Number of rooms vs. Quality of space

One of the toughest decisions facing any new home buyer, in the initial design stage, is centered around the predicted use of rooms in the new build. Where does the priority lay? Is the outright number of rooms more important than the quality of the space? Obviously the answer will differ as often as an individual’s taste but a couple of basic concepts can always be applied to assist the decision making process.

Living areas are of prime importance in any new home & the relationship between each living zone needs to be closely considered, the overwhelming trend over recent years has been to forgo formal living space for a higher quality casual living area. The trend of combining Kitchen & meals areas with the main living area & its connection to an Alfresco area has meant the formal living areas of older design are unlikely to make a comeback in the foreseeable future. In their place a dedicated TV or Home Theatre area has become incredibly popular, in part this is maybe driven by the affordability of quality AV equipment, but the end result is the quality of the living areas in today’s home designs takes home entertainment to the next level. Entertainment & social gatherings you used to go out for are now easily achieved at home.

In some more dated design, the prime consideration for sleeping areas appeared to be “the more bedrooms the better”. The big trend swing in today’s designs puts focus on fewer but larger, more useable bedrooms. Already we have seen a massive reduction in the number of homes designs offering 4 bedrooms plus a study and the norm now appears to be a straight 4 bedrooms, or even 3 beds plus a study. The massive plus with this line of thought is that the quality of and size of the bedrooms has increased at the same time. Simply placing a wardrobe or even a built-in robe in the corner of a bedroom, & compromising the furnishing of the room, is no longer an acceptable outcome. It is expected that these crucial items will now be integrated into the design to ensure that the quality of the space does not suffer. Future trends in this area may lead to 3, and perhaps even 2 bedroom homes, becoming the norm rather than the exception, especially when the home owner really does not see a use for 4 bedrooms. Adding numbers of largely unusable rooms may well be passed over to ensure the quality of the space.