Home Improvements –
Making Decisions
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If you have a family, planning home
improvements should be a family matter. Still,
you want to stick to ideas that work.
Ideas That Work
We’ve all seen families who get along well
most of the time and families who are
constantly at odds with each other. One
common denominator among families who get
along are homes that work for them. Let’s talk
about ideas seen more than once in homes
that work. It may help you explore what will
work for you.
Many families with school age children have a
computer and homework area near the
kitchen. It’s often a computer desk and the
breakfast area table. This is usually
sandwiched between the kitchen and family
room, and all three areas are open to each
other. It’s an easy area for parents to make
themselves available to help and supervise
the children while they themselves perhaps
cook, talk, read, or have a cup of tea (or other
beverage) before or after dinner.
Family rooms are also great for TV, movies,
and computer games. A finished basement
provides an ideal place for a “home theater”
for the same sorts of things, but supervision
becomes tougher.
Unfinished basement areas can be just what’s
needed for a workbench, an artist’s studio
(especially walk-out basements with big north
facing windows), a sewing area, a place to
practice a musical instrument, a place to
refinish furniture, a potting bench for plants, a
place for the pets when the family has guests. I’
ve seen all of the above work well alone and in
a variety of combinations.
Many modern homes have a “formal living
room” that is too small to really work as a living
room. It can be set up and decorated as a
library or study and be the perfect place for a
parent to do some serious work and not be
interrupted too frequently.
Master bedrooms are getting larger and
larger. They often have a small seating
arrangement included in their design. This can
be a parental retreat for quiet conversation.
Master bedrooms can also provide a quiet
corner for a computer desk and work area. If
looking at work space isn’t relaxing to you, you
can always shield it from view with a
decorative folding screen.
Don’t forget the importance of family dinners.
Studies show that children of families who
have dinner and conversation together several
nights a week, week in and week out, tend to
be more successful and happier than those
who don’t. It can be at the kitchen table, in the
breakfast area, or in the dining room, but plan
for it and make it happen if you value the
success and happiness of your children.
Every home is unique and so is your family.
When improving your home, look for ideas that
work.
