LCCU

Lewis-Clark Association of REALTORS® 208-746-2019 810 Main Street, Lewiston, ID

Whether looking for your dream home, wanting to downsize or needing to upsize, call a local REALTOR®. They have the professional knowledge to make all of your Real Estate transactions smooth. MEET OUR MEMBERS:

All Around Realty Assist-2-Sell Discovery

Real Estate Cargill Real Estate Central Idaho Properties Century 21 Price Right Clearwater Realty Coldwell Banker

Tomlinson eXp Realty Grand Realty Inc. Highland Realty Home Smart Premier

Realty Idaho Country Properties Idaho Land & Home Jan McCoy Properties Kamiah Property Keller Williams – KW

Lewiston Kelly Right Real Estate of

Idaho, LLC NW Rural Properties Poleson Realty: Tim Wold Professional Realty

Services Quad Cities Realty Ray J White Rental

Department Real Deal Realty RE/MAX Rock-n-Roll

Realty River Cities Real Estate Ridge River Realty Salmon River Realty Solberg Agency The Real Estaters Windermere

HOW TO DESIGN YOUR DREAM HOME

By Erica Sweeney www.Realtor.com

When you design your own home from the ground up, the sky’s the limit when it comes to design. You get to choose the architectural style, the floor plan, and all the flourishes that make this place uniquely, well, you. Sounds fun, right? It is, but figuring out what you want to build can also be incredibly intimidating. Before you start picking out tile and light fixtures, you need a plan. In this final installment of our Guide To Building Your Own Home, we’ll help you focus on the joys—and potential pitfalls—of designing your space. We’ll show you where to get inspiration, how to narrow down your needs versus wants, ways to make trade-offs to stay on budget, and much more that will help your architectural plans come to life with as few hiccups as possible.

Where to get home design inspiration

You probably already have a picture in mind of your dream home—its style, feeling, and design. If not, scour sites like Piterest and Houzz for visual ideas, suggests Elizabeth Sanchez Vaughan, creative principal at In-Site Interior Design. These sites often let you create “idea books” and save images you like. “When you look at all these images as a whole, you will start to see a pattern of the things that you like, and it will inform your style decisions,” she says. “If there’s an element that repeats itself within those images, then chances are good that it’s really something you will like to live with.” This process will at least give you a starting point. Sharing these images with your builder and designer will also help them get to know your style so that they can guide you through the process.

Questions to ask before you build a floor plan

Don’t get ahead of yourself when designing your dream home. Justin Riordan, interior designer, architect, and founder of homstaging company Spade and Archer Design Agency, suggests thinking broadly first. Some questions to consider: Who will be living in the home and what will the home be used for? Are you planning to grow your family, or will you become an empty nester soon? Will you be working from home for the foreseeable future? The answers will help you choose a functional layout that will meet your needs now and in the future. “Once all of these questions are answered, you can then start to create a bubble diagram to show how the spaces needed will be laid out to best accommodate the various uses of the house,” Riordan says. This will guide the schematic design, which includes a floor plan. And a budget and timeline for construction can be set based on these drawings. The biggest mistake people make when building a home is not spending enough time planning, Vaughan says. You may be eager to break ground and start the construction, but don’t skip the prep stage. After all, this is when the budget is set and gets everyone on the same page. “If the plan is 100% right, then the rest of the construction process will go smoothly and not require time-consuming changes,” she says. “Really have the professional walk you through the space and describe what the fl ow will be.” And don’t make these decisions alone—make sure your builder, designer, and anyone else on your team is involved, says Amla Raj Swenson, an interior designer working in Los Angeles and San Diego. “Designers, architects, and the builder will all have knowledge specific to their trade that can help the other plan details more accurately.”

Don’t pick trendy designs you might regret

Have you fallen in love with the latest home design trends on Instagram? Think twice before incorporating them all in your new home. Think about your long-term needs and whether you’ll get sick of decor fads down the road. “I recommend a mix of long-term classic style incorporated with more trendy, modern styles,” Swenson says. “I find that adding accessories—sofas, throw pillows, and lighting—that are more trendy makes it easier to change in the long run, if you want to update anything.” A big mistake homeowners make, she adds, is focusing on a specific aesthetic and not considering the functionality of the home. “It’s so important to consider the use of the space, just as much as the look of it,” Swenson says. Functionality should drive the design, not the other way around. Continued on next page