What’s still hot and what’s not? When it comes to residential space planning, there are several popular new trends – and a few enduring classics – that are shaping the home design landscape.
Julie Jones and her team run a residential space planning and design company in California that has executed hundreds of renovations and new builds in the past year alone! In a popular social media video, Julie summarizes the architectural and design features clients are clamouring over.
Number one, of course, is the modified open concept. Overall, open sightlines and flow are still popular asks, but we’re seeing more intentional zoning and semi-open plans distinguishing main living areas. At the same time, the utilitarian spaces you may not want to stare at all day are getting an upgrade too. The past few years have seen a rise in popularity for butler’s pantries or sculleries. Often referred to as a prep kitchen, it’s where you can cook large family meals but hide the mess! Clients want a place for all their dishware, serveware, and small appliances to live, so they don’t clutter the ‘show kitchen’.
Speaking of essential practical spaces… mudrooms! And not just any mudroom. People are designing mudrooms to be almost as big as their kitchens, which is often why we see them adjacent to pantries: people can bring in groceries, kick off their boots as they travel through the mudroom, and drop everything off in the pantry.
Continuing the trend of elevating and upsizing utilitarian spaces, Jack-and-Jill laundry rooms are huge right now, according to the Julie Jones team. Particularly when you have a large family, convenience and ease of access are key elements in everyday life. Julie’s clients have been requesting access from their primary bathrooms and closets to the laundry room so that doing laundry requires as little work as possible. Oh, and those ensuite bathrooms they pass through on the way to the laundry? Pop a double shower in there, because that’s what’s hot right now. Rather than tub experiences, people want shower experiences – big, bright, and steamy!
Home offices have become a must-have since the pandemic, as has the indoor-outdoor living. Now that more people work from home, combined with the rising popularity of natural materials and nature-inspired colour palettes. Families want to “bring the outside in” by opening their patios and terraces to the living space or kitchen.
And here’s the woman herself!
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Thank you, Julie, for confirming so many of the trends that we’ve also been noticing up here in the North!
Follow Julie & her team on Instagram here.
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