Building With Hope and Faith
Adapting Your Space for Family Harmony
With rising expenses and possible increasing physical limitations, more families are planning their futures together by welcoming other generations to live with them. Here at Zimmerman Architects, it’s an honor to be asked to design a beautiful and functional space that nurtures the homeowner and their extended families.
As you can imagine, it’s a topic that has many flavors, so we’ll be presenting you with a series of blog posts on what multigenerational living can look like for your family and home. We’ll begin with a top-level view.
Who Are Likely Candidates for a Multigenerational Home?
See if any of this rings a bell:
- The principal homeowners are typically in the age range of 45 to 65. This is often referred to as The Sandwich Generation:
- The generation above is experiencing difficulties in the physical upkeep of their own home; or
- The generation below is finding the cost of housing to be beyond their financial capabilities for the near future;
- And of course, our homeowners can be the filling squeezed in the middle of the generation sandwich, getting ready to host either or both sets of families!
- Their home is in good condition, but maybe could use some modernization. Their property is spacious, but they need to renovate to fit their family members.
- They love their neighborhood and community and wouldn’t dream of selling to move to another location.
- They love their family and want to assist in creating living conditions that are safe, comfortable, and beautiful.
The Top Reasons to Transform Your House to Fit Your Family
Every family has their story and whatever your reason, we’re here for you with the utmost respect.
The Generation Above
Mom and Dad used to be able to keep up with home and property maintenance, but their abilities are declining. The homeowners are filled with worry over the safety of Mom and Dad trying to do too much on their own; especially when it’s a solo parent remaining.
Our homeowners tell us they feel greater peace of mind when the elders are now living on the first floor of their home, and they can care for them with increased convenience. When Mom and Dad give up their drivers’ licenses, we either drive distances in each direction to pick them up and drop them off from their doctors’ appointments – or we can simply all meet at the garage!
This generation often grew up in simple homes so often they don’t request anything beyond a bedroom, walk-in closet, and master bathroom. If there’s room, a private “sitting room” or den or home office situated in a quieter part of the house would be icing on the cake. If they need accessibility features, we make sure all of that is accounted for and even help them plan ahead. More on that in another blog.
The Generation Below
When the kids get married and start their own families, they grow out of their first apartment or home and now need more room. But home prices today can’t compare to prices even 5 years ago!
They experience an impossible squeeze – not enough room for their family but not enough financial resources to move into a larger home. More young families are finding themselves asking parents if they can “move back in”. (Or the parents make the offer to their kids.)
There’s no shame in this – the financial situation today is more difficult than ever. And families want to help each other! Some of these young families feel there may be no recourse except to move to a state with a lower cost of living – but that means putting major distance between themselves and loving parents/grandparents.
Our homeowner clients are loving people who want to do everything in their power to ease the burden for their children. If the homeowners can come to the rescue with not only a more spacious place for the family to grow, but also provide extra care for the grandchildren and watch them grow up, the renovation project starts with a large helping of gratitude all around!
We Don’t Tip-Toe Around the Challenges
We’re not here to paint a rosy picture; we assure you that we deeply understand all the challenges and obstacles that often “move in” with the families!
There Goes Our Privacy
Top of the list is the fear of diminished privacy or autonomy. It’s natural for family members to have disagreements from time to time, and the worry is that: “everyone will hear our business”.
We keep your privacy top of mind in our design, ensuring the home dwellers that they will have their own spaces for relaxing and enjoyment, as well as confidential discussions.
The positioning of personal spaces like the bedrooms and bathrooms becomes a key factor, ensuring they are placed in different sections of the home for privacy whenever possible. We can design “suites” for each family, consisting of bedrooms, bathrooms, walk in closets and possibly private living areas.
Another common concern we hear is that with less space “we’ll be bumping into each other”. Giving each family unit their own set of private spaces is key to a harmonious home, and we are mindful of designing for privacy, comfort and spaciousness.
On another note, the families may appreciate connecting and congregating in the kitchen, dining area and/or a great room.
Our Job Is To Listen - and Discuss
Our Design Consultation is only the first of many conversations we’ll have around your goals and challenges. In addition to listening to your concerns and answering your questions, we always have plenty more of our own questions so we can uncover all the details to consider in our design.
Your multigenerational home needs to have space to accommodate everyone, while providing the necessary amount of both private and shared spaces to create a happy and healthy environment for the whole family.
Your surroundings can totally affect your life,
your spirit, your emotional well being!
Do you have transformational dreams for your house and
simply can’t “see it happening?”
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