Design Your Second Home for Full-time Living -According to LiLu

Design Your Second Home for Full-time Living

According to LiLu

A New Design Problem for 2020

We’ve recently encountered a new design problem: How to Design Your Second Home for Full-time living. With working and learning remotely in the last few months and for some extending into the fall, our clients have found themselves spending more or all of their time out of the city, at their second homes. Often these homes, are designed for a family gathering 5-7 seven weekends a year or primarily with entertaining as the goal.
Clients are loving spending more time waterside and near nature, but their second homes are lacking many of the spaces and amenities needed for more full-time living.
Here are 3 critical upgrades you should consider making to your second home if you find yourself spending more time there. Plus one bonus upgrade you might love to have.

Home Offices for All

Whether you need to take over a guest room or add a pre-fab shed to your second home, working and learning from home requires a home office setup or a study area that is most often lacking in your second home. When you initially design your second home, the vision is usually of relaxing and getting away from it all…not bringing it all with you. But today, when you are working from home, a hard-working home office is essential for full-time living.
We have devoted two blog posts on designing a great home office. Please read
Work from Home: Home Office Design Tips
And
Home Office Design Schemes
A home office is a keyspace in the design of your second home for full-time living.

Living Space for a Caregiver

With parents working full-time from home and kids studying many families are opting to have a caregiver from nanny to Granny move in to help them stay on track with meal prep to helping the kids remember to log into their Zoom classrooms.
We have not written a blog about caregiver spaces but we have designed them! There are five key components to a caregiver's space that will keep your caregiver happy and wanting to stay with your family. Whether you are having a nanny stay or Grandma or Aunt has moved in, it’s important they have some privacy so they can live their own lives while supporting yours.

• A small kitchenette and laundry. Feeling like you can eat what you want when you want is key to being happy living with another family. While you may enjoy togetherness, for some maintaining a sense of independence and a bit of privacy is important.
• A private bathroom, no explanation needed I believe.
• A small den or living room. Having a spot to read, watch tv, and entertain privately is key. I know I don’t have the same taste in movies as my kids and I doubt mine would match my mother-in-law’s either. I think harmony would be maintained if she had her own sitting room with television.
• A bedroom. While something akin to a studio apartment will work for a caregiver, the best option is to have a private bedroom separate from the kitchen/ living room. It doesn’t have to be a large bedroom, think more of a sleeping room with just enough space for a queen bed and two nightstands.
• A private entrance. Ideally, the caregiver space would have a private entrance where your nanny or Granny would feel they could come and go at any hour without disturbing the entire household. Much easier to feel at ease if you don’t think you are imposing.

Kitchen Upgrade

Often a second home kitchen is designed with quick and easy meals in mind, with lots of grilling involved and almost no pantry storage. If you are just using the space for the weekend you may be bringing just enough food for four days and not enough for an entire family for a month or more. And if this is a “cabin” often remodeling the kitchen isn’t on your list until you are staring at it for weeks on end.
When you design your second home for full-time living, consider adding practical storage, pantry space and an upgraded look to your second home kitchen if you are going to be there for longer periods of time.
Read more on kitchen design and wellness and the trending projects in this post.

Media Room Bonus

If your second home is really away from the city, and maybe any small towns, adding a theater room complete reclining theater seats can give you a getaway space at home that will be perfect in the long winter months you may not always spend at that second home.
Here is a little cabin theater room inspiration for you to design your second home for full-time living. See this entire home here.

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Bringing Intention Home

For more than a decade, LiLu Interiors has been designing intentional living environments that reflect the singular values and needs, lifestyle, and aesthetics of each individual client. With care, joy, and trust, we’ll creatively collaborate with you to design a home that uniquely expresses who you are and how you live. Intentional design, no matter the style, requires thoughtful attention to detail and deliberate choices.
Let’s make life better. Let’s bring your intentions home.