Think outside the home when building

WHEN you are building a new home you need to think outside the box. Now I do not mean “box” in a derogatory or whacky way.

I love new homes and this is a country where so many people embrace the opportunity to build their dreams. It can be a time of such great creativity and inspiration, but designs need careful consideration.

What I refer to is thinking outside the home before you build – in particular window positions, aspects and the placement of that compulsory outdoor-indoor alfresco entertaining area which we now all include with as much importance today as the indoor toilet used to be.

I recently visited the home of some lovely retirees who were downsizing. Their home still managed to be vast with countless living areas and way too many bedrooms for their purposes and an almost a greedy use of square meters (but home size is an article for another day).

What I found utterly depressing, especially as these were lovely people, was the aspect of the home.

It had a few of those pointless tiny windows, like a medieval castle. They are one of my pet peeves – what are they for? They may be handy in a shoot out, but are such a silly fad.

But I digress. The front-placed master bedroom had natural light. But the rest of this grand sprawling single level home was bathed in gloom with featured windows looking at fences, literally a few metres away.

The outdoor area had been cut out of the side of the home under the main roof. There is nothing wrong with that, but it literally faced the side fence of the neighbours.

So sitting in this area would mean you were just staring at the fence, with the neighbours’ roof and a row of the tops of windows visible. There was no real room to plant in front of their fence. Indeed it was possible to hold a conversation with the neighbours in their bedrooms next door or, even worse, see the silhouette of any male standing up in the toilet.

What went wrong? Is the block size to blame? Absolutely not. Ive been in homes on 125sq m with great aspects and outdoor areas.

It was the sheer lack of forethought before building. And this is my worry as it could be a lasting legacy of this current era on new homes.

It is not a great legacy to leave behind, especially as many of today’s modern master-planned

The other issue with homes of this design, where virtually no rooms look to the street, is security. A fullscale riot could be going on inside and you’d never know.

If you build after your neighbors you have no excuse. Orientate your home so that you avoid your neighbours.

But the trick is planning without adjoining blocks being built out. The best way is to design the home to make the most of your block.

If you choose not to do this the future value of your home will be affected. In such a case once the best elements of your new home

The best way is to design the home to make the most of your block.”

estates are fabulous compared to their 1960s/’70s/’80s and some ‘90s counterparts.

In this case the outdoor area needed to be at the rear and the home needed to lose a few square metres to allow for planting and screening. The home needed high and lowset windows to create privacy. such as stainless appliances, stone benchtops and plantation shutters become so “last decade” you will be left with one tricky home to sell.

It will be no good calling me then. I can’t imagine that there will be a Selling Houses Series 76. I’ll be way too old and grumpy to provide any real and rational advice.

Set on 2102sq m is this threebedroom, one-bathroom home. It has been within the one family since it was built in 1969. This three-bedroom home features a large office, airconditioning, tiles throughout and a resort-style pool. It is on 800sq...