5 Ideas for Your Next Home Remodel

Designing a home remodel always requires a bit of balance and professional insight. Homeowners are wise to remodel in a way that meets their household’s present and long-term needs while also keeping a finger on the pulse of home design trends that optimize resale value.

Typically, kitchen and bathroom remodels are top of the list. While those are still popular, especially for clients who’ve recently purchased an older home, other areas of home improvement are starting to take greater priority.

1. A return to dedicated spaces

The 21st century opened up, literally, with a focus on open spaces. Clients were tearing out walls, removing formal dining rooms, and creating open concept kitchens and living areas that kept everything connected. Open-concept designs keep the cooks connected to the couch potatoes, help parents maintain an eye on teenagers hanging out in the family room, and improve work/play flow during parties and social gatherings. Then, things started to change.

While families still appreciated the feeling of openness, individuals began to covet spaces of their own. Suddenly, the formal dining room was desirable again because it allowed adults to continue conversing quietly while, at the same time, the kids played in the family room. Without a separate, quieter living space, the readers struggled to find a quiet nook when the rest of the family watched the game, and completing homework or a focused project was tricky without a space of one’s own.

Once the pandemic hit, this need for dedicated spaces became even greater. As an APnews.com article put it, “…now, (parents) and kids find it difficult to get work done because of the noise in the open design.” As a result, we spend less time figuring out how to remove non-load-bearing walls and more time designing additions or finding creative ways to provide dedicated spaces that accommodate specific purposes such as quiet-, study-, work-, or hobby-time. You’ll see this overarching theme reflected in the trends listed below.

2. Home Office and/or Study Rooms

We have received more requests to build or transform home office and study spaces than ever before. Even though the pandemic is moving behind us, the work-from-home lifestyle is not. And, one thing professionals learned this past year is that it’s impossible to be as productive as you can or conduct an uninterrupted video conference without a quiet, organized space with a door that shuts firmly behind you.

Some clients are building home office or schoolroom additions to their Volusia county homes, while others convert guest bedrooms into office/guest bedroom combos or integrate an office/study space into their garage. If you have a basement or a spacious attic, this is a great year to rethink how it can become more integral to your living space. Perhaps it’s meant to become the official guest suite, the new family room, or transformed into designated office and homework spaces.

3. Multigenerational Spaces or ADUs

We’re taking an influx of calls from clients interested in creating a multi-generational home. In some cases, this may involve an attic, basement, and/or garage renovation. For others, we’re designing separate accessory dwelling units (ADUs).

First and foremost, we build these for clients taking care of their senior parents or grandparents. However, we’re also seeing requests for separate living quarters from homeowners who have adult children moving back home or are interested in taking advantage of vacation rental income opportunities. As a recent article in Architectural Digest states, this trend, “…is not just down to the shifting dynamic among families but also because of the ability for homeowners to monetize the extra space for long-term rentals or even Airbnb-style short-term leasing.”

If you have space, this is a wise time to optimize the potential for your household, which can simultaneously make your home far more appealing to future homebuyers with the same multi-generational lifestyle or goals.

4. Energy Efficiency Upgrades

This home remodeling trend is holding steady. Making the modifications necessary for whole-home energy efficiency benefits the environment while simultaneously adding to your bank account. Existing and projected tax benefits are also a compelling reason to replace outdated home systems with high-quality and more efficient solutions.

Examples include:

• Solar power
• Rainwater harvesting
• Gray water systems
• Insulation upgrades
• HVAC replacement
• Window upgrades

Visit the IRS’s page, Energy Incentives for Individuals…, to learn more about how these energy-focused improvements may qualify for deductions or credits.

Florida residents have an added interest in optimizing whole-home energy efficiency. In addition to savings in utility spending, we benefit from regulated humidity levels that reduce the risk of mold/mildew and notably improve our homes’ indoor air quality.

5. Improving Outdoor Living Spaces

Perhaps the same work-and-school-from-home lifestyle that drives the need for home office and study spaces is also responsible for the increased demand for enhanced outdoor living spaces. Another reason to prioritize your outdoor spaces is that industry experts such as Builder Magazine cite that enhancing curb appeal and improving outdoor living spaces provide the highest return on investment.

Wi-Fi boosters and unlimited mobile data mean working professionals can easily work outside on a beautiful day, and there’s no shortage of those here in DeLand and the surrounding areas. Plus, enhancing your outdoor world encourages adults and children to get outside (and off their screens) more often to enjoy Mother Nature.

We’re getting more and more requests to:

• Build outdoor kitchens
• Add permanent patio covers and pergolas
• Expand patio and deck spaces with plenty of room for dining, working, and relaxing
• Install larger sliders or folding glass doors to create better flow between the indoor/outdoor lifestyle (which also accommodates #1’s point around adding more designated spaces to your home design)
• Install drop-down screens and ceiling fans to maintain cooler outdoor spaces and to keep flies and mosquitoes at bay

Not surprisingly, the more time household members spend outside the home, the more time they spend looking at it, which is why our home remodel projects often include extras such as installing manufactured stone veneers, replacing old siding, and building/expanding wood or wood-composite decking.

Are you thinking about moving forward with a home remodel? Fogle Constructors is a locally-owned and operated construction firm, and we’d love to hear from you. We provide free, no-obligation estimates. In addition to an impeccable work ethic, we are dedicated to building honest, long-term relationships with our clients. Contact us to begin brainstorming your home remodeling project at (386) 734-6051