The best home décor and designs reflect the homeowner’s own unique style and personality by showcasing their favourite art, personal touches and family heirlooms. Your home should fit your lifestyle, too. If you’re big on socialising and love hosting gatherings for your friends and family, your home design should maximise communal living and entertainment areas. Party animals’ décor schemes need to be forgiving enough to take a little abuse, too – we’re talking about avoiding snow-white couches if you love red wine or frequently have hoards of children over to visit.
Even if you love home design and décor that reflects your personal touch, keeping up with the latest trends for modern house plans is a great way to stimulate your creativity and get new ideas. With that in mind, here’s our list of some of 2014’s hottest trends for modern house plans.
1. Modern house plans incorporate multifunctional spaces.
Multifunctional and flexible spaces have become a big trend this year. Multifunctional spaces are areas or rooms in the home that can easily be used for a variety of functions. Changing work habits mean that more and more people today are choosing to work from home. This has made flexible spaces that can be used as home offices a popular inclusion in modern house plans. For instance, a dining room can be designed to simultaneously function as a home office. Similarly, kitchens are increasingly designed to function not only as cooking areas but also as spaces that are used for entertainment and work.
2. Ample storage space is a popular feature of modern house plans.
A symptom of living in a consumer-driven society is the constant accumulation of stuff. The average modern Westerner has a lot of things, and as a result ample storage space is increasingly considered to be of the utmost important in modern architecture. The need for more storage space extends from bathroom cabinets, to bedroom closets, to garages big enough to house SUVs, jet skis, bicycles and other ‘toys’.
3. Modern house plans embrace outdoor living.
When space is limited, it makes sense to transform outdoor areas into living spaces wherever possible. South Africa in particular has a glorious climate that makes outdoor living an absolute pleasure. Modern home design strives to connect the indoors with the outdoors in both innovative and basic ways. Simply installing glass stacking doors and large windows does wonders for fusing the indoors with the outdoors. Other ways to make the most of the outdoors include the creation of wooden decks, covered lapas and outdoor dining areas.
4. Natural light remains an important trend.
Designing sunlight-filled homes remains one of the most important features of modern house plans. This is for good reason, too. Homes that are filled with sunlight require less artificial lighting and hence use less electricity. You don’t need science to tell you that natural sunlight is a great mood improver, too – we’ve all fallen victim to the wintertime blues and subsequently experienced the uplifting arrival of spring and sunshine.
One way to ensure that your home is filled with as much natural light as possible is to apply frosted window vinyl to sliding doors, glass stacking doors and windows. Frosted vinyl allows 93% of natural light to filter into your home while simultaneously allowing you to enjoy whatever level of privacy you require from your windows. Vinyl frosting also insulates your windows and glass doors, thereby increases the energy efficiency of your home.
5. Modern house plans keep relaxation in mind.
Modern lifestyles are increasingly hectic and rising stress levels contribute to a host of modern illnesses and disorders. To combat this phenomenon, modern homeowners favour designs that conceive of the home as a peaceful refuge and haven of comfort. Think home spas, luxurious bedrooms, cosy nooks and crannies and relaxed outdoor entertainment areas geared towards laid-back socialising.
