What should a 21st century home offer as our expectations grow? We need comfortable spaces for family living, but we also want well-equipped zones for work and hobbies.

 

 

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For the contemporary home, a dedicated work station with all the mod cons is now almost essential. Whether they’re managing a business from home or simply running a busy family and paying the bills, most householders appreciate the ease of having a base from which to operate.   Some people have the luxury of an entire room devoted to office space; for others a table and chair in the void beneath the staircase is sufficient.

 

Whatever choice you make, rule number one is to humanise the space. Remember that this is your home – not some soulless corporate office. Unless you’re going for the urban industrial aesthetic, avoid metal filing cabinets, chairs on castors and hessian-covered partitions. Plump cushions, lush fabrics and organic materials such as wood will keep that impersonal look at bay.

 

On the practical side, storage systems are the key to keeping your work area orderly. Designer boxes with lids, patterned or plain, are available in a variety of sizes. Super-sized boxes are the cheat’s way of appearing organised with little effort. Pile the contents of your desktop into them for an instant tidy look. Don’t forget to allocate a box for recycling paper and ask your electrician to install twice the number of power points you think you’ll need. The requisite computers, printers, modems and desk lamps tend to eat up all available outlets – and then some. 

  

 

A company called Intelligent Lifestyle Integration  has developed a home-automation and entertainment system (based on Microsoft’s Vista Media Centre) that offers a range of options to streamline daily living. The entire household can be managed from a single central touch-screen monitor that’s usually located in the hub of the home, such as the kitchen. And, thanks to wireless technology, you can retro-fit many of these features into existing homes – with many benefits.

Ambience
A variety of “lighting scenes” can be accessed at the push of a button. Different clusters of lights are pre-programmed to certain brightness levels to correspond with the activity under way, such as cooking, reading, working – or even romancing. No more fiddling with light switches and dimmer wheels to capture just the right mood.

Security
Entry and exit via swipe card has a variety of benefits. The swipe card can set your alarm and turn off the heating as you leave and do the opposite when you return. Overnight guests and visiting tradesmen can be assigned access cards that are deactivated once they leave. A camera at the front door allows you to see who is ringing the doorbell from any room with a monitor in it and you can allow access remotely too. (This function also works via mobile telephone when you are away.)

 

Safety
If smoke detectors go off, the system can be programmed to respond automatically: lights will go on, alarm sirens will sound, fans and heating will shut off and the security company will be notified.

Entertainment
Record your must-see television as it is broadcast so you can watch the evening news at a less-pressured hour, skip through the advertisements and even pause programmes. A high-tech media distribution system also allows for multi-room audio and television, so that different music, television and movies can be piped to different zones.

 

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As the rooms of our homes are increasingly designated for more specialised tasks, we predict the rise of hobby rooms and power laundries. Home sewing rooms – traditionally utilitarian – have been kept behind closed doors until now. But with the resurgence of interest in crafts and handmade items, it’s time to give these areas the same attention we lavish on the rest of our home. After all, why should it be less than lovely just because you’re the only one who uses it?

 

Keep the overall scheme neutral or monochromatic and allow ribbons, cotton reels and bolts of fabric to inject shots of vibrant colour.

 

Laundries are also due to come out of the closet. It’s all part of a backlash against the fact that, in recent years, they have often been relegated to tiny cupboards in order to give more space to kitchens. Prepare to see the return of capacious laundries awash with shelves, cupboards, airing racks, reusable canisters of eco-friendly detergents, wicker washing baskets, permanently erected ironing boards and plenty of
bench space.

 

And, direct from our Only in America file: the latest must-have in upscale US houses is a gift-wrapping room. That’s right, a room devoted to wrapping presents. Every home should have one.