“Party at our house!”

That’s a phrase you’re never too old for, and when you’re building a custom home, entertaining is sure to be one aspect that’s first and foremost to incorporate into your plans. 

Unique Designs For Your Taste And Style

The main advantage of building a custom home is that you’re designing it for YOU. Every aspect and space of the home is made to suit you, your needs and to cater to the way you like to live. 

When it comes to home entertaining, there are a few questions to ask yourself–and answer–before meeting with your architect and builder. Here’s what you need to consider:

How do you entertain?

Thinking through your social style is the key to creating your perfect entertaining environment. You’ll realise that your entertaining style will create a flow-on effect as to how you design other ‘unrelated’ aspects of the home, too.

Do you prepare the food, get caterers in, or a mix of both?

Do you have more formal dinner parties, or do you prefer more casual, outdoorsy type of event by throwing something on the barbie?

Are drinks and hors d’oeuvres more your thing?

Does your entertaining revolve around sporting events?

Do you want a dedicated space, like a wine or billiards room?

What about an outdoor kitchen and living space?

Now it’s time to decipher the features that make your new home a haven for lively and inspiring evenings.

Kitchen

If you have your parties catered, you might put a higher priority on a butler’s pantry for caterers to work from, out of view.

On the other hand, if you love cooking, you’ll want a large, inviting space with several seating options so you can join the party while plating up. A centre island bench with bar seating and a nearby dining area with comfortable chairs is ideal. 

State-of-the-art appliances are essential for easy prep and clean up. Double ovens, convection microwaves, load-sensing dishwashers, and smart refrigerators are an entertainer’s best friend.

Open Floor Plan

Open spaces allow guests to mingle without feeling crowded, and bifold doors outside initiate good flow throughout your entire home.

Take it outside

In Australia, it’s not just kitchens and bathrooms that sell houses. Outdoor entertaining – or at least great potential for it – is a must-have in any home. 

A large, covered deck with wiring and plumbing creates an outdoor room to enjoy the great outdoors. Add a built-in bbq, wet bar, and wine fridge; a seating area, fireplace and a TV to broadcast the game on, and you might never want to venture back inside!

Extra Goodies

If you’ve got a specific hobby or pastime you enjoy, incorporate a space dedicated to it. Your pool table, arcade gaming, or your movie, music or fine wine collection can be enjoyed, and if you haven’t given up on becoming a rock star, build a sound-proof studio!

Open plan home design is very much a signature element of Australian homes, due in part to our beautiful climate and our love affair with indoor-outdoor living. 

A free-flowing open-plan design gives the feeling of light, space and fresh air that we so love and welcome, however, it can lack the gentle sense of separation that is often needed in one big, open-box room.

It can be difficult to create different rooms within a room – ie. effectively separating living, dining, study, and play zones while still maintaining a physically opened space – but one method we can use to achieve this is the strategic, subtle placement of room dividers. 

There are so many options and materials to work with when it comes to creating an impactful division. As well as adding a striking feature to the room with texture or pop of colour, room dividers can be instrumental in providing more options for how you configure the spaces and your furniture within them – whilst still maintaining the cohesive flow of the original open design.

How room dividers work

Now, this might sound obvious to some, but essentially, room dividers should be placed where walls would otherwise be. Putting a screen where a wall wouldn’t be just doesn’t, well, make sense. You want to create a physical barrier – but not a solid one. Here are 5 of our faves:

Fireplace: Using a fireplace as a room divider – especially a two-way fireplace – provides plenty of design scope for both sides of the room. It’s an instant point of interest for the eyes as well as being super-functional. 

Exposed Brick: Dividers using exposed brick bring an architectural quality to a space that’s edgy, earthy and difficult to ignore. Used inside or out, they bring texture to a space, making it feel grounded, comfortable and purposeful.

Timber Slats: Floor-to-ceiling timber slats can bring a divided space to life. It achieves that important sense of separation and invites a beautiful play of light and shade patterns across walls and floors. Chunky timber posts add strength along with visual appeal. 

Mirrors: Much more than just functional, a mirror can become the focal point of a thoughtfully designed divider – reflecting off more light into a room, mirrors are a classic example of form and function. It’s an idea that works particularly well if you want to create a feeling of separation and privacy between a bedroom and an open-plan ensuite. 

Laser-cut screens: Laser-cut metal screens are like art built into a wall. Painted or left natural, equally striking indoor or outdoors, a laser-cut screen can come in virtually any design – you can even design your own one-off piece that you’ll never see anywhere else!

Do you have any other room divider ideas? Leave a comment below.