Do you enjoy hosting people overnight and for extended visits? Do your guests feel welcome in your home?
It’s awkward to feel that your guests aren’t comfortable – or that you aren’t comfortable having them there. Perhaps your current house isn’t set up for easy hosting, so you’re searching for something new.
In this article, we’ll share tips for custom-designing a house with dual purposes: ensuring your daily comfort while simultaneously enhancing guests’ comfort.
Blending Guests’ Comfort With Daily Livability
Redecorating alone can’t change all underlying problems with an existing home layout. You’ll need to dramatically remodel your home or build something new to accomplish a fully successful blend of guest and homeowner comfort.
While a home should always be designed to its owners’ tastes, simple tweaks to the layout will ensure your visitors can enjoy it, too. This is why the pre-design phase of home design is so important.
During pre-design, collaborate with your designer-builder in an open-ended discussion outlining the philosophy behind your design. Share key details about your lifestyle, priorities, desires, and how you plan to host and entertain in your new space.
Key hosting-related questions to consider:
- How often do we host?
- Will we be hosting adults only, or teenagers and children, too?
- How long do our guests typically stay?
- What kinds of activities do we all enjoy together?
- Is privacy a top priority for us and our guests?
- Do any guests have limitations or mobility issues?
Look for opportunities to add flexibility to your design. Flexible housing is a design concept that makes adaptability a priority. In a broad sense, flexible design thinking opens your mind to new possibilities. When your home is not in hosting mode, could certain areas be quickly rearranged or repurposed?
Consider whether your visitors are typically just making short visits or if your home is a mini-vacation getaway, like staying at a favorite Airbnb. Adding luxurious vacation-style comforts to custom homes is one of the top building trends of 2023.
Design the Right Guest Bedroom
For overnight guests, no other area is as important as the guest bedroom. Ideally, your guests will have a dedicated room or set of rooms where they can enjoy a peaceful oasis.
While it’s common to have a home office do double duty as a guest room, this isn’t always the right choice. It can be difficult to rearrange heavy office equipment or storage cabinets. Plus, you’ll lose access to your office whenever guests visit. That’s a frustrating issue considering nearly half of all Americans now work from home at least part of the time.
To save space, a custom-designed Murphy bed is usually a better choice than an uncomfortable sofa sleeper. Murphy beds can be built for lavish comfort and are designed to fold up into the walls, disappearing into the background when not in use.
Don’t forget to add plenty of storage for your guests, particularly if their visits will be long. Guests need closets, drawers, luggage racks, and tables to organize and access their belongings.
Consider Room Locations Carefully
Give thoughtful consideration to the noise, traffic, and chaos that come from hosting your guests. It might be a wise idea to locate your guest quarters on the opposite side of the house from your bedroom, minimizing nighttime distractions.
An attached bathroom provides maximum convenience – especially if you have very young or old visitors who might need fast access to the facilities. If an ensuite guest bathroom isn’t possible, plan for easy access to a hallway bathroom without the embarrassment of walking through the main area of the house in a towel.
Do you have a pool, outdoor fireplace, or veranda where guests tend to congregate? Add an outside door that goes directly into the guest area. Now your guests can party and relax anytime, then head indoors when desired.
Enhance the Dining and Entertaining Experience
Providing meals for your guests takes more than just a beautiful kitchen. You’ll need plenty of seating, plus ample room to move and chat while dining and cooking. People tend to view the kitchen as the heart of the home and feel the urge to gather there.
Think back to the last holiday gathering you hosted. Did it feel hot and crowded? Were you wishing for more oven space, open seating, countertop room, or ventilation? Work proactively to resolve these issues during your new build.
Don’t forget about the impact of lighting. Your kitchen, dining, and entertaining areas need a mix of natural sunlight, bright ceiling lights, directional task lighting, and dimmable/atmospheric lighting to set the mood.
Remember, your outdoor areas are like additional rooms for guests to enjoy. Design a luxury outdoor space with guest-friendly amenities and welcome them to relax in the embrace of nature. Consider adding an outdoor kitchen, bar, and seating area to complete the luxury experience of visiting your home.
Design Your Comfortable, Inviting Dream Home
When you partner with MC Homes as your designer-builder, you can seamlessly blend everyday comfort with a welcoming atmosphere for guests. To learn more about designing luxurious guest quarters, contact MC Homes today.
MC Homes: Reflecting you in every build.
