We hope this post finds you happy, sane, and, most importantly, healthy. This is a time of great uncertainty and stress for all of us, but also a time to pause, reflect on the present moment with gratitude, and dream of better days ahead. 

We all need to be taking excellent care of our mental health right now, and one of the best ways we’ve found to unwind while stuck at home is to give our creativity some time to play throughout each day. Try letting yourself have a little white space on your daily schedule to explore new and fresh ideas that you may not have had time for otherwise and to get to know yourself a little better. Below are two of our favorite methods that we use regularly to brainstorm custom home designs and that we invite you to try during this time of self-quarantining and social distancing!

▱ Daily Routine Audit ▱

If you’ve been thinking about someday building a custom home, look at this time in quarantine at your current residence as a chance to analyze, innovate, and dream for that future. Try becoming an observer of your daily routine and notice how home design can help or hinder you.

Do you wish you had more privacy from your neighbors seeing you through the windows? Your home designer will have great ideas and insight about window positioning that lets the light and views in—and keeps the direct line of sight into your neighbor’s bathroom out.

Do you run out of hanging space every time you put away clean laundry? Take note now, and a designer can work up a cabinetry plan for the closet of your dreams!

Write down what aggravates you and what serves you. We believe that good, thoughtful design should be a true partner that helps you lead your best life, and doing this type of design audit can tune you in to what that life would look like.

Here are a couple more example questions to get you started, and how good design can help:

Do you and your spouse bump into each other every morning while making breakfast? Maybe you need to think about how to position your appliances, drawers, and countertops differently in your dream kitchen. Check out: An Architect’s 15 Essential Tips for Designing the Kitchen

Does the setting sun blind you every afternoon in your current home office? Perhaps you’d rather position your workspace toward a northern exposure in your future home. Check out: A Brief Guide to Understanding Sun Exposures

Do you have clutter, coats, and mail piling into the main living areas? A mudroom serves as a great catchall space to keep the rest of your home tidy, and is also an ideal spot to remove shoes, sterilize groceries, and keep germs from spilling into the rest of your home. Check out: From Touchless Tech To Vinyl Floors, Here’s How Coronavirus Will Change Home Design

All this time you’re spending in home isolation provides a great opportunity to take out a notepad and jot down any annoyances, ideas, and customizations that you may not have otherwise thought of. You’ll come out with a truly individualized list that you’ll be ready to bring to an architect or home designer when the time is right!

▱ Pinning Based on Current Observations ▱

After a long day of telecommuting, homeschooling, trying to fit in some exercise, and cooking (and cleaning up after) three meals a day, sometimes what you really need is a glass of wine and some dream home eye candy to browse while you wind down for the night. The good news is, all this extra time at home with your family has likely given you new insight on applicable design solutions and ideas for the future for the next time you dive down the Pinterest rabbit hole or curate idea books on Houzz. For starters, we’d imagine you have more than a few ideas about what would make for a better home office right about now!

Here are a couple areas to give some extra thought to, based on your extended time being at home:

Family gathering areas:

How does your family enjoy spending time together? When you look back on this time of being sheltered-in-place, what memories will you treasure? Did you love watching movies together? You might want to consider a home theater or media room in your new home. Were you more about impromptu dance challenges and wrestling matches to burn off the energy? An open rec room with game tables might be for you. Or maybe you loved eating meals on the floor and building blanket forts to mix things up. You may want to consider a sunken living room—they’re coming back in style! Check out: Sunken Rooms: Design Challenge or Buried Treasure?

Outdoor living spaces: 

Getting a little fresh air is a surefire cure for cabin fever, though social distancing has meant that many playgrounds, beaches, and parks are closed or limited. Courtyards have been a popular request for many of the homes we’ve designed for some time now, and there’s no better time than under the present restrictions to appreciate the tranquil privacy and natural views they provide! Plus, once this quarantine is lifted and you can have guests over again, courtyards offer a fabulous extension of your entertaining space! Check out: The Enduring Appeal of Courtyards

Home Offices:

Even those who have never had the need or inclination to work from home are getting a taste of telecommuting these days, and we bet you have some ideas for your dream home office! Whether you’re lusting after a bookshelf-lined study you can shut yourself in for complete privacy, an upper level loft with great lighting and fast wifi, or a simple desk in the midst of an open floor plan where you can still watch tv and be part of the family activities, spend some time envisioning your ideal setting for that much sought after work-life balance. Check out: 25 Modern Home Office Ideas You Should Put to Work

Kids rooms and HOBBY spaces:

If you’re quarantined with kids right now, you’ve surely had plenty of time to get to know them even better than you already did. Maybe you’ve seen them develop new interests and hobbies that you want to set aside space for in your future home—a bay window reading bench; a home gym; a painting nook; a music studio. Or maybe you want to have a shared area outside of their bedrooms set aside for desks, homework, and virtual learning. Check out: How To Design a Bedroom that Grows with Your Child

These same tips apply to you as well—are there passions or hobbies you’d like to dedicate space to in your home? This is one way we can use the difficulties of the present moment to reflect and come to know ourselves better. Though this lockdown time is filled with uncertainties, stress, and adjustments, we will emerge from this with new creative ideas and paths forward, and your future home should reflect the vibrant energy that comes from self-knowledge.

Master Suites:

Don’t forget about self-care while you’re pinning images and thinking about your dream home! You may not be able to go to the salon or gym during this time, but what if you made your future master suite a spa-like retreat all its own? From opulent tubs and showers to fireplaces, sitting areas, in-room coffee bars, and private patios, don’t you deserve a place to relax that’s even better than that vacation you had to postpone?

We hope you get a chance to do a bit of relaxing and imaginative play during this stressful time! Stay home, stay safe, and stay creative, and when you’re ready to talk about your custom home or remodel, give us a call! We can’t wait to design a beautiful future with you!