Table of Contents
House Building Trends
Building a house? See our outline of the options currently trending from custom home builders.
Bathrooms
As a fundamental room, bathrooms encounter heavy duty use multiple times a day in most houses. Building bathrooms require designs that address challenges specific to wet areas such as moisture management, ventilation and fluctuation of temperatures. Trends in 2017 include luxe wood finishes that are oil treated to withstand water, tap wear that is brass, matte metallic or black in colour and vibrant, statement tiles that create contrast in this traditionally petite room.Still in the bathroom, a digital shower will ensure immediate hot water and pressure control and cross lighting is a must for mirrors and subtle under cabinet lighting that is suitable for night time illumination is also fashionable and functional.
Image Source: Pixabay
Technology
Building a home that is efficient and smart continues to be high on wish lists for people building custom homes. A plethora of features from smart glass, electronic locks, security and automated house functions that can be operated via wireless technology are available for houses being built today. There is also a focus on designing these features to operate on open source platforms that collect data that can be analysed to improve user experience and the performance of the house over time. The visibility of such technology, however, is increasingly concealed so it does not dominate living spaces or confuse interior designs that are meant to promote human interactions and family time above screens and gadgets.
Mud Rooms
A typically uncommon feature in Australian homes outside country areas are mud rooms, which are now making their mark in city and suburban residences. Often located via a secondary entrance to the home, a well designed mud room will store jackets, shoes, bags and other miscellaneous items normally not used when you are inside your house. You may choose to incorporate a mud room into your laundry or have it as a separate space, but be sure to include seating(ideally a bench), hanging hooks and plenty of diverse storage for a variety of items ranging from shoes to sporting equipment.
Energy Matter
Harnessing thermal energy is still a priority for those building their dream home, particularly as energy prices continue to climb. Even if your goal is not to disconnect from the grid, solar power, green insulation and green roofing and walls may still play a role in new homes that aim to achieve lower energy consumption for their occupants. Technologies such as home battery storage solutions have recently hit the market and will only improve as residential energy storage becomes more common. Although currently only in the most bespoke residential properties, photovoltaics and their potential future uses is also an exciting space to keep an eye on. Low carbon building materials are also gaining traction as more suppliers turn to eco-friendly options.This increase also means that sustainable materials will reduce in price as production suitably expands and Melbourne builders increasingly incorporate them as commonly used materials in custom home designs.
Feature Image Source: Pixabay
