Undercover Architect

Helping homeowners get it right when designing, building or renovating their family home.

Front Entries and Front Gardens | Creating a welcoming and secure home

Our homes’ front entries and front gardens are how our homes present themselves to the world. Want to get it right? That’s what this podcast episode – the last in Season 2 – is about.

This episode brings us to the front of your home – which is usually the most public face of it. It’s actually the side of your home that most people see. It presents your chosen aesthetic, personality or style to the street.

And it’s usually the first thing you see as you drive up each day and think “I’m home!”

I’ve seen homeowners work very hard to decide how they want this side of their home to look and feel. The style to do it in. Design, materials and colour scheme.

In this episode I specifically talk about the front entry of your home, and the design of your front garden. And I talk about some big design concepts to help you determine how to create the best front entry design for your place. So it’s a chunky episode, but packed full of lots of useful ideas for your place.

I take you through the four F’s to help you think about what will work for your new home or renovation. I also share 3 mistakes to avoid, and 3 key design tips to consider for your project.

The top 3 mistakes I’ll share are:

Mistake #1: is hiding your front entry from the street
Mistake #2: is not putting ‘eyes’ on the street
Mistake #3: is to ignore your front garden as a valuable outdoor space for your home

There are also lots of design tips. Here are the top 3:

Design tip #1: use different levels to achieve privacy and specialness for your home
Design tip #2: be aware of whether your design works with a front door or not
Design tip #3: separate where people and cars move

And, because this is the last episode of Season 2, I share some final tips to remember as you design your home.

Listen to the podcast now, and learn how to get it right.

Learn about cutting sight lines in this podcast episode >>> LISTEN HERE

And if you want to learn more about how to design your home, I’ve created a special (and free!) e-guide for you. It’s called “How to Design a Home: 5 Simple Steps to Getting it Right”.

Want some great tips about how to get it right in planning your outdoor living areas, alfresco, deck and swimming pool? That’s what this podcast episode is all about.

In so many parts of the world – and especially here in Australia – we’re blessed with a great climate.

This helps us really expand the interior of our homes into the garden around them.

So let me share some great tips with you to get it right in planning your outdoor living spaces.

Whether you live in a large home on a big block of land, a compact home on an urban block, or in an apartment, this much is true. Having a great outdoor living space can do wonders for how your home feels.

Adding a deck on, or improving your outdoor area to create a space to live outdoors and entertain, is one of the more common renovations that people do to their home. And getting it right when you’re building new is one of the keys to helping your home flow, and to making the most of your home and your site.

Many places around the world, including Australia, have a great climate where outdoor living is a big part of enjoying our homes. Maximising the use of our outdoor spaces is a great way to expand the experience of your home – to make it feel larger and more spacious – and help you feel better in it.

Research shows that connection with nature is fundamental to our wellbeing too. So it makes sense on lots of levels to create outdoor spaces for your home that are useful, functional and enjoyable to be in.

I take you through the four F’s to help you think about what will work for your new home or renovation. I also share 3 mistakes to avoid, and 3 key design tips to consider for your project. And I talk a little about swimming pools to help you if you’re planning one for your place.

The top 3 mistakes I’ll share are:

Mistake #1:    choosing high maintenance materials for your outdoor living spaces
Mistake #2:   making the connection to the garden difficult
Mistake #3:   thinking that bifold doors are the best way to get a great indoor / outdoor connection

There are also lots of design tips. Here are the top 3:

Design tip #1:   provide spaces other than a table to sit at in your outdoor living spaces
Design tip #2:   don’t compromise your indoor living spaces to accommodate an outdoor one
Design tip #3:   remember to design in privacy

Listen to the podcast now, and learn how to get it right.

10 Things you need to make your outdoor area great >>> CLICK HERE
Episode 11 of Season 1 has some helpful info too about indoor-outdoor connections >>> CLICK HERE
Landscape Designer, Naomi Wynn, shares some great tips on how to create a family friendly garden >>> CLICK HERE
You can see here how we made the interior living space feel like an exterior one, as space was at a premium >>> CLICK HERE
Alastair MacGregor, Landscape Designer, shares how to get it right in landscape design >>> CLICK HERE
Undercover Architect’s Pinterest Board on Swimming Pools >>> CLICK HERE

And if you want to learn more about how to design your home, I’ve created a special (and free!) e-guide for you. It’s called “How to Design a Home: 5 Simple Steps to Getting it Right”.

Stairs and garages. Did you know that starting with them can often be the key to getting it right in your home design overall?

And whilst it may seem odd to put these two items together, there’s a few things that stairs and garages have in common.

Firstly of course, they don’t need to go into every home. If you’re renovating or building a single-storey house on perfectly flat land, there’s going to be part of this podcast not relevant to you! And not everyone wants to or needs to build a garage.

Secondly, stairs and garages need to be a certain size to actually work – to even be worthwhile including.

And thirdly, and this is probably the most surprising – how they are designed and where they’re located, can be the starting point for the rest of your home design.

So, in this podcast episode, I tackle stairs and garages separately. As I normally do, I take you through the four F’s. And I also provide you with some mistakes to avoid and design tips to help you get it right.

My big mistake to avoid with stairs is this:

Not designing the stairs accurately at concept stage. If you fudge the size and layout of them, it can get you into serious trouble as you resolve your design, and don’t have sufficient room for the stairs.

My big design tip to get it right with stairs is:

Play with the location and design of the staircase and see what it helps you change overall in your home design.

And my big mistake to avoid with garages is this:

Don’t size them to be too narrow (this happens a lot in new homes, especially project homes).

My big design tip to get it right with garages is:

Be careful about designing your layout so you’re walking from your garage through pantries and other similar spaces to get into your home.

Listen to the podcast for more tips (and there’s a bonus in there for carports too!)

(The Domain article is no longer available)

Stair design in the Anderson Home Project Diary >>> https://undercoverarchitect.com/andersons-project-update-05/

Undercover Architect Pinterest Board on Stairs >>> https://au.pinterest.com/undercoverarch/interior-stairs/

Designing Stairs – Read here for what else you need to know.
I talked about how stairs can be a great storage bonus in your home in this podcast

And if you want to learn more about how to design your home, I’ve created a special (and free!) e-guide for you. It’s called “How to Design a Home: 5 Simple Steps to Getting it Right”.

Listen to this episode to learn how to get it right in your study nooks, studies and home offices.

Creating a study nook, study or home office, where this work can occur in a semi-uninterrupted way, can help with family sanity overall.

I know personally I’ve run businesses from our dining table, and it’s not fun for general family life. So if you’re renovating or building, it can be a simple inclusion to provide a space or room for work in your home, and improve your lifestyle overall.

Our lives are busy. And whilst we do what we can to bring intention and quiet into them where possible, and focus on one thing at a time … sometimes we are juggling. Often we are juggling. And this seems to be most true in how we balance work and family life in our homes.

We find the edges can get a little blurred. So that means that we’re bringing work home. Or we’re building businesses from home.

And with kids growing through school and university, they’re also studying at home and needing space to do it.

As parents, and often working parents, trying to combine all these activities with everyday family life can be challenging. And it can be critical to give everyone the space and quiet to focus on their work when needed, in order for our homes to work well.

I’ll start with the four F’s and how they relate to study nooks, studies and home offices.

The top 3 mistakes I’ll share are:

Mistake #1:         poor furniture planning in the study

Mistake #2:         forgetting storage and space for all the other things that need to go in a home office or study

Mistake #3:         forgetting a place for a printer

There are also lots of design tips. Here are the top 3:

Design tip #1:      your power points don’t all need to be down at skirting board height

Design tip #2:      provide seating alternatives to your desk chair

Design tip #3:      if sound separation is a big issue for you and working from home, consider extra insulation in your home office.

Listen to the podcast now, and learn how to get it right. And for study inspiration head to the Undercover Architect Pinterest board here >>> CLICK HERE

And if you want to learn more about how to design your home, I’ve created a special (and free!) e-guide for you. It’s called “How to Design a Home: 5 Simple Steps to Getting it Right”.

How to get it right in kids bedrooms, guest bedrooms and other bedrooms spaces. Known as ‘secondary bedrooms’, there’s lots to know to get it right.

This episode is all about secondary bedrooms. “Secondary bedrooms” is the terminology I use to refer to any bedrooms that aren’t the main bedroom.

These can include:

  • Nurseries for infant babies and toddlers
  • Kids’ bedrooms, for kids as they grow into their teenage years and beyond
  • Guest accommodation for friends and relatives that may come to stay
  • Bedrooms for elderly family members who may move in at some point – either temporarily or permanently
  • Bedrooms for any other people you may have live in your home – such as a nanny or au pair

I share the four F’s and how to use them to get it right in these bedrooms. And, I also identify key mistakes and big design tips to help you design great bedroom spaces.

You will probably find too that this podcast episode will pose a lot of questions to you.

When it comes to family homes, some choices are really personal, and about how you need to live in your home. These choices will be about who lives in your home now, and who might be living in your home in the future.

So, I take you through the various things to consider when determining how to include these bedrooms in your home.

And I share mistakes to avoid and key design tips for all types of secondary bedrooms.

Listen to the podcast now, and learn how to get it right. It’s a chunky episode so I hope you find it super useful!

And if you want to learn more about how to design your home, I’ve created a special (and free!) e-guide for you. It’s called “How to Design a Home: 5 Simple Steps to Getting it Right”.