bed, dresser and desk to all new positions in the room so you could better function now that you were bigger.
The same philosophy and opportunity apply when buying a new home: Look at different ways that rooms can be configured over time to adapt to the household’s needs over time.
And builders are ready for this. They want to talk about how buyers can multipurpose within each space or how buyers can choose options that provide added flexibility over time.
Terms to look into when viewing homes include flex space, flexible rooms and transitional space or transitional rooms.
Flexible floor plans, rooms and spaces
When entire floor plans offer flexibility, buyers are in luck. But be prepared to plan and anticipate needs over the next five to 10 years.
Flexible floor plans might include options for a fully functional apartment within the home that can include a small kitchen, lounge area, bedroom and bathroom.
Often offered with a separate exterior entrance, these spaces can suit the small-business owner or the multigenerational household with grandparents or grown children who can live nearby but with privacy.
A variation of this concept is an en suite bedroom located on the main level either near the main entrance or with a private entrance of its own. This suite can accommodate a home office, a small business, guests or a studio for art or exercise.
Other flexible rooms and spaces might include bonus space adjacent to the dining room, the great room or the staircase. These are perfect spots for a work or study space, a reading nook, a breakfast nook or — when near the kitchen and great room — a play area for children.
Ask your builder about flexible rooms and home configurations that might include additional en suites or special wiring at construction. Who knows? Perhaps the same room that a teenager uses for a bedroom today can, five years from now, be a media room or home theater for the extended family to enjoy.
Transitional spaces and rooms
A classic example of a transitional space, which smoothly connects one living area to the next, is the California Room. It often opens from the great room and kitchen area through stacking glass doors that open up completely.
Many builders have found ways to incorporate the California Room as standard within their home designs. The space provides several purposes and, depending on lot size, can reduce the need for mowing and lawn or garden maintenance.
The California Room is a seamless living space extending from the home, enclosed on three sides with a roof, contiguous flooring and no step up or down.
Like having your backyard in your house or your living room in your backyard, the California Room brings the outside in and the inside out.
Sometimes a loft is offered as an option to an additional upstairs bedroom. And sometimes the buyer wants both. In either case, work with the builder to evaluate how to use the floor space devoted to the landing at the top of the stairs.
Are there ways to reposition doors from other rooms to get that extra bedroom and still carve out a seating nook or additional cabinetry, closets or shelving in the landing? Are there ways to incorporate windows or to open a wall that’s part of the original plans in order to bring in natural light from a vaulted ceiling?
Other transitional spaces in a new-build home might include a primary suite nook. To achieve this, take a careful look at the plans for the footprint of each level of the home long before construction.
You and the builder may be able to determine a walk-in closet configuration that frees up a space in the bedroom area for a chair, table, small desk and a floor lamp. Or perhaps the nook can be used as a private workout area where you can take online exercise classes in a designated spot.
Townhome or condo flexibility
Hoping to choose new construction in a townhouse or condominium community but concerned that customization options will be limited?
Not to worry. Search our New Home Finder pages and discover coming-soon condominiums and townhomes with flexible designs with plenty of opportunities to customize within each new home.
Next week, visit this space for some design and decor options that will help optimize the use of flexible and transitional spaces.
Originally published at Cameron Sullivan