Luxury Homes

Wide open spaces, luxurious rooms, lush furnishings, rich woods, marble, imported finishes...the stuff dream homes are made of!  There's nothing like walking into a big, beautiful home and wishing it was yours, even for one day! 

I love big homes but not just any big home.  I love a well designed, totally functional big home.  Believe it or not, big does not necessarily mean beautiful or functional.  I have seen some pretty dysfunctional large homes in my day.  It's nice to have a large home but don't build or buy so large that the space becomes so big, it's wasted.  Everything should have a place and everything in its place. 

I have designed several large homes, over 6000 sq. ft.  One home I designed even had an indoor soccer court below the basement level!  Sounds extravagent right?  Well, every space in that home had a function, not a made up function but a reason for it's existence, that's important.  Sometimes people dream of big rooms but then when it comes time to fill up that room, they are disappointed to find it really is too big to be functional, then the design challenge is no different than house that is too small and poorly designed.  So bigger is not necessarily better!

Here are some examples,

An Awkward Kitchen.  What is the purpose of the bench on the left.  So much wasted space.
(Photo collegecitydesignbuild.com)

 It's nice to have a large master suite, but this bedroom is ridiculous!  Unless you are having Zumba classes in your bedroom, this is a waste of money both in finishes and architecture.

Not only is this room too big, but the furniture if off scale as well.  Everything looks miniature and dwarfed.  Having a large home still takes some thought and good design is just as important.  Don't get caught up in the dream of big, get caught up in the dream of a well designed, functional home. 

On Wednesday, we will look at some awesome, well designed spaces!