A perfect family home is the one where each member of your family open the front door and feels a sense of belonging. Your home is a place of comfort and security. But you also want to make sure the design is functional and suits your family. To achieve this, you need to marry the design that appeals to you with utility and practicality. If you are interested how to strike the perfect balance between these, here’s some things you need to think about when designing the perfect family home.

Be certain about the layout

If you’re starting from scratch, it’s your chance to design the layout of your home that best suits your family and your needs. Work out the assortment of rooms you want, as well as the ones you need.

There’s only so much you can learn from looking at diagrams of floor layouts. Visit display homes and take a walk through. Note what you think flows well, and what doesn’t. Look for layouts that will suit your family and lifestyle.

Think about what type of layout you want – open floor plan has long been popular in Australia. An open floor plan gives you the feeling of more space. But perhaps you want to balance an open floor plan with some private areas for teens or even yourself, then that’s something to consider too.

If you’re going to have more than one floor

Most of the ground floor can be open plan with kitchen and dining area connected with a living room downstairs. You’ll also want to have your laundry downstairs and some good storage space. It is crucial to have at least one toilet (if not a bathroom) downstairs and with a sink to wash hands.

Your study could be up or downstairs, or you might want to think about a study nook in your downstairs area.

Upstairs, you can have your bedrooms and relaxation areas, perhaps even a kids’ retreat and a parents’ retreat if your budget and space allows for it.

Having two bathrooms is a good idea for a home with more than three residents, especially if at least two are working. Avoid that morning peak hour rush!

The exterior of your home

The front yard porch and a backyard deck are two things you have to consider. Your porch is a place that can really accentuate your aesthetic ‘mission’ as the house owner. It is more than just an entrance – it is a statement.

As far as backyard deck goes, with a reclining roof over it, you can turn it into a true relaxation zone where the entire family can spend most of their summer in cheerful bliss. Even if you decide these two spaces are not needed right now, you will be thinking about adding them in the future for certain, so why not simply do it now? If you have the budget, of course!

Find a company that builds well

Designing the family home out of your dreams is not something you can do easily by yourself. Building companies and their experts in architecture and drafting know how to make compromises between what you have imagined and what is feasible.

If you can find a company offering display homes you can view beforehand and that you love, you can approach them and work with them to design your ideal home. They can help pull you back from the impossible and identify potential problems with flow.

A utility room or mudroom

While a utility room or mudroom might sound like a completely superfluous and decadent thing, adding a utility room for your home can be fantastic for dealing with a lot of clutter, which is bound to pile up if you have a family.We think of it as a sort of magical wardrobe into which you can store everything, from shoes to coats, bulky toys and other paraphernalia you will need to sort out later. A mudroom is like a back entrance, perhaps combined with your laundry, where you can take off and store your shoes and coats before traipsing mud through the house.

Home is much more than the sum of its parts. These walls are meant to create a haven. It needs to create a seamless flow that is inviting and filled with family warmth.