Building a dream for your new home: One-of-a-kind design
Your personal design style is influenced by places you’ve been, the location of the home (beachside, northern, urban, farm country, etc.), your personality, your lifestyle, your hobbies, and more. There’s a psychology to it. Lindsay Graham, a PhD in personality and social psychology, says, “how we design and style our homes correlates to who we are and how we want others to perceive us”.
That’s why, it’s important to communicate your style preferences right from the start with your design-builder, in the early design stages.
Speak candidly and bring materials, like magazine features, colour swatches, photos from trips you’ve taken—anything that will help describe the style that’s authentic to you and your family. When you’re building a new home from scratch, your ability to collaborate and communicate your vision and style preferences will directly affect the success of the project.
How does personal style work it’s way into design?
Layout
The blueprint for floor plans is dictated by a number of factors: size, property, regulations, usage/intent, and personal style. It may be “in vogue” to design large open concept spaces, but if that’s not your style, you won’t be happy with a virtually wall-less floorplan. In the 1950’s-1970’s, ranch-style or bungalow homes were a suburban dime a dozen. Now, it isn’t as common to build on one level. However, this may be exactly the style you want.
It may seem irrelevant, trivial or even common sense—but details matter early on in the home build process. If you walked into a villa in the south of France and it had a winding staircase that you want to replicate, tell your design-builder. These preferences and ideas will influence the entire project, so build a relationship of trust and communication with your design-build partner.
Design and materials
The “correlation between who we are and how we want others to perceive us”, starts with curb appeal, and gets more intimate once you’ve passed through the front door. Style plays a large part in both the exterior facade and the interior ambience. It’s important to feel that your design-build partner fully understands your style, and is working to bring even the smallest nuances of your personality to life. This is done through the use of colour, materials, building design (exterior and interior), and craftsmanship.
For example, an Art Deco urban build will call for sourcing materials that reflect a specific time period, and metropolitan feel. If this is your style, mixed materials like Metallics and stone will be sourced, your interior space will use pops of muted colours, use geometric clean lines with minimal decoration and get light from large windows. The materials, colour palette and design will be very different if your style is more eclectic, vintage Victorian, natural, or hyper modern.
It’s important to balance style and practicality; idealism and realism. Look for a design-build partner who can help you infuse your style into a home that also achieves your goals for its use. A twenty foot high winding staircase in a home that’s meant as a retirement destination may not be the most practical design element. Communicate the look and feel you’re going for, and keep lines of communication open with your design-builder from day one.
