Jaw- Dropping Innovative Home Solutions of the Future
“Have it your way.”
It’s not just an advertising slogan for fast food chains anymore. In fact, it may soon be a mainstream concept for home builders, responding to buyer demand for higher levels of innovative home solutions and personalization in living spaces.
A ‘Connected’ Space
From wall sections that flip to perform different functions and interior gardens where you can grow your own salads to appliances that relay the health values of your groceries and help you prepare energizing, low-cost meals, the trend toward customization offers the potential to “connect” with your living space and adapt your home to your needs, no matter how often those needs change.
Technology Remains Forerunner
Technology is at the forefront of many of the most popular, and some of the oddest, innovative home solutions. The emphasis on energy-savings, sustainability, green building, security and safety produces some great gadgets as well. In addition to toilets that glow at night, consider the benefits of a door lock that allows you to “key” house guests with temporary access, or a pint-size home video monitor that also allows two-way “videochats.”
Elements that Wow
Eliminate trips to the dry cleaner with a portable appliance that assures you always have fresh clothing in as little as 20 minutes. Embrace the past with brand new copper sinks and countertops that age to a wonderful patina and have bacteria-resistant benefits as well. How’s that for a “healthy” kitchen? Or meld graphic beauty with futuristic technology by installing LED edge-lighted glass shelves to lend otherworldly drama to wet bars, display shelves and china cabinets.
Coming to a Neighborhood Near You?
Whole house innovations are also on the horizon, with features that can revolutionize the way we look at building and construction.
Location Plays Key Part in Type of Innovation
What the home of the future will contain and how it will appear may depend upon where it is located, though. One forward-thinking company is developing plans for a fully-functioning home that requires nothing but sunlight and water to power it. That’s innovative, but it’s also highly impractical for downtown Boston. However, developers and community planners in numerous locations seek ways to reduce, contain and process waste and refuse onsite and to purify grey water for other uses.
Customization that Evolves with Lifestyle
Those in the know agree that the future of housing points to the need for customization that allows for space and function to evolve as lifestyle needs change. That’s why “flex spaces,” with features such as movable walls, have emerged as a hot design trend. Health and wellness concerns, prompted by the “aging in place” trend embraced by active Baby Boomers, and the pending shift of Millennials from rental units to family-oriented housing are trends that necessitate a subtle shift in the way we all approach our living spaces.
Sustainable Materials are a Community Concern
Sustainability and resilience that will not only save natural resources, but also help protect homes from the effects of storms and natural disasters are high on the list of concerns not only for owners, but also for communities, building professionals and insurance companies. The techniques and materials developed to meet those challenges will have a major effect on future design and construction. Expect new industry standards to address changing needs for strength and safety, and checklists reminiscent of green building certification and energy-saving goals.
Our love affair with the home shows no signs of ending. But the kind of home we fall in love with shows signs of changing dramatically. As always, our team at NEBS stands ready to work with local residents, architects, designers and contractors to assure that Boston homes are as innovative, adaptable, functional, beautiful and safe as you expect them to be.
Why not stop by our convenient downtown location to get a handle on what the future holds?
