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5 Tips for Making Your Home More Functional and Comfortable

The design of your home affects how you feel. However, the design is more than a style and aesthetics. A good design should enhance your experience of the space and simplify your day-to-day life. Here are some useful tips on making your home more comfortable and functional:

Tips on Making Your Home More Functional

If you wonder how to make your home more comfortable and functional, here is a list of things you can do:

  • Plan the layout right. The key element of any home design is its layout. Think about how you use and move around your home. Does it feel comfortable moving around? Is there something that you should alter? Maybe you need to knock down several walls to create more space or steal space from one room to add another.
  • Use awkward and challenging spaces. You likely have a space in your home that you do not know how to use. Challenging spaces are often left bare, which attracts clutter and makes a home less functional. If you do not want your home to look messy, you should think about transforming an awkward space into an area with a purpose.
  • Plan the lighting. Lighting is one of the most important aspects of a home design, and most homeowners struggle with it. You need to think about creating a balance of natural and artificial light, which might be tricky. To comfy your home with efficient lighting, you should use different lighting types, such as wall lamps, floor lamps, table lamps, chandeliers, and more.
  • Make your rooms multi-functional. If you have a small house, your rooms should serve more than one purpose. For example, you can put a futon sofa in one of the family rooms to use it as a guest room when necessary. There are many options and possibilities, and you can discuss them with a professional designer.
  • Think about the future. When trying to create a functional house, you should think about the future and the changes it might bring. If you are focused on your present only, you may experience problems later. For example, if you have just started a family and plan to have children in the future, you should consider how your home will function when your child is born.

Home Designs By Bruno – Affordable Custom Designs in Colchester, CT

Do you want to make your home more functional and comfortable but need professional help? It is time to contact Home Designs By Bruno, a company specializing in designing homes, additions, and drafting services. We use a unique approach to designing and building your perfectly functional home. We walk our clients through the entire design process and make sure that they experience 100% satisfaction with their new home. If you have any questions about the services we offer, or you want to discuss your project with us, do not hesitate to visit our website or give us a call.

Are Custom Homes Cheaper Than Pre-Built Homes?

Are custom homes cheaper to build? Is it cheaper to build a home than buy a pre built home? These are two questions anyone in the market for a house is probably trying to answer. If you’re struggling to get a clear answer to your questions, don’t worry.  In this blog post, we’ll explore the pros and cons of both options and help you decide which is right for you.

The Pros and Cons of Custom Homes

One of the main benefits of choosing a custom-built home is complete control over the design and layout. In addition, you can work with your builder to create a home that perfectly matches your needs and lifestyle.

Another benefit of custom homes is that they often come at a lower cost than pre-built homes. In addition, since you are cutting out the middleman, you can usually get a better deal on the materials and labor for your home.

However, there are also some downsides to custom homes. Building your own home can be a long and complicated process that requires a lot of time and effort from you. You will also have less flexibility in terms of location, as you will need to find a suitable lot for building.

The Pros and Cons of Pre-Built Homes

Pre-built homes have the advantage of being quick and easy to move into. You can usually find a home that is already built and move in within a few weeks or months. This is a welcome option if you are in a hurry to find housing or cannot build your own home for some reason.

However, there are also downsides to pre-built homes. For one thing, they often come at a higher cost than custom homes. This is because you buy the house from someone else and do not cut out the middleman. You may also have less flexibility in design and layout, as most pre-built homes are not customizable.

How To Decide Which Is Right for You

Now that you know the pros and cons of both custom homes and pre-built homes, how do you decide which is right for you? Here are a few tips:

  • Consider Your Budget

Custom homes often come at a lower cost than pre-built homes, but this may not be true in all cases. Do some research and compare prices to help you decide which option is most financially feasible for you.

  • Time Factor

Consider how much time and effort you are willing to put into building or purchasing a home. If you’re looking for an easy, low-maintenance option, pre-built homes may be better. However, if you’re willing to wait and put some time into building your own home, custom homes can be a great option.

  • Personal Lifestyle

Consider your needs and lifestyle. Do you have specific ideas about what you want your home to look like? If so, custom homes may be the better choice for you. However, if you’re not picky about design, pre-built homes may be just as good.

Conclusion

As you can see, there’s no significant cost difference between custom and pre-built homes. However, custom homes provide personal tastes, which is not the case for pre-built homes. If you’re looking for professionals to assist in your custom home, contact Home Designs by Bruno for assistance.

What Goes Into Building a Custom Home?

Designing and building a custom dream home is a goal for many of us. You’ll choose everything you want in your home, without compromising your overall vision. You’ll design a home that is unique to your needs. Equally, you’ll be choosing all the fine-tuned details to complete your vision.

On the other hand, a majority of custom homeowners aren’t architects or builders. The numerous details to consider and navigate can be overwhelming for the average homeowner. Issues of structural engineering and meeting code requirements for where you build should, at the least, be discussed with professionals.

So, how does a homeowner decide how to build a custom home?

Let’s take a look at some of the bigger decisions you’ll make as the homeowner, as well as the role of the professionals in this process.

Location, Location, Location

Before taking the time to design the full structure, you will need to determine where you’ll build. This can be a crucial decision for numerous reasons, as the type of home, the materials used, the local and state building codes you’ll encounter, and access to the land you’ve chosen are all factors to consider.

Codes and Structural Support

As just mentioned, you’ll need to determine the applicable building codes for the area you’re building. Let’s say you’ve found a pristine coastal location to build. In a state such as Florida, you have to build with the potential of hurricanes and storms impacting your house.

The proper structural supports, foundational pilings, and distance from the shore are all specific to your building area. A licensed builder in the area will know these requirements and should be consulted before finalizing decisions.

Architecture and Engineering

Once you’ve found (and cleared) your land, an architect can begin working up blueprints for your home. You’ll have lots of input on design elements, but an architect will be able to properly design the house so it works for the building process, as well as works aesthetically with your lot. Customization really happens in the blueprint stage, too, as the builder will be following these plans for construction.

Equally, an engineer is going to help determine the structural support needs. Where you put walls can be far more important than just partitions between rooms. The proper load-bearing walls will make or break your structure. Engineers will also have great input on what kind of building materials you’ll use.

Choose Your Crew Wisely

The right contractor is possibly the biggest decision you’ll make, as you want to pick a builder with experience and a good reputation in custom home building and experience building in the area you’ve chosen. Their knowledge can be critical for making fine-tuned adjustments before and during the build.

Interior Design Choices

Of course, there is another entire group of builders and designers who will help finish your home, once the structural build is complete. Interior designers and specific craftsmen will help transform your space into the final vision for your custom home.

These are just some of the steps in the custom home build process. It should be clear that you’ll encounter numerous decisions and processes to make your dream a reality. Consult the professionals, whenever possible. Your custom home plans shouldn’t be compromised. Don’t let unforeseen requirements halt you in your tracks.

How to choose best builder for your dream house?

Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text of the printing and typesetting industry. Lorem Ipsum has been the industry’s standard dummy text ever since the 1500s, when an unknown printer took a galley of type and scrambled it to make a type specimen book. It has survived not only five centuries, but also the leap into electronic typesetting, remaining essentially unchanged. It was popularised in the 1960s with the release of Letraset sheets containing Lorem Ipsum passages, and more recently with desktop publishing software like Aldus PageMaker including versions of Lorem Ipsum.

It is a long established fact that a reader will be distracted by the readable content of a page when looking at its layout. The point of using Lorem Ipsum is that it has a more-or-less normal distribution of letters, as opposed to using ‘Content here, content here’, making it look like readable English. Many desktop publishing packages and web page editors now use Lorem Ipsum as their default model text, and a search for ‘lorem ipsum’ will uncover many web sites still in their infancy. Various versions have evolved over the years, sometimes by accident, sometimes on purpose (injected humour and the like).

Contrary to popular belief, Lorem Ipsum is not simply random text. It has roots in a piece of classical Latin literature from 45 BC, making it over 2000 years old. Richard McClintock, a Latin professor at Hampden-Sydney College in Virginia, looked up one of the more obscure Latin words, consectetur, from a Lorem Ipsum passage, and going through the cites of the word in classical literature, discovered the undoubtable source. Lorem Ipsum comes from sections 1.10.32 and 1.10.33 of “de Finibus Bonorum et Malorum” (The Extremes of Good and Evil) by Cicero, written in 45 BC. This book is a treatise on the theory of ethics, very popular during the Renaissance. The first line of Lorem Ipsum, “Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet..”, comes from a line in section 1.10.32.

The standard chunk of Lorem Ipsum used since the 1500s is reproduced below for those interested. Sections 1.10.32 and 1.10.33 from “de Finibus Bonorum et Malorum” by Cicero are also reproduced in their exact original form, accompanied by English versions from the 1914 translation by H. Rackham.

Builder of human happiness for all time

1914 translation by H. Rackham

“But I must explain to you how all this mistaken idea of denouncing pleasure and praising pain was born and I will give you a complete account of the system, and expound the actual teachings of the great explorer of the truth, the master-builder of human happiness. No one rejects, dislikes, or avoids pleasure itself, because it is pleasure, but because those who do not know how to pursue pleasure rationally encounter consequences that are extremely painful. Nor again is there anyone who loves or pursues or desires to obtain pain of itself, because it is pain, but because occasionally circumstances occur in which toil and pain can procure him some great pleasure. To take a trivial example, which of us ever undertakes laborious physical exercise, except to obtain some advantage from it? But who has any right to find fault with a man who chooses to enjoy a pleasure that has no annoying consequences, or one who avoids a pain that produces no resultant pleasure?”

 

“But I must explain to you how all this mistaken idea of denouncing pleasure and praising pain was born and I will give you a complete account of the system, and expound the actual teachings of the great explorer of the truth, the master-builder of human happiness. No one rejects, dislikes, or avoids pleasure itself, because it is pleasure, but because those who do not know how to pursue pleasure rationally encounter consequences that are extremely painful. Nor again is there anyone who loves or pursues or desires to obtain pain of itself, because it is pain, but because occasionally circumstances occur in which toil and pain can procure him some great pleasure. To take a trivial example, which of us ever undertakes laborious physical exercise, except to obtain some advantage from it? But who has any right to find fault with a man who chooses to enjoy a pleasure that has no annoying consequences, or one who avoids a pain that produces no resultant pleasure?”

How to plan for your dream house?

Section 1.10.33 of “de Finibus Bonorum et Malorum”, written by Cicero in 45 BC

“At vero eos et accusamus et iusto odio dignissimos ducimus qui blanditiis praesentium voluptatum deleniti atque corrupti quos dolores et quas molestias excepturi sint occaecati cupiditate non provident, similique sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollitia animi, id est laborum et dolorum fuga. Et harum quidem rerum facilis est et expedita distinctio. Nam libero tempore, cum soluta nobis est eligendi optio cumque nihil impedit quo minus id quod maxime placeat facere possimus, omnis voluptas assumenda est, omnis dolor repellendus. Temporibus autem quibusdam et aut officiis debitis aut rerum necessitatibus saepe eveniet ut et voluptates repudiandae sint et molestiae non recusandae. Itaque earum rerum hic tenetur a sapiente delectus, ut aut reiciendis voluptatibus maiores alias consequatur aut perferendis doloribus asperiores repellat.”

1914 translation by H. Rackham

“On the other hand, we denounce with righteous indignation and dislike men who are so beguiled and demoralized by the charms of pleasure of the moment, so blinded by desire, that they cannot foresee the pain and trouble that are bound to ensue; and equal blame belongs to those who fail in their duty through weakness of will, which is the same as saying through shrinking from toil and pain. These cases are perfectly simple and easy to distinguish. In a free hour, when our power of choice is untrammelled and when nothing prevents our being able to do what we like best, every pleasure is to be welcomed and every pain avoided. But in certain circumstances and owing to the claims of duty or the obligations of business it will frequently occur that pleasures have to be repudiated and annoyances accepted. The wise man therefore always holds in these matters to this principle of selection: he rejects pleasures to secure other greater pleasures, or else he endures pains to avoid worse pains.”

5 Important facts for best construction.

Section 1.10.32 of “de Finibus Bonorum et Malorum”, written by Cicero in 45 BC

“Sed ut perspiciatis unde omnis iste natus error sit voluptatem accusantium doloremque laudantium, totam rem aperiam, eaque ipsa quae ab illo inventore veritatis et quasi architecto beatae vitae dicta sunt explicabo. Nemo enim ipsam voluptatem quia voluptas sit aspernatur aut odit aut fugit, sed quia consequuntur magni dolores eos qui ratione voluptatem sequi nesciunt. Neque porro quisquam est, qui dolorem ipsum quia dolor sit amet, consectetur, adipisci velit, sed quia non numquam eius modi tempora incidunt ut labore et dolore magnam aliquam quaerat voluptatem. Ut enim ad minima veniam, quis nostrum exercitationem ullam corporis suscipit laboriosam, nisi ut aliquid ex ea commodi consequatur? Quis autem vel eum iure reprehenderit qui in ea voluptate velit esse quam nihil molestiae consequatur, vel illum qui dolorem eum fugiat quo voluptas nulla pariatur?”

1914 translation by H. Rackham

“But I must explain to you how all this mistaken idea of denouncing pleasure and praising pain was born and I will give you a complete account of the system, and expound the actual teachings of the great explorer of the truth, the master-builder of human happiness. No one rejects, dislikes, or avoids pleasure itself, because it is pleasure, but because those who do not know how to pursue pleasure rationally encounter consequences that are extremely painful. Nor again is there anyone who loves or pursues or desires to obtain pain of itself, because it is pain, but because occasionally circumstances occur in which toil and pain can procure him some great pleasure. To take a trivial example, which of us ever undertakes laborious physical exercise, except to obtain some advantage from it? But who has any right to find fault with a man who chooses to enjoy a pleasure that has no annoying consequences, or one who avoids a pain that produces no resultant pleasure?”

Section 1.10.33 of “de Finibus Bonorum et Malorum”, written by Cicero in 45 BC

“At vero eos et accusamus et iusto odio dignissimos ducimus qui blanditiis praesentium voluptatum deleniti atque corrupti quos dolores et quas molestias excepturi sint occaecati cupiditate non provident, similique sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollitia animi, id est laborum et dolorum fuga. Et harum quidem rerum facilis est et expedita distinctio. Nam libero tempore, cum soluta nobis est eligendi optio cumque nihil impedit quo minus id quod maxime placeat facere possimus, omnis voluptas assumenda est, omnis dolor repellendus. Temporibus autem quibusdam et aut officiis debitis aut rerum necessitatibus saepe eveniet ut et voluptates repudiandae sint et molestiae non recusandae. Itaque earum rerum hic tenetur a sapiente delectus, ut aut reiciendis voluptatibus maiores alias consequatur aut perferendis doloribus asperiores repellat.”

1914 translation by H. Rackham

“On the other hand, we denounce with righteous indignation and dislike men who are so beguiled and demoralized by the charms of pleasure of the moment, so blinded by desire, that they cannot foresee the pain and trouble that are bound to ensue; and equal blame belongs to those who fail in their duty through weakness of will, which is the same as saying through shrinking from toil and pain. These cases are perfectly simple and easy to distinguish. In a free hour, when our power of choice is untrammelled and when nothing prevents our being able to do what we like best, every pleasure is to be welcomed and every pain avoided. But in certain circumstances and owing to the claims of duty or the obligations of business it will frequently occur that pleasures have to be repudiated and annoyances accepted. The wise man therefore always holds in these matters to this principle of selection: he rejects pleasures to secure other greater pleasures, or else he endures pains to avoid worse pains.”

Handful of model sentence structures

There are many variations of passages of Lorem Ipsum available, but the majority have suffered alteration in some form, by injected humour, or randomised words which don’t look even slightly believable. If you are going to use a passage of Lorem Ipsum, you need to be sure there isn’t anything embarrassing hidden in the middle of text. All the Lorem Ipsum generators on the Internet tend to repeat predefined chunks as necessary, making this the first true generator on the Internet. It uses a dictionary of over 200 Latin words, combined with a handful of model sentence structures, to generate Lorem Ipsum which looks reasonable. The generated Lorem Ipsum is therefore always free from repetition, injected humour, or non-characteristic words etc.

More-or-less normal distribution of letters

It is a long established fact that a reader will be distracted by the readable content of a page when looking at its layout. The point of using Lorem Ipsum is that it has a more-or-less normal distribution of letters, as opposed to using ‘Content here, content here’, making it look like readable English. Many desktop publishing packages and web page editors now use Lorem Ipsum as their default model text, and a search for ‘lorem ipsum’ will uncover many web sites still in their infancy. Various versions have evolved over the years, sometimes by accident, sometimes on purpose (injected humour and the like).