What makes the perfect family home?

Whilst we press on with decorating our new home I have been thinking about what is it that makes a good house for a family. At the moment we have two young children so our needs will change when they get older but this is what we think makes the perfect family home for us, right now;

• Open plan living. Before we bought this house we had never had open plan kitchen/dining and living room but I have to say that we love it. It is very practical when you have two young children as it means that you can get on with cooking the dinner whilst still keeping an eye on the children.

• Lots of natural light. We don’t have lots of this and this is something I miss as our rental before was very light and bright.

• Access to the outdoor space from your living space. Again we don’t have this as we are in a townhouse and our living space is on the second floor. It would be nice to have open doors leading outside so the children could run in and out.

• Utility room. We have this on the groundfloor for our washing machine and tumble dryer and it is fantastic. It means we can put a wash on without worrying that we won’t be able to hear the tv over the noise of the washing machine.
• A boot room or cupboard. We have a cupboard with all of our shoes and it is perfect as it means that we can hide the many boots away and they aren’t littering the hallway.
• An adult only living space. Sometimes it might be nice to retreat to our own little of sanctuary away from the toys.

• Playroom. Or to have a playroom so we can shut the door on the toys would be lovely too.
• Bathrooms. We have one bathroom per bedroom which is perfect as there are no queues for toilets or showers in the morning.
• Location. For us we have the perfect location. Walking distance to the shops, beach and parks. You need to consider what would make the perfect location for you.

A garden that is big enough for the children to play in. We had to compromise here and we just have a small balcony and a small patio, but it’s better then nothing and there are plans afoot to change it into a lush paradise.

What do you think makes the perfect family home?