Your home can be designed to facilitate whatever type of lifestyle you prefer. Within this website, we will discuss the various different scenarios that your house design can be focused on, and some interesting and creative ways to customize your home accordingly.
This webpage is devoted to designing your home with ENTERTAINMENT as the primary focus.
Whether you have a large family that constantly needs to be entertained, or you are a corporate giant that needs space to entertain your clients, there are basic design thoughts and considerations that will make the home much more practical and efficient when entertaining. Even if partying is not constantly occurring in your home, the actual layout of a home, designed for entertaining, will inherently provide a very comfortable living environment for everyday life.
The following considerations and thoughts are briefly discussed, in an effort to provide general design parameters for a home focused on the ability to efficiently and comfortably support frequent entertainment activities.
- Interior open space / The overall openness of the home, has a considerable influence on the ability to comfortably entertain guests. The ability to interact from various areas of the home with other portions of the home is important to the home’s ability to absorb guests and spread out the overall interaction. A home that is cut up with smaller rooms, such as an older colonial design, will not allow the overall interaction of one guest with another. The openness of modern design with large open expanses of space, allows the overall absorption of guests, as well as the ability for all guests to interact with one another. The more open spans and open floor areas within the home, on the first level, which is considered the primary entertainment level, will enhance the home’s ability to entertain.
- Interior, exterior openness / The home should be designed to allow doors to be opened to the exterior patios and decks allowing the flow of guests through the interior of the home as well as the exterior spaces. This ability is more important in southern climates where the weather cooperates; however, the ability to open the home to the exterior is important in all climates. This ability will allow the home to appear much larger, and will allow guests to move between both the interior of the home as well as the exterior. The beauty of a well-designed and landscaped exterior should be a part of the entertainment venue for the guests to enjoy. It is important that the home, open itself to the outdoors.
- Façade openings, such as doors and windows / The proper selection of doors and windows will enhance the home’s functionality and ability to more efficiently and gracefully accept multiple guests. The use of French doors or open sliders, will allow an impression of overall openness within the home, blending the interior with the exterior. The proper door and window treatments will create a space that flows from the interior to the exterior. Large sliding windows, that can be opened allowing interaction between the exterior spaces and the interior spaces will open the overall impression of the home, and allow guests to interact. Door, hold open devices are recommended to allow the doors to remain open during the time that the house is used for entertainment. It is important that the design of the hardware package allows the proper selection of doors that will coordinate the installation of door, hold open devices that can be implemented during parties. In many cases, this hardware accessory is overlooked, and the doors must be held open with wood wedges or even concrete blocks. This is not a professional method of holding the exterior doors open. If the hardware package is properly designed, the hold opens will be installed as permanent hardware accessories on all doors leading to the exterior.
- Home sound systems / The use of recently developed blue tooth sound systems that are installed within the home, allows various areas of the home to interact separately with the individual guests. Once the party has begun, the ability to request songs, and have the songs played throughout the home, will cause the guests to interact with one another. In addition, these sound systems have special individual apps that can be downloaded onto your smart phones, allowing the guests themselves to select the music that they would like played. I have been at parties that have this system and it is a wonderful way to get all the guests to interact with one another.
- Home video systems / These systems are similar to the sound systems, and can be used to interact with these sound systems for the playing of music videos throughout the home, or allow special sporting events to be broadcast throughout the home. Is there anything better for a Super Bowl Party than the ability to broadcast the game and the sound, throughout the home! Of course, both the sound and video systems should be installed within the interior and exterior spaces of the home to ensure that all guests have the same viewing pleasure, especially if your team is winning!
- Multiple small wet areas that can be set up as bars. The term wet area is the installation of small bar sinks that have both hot and cold water piped to them. The family room or rec room bar has been replaced by the ability to serve beverages from multiple places within the home. The popularity of the craft beer market has made the decision to simply serve beer and wine for entertainment purposes, a much more acceptable and interesting decision. Obviously the ability to have taps with kegs attached is the dream of many home entertainers. This is available for installation when designing the home and should be considered, especially if the craft beer fade is popular with your guests. It is my opinion, that with the development of PEX tubing and the economy of small plumbing sinks and accessories, the installation of multiple wet areas within the home is a very practical decision, especially if the home is to be used for entertainment purposes.
- Bathroom facilities / In most cases, the private bathroom facilities within any home, whether designed for entertaining or not, are off limits to guests. Based upon this premise, I would recommend the installation of two, half baths installed on the primary level of the home. The additional cost is minimal and the ability to have two small bathrooms available for guests, especially if beer is the drink of choice, is a smart and practical decision. Again, like the wet areas for small drink setups throughout the home, the installation of the two half baths, if designed during the construction phase of the home, is an efficient and practical decision.
- Kitchen facilities / If the home is being designed for entertaining, the installation of a secondary kitchen on the lower level, or even better, on the primary level of the home, is highly recommended. Depending upon the method used to furnish food to the guests, the use of a secondary kitchen by the caterer is recommended. It is always extremely professional and adds to the efficiency of the home, if the kitchen is tucked away, off the primary area used by the guests. In most normal home design, the primary kitchen is located in a common area within the home. If the home is used for entertainment, the installation of a secondary kitchen, off the primary area of the home, is an invaluable design feature. If the design and layout of homes during the end of the 19th century had a secondary kitchen for entertainment, the installation of a simple and efficient second kitchen for entertainment makes very practical sense in today’s environment.
- Exterior spaces / The installation of multiple decks and patios will allow the guests to utilize the exterior of the home, as well as the interior. If the weather cooperates, the square footage of the home is expanded to the exterior, very easily, if there are ample decks and patios constructed. The construction of exterior facilities is much more economical, than the creation of additional interior space. If the home is located in a climate that is conducive to year round living, then the creation of inexpensive outdoor space makes even more sense. This becomes an issue, totally identified by the individual property, due to the variance of properties on the shore, inland, in a climate that has a cold winter, or in a climate that has exterior living available for the entire year. The decision to create exterior spaces for entertainment must be customized to the location of the property and the seasonal ability to use this space.
- Parking and entry efficiency / The layout of the driveway, as well as the ability to park multiple cars on the property, is certainly conducive to designing for entertainment. The security and privacy of parking that your guests will encounter on the property will be appreciated, if the night is snowy, or the traffic is heavy on the roadway accessing the home. Once again, the ability to park and enter the property is totally dependent upon the location of the home and the proximity to the road as well as other metropolitan issues.
- Additional bedroom space / The ability to remain at the home, if the partying becomes too extreme, is a specific requirement, dependent upon the owner of the home. There are situations where the, over partiers, are simply not wanted, then again, there are occurrences that would positively facilitate the ability to remain for the evening, therefore enhancing the partying atmosphere. This is a personal and specific issue that must be identified by the individual homeowner.
In summary, there are several specific and individually identified situations and details that could be constructed in the home, to enable a better and more proficient partying experience. Each situation is individual and based upon the financial status as well as the personal preferences of the individual homeowner.
The design of a home for entertainment purposes can be as simple as the creation of an exterior patio or deck, to allow the partying of a few individuals, as they watch the Sunday afternoon football game. Or the full blown extravaganza of repetitive weekend parties, where the host, as well as the guests indulge in full partying regalia and require, a specific design, to accommodate this partying atmosphere.
The important aspect of this thought process, is that during the design and creation of your new home, it is important to identify how the home will be used, and if entertainment is the focus, there are a multitude of accommodations that can be incorporated into the design of the structure, to more efficiently and properly create the home for this purpose.
If this is your goal and purpose, don’t forget me and invite me over!