Luxury Homes: Custom Features Bring the Outdoors Closer

The trend in luxury home building is to help create livable spaces on the exterior as well as the interior of the home. The selective luxury home buyer may be looking at a home for outdoor as well as indoor qualities and features. Even if these features are not included in the home at the time of purchase, the luxury home buyer may still be able to have them, provided the right amount and type of space is available. According to an article by Realty Times writer Blanche Evans, "41% of luxury homebuyers plan to do major renovations on their million-dollar properties."

Here are some popular features of new and existing luxury homes:

Outdoor Living Rooms in Luxury Homes
Outdoor spaces that resemble interiors are becoming more popular in luxury homes. Outdoor living areas need to reflect the overall style of the home. If it's Victorian it will lean towards traditional and formal. For Spanish style homes - select furniture, terra cotta pots, and lots of color and flowers might work best. A Cape Cod could be more relaxed and informal. Whatever the decorating needs, functionality and privacy, as well as appropriate seating for entertainment, are also factors in decorating an outdoor space. For privacy, hedges and fences work well. For flooring, stepping stones, decks, or actual slate tiles may be installed on wood. And, ceilings can include trees, retractable awnings, or permanent roofs.

For ambience, homeowners may choose to add a trellis with roses or other colorful vines and professionally landscaped gardens. Flower and herb gardens, a small vegetable garden, and specialty flowers and shrubbery can also enhance outdoor living rooms.

Outdoor Kitchens for Luxury Estates
These days, many homeowners are cooking outdoors. There is more than a barbeque grill or fire pit and picnic table involved. Outdoor kitchens, now incorporated into luxury homes, can even rival indoor kitchens in the style and quality of materials used. Custom builders are beginning to incorporate grander outdoor kitchens than ever before to accommodate this trend in home buying.

A properly outfitted outdoor kitchen means the host does not have to shuttle items from indoor spaces. Thus, the outdoor kitchen is rising in popularity with the home buyer. Some items included in outdoor kitchens are sinks, stoves, and cabinetry. Countertops are often made with high-end natural materials such as marble, granite or stone. Some are outfitted like a full kitchen with grill, refrigerator, sink and eating area. Kitchen appliances are sometimes incorporated into the outdoor kitchen. Outdoor flooring types that are popular in luxury homes are ceramic, marble, and brick.

Pools/ Hot Tubs
A nice addition to any living space, pools offer a place to relax outdoors, exercise, spend time in the sun, and entertain. And, hot tubs are almost becoming the norm in the luxury home. Hot tubs are an ideal place to relax after a stressful day, or spend romantic time with a loved one. For privacy and convenience, erect a fence and build a small deck around the hot tub.

Luxurious Porches in the Old South
Old southern porches with swings are back in style. Sitting on the porch brings back nostalgic memories of grandmas' porch, drinking iced tea, courting, or eating a family supper on Sundays.

There are many different types of porches suitable for the luxury home. Choose from: covered front and back porches, wrap around porches, screen porches and sunrooms, and breezeways.

Courtyards and Piazzas
For the luxury home owner with a large space in the front or rear, a courtyard may be an option, and these are usually decorated with a spectacular fountain as the focal point.

Piazzas are usually paved and form a grand entranceway to a formidable building, such as an estate property, or a luxury home built with Roman architecture. A well-designed piazza can offer distinction to the luxury homeowner who wants to set his property apart from others.

Do not neglect the outdoors of a luxury home when assessing a property and feeling if it is right for you and your loved ones. The exterior spaces, when designed well and for functionality, are just as important to the luxury of a home. Decorating outdoor spaces allows more room for entertainment. Outdoor living spaces are spilling into all sectors of home buying from empty nesters, to large families, to people with no children.

Trend setting in home building begins in the luxury home market. Often these trends are emulated by the middle class home buyer on a smaller scale.

In Southeastern Virginia, a temperate and agreeable climate exists for 6-9 months out of the year, making for a comfortable temperature outdoors. The exterior of any home can easily be part of the overall living space. It can be custom designed with features that make for luxurious living, even outdoors. Why not retire, relocate, or purchase a second home that brings you and your loved ones closer to the outdoors?

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