New Year Resolution Custom Home For Your Family?

Now is the time of year when you’re probably doing two things: Reflecting on the past year and thinking about how next year can be even better. You may be evaluating what you have, your current lifestyle, and what you truly desire. Are you living in the custom home you’ve dreamed of, or is 2023 the year to make your vision a reality? Are you ready for your new year resolution custom home?

With some ease in the supply shortage and labor becoming more available, now is the time to move forward with your custom home design project that may have been on hold. Let this upcoming year be the year you fulfill your New Year’s Resolution of designing your dream home.

Here are some considerations for designing your custom home to help make this the best year yet.

Reflecting on Holiday Entertaining

Since Thanksgiving might still be fresh in your mind, how well did your home survive the holiday? What worked well? What needs attention? My family always believed that the best holiday experience was found at Bronner’s Christmas Wonderland (Frankenmuth, Michigan.)

Was there enough space to expand the dining room table so everyone could sit comfortably, or did you have to eat in shifts? Could your whole family gather in the living room to watch football, or did Uncle Pete sit on a folded lawn chair and complain during the game? Were there shouts in the kitchen from Aunt Maggie every time she bumped into the counter while trying to prepare the turkey? If only you had an extra bedroom to accommodate your guests, they wouldn’t have had to drive home in the cold winter weather. All this to say, your family deserves the happiest of holidays.

You might reflect on what could have been better after these family gatherings. Can you customize your home now so that next year’s Thanksgiving can run smoother with less stress? Is your living room large enough, or is the kitchen functioning as well as it could? Are the sleeping arrangements working for your extended family, and are there places to escape if you want to sit quietly and read a book?

My own family served as guinea pigs in this way when staying in our basement bedroom. Unfortunately, our old squeaky floors proved too noisy for restful slumber, and they sought morning peace in a nearby hotel.

By reflecting on this past holiday, you’ll gain clarity for your new dream home to make next year’s holiday more enjoyable.

Anticipating the Next Round of Holidays

Now that you have evaluated your home’s performance over Thanksgiving, you’re probably making modifications for the next set of holidays. New year resolution custom home design fits right in with this mission.

You may decorate your home with garlands, bows, and lights to enhance the holiday feeling. But what questions gnaw at you? Are there enough electrical outlets even along the roofline? Is this another year where you will run lengthy extension cords so that the twinkling lights will have power? Make a note to add lighting requirements, including sophisticated timers or lighting controls, to your list for your customized home.

What else would you add to your wish list? Perhaps you dream of an enclosed porch with a swing to sit and snuggle under a blanket as you watch the snowfall. Maybe you want a spot to relax outdoors with a firepit where you could roast marshmallows and chestnuts with friends and family. Do you want a larger kitchen counter so you don’t have to worry about the dogs jumping up and grabbing the turkey, sending you to the nearest open restaurant on Christmas Eve to bring home Chinese almond boneless chicken?

Or are your family traditions indoors around a roaring fire, drinking eggnog while you watch your favorite holiday movies? Maybe you are like one of my clients, Robert, who wanted a large finished basement for his family to be together and to entertain friends. The basement divides into a game room with a pool table, a small kitchen to prepare snacks of wine and cheese, and an entertainment space with a few large sofas, the perfect spot for eating popcorn and watching “Miracle on 34th Street.” Robert even has a cigar room adjacent to his office where he can drink brandy and relax with a few friends.

When planning your dream home, consider your daily lifestyle and family traditions for the holidays and the new memories you want to create.

Making Next Year Even Better

Not only are you anticipating the upcoming holidays, but you are probably thinking about what the new year will bring. Personal wellness may be a top priority for your new year’s resolution. You might be wondering how the design for your home could support your desire for self-improvement. Your dream home should have a space matching your lifestyle and fitness needs.

Like my client Vicky, you may want a hot yoga studio in your new year resolution custom home. By installing a dedicated furnace for her basement “hot” yoga studio, Vicky keeps the temperature of her yoga studio at a toasty level of 80° to 100° Fahrenheit.

My clients Bill and Karen are runners and needed their treadmill where they wouldn’t bang their heads on the ceiling with every stride. By reconfiguring the ceiling and adding a dormer, Bill and Karen don’t have to run hunched over. Instead, they benefit from an operable window letting in natural light and cooling fresh air.

You’ll want to custom design your home so that it will turn the focus on creating a better environment for the lifestyle for you and your family.