Evolving Spaces: Remodeling Your Home for Every Season of Life
August 13, 2024
Your home is the place where so much life happens. You invite loved ones in for meals and holidays. You curl up with a book on rainy afternoons or watch the game with friends. A significant part of your children’s childhood is spent within the walls of your home. As you grow and your family changes, what you need from your home also shifts. Fortunately, your home can grow with you. Remodeling your home is often the answer to the growing pains you feel at various life stages.
Beginning Your Career or Newly Married
What an exciting time of life you’re in! You probably want to invest in a starter home at this stage and begin to remodel it strategically. It’s likely not the home you’ll stay in forever, and by focusing your time, resources, and attention on upgrades that give you the best return on your investment (ROI), you’ll be able to improve your home and, when the time comes to sell it, make a profit that you can invest in your next home.
So what are the renovations that give you the best ROI? This blog post will give you some more information, but according to Remodeling’s Cost vs Value report for 2024 in the DC, Maryland, and Virginia area, the top renovations in terms of ROI are
- entry door replacement (steel door)
- garage door replacement
- manufactured stone veneer
- grand entry replacement (fiberglass)
- siding replacement (with fiber-cement boards)
- minor kitchen remodels
- deck additions
This stage of life is also the best time to learn basic home maintenance. Learn how to check and replace your HVAC filters and smoke alarms. Figure out how to do basic home repairs (YouTube can help with this!). Be consistent in doing preventative maintenance on your home. You’ll save yourself time, money, and headaches in the future if you put in the work now.
Starting a Family
When you start adding kids to the mix, your home will need to work harder than ever. The days of having a young family are wonderful, unique, and busy. As you consider how to make your home kid-friendly, safe, and still comfortable for the adults who live there, you will face different challenges, but in the end, the best thing your home can offer you is flexibility.
Space
As the number of people living in your home increases (and as those people grow!), more space will become necessary. Adding square footage to your home is a great way to make your home fit your growing family. You can add on a bedroom or two, another bathroom, or more living space in the family room or kitchen. Finishing a basement also adds more livable square footage to your home, and it can serve as an extra bedroom, a playroom, or a home office–whatever you need it to be. Talk to a contractor about the best way to add space to your home and whether building up (adding another story) or out (increasing square footage on the main floor) is right for you.
Storage
Your need for storage is increasing in this stage of life. Adding strategic, beautiful, and useful storage to your home is a great way to support your family. Talk to your contractor about the following options:
Built-ins! We love built-ins for the value they add to your home–excellent, stylish, space-saving storage that is custom-made for your home and family. You can use built-ins in every room of the house from mudrooms to bedrooms to kitchens.
Custom storage in every bedroom closet that is flexible enough to grow with the child.
Sports-gear storage in the garage or mudroom: cubbies, shelves, or hooks.
Storage solutions in the basement, attic, or garage to keep your off-season clothing or holiday decorations organized and easy to get to.
Safety and Durability
Nothing is more important than your kids being safe. Thinking through potential issues in your home and correcting them will give you peace of mind. If your home was built before 1978, make sure you have the paint tested for lead. If all your countertops are high, consider building an island with a lower section–perfect for kids to sit at and keep from falling. Make sure bathrooms are safe by using kid-proof cabinets or installing high cabinets or shelving to store cleaners and medicines in. These are just some examples of ways to make your home safer for your growing family; talk to a contractor for more ideas specific to your home.
Using durable materials in your home remodel will help keep it looking nice as it withstands the years of young children. Consider repainting with eggshell or satin paint if your walls currently have flat paint–it’s easier to clean. Use LVP flooring instead of real hardwood if you’re concerned about damage or upkeep. Use non-toxic and green materials too, for the sake of your little ones’ health.
As Your Kids Grow
The Empty Nest
Are you closing in on the empty-nester years? Maybe your youngest is heading off to college this year and you’re starting to think about what your new phase of life will be like. Generally, empty-nesters have more resources to invest into their homes. It’s a great time of life to think about upgrading your space and customizing it for yourself. If you’ve always wanted a jacuzzi tub or have dreamed about an outdoor kitchen, there’s no time like the present. And if you believe your current home is your forever home, then you will be able to choose materials and finishes that are more high-end, knowing that you–and not the house’s next owner–will get to enjoy them.
It’s also important to begin thinking about updating systems that may be getting old. Your HVAC, roof, windows, and doors will all eventually need replacing. Your plumbing and electrical might need to be redone. If you address these issues at the same time as a remodel, you will be able to knock out all the issues and potential problems at once.
The Multi-Generational Home
While it may be true that your nest is empty right now, the multigenerational household–where two or more generations of adults live together–is on the rise in America. In fact, the US population that lives in a multigenerational house has quadrupled in the last fifty years or so. Aging parents move in with their adult children. College graduates move home for a while to save for a place of their own. Whatever the reason, if a multigenerational household may be in your future, remodeling your home can help.
If your basement is a walk-out, consider turning it into an apartment. Add a small kitchen, a bathroom, and a bedroom and you have the space and privacy your family needs.
You can also remodel a garage into an apartment, again adding a small kitchen and bathroom.
Another option is to build a large bedroom on the main floor that includes its own bathroom. This would be great for older adults who might have trouble with stairs.
Some places will allow AUDs, or Accessory Dwelling Units, to be built in the backyard. Examples of this are tiny homes or shed-turned-houses.
Aging in Place
If you, like many Americans, want to age in place, remodeling your home will absolutely help you meet that goal. Aging in place means staying in your home as long as possible, usually incorporating technology, structural changes, and other helps to allow you to do so.
Widen hallways and doorways to accommodate walkers and/or wheelchairs. Lower countertops so they’re usable from a seated position. Install smart technology that allows you to see who’s at the door, reminds you if you accidentally left a burner on, and more. In the bathroom, install a curbless shower for easy in-and-out, as well as grab bars to give you stability. With a little planning, your home can be a comfortable, safe, easy-to-navigate place for you for as long as you want it to be.
Through the Years
Remodeling helps you stay in the home you love through all the changing stages of life. It allows you to create a haven that supports you and your loved ones in every way. If your home needs some changes to be what you need right now, give us a call. We serve Maryland, DC, and Virginia, and we would love to help you make your home exactly what your family knows it can be.