zero entry shower Archives

HOME OF THE FUTURE

June 4, 2022June 4, 2022

An Interior Designer’s Tips for Building or Renovating a Home That’s Adaptable

Homeowners are looking for a home of the future that’s flexible as their needs change whether it’s adding a home office, a gym, entertainment area, or outdoor area for a staycation. Read on for my interior designer tips on how to make your home more adaptable.

Look at how you to make every part of your floorplan adaptable. For example, if you live in an area where you can have a finished basement also consider finishing the area directly under the garage to use as a home theatre, safe room, or storage. Here are some additional ideas.

A. A multipurpose area off the garage for dropping off jackets/shoes/sports gear, cleanup, or even deliveries – if the delivery can be made through an exterior door. like this room. In one project for interior design clients, we turned part of the garage and the existing laundry into an adaptable space that can serve either as a laundry, mudroom or butler’s pantry when needed.

photo example of partition — Interior design by Karen Mills

B. Design your open living area to allow portions of it to be partitioned off with doors – barn, pocket, partition, or French doors like this family room area with a home office to create private spaces for family members, while also making the spaces multi-functional. For example, you could have doors that provide a cozy sitting area for reading/games, home office or home theater that could transform into a guest bedroom with just the addition of a small closet.

In the kitchen hidden doors that look like cabinetry could open to reveal a small home office area that could later become a pantry or even a panic room. French doors that lead to a porch/sunroom can also provide much needed additional space for alone time without sacrificing your outdoor view.

C. Plan for aging in place or surgeries that may limit mobility with 36″ wide doorways into your home, zero entry threshold from your garage to interior and into your shower area like this bathroom.

2. Add outdoor spaces that are multifunctional. Outdoor entertainment options could range from heated pools, hot tubs, and putting greens to outdoor kitchens, covered bars with big screen TVs, and/or a small guest house with French glass doors that morphs into a studio/office, man cave, or pool house if needed.

In this porch design heated floors and a fireplace were included to make the porch more all weather where winters can be quite cold. A TV hidden behind an original artwork provides flexibility for using this space to watch television too.

In summary successfully designing a house of the future starts with a floorplan that’s adaptable and planning ahead for your needs.

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Interior Design/Interior Decorating

Interior Design: 3 Enduring Bathroom Trends

January 20, 2022January 20, 2022

How to Design a Timeless Style Bathroom That’s More Functional For All the Stages of Our Lives

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is BE58A082-88CE-4597-95FE-6C79503F7EA9-768x1024.jpeg — Interior design by Karen Mills

Accessible Zero Entry (Curbless) Shower – A truly functional bathroom shower will accommodate everyone in the family no matter what the situation from post surgery to broken bones or aging in place where an assist device might be required such as a wheelchair or similar item.

2. Ease of Use A bathroom that functions well for everyone whether they’re a small child, someone needing assistance – even if it’s from breaking your leg skiing, or someone wanting to age in place it’s critical for a bathroom to stand the test of time. Here in this bathroom shower we included attractive grab bars that look like towel bars that provide support when needed, an adjustable shower head that will lower to shower a kid, pet, or someone sitting down and clear access to the shower along with a wider entrance (not shown) to the bathroom. (Please note that a swinging glass door can be added to this shower to hold in the heat.)

3. Ergonomic – As I was reminded recently when my small grandchild came to visit we need to ensure that all family members can use the bathroom no matter what their size or height. Here the free standing tub allows easy access for taking a bath for the majority of people who might use it because there’s no tub deck blocking access.

Faucets that can turned on without a knob provide easier access to turning on water as shown here. To make a vanity even more accessible we have also designed bathroom vanities that float on the wall so you can roll right under them to get to the sink.

For more great ideas and photos, sign up for our weekly interior design blog here

Plus become a fan of Kansas City’s interior designer and former host of the Living Large design show, Karen Mills, on Facebook or Instagram here!