There’s more to a modern home than just a few edgy architectural details. A modern home is designed for comfort, relaxation, convenience and practical living. A truly modern home is designed and built to suit the lifestyle of its occupants.
By interpreting what the modern style means to you and understanding how to bring it to life with the right details, you can build smarter and, with clever design, create something that will last well into the future.
Here are four modern home spaces designed for relaxing, entertaining, and everyday functionality.
Alfresco Area
An ideal place to lounge in the sun or by the pool, or entertain outdoors, an alfresco area is an integral recreational and relaxation space in many homes.
The perfect alfresco area is one that provides a seamless connection between the indoor and outdoor spaces. This transition is often achieved through the use of open plan design, with inside living areas such as the kitchen and dining room connecting to the alfresco space.
To add a modern vibe to your alfresco area, use strong contrasting colours and materials. For instance, try Stria cladding from the Scyon Walls range by James Hardie Australia, installed horizontally and vertically or Matrix cladding on exterior panels or walls for a sleek low-maintenance look.
Entertaining Area
Bring your family and friends together for a Sunday lunch, casual BBQ, dinner party or celebration in this important lifestyle space. Use a design that embraces sharp lines and angles, or the boxy shapes synonymous with this architectural style to introduce a modern feel.
Materials such as Linea weatherboard from the Scyon Walls range by James Hardie and Axon cladding will help you achieve the modern look in your entertaining area.
Open Plan Kitchen and Living
Open plan spaces are particularly relevant to high usage areas such as the kitchen and living room. A well-designed open plan kitchen and living room can become the hub of the home that brings the family together for meals and other activities. Transform it into a multipurpose communal area that can be used to prepare and share meals, as a play area for the kids, and also a place to relax, unwind and spend time together.
Add modern elements such as polished concrete floors, bi-fold doors or floor-length louvred windows to create a bright, naturally-lit and well-ventilated, airy space.
Parents’ Retreat
Every modern home must ideally have a retreat for the parents – an exclusive sanctuary for the adults of the household to relax and unwind together. This space can either be standalone or integrated into the master bedroom. The retreat could also incorporate a luxurious bathroom, a second lounge area, a reading nook, an adjoining balcony or courtyard.
For the above project, Three Birds Renovations created a parents’ retreat for rest and relaxation using HardieDeck to extend out the decking area.
Ideally, this retreat space should be stylish with a minimalist aesthetic achieved through modern features such as picture windows and a monochrome colour palette.
