  ontemplating your upcoming custom home project is quite exciting! What can you do to prepare? Here are some tips:
The design process will run more smoothly and the final result will be better if you have a general idea of what you like and don't like and want and don't want before you begin. Start a scrapbook, take photographs, look at home magazines, talk about home design with others and ask questions. Invest some time to learn and gather ideas. And, while you're at it, keep an open mind!
If you decide to work with us, one of the first things we will do is have you complete our questionnaires. These worksheets will be a place for you to write about the wants and needs you've been identifying and refining for your new home. Before the site visit, our discussions with you and these worksheets are the best way for us to learn about your preferences. If you have sketched ideas, we'd like to see them after the site visit so we can see your site for the first time with a clean visual slate.
CONSIDER YOUR CURRENT HOME
As you go about your daily activities in your home, notice what you do and how well set up your space is to accommodate that task. Think how the design of the space could change to make it easier, more comfortable and more pleasant. Make a list of these things. These can be ergonomic changes, day lighting needs, ideal height and size of work surfaces. Do you need a sink in your workshop? More electrical outlets? 220? Extra ventilation? The best time to make observations of this type is when you're actually in the process of using the spaces in your home. As you cook dinner, think about how things could best be laid out to fit your cooking style. Think about whether you need a vegetable sink, a trash compactor, a specially sized workspace (the right height to cut veggies?) etc. Jot down notes! Do the same in every room as you go through your normal routine.
A prospective client suggested writing a pro/con list as you're deciding on features and ideas. Good idea, Mike!
GET INPUT FROM OTHERS
Ask friends and family for ideas and input. Find out what clever design features they'd put in their new home, or they like in their current one. Buy as many home magazines as you can and study the photographs for ideas. Keep a camera and pad and pen with you wherever you go so you can photograph ideas and jot notes at a moments notice.
THINK, READ + DISCUSS
Think about other homes you've lived in and have visited. Any features you'd like to copy? Any you want to avoid?
Read some of the books in our book list. There's a link to our bookstore in the left navigation bar. One of the most important books in the list is Patterns of Home by Jacobson. Also important are the sections on our web sites about the Pattern Language concepts. Click on the link to the left called Design Approach for more information.
Discuss your thoughts, preferences, tastes, ideas (and wild hairs) with your spouse/partner/family. You can't hope to agree on everything, but the more alignment you can have with each other before you begin design, the more pleasant it will be for you, and the smoother the design process will go. The give and take process can be a bit more challenging when you're designing your home. The more you can talk things through beforehand, the better! |
