When people hear luxury, their mind usually jumps to aesthetics. But while the style, look, and feel are undoubtedly important, there is so much more to a luxury home than first meets the eye! It’s about designing a space that fits your lifestyle, meets your family’s needs, and offers long-term value. Functionality, comfort, privacy…these are some of the other words a well-thought out luxury home floor plan considers.

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Bennefield Construction has extensive experience building custom homes tailored to the unique needs of each client. This guide will help you navigate the top 10 things we think about when creating a luxury home floor plan…and who knows—maybe the next one we make will be for you.

1. Solar Orientation

Proper solar positioning helps us solve a couple big things right away: Natural light and energy efficiency. To get this right, it comes down to the orientation of your home and the spacing of your rooms:

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• South-facing: By putting the longest side of your home facing south on the property, you’re likely to achieve more optimal sun exposure, accentuated by large windows to bring in the warmth and light (both of which save on energy costs). These openings typically lead into frequently used areas like living rooms and dining spaces.
• Room placement: East-facing rooms are great for morning use (such as a kitchen or breakfast nook), allowing you to catch the sunrise and start your day right. West-facing rooms are better for relaxation (think family rooms and patios), giving you beautiful sunsets to naturally wind down at the end of a long day.

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By prioritizing solar orientation, you can create a home that’s environmentally friendly, comfortable year-round, and constantly bathing in nature’s glows. 

2. Minimize Wasted Space

Wasted space is wasted money. Why build something that doesn’t need to be there? The great thing about a custom luxury home floor plan is that it can (and should) eliminate the excess through intelligently designed living spaces that make sense intuitively upon being looked at and lived in.

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• Hallways: Hallways are one of the major culprits for this particular design consideration. By limiting long hallways and focusing on fewer of them in your layout, you automatically gain more usable square footage for a space you’re actually going to spend time in.
• Room Usage: While it can be fun to think up and implement different room ideas into your layout, we encourage you to take some extra time to really evaluate your daily needs. Avoid including spaces you’ll rarely use, and combine rooms that already complement one another; a formal living room and family room, for example, could be combined into one.

3. Traffic Flow

Your new luxury home floor plan should feel spacious and easy to navigate. You shouldn’t feel cramped, confused, or congested in any way. A logical flow between rooms is the ultimate ideal and goal. Some expert tips:

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• Doors and hallways should be placed strategically to avoid bottlenecks (i.e. doors shouldn’t open into each other or block high-traffic areas).
• Access between commonly used spaces should be direct; avoid unnecessary turns.
• Some extra width in the stairwells and hallways can go a long way in making your home feel a little more roomy and enhanced, especially when you have company.

4. Sight Patterns

What draws your attention when you walk into a home? Does it make sense? Does it make you feel good? Strategic sightlines elevate the feel of the whole home with energy that is open, luxurious, and inviting. 

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Natural light will illuminate (literally and figuratively) everything it touches. For this reason, we often recommend placing windows at the ends of hallways or in doorways to help create some depth and perspective. This blurs the line between what’s waiting outside in the world and what’s nesting inside the four walls you call home.

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Any views available to you should be maximized. Do we all have the Fontana di Trevi located just outside our window? No. But that doesn’t mean what’s around you can’t be beautiful and highlighted. This is something we consider and deliberate on when designing the sight lines throughout your home.

5. Furniture Placement and Flow

Grandfathering hard-earned statement pieces, and just furniture in general, into a new home is something many people don’t think of when designing their floor plan. We have to make sure that the rooms we design have the space and configuration to accommodate any pieces you’ll be moving in, and perhaps any significant purchases you have plans to make in the future.

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It’s always good to measure any furniture that might be cumbersome (or has been so in the past) to ensure a proper fit, plus walking room around each significant piece (36” around key pieces is a good rule of thumb). 

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Wide doors and hallways are something else to consider, they make moving things in and out easier, but also add to the breathability of the home, as briefly alluded to earlier. A well-designed floor plan accommodates your furniture and keeps the layout harmonious, simultaneously.

6. Finding the Right Floor Plan Size 

Finding the right balance of practicality, elegance, and spaciousness is a primary concern for a luxury home builder like ourselves. More space is not always better, and doesn’t always contribute to the needs and wants of the client. Two things to keep in mind:

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1. A general rule is to allow 200-600 square feet per person, so the total square footage is going to vary based on the size of your current (or future) family. If you like to entertain guests or want additional space for a guest suite or office, this also has to factor into the equation.
2. Then there are the long-term plans for this home—how do you foresee your needs changing over time? Will children move out? Is this where you plan to stay (perhaps you’ll want to downsize in the future)? The right size and layout will check boxes continuously as time goes on. 

7. Environmental Considerations & Lot Factors

Do you live in a cold-weather climate? Energy efficient windows will be some of the best money you’ve ever spent. Does it rain a lot where you are? Larger eaves for rainwater collection and relief are an immediate yes. The design of your home has to be tailored to the region’s weather, which can vary widely depending on where you are.

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Another thing you’ll want to do is understand any restrictions or challenges posed by the lot itself. The slope of the land, soil type, or municipal zoning regulations are all likely to have an impact on your initial plan. Some adjustments might be necessary, but the right builder knows how to account for such things to keep your vision inline, and eliminate costly surprises down the road. 

8. Prioritizing Ample Space

One of the most practical uses of extra space in your new luxury home is storage. Built-in storage options like walk-in closets, a pantry, and embedded shelving helps to keep things organized, tidy, and clean. You can use naturally cluttered areas to your advantage in this regard; mudroom, garage, laundry room…all of these spaces already hold miscellaneous items and are prone to a certain level of chaos. Add storage options to them to help bring order to the space. 

9. Outdoor Living Spaces

Don’t forget about the outdoors! They’re an extension of your home, and should be naturally integrated in as many ways as possible with your interior layout. Simple shapes allow for one large, central outdoor area, while intricate designs create smaller, private spaces. Depending on preference and intended use, you might opt for one over the other. 

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In general, you want to think about how you’ll use the space you have—are you looking to host a lot of gatherings? Plant an extensive garden? Or just spend time unwinding alone with your spouse? Questions like this need to be asked early on in the process.

10. Privacy Needs & Considerations

Finally, a luxury home should balance openness with privacy. You’ve worked hard to be in the position to own a home like this, and you doubtlessly want to protect that in a way that’s tactful. 

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With this in mind, you can incorporate separate private areas in the home from more public spaces where multiple people are likely to congregate. 

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Outside, you can add in a higher fence, privacy screens, and even some strategic landscaping elements (like boulders, trees, and other shrubbery) to help prioritize the privacy of you and your family. 

Designing a luxury home floor plan requires careful consideration of various factors. By tailoring the plan to your lifestyle and thinking long-term, you can create a space that combines elegance, efficiency, and practicality into one beautiful home. Working with a trusted builder like Bennefield Construction will bring these features to life, and result in a home that goes past even your wildest expectations.

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Give us a call today and let’s start making plans—together!

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Blue Bennefield

Founder / Home Builder

250-896-9179

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Kristie Bennefield

Founder / Designer

250-857-0830

bennefieldconstructionltd.info@gmail.com

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