It’s a growing trend that we’re seeing more and more in luxury home design – high-end finishes alongside features designed with everyday living in mind. From maximizing the use of space to adding functional features, luxury custom builders in our area are striving to integrate easy living into their home designs.

Take the Chore Out of Laundry

Adding convenience to laundry spaces has been a major trend many builders are incorporating into their designs. By taking a chore their home buyers participate in frequently and designing their homes to ease that chore, builders are adding incredible value to their homes and these buyers’ lives. At the top end of the luxury spectrum, we have builders adding private laundry rooms onto the owner’s suite closet, with some installing stackable washer and dryer connections into these closets. Imagine, instead of hauling laundry across your home, you have a laundry room conveniently located right in your closet. Even in custom homes outside the luxury market, builders are including this aspect in their designs.

Outdoor Living All Year Long

We all love that living in North Carolina allows us to experience all four seasons. But that also means spending less time enjoying our outdoor living spaces in the heat of summer and the dead of winter … unless you own or are buying a home with an outdoor space designed to be enjoyed all year long.

While fireplaces on outdoor patios have been popular for quite a while, more and more builders are incorporating built-in heaters, fans, and retractable screens into their outdoor design. These design features bridge the gap between outdoor and indoor living, allowing homeowners to enjoy the space in almost any weather.

Grocery Hauls (without the haul)

If you’ve ever cut off the circulation in your arms trying to take all of the groceries inside in one trip, you’ll appreciate this design feature. Called the “Costco door” or grocery passthrough (pictured), some builders are now installing a small door in between the pantry and the garage. So instead of hauling all of your groceries out of the trunk, into the house, and through the kitchen into the pantry, you can simply unload them straight from your trunk into the pantry.

And it’s not just luxury builders finding a way to add this feature into their design. Builders in the mainstream market are also featuring this convenient detail in their homes.

Here’s an insider tip – keep an eye out for some homes that will be featured in the 2024 Triangle Parade of Homes coming up this fall and you may spot some of these design features.

If there’s one thing we’re seeing with potential buyers’ reactions to these innovative designs that prioritize function and form, it’s that making life a little simpler can be appreciated at any price point.