*Essential* Upgrades for Your New Build Home: A Designer's Perspective

hey friends my name is Jennifer and I've been designing for over 20 years in today's video I'm going to share with you several luxurious and essential upgrades that you should consider when building a new house or remodeling let's jump into [Music] it so you're building or remodeling a house congratulations building a new home offers a blank canvas to create a space that perfectly suits your lifestyle and aesthetic preferences as an interior designer I am passionate about integrating practicality and luxury into every aspect of Home Design I understand that it can be a very exciting time to make selections for your home but it can also be an overwhelming and daunting task but I hope clients make decision Visions about their homes every single day and in this video I'm going to equip you with knowledge about what upgrade options may be available to you and which ones are totally worth it now not all of these suggestions are going to be budget friendly some of these upgrades are more luxurious so make sure you are talking with a designer or Builder about what works best for your budget so in part two of this video I'm going to cover common mist Stakes that I see so be sure to check out that video so let's start talking about my guide to the essential upgrades you should consider for your new build kitchen upgrades the kitchen is the heart of the home so investing in high quality upgrades can significantly enhance its functionality and appeal let's start talking about custom Cabinetry investing in custom Cabinetry allows you to maximize storage space and tailor the design to fit your specific needs and style preferences a must-have feature of custom Cabinetry is soft closing doors and drawers these add such a touch of luxury and minimized noise I highly recommend built-in trash compartments in your cabinets nothing kills the vibe of a beautiful kitchen faster than a trash can sitting out how having a custom trash can drawer eliminates and puts out of sight any garbage you may have overflowing but not only that cabinets are usually deep enough to put two trash cans side by side allowing you to utilize that space more efficiently I also recommend using drawers on the bottom cabinets instead of regular cabinets why well because you can actually use the entire space more efficiently and see everything that's inside instead of having a bunch of stuff stacked up and cluttered this is becoming more common so I highly recommend asking your Builder to incorporate drawers in your kitchen and speaking of cabinets you need to consider undercounter lights there are basically two options the spot lighting or continual lighting I personally like the look of continuous lighting more than the spotlight effect undercounter lights immediately enhance the space by adding Lighting in what would otherwise be a dull and shadowy area by Illuminating under your counters you've added another layer of warmth to the entire kitchen now my next suggestion is one of those more luxurious upgrades I was talking about not everyone is going to be able to do this but it is such a game Cher if you can and that's a prepping kitchen or a prepping Pantry basically it's a walk-in Pantry that houses some of your not so pretty appliances and Foods now even though I live in an older home when we remodeled our kitchen we were able to utilize some dead space and create a prepping pantry and wow it has been so fantastic not only do we have additional counter and cabinet space but we also have room for a second refrigerator this is great for homeowners who love to cook or those with kids prepping pantries are really coming into fashion and if you're building your Builder may have already mentioned this to you as an option if so I cannot recommend it enough now here's another awesome new upgrade I'm seeing hidden grocery doors in the garage need to quickly get groceries inside and away from the Heat or freezing cold this little hidden door allows you to put your groceries inside and eliminate making multiple trips I absolutely love this idea now let's talk about laundry rooms laundry rooms are becoming much more than utilitarian spaces of the old days now they're both functional and stylish firstly I want to mention pet accommodations if you have a dog consider a built-in dog crate into the cabinet tree this will eliminate the need for an oversized dog crate that well let's face it isn't attractive but speaking of dogs having a dog washing station is a wonderful convenience I highly recommend stations that are elevated so you don't have to bend over to give Rover a bath another pet accommodation I've been seeing is kitty litter boxes that are built out into the garage this is genius it allows for easy cleaning access hides away the smell of the litter box this this is definitely something you want to consider if you're a cat owner all right bathroom enhancements you can transform your bathroom into a luxurious retreat with upgrades the first one I recommend is heated flooring install radiant heating beneath the bathroom tiles for warmth and comfort during those cold months this is such a luxurious element to add to a bathroom think about it is there anything worse than crawling out of bed on a winter night to have to walk onto freezing cold floors the solution heated floors I also recommend a freestanding bathtub the bathtub is often the centerpiece of the bathroom so enhance the aesthetic appeal by selecting a freestanding tub bonus points if it's a claw foot bathtub another important feature of the bathroom is well the toilet and most women can truthfully say a major pet leave is when the toilet lid gets left up so a fancy solution to that is to purchase a toilet with an automatically lowering seat this is a simple but brilliant adage that will take your bathroom to the next level might even help your marriage now when I went to the HGTV 2023 idea house I saw something in the master bedroom closet that I thought was genius they had a washer and dryer combination unit in the master closet I love this idea I cannot tell you how many times I've needed to just toss something in the dryer to quickly get the wrinkles out but I have to go all the way into the laundry room to do so so if you've got the space and the budget consider putting a washer and dryer in the closet to streamline your laundry chores let's talk about Smart Home Technology it's important to integrate Cutting Edge technology to enhance convenience security and Energy Efficiency we all know about Alexa and Google so I'll skip over talking about that but I do want to mention some smart features you may not have thought of one is automatic blinds I personally have this feature in my home and it has been so lovely every evening around Sunset the blinds automatically go down and in the morning when the Sun rises the blinds do as well this is great for privacy and for awakening the home in the morning I have a video on what blinds I chose so click here to check that out let's talk about outdoor luxury living spaces if you are building a home and planning on having an outdoor living space I highly recommend incorporating a retractable screen I saw this at the HGTV idea house and I thought it was amazing not not only did the screen retract but so did a clear vinyl sheet this allows you to utilize your outdoor space in the winter as well because that sheet holds in heat and it protects you from the wind you can also install heaters in your outdoor spaces as well building a new home is an opportunity to create a space that meets your every need and exceeds your expectations by focusing on these essential upgrades you can Ensure sure your new buil home not only meets but surpasses your dreams of luxury functionality and style as a designer I deal with frequent roadblocks that could be avoided if they had worked with a designer and I'm going to share with you the most common mistakes I see in homes in part two of this video so be sure to check it out and I'll see you in the next video [Music] n [Music]