Over the years we have seen a significant design shift in the way in which we design and use our homes.
You only need to look back a generation to the post-war clinkers built up to the 1980s to see that what used to be the norm is now very much out of date. The days of 3 bedrooms with a single bathroom, kitchen and meals area with a separate lounge room seem long gone. The 1960s gave us a single carport detached from the house which seemed like an appropriate way to house a car. The 1970's expanded the carport to house 2 cars and brought it within a few steps from the front door.
Shift forward to the 1980s and we saw the garage replace the carport with access directly into the home and a second bedroom (ensuite) pretty much mandated in every design.
Shift forward to the end of the 1990s and the then radical concept of the "open plan living" was born, a floorplan design which has taken off and is now essential to our lifestyle.
With today's new home designs we are now moving towards adding more bedrooms, at least 4 and in many cases up to 5 or 6 with 3 or more bathrooms. In many cases we are seeing a bathroom for every bedroom, this seems like overkill, but when we think about how many things seemed insane in the past now becoming the norm this is also something that may enter that space in years to come.
Some past examples of craziness which is no longer crazy:
- Toilet goes from an outhouse in the backyard to the main bathroom inside the house
- Single toilet now a minimum of 2
- Separate single car carport turns into a double sized mini house for your car or a garage as we know it
- Kitchen / Meals / Living all combined to create a single open plan living area
- Open decking becomes an undercover alfresco which is tied to the home
- Pools which were stuck in the back of the yard somewhere are now easily accessible from the alfresco
As we move forward with our designs it seems clear that we are moving towards a more seamless way of living together and interacting with each other. It also appears we are gearing up to have our children live with us a lot longer than before, or perhaps having our parents move in. The double storey 5 bedroom home design is now proving very popular with a guest bedroom on the ground floor with ensuite or powder room with shower.