4 Custom-Built Vacation Home Ideas & Considerations

Stuck at home dreaming of your next vacation getaway and wishing you had a breezy beach or a windswept mountain top to escape to? One that included a custom-built, perfect-for-you home to call your own for now and generations to come? We’ve got you covered, with four key things to keep in mind when planning a vacation home – even if it’s only in your imagination. Read on for more:

Make it all about the view

Most of our clients choose to build a vacation home because they’re crazy about the natural beauty and different-from-the-ordinary aspects of their favorite destination. We keep both top of mind when we design homes intended for getaway use. For instance, your everyday life may not allow time for a leisurely bath at the end of a busy day – but a vacation home might. Place a tub in front of a massive window welcoming scenery inside, and you’ve got yourself the makings of a luxuriously transporting experience. Likewise, situate a dining table in front of windows facing water, and you can’t help but remind yourself you’re on vacation with every bite. You can do the same with a bed, a long and comfy sofa, a pair of reading chairs…..you get the idea. The bottom line: if the view is pretty, make sure your architecture and interior design takes advantage of it.

Make it fit its location

If your dream home is at the shore, you’ll probably want to skip the velvets and rely on sea and sand-shrugging performance fabrics instead. On the other hand, if you’re building in a cold-weather climate, you’ll delight in incorporating richly textured, feel-good fabrics such as cashmere. Similarly, you might choose to infuse watery blues into a beachy design scheme, or richly patterned plaids into a ski home. We recommend letting your home’s location guide its décor, right down to opting for locally-sourced materials and locally-inspired finishes.

Make it flexible

It’s practically a given that if you’re lucky enough to own a vacation home, you’ll be entertaining friends and family who can’t wait to join you on getaways of their own. That’s why it’s important to build flexibility into your plans. You want your vacation home to work as well for your family alone as it does for a house full of guests. Consider putting queen size beds in every room so kids and adults alike will be comfortable sleeping anywhere. Even better, add a bunk room so no matter the age, number or configurations of your guests, everyone gets their own sweet spot for slumber. Another great idea is to create a long dining table from several smaller tables that can be joined together to accommodate the whole gang for dinner – and then pull apart so the kids can play Monopoly at one while you and your guests battle over bridge at another.

Make it easy

No one wants to spend vacation time maintaining their home, or even cleaning it more than necessary. Our team has plenty of experience to guide you in selecting furnishings, materials, and finishes that will live easily so you can relax. From darker-toned wood or stone floors that simplify life in a muddier locale to lighter hues that hide sand, we’ll help you ensure you’re able to enjoy your time away. The same goes for exterior building materials that weather salty sea air, don’t need to be painted over time, and won’t require frequent maintenance. We’re pros at knowing how to build for ease – we’ve been doing it for more than thirty years!

More great ideas for your home – no matter where it is – are on Instagram and Pinterest. Check them out!

Morgante Wilson Architects provides architectural and interior design services in Chicago, Deerfield, Evanston, Glencoe, Glenview, Highland Park, Kenilworth, Lake Bluff, Lake Forest, Northbrook, Northfield, Ravinia, Wilmette, and Winnetka – along with Colorado, Florida, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, New Hampshire, New York, Ohio, Utah, Wisconsin, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.