Home and the Holiday Season

The Holiday season is more than an opportunity to fob off work, have a few drinks and a bit too much food. It’s about appreciating and sharing time with the most important people in your life.

And this all happens in the home.

A big part of this time of year is reconnecting with the people that matter most, and sometimes those people have different needs to us! Imagine if Elliot got a visit from his friend E.T all these years later? Well now you don’t have to imagine! 

This little nostalgic moment really brings out how important reconnecting with each other in the holiday season is so special and important to nurture in our own families.

So, while no one family looks like another, we all want the same for them when they come to our home; to feel safe, comfortable and happy. The perfect home should be able to nurture these feelings for the whole family, no matter their age, mobility or length of stay.

What this is talking about in terms of the housing industry, is “Future-Proofing”. This new direction in the approach to home building can be applied to both new builds and renovations, all depending on the goals of the homeowner. As one of Australia’s leaders in this field, O’Shea and Son’s Builders have homed in on what features a home can have that are equal parts luxury and nurturing – especially in the busy holiday season.

We’re breaking down the features into three main categories of feeling:

RELAXED

Holiday season means that sometimes family can be over for dinner or stay for a week! No matter how long their visit is, you want them to feel relaxed and comfortable. Sometimes that means giving them a bit of personal space in your home, or a little bit of private independence.

We think that a great way to create easy living environments is to create multiple seating zones. A small comfy corner where they can take some personal time with a book, or a bigger area where everyone can sit and share stories of the year that’s passed. We especially encourage choices of indoor and outdoor areas, as sometimes in big family gatherings, we all need some breathing room.

Another thoughtful and accommodating feature is independent temperature control for bedrooms! Some people run hot, and some run cold. A modern, ducted air conditioning system is a great way to give people the opportunity to tune the sleeping quarters to the best conditions for them to have a restful and peaceful sleep without feeling like an imposition. With our friend and colleague, Dan, from Ware Air Conditioning, we get to bring this little luxury to homes all across Australia, and in Brisbane where the weather has a pretty strong impact on our homes, a tailored system can be a godsend in the summer holiday season. But don’t worry about a spike in your electricity bill, combining a cooling system with the power of Solar Panelling from MC Electrical means little to no impact on the family home’s running costs.

NOURISHED

The kitchen is the heart of many homes, but for some of us, the rush to get dish after dish out onto the table means the kitchen can take quite a hit and get more than a little messy. To keep the house-proud feeling confident, there’s no better solution than a custom Butler’s Pantry with all the trimmings. A Butler’s Pantry is like a mini kitchen branching off the main kitchen – often with a counter workspace, a strong dishwasher and a big sink plus extra storage. Not to mention the ultimate sous chef, the Miele Australia Cooking appliances that will help you make the most delicious Christmas Turkey and succulent Ham you’ve ever had. Put a little sliding door on this and you can neatly hide away any kitchen dramas and be the Host with the Most.

Now that you’ve prepared the feast of the year, where are you all going to enjoy it? A nice, sturdy and spacious dining set is absolutely an important feature in any modern family home. You want a table big enough that people aren’t bumping elbows, but intimate enough that conversation flows easily and happily from every side of the table. When styling our homes, we love working with partners like our friends at Globewest, to find the perfect, luxurious and practical dining solutions.

NURTURED

This category is a little harder to quantify, but it’s one of the most important things to capture in a family home. To nurture can be different for so many people, but at the heart of it, is to make them feel cared for and attended to with respect and thoughtfulness. Universal Accessibility is a huge thing to consider when future-proofing your home. You want to make a person feel accommodated no matter their mobility restrictions. This could mean having slightly wider doorways, a bedroom on the ground floor, a ramp installed at your entryway or even something simple as a modest handrail in a bathroom. When you make these adjustments to your home, you’re saying without words that you want your family to feel safe, welcome and independent.

Alongside this, you might want to consider the little things that can come up with temporary visitors. Maybe some red wine spilled on a white shirt, or an impromptu beach trip has exhausted the house towel supply. Not to mention the increase of just general wear and tear when more people are about! Because of this, you want to have a home that’s easy to maintain and have efficient facilities! Things like upgrading your flooring from old carpet to strong and easy to clean hardwood and installing an all-singing, all-dancing laundry system, like the ones we often install from our partners at Miele Australia, can make a breeze out of these everyday hiccups. As a little parting gift, we love to leave our clients a smart little Söka Bucket (with some cheeky hamper treats) to help make their home as water-efficient as possible.

Having a home that doesn’t flinch at little accidents and an increase of activity means that the people who reside in it, long term and short, can feel relaxed, happy and cared for – no matter what.

For all of these reasons and more, O’Shea and Son’s Builders understands the longstanding importance and future roles to play of the family home. If this holiday season feels like it could have been better, maybe the key is having a home that better accommodates all of your needs! A talk with our team might mean that 2020 Christmas season will be your best one yet.