Must-Have Design Ideas to Help Sell Your Homes
[caption id="attachment_3374" align="alignleft" width="300"] A pocket office for a modern home[/caption]
A powerful selling tool is a home that functions smoothly and saves precious time and labor for the home owner, and not necessarily the number of bedrooms and bathrooms it has.
This was the message delivered during an educational seminar on must-have design ideas at the 2019 at the International Builders' Show in Las Vegas.
Deryl Patterson, president of Housing Design Matters based in Jacksonville, Fla., listed the following spaces and features to emphasize in a new home:
- Open, entertaining kitchen. Oversized islands with ample seating is "where the party is."
- Extra-large walk-in pantry. This recognizes that many home owners increasingly prefer to shop in bulk.
- Connected laundry room. Placing a laundry room in a master closet with its main door off the hallway allows family members to cut down the distance to take dirty clothes to the laundry room and clean clothes back to their closets.
- Office alcove. Many home owners may not need a large home office, but a dedicated space as little as 5 feet by 6 feet that includes a built-in desk and shelves can be used by adults in the household and be a perfect place for kids to do homework.
- Showers beat baths. If you only have room for one fixture, choose a shower over a tub and even consider a super-sized shower instead of a standard tub and shower. A bathroom should have his-and-her vanities and a separate toilet room.
- Ample master closet. The master closet should be large and memorable. A 2,000-square-foot home should have 20 lineal feet and the size of the closet should track the size of the house, said Patterson.