Create your dream home brief by imagining the day you’ll move out

You may think I am crazy suggesting that you imagine the day you move out of your dream home when you could just focus on the thrill of the day you’ll move in.

But if my career in home design has taught me one thing, it would be that the quality of the memories you take with you when you leave are going to be directly attributable the priorities you had before you got there. 

Creating the brief for that dream home project or renovation can be overwhelming.  Countless decisions about colours and styles can consume much of our headspace before we even get started.

So instead of focusing on shades of white, focus on your home as a memory making project.  What features of your home will draw the people you love most together into a lasting memory?

My husband and I recently sold and moved out of the home we shared with our three daughters.  For nearly 12 years we had lived on the same block of land (albeit in two different houses after sub-dividing).

While we were packing, it dawned on me that it was the memories that we had created in the spaces that were stirring my deepest emotions – not the ‘things’ that we were packing into boxes. 

We reminisced about:

· Planting the Cherry Blossom in the front courtyard in celebration of our first wedding anniversary

· Bringing each pink bundle of joy home from the hospital into the room we’d decided was perfect for each

· Saying goodbye to our dog Theo, then introducing our newest fur baby Gus

· Big belly laughs with friends on the outside deck that we designed for joyous congregating

· Funny stories of our ordinary days around the dining table

· Nights with the five of us trying to sleep in our double bed after a thunderstorm

It’s the places where we came together that were the best design features of those homes.

So, when you are considering your design brief, think first about the people and the experiences you seek to create in your home.  The job of the colours, styles and aesthetics will merely be the backdrops to the memories in your mind.

First and foremost is establishing an understanding of how we want to feel and live in the home we are going to build, and ultimately the memories we are going to pack up and take with us when we leave.