The COVID-19 pandemic has forced many of us to spend more time at home than ever before and had us asking the question—is this home working for me?
Overnight our homes went from a place to retreat to after work or school to also becoming our workplaces, classrooms, playgrounds and libraries all rolled into one. And for some, this might be the case for a little while longer.
So how do you create a home to suit all aspects of your life and face whatever the future may bring?
Good home design is the foundation of building a functional home. For more than 35 years, Hamlan has built architecturally designed, purposeful homes across our region. With those years comes invaluable experience and knowledge to identify design solutions that can make all the difference in allowing you to lead an efficient, joyful life at home.
There are a number of elements that can make all the difference when looking at the design of your dream home. Elements that you may not have thought of—but thankfully, that’s where we come in.
Designing functional spaces—both big and small
A clever architect will maximise every space in your home—meaning no space is under utilised.
Hallways are often under utilised in homes. For Hamlan, we make the most of these high traffic areas by incorporating storage solutions, study nooks, mud rooms or library shelving, to create not only an area that serves practical purposes but aesthetic purposes, too.
If you check out our Sabine 344 display you’ll find a gorgeous library space in the hallway that provides a light-filled quiet nook to escape to, without compromising any space.
Hardworking rooms like the laundry and kitchen can also be designed in a way that combines the functionality of the two areas to create one highly efficient zone. A clever way to keep the not-so glamorous work hidden away from sight.
Hamlan’s homes also offer great living areas that serve multiple purposes and can be reconfigured for your own unique purposes. Extra living room space can also provide flexibility when your situation may change. A secondary living area, such as a lounge room, rumpus room or kids activity space can serve as a teenage retreat, play room, study or spare room interchangeably.
Designing an office away from the office
The COVID-19 pandemic has made a lot of people rethink their home office space. And now that working from home is becoming the norm, it’s become more of a necessity to have a functional home office.
Focusing on maximising space many of Hamlan’s designs have broken away from the traditional home office. Space-saving study nooks provide a tidy workspace that fits snug within a wall or hall space. Large study nooks, as seen in our Buckley 279 displays, don’t compromise precious space but provide more space for storage or to create two workstations—which is great for teens.
There’s also the option of a more traditional study space, as seen in our Erskine 225 display, a multi-use space which can also serve as a spare bedroom or home business space.
Designing an outdoor space to be used all year round
When designing a home it’s important to understand how your home will connect with the outdoors. A well-designed outdoor space not only can create a seamless flow from indoors to out, it can also make your home feel bigger and brighter. Hamlan’s new home consultants can guide you through the planning of your outdoor area, by taking note of the orientation of your home to make the most of the northern sun to working out what kind of outdoor areas would work with the design of your home.
Added additions such as servery windows, built-in outdoor kitchens or an additional courtyard are options that you can explore.
By planning how your new home flows inside to outside, you will be able to create a space that can be used no matter the season.
Uncovering your dream home
If you think it’s time to start fresh and plan a purpose-built home for you, then the first step is to meet one of Hamlan’s new home consultants. Hamlan’s experienced new home consultants offer honest advice and are passionate about finding the perfect new home solution for you.
To do so, they’ll need to learn more about you and your family and what your current needs are now and what they may be in the future.
From there they can offer you practical advice on what sort of designs will suit your lifestyle and budget. It’s not about making sure every member of your family has their own bedroom—it’s about really understanding how you live and how you can make every metre in your new home count.
From there you’ll be presented with some options on what homes suit you and your lifestyle best. Our floorplans are just a taste of what you can do, with many of our designs coming with options to reconfigure the home to suit your lifestyle with options such as relocating or enlarging rooms, changing the layout of the kitchen and adding bedrooms.
Take our Buckley 279 design. We have two displays based on the Buckley 279 floor plan—both reconfigured differently to suit different lifestyles. The Buckley 279 design is a great example of how a floorplan can waste no space in creating an efficient home.
We also have an Lifestyle range of homes—ideal for people with disabilities, the ageing population and young families. This range comes standard with ramp entries, wider entrances and hallways and more accessible rooms for easy movement.
Or you can go one step further and go custom. We love working with custom projects and are here to help you every step of the way. Our talented team of architects and designers are experts at turning our clients’ dreams into reality.
In Summary
The COVID-19 pandemic has made us look at our homes and how they function to meet the demands of a changing world.
For more than 35 years, Hamlan has designed and built architecturally designed, purposeful homes, across our region. With our experience and knowledge we can easily identify design solutions to allow you to lead efficient, joyful lives in your new home.
This includes: creating multi-purpose spaces that utilise every area; designing a home office and/or a study space that’s purposely built to suit your needs; and, making sure the design creates a seamless flow between indoors and outdoors.
The first step to building a functional home suited to your lifestyle is to meet one of Hamlan’s new home consultants. Hamlan’s experienced new home consultants offer honest advice and are passionate about what they do. From there they can offer you practical advice on what sort of designs will suit your lifestyle and budget. They can also explain what options are available to reconfigure your home to make it uniquely yours.
