An extremely common mistake in home design is designing your home for now, not the future. In reality, your home should be designed to accommodate your needs – and your family’s – for the next two decades. Sure, your home works great for your lifestyle now, but what about when you reach your golden years? Same thing with your kids: Will your home be just as accommodating when they become teenagers?

On that note, here are a few tips for designing a home with longevity in mind:

Design for Aging in Place

When you’re 45, it’s hard to visualize what your day-to-day will look like when you’re 65 or 70. But when you’re building your dream home, we always want to take some time to ensure you’ll love your home in 2040 as much as you will in 2026. 

So we look for simple tweaks to the design – like zero entry showers in the primary suite – that work perfectly well now and will be greatly appreciated in your golden years. 

Design for Young Adults, Not Toddlers

When new parents design homes, they often want to install toddler-friendly items like lower cabinets and toilets in the bathroom. These are very convenient when kids are 3 or 4,  but by the time they’re 9 you’ll be wanting to rip it out and put something normal-sized in. Better to get a pull-out stool that can be tucked away when your kids get older. 

Speaking of young adulthood, do you like the idea of your kids constantly going to other peoples’ houses to hang out? Most parents would prefer their kids to have their friends over their own houses, rather than wondering where they are at night. How can you make sure your teenage kids won’t abandon your home for someone else’s? By creating a nice-sized space where they can have fun with their friends, possibly in a part of the house away from the primary suite so you don’t have to hear every bit of their lives but can easily check in when you want to. 

Make Your Home Adaptable

The truth of the matter is we don’t know what the future holds. Making sure we incorporate flexibility into your home design is essential. Building a backyard office that can easily convert to in-laws quarters, garages that can become gyms, outdoor kitchens that can become outdoor living rooms – it seems simple enough when you’re in the design phase, but it can save you hundreds of thousands of dollars five to ten years from now when your circumstances change. 

At Debowsky Design Group, we know the difference between something that feels comfortable today and something that will feel comfortable forever. If you’re ready to make some changes so you can age in place in your dream home, give us a call. When you reach your golden years, you can live peacefully instead of kicking yourself for not making those renovations sooner.