The Two Single Most Important Things to Consider When Designing a New Home

First: what is your story?

Our homes are fundamental to the way we live. They express who we are and play a central role in allowing us to live the way we want to.

Think about your life, your loves, your experiences, and how you live in your home. Every design should capture your essence and reflect who you are and your lifestyle.

“A well designed home that specifically suits you is a pleasure to live in.”
– Janita Norman, Lead Building Designer

From the outset the vision must be clear.

Knowing why you are building directly informs the design. Articulating why you are building and what you want to achieve will ensure that design is aligned with that vision.

Ask yourself:

• Why am I building?
• Who will live in our home?
• How old are our kids and what do they like to do?
• Do members of our extended family live with us or visit for long periods of time?
• Is this our “forever home”?
• Will the home need to adapt to changing life and family circumstances?

Next: what is important to you?

Understanding what you are passionate about will establish the priorities for your home. This is not limited to functional or practical considerations but also includes how it might look, what inclusions it may have but importantly, how do you want to feel when you are at home?

What must your home have, how will it best suit your needs and how you live?

Do you love to cook? Entertain and cater for large numbers of guests? Or sit quietly in a sunny alcove surrounded by your favourite books?

Is your home a sanctuary? Quiet, tranquil, peaceful and private? Or lively, busy, bustling and bright? Or maybe a combination of the two!

These are fundamental considerations when designing your own home.

We don’t need to follow suit with the typical ways of doing things, that is the beauty of custom-designing your home: it will be designed around your specific passions and priorities.

Ask yourself:

• What does my home really mean to me?
• What is most important in my life?
• How do I want to feel when I am home?
• What are my must-haves – my absolute non-negotiables?
• How do we entertain and socialise at home?
• What do I love to do at home? Cook? Garden? Sew? Paint?

“I find it is really useful to know what drives my clients crazy in their current homes. Is it a lack of storage? Rooms not laid out to accommodate their beloved furniture? A lack of flow?

“Whatever it is, when I help people to articulate these issues, it tells me so much about who they are and what matters to them, informing the design in a way that any laundry-list of features never could.”
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– Janita Norman, Lead Building Designer

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I hope I've made your day just a little better!

I hope this little exercise has helped you to clear your mind and focus on some of the foundational considerations that must be settled at the outset of any building design project.

If you can get these things right in your head – or even better, written down – you'll be in a great place to continue on with your building design journey.

Keen to learn more? Discover my 14 home design tips...

I have put together a document with a comprehensive rundown of 14 super-helpful tips for designing your new home. This thing really is my heart-and-soul on (digital) paper, and brings together my learnings from 25+ years working with clients to design and build remarkable custom homes.

If you're interested, scroll just a little further to download the PDF now.

_{NOTE: all of the images on this page, are from our recent project, Yea House, a custom home we designed for a young regional family. The home makes use of an elevated position, optimal North orientation, and well-placed sun shades to maximise passive solar heating and cooling, and features a warm and tactile interior design aesthetic driven by the client's particular aesthetic taste.
Click here to read the full project profile}