Why bother trying to keep up with the Joneses when you can far surpass them? Trying to emulate your family, friends, and neighbors is like trying your best to live in the home of their dreams. Isn’t it time you set their dreams aside and embark on the path of discovering your own?
Once you start developing a vision for your dream home, you have to start developing that grand vision into a more detailed roadmap. Once you have an actionable plan that includes a workable budget, you will find that there are some details common to all dream homes. If you are still unsure of where to start, here are a few ideas that will bring your dreams that much closer to reality.
Custom Furnishings
Your grand vision will never come together if you buy off-the-shelf furnishing built on an assembly line and shipped to three other houses on your block. If you are going to be unique, it starts with your furniture.
You may not have a local custom furniture place like Hancock and Moore Furniture, but you can always go online to find examples that will inspire your next furniture masterpiece. As Boyles put it:
One does not “get a job” at Hancock & Moore. Every craftsman starts out as an apprentice and only the very best become actual craftsmen, allowed to build and sign the custom heirloom pieces of art produced in the studio. The artisans at Hancock & Moore spend up to 80 hours on each and every piece.
These types of artisan furniture shops do not deliver templates, but original works of art. If you want to surpass the Joneses, you need to stop buying furniture where they do. Be sure at least one of your most prominent pieces is an original, just like you.
Unique Spaces
Be honest. How much money do you spend at Starbucks? You probably spend in a year or two, what it would cost you to just create a great little coffee bar in your own home. You would be surprised at just how little is required. You can certainly spring for the full barista setup, but a $100 Keurig knockoff would likely serve you just fine. A few shelves and a barstool later, and you are living the dream.
These are just the kind of unique spaces that take a house from valuable to priceless. Here are a few other ideas for unique spaces:
- Pool (gaming) room
- Exercise space
- Hot tub and sauna area
- Home office
- Art studio
- Solarium
The possibilities for unique spaces are as broad as your imagination.
Collection Displays
It might be stamps, coins, baseball cards, or Star Trek memorabilia. Whatever it is, it is something you love and have spent the better part of a lifetime collecting. It doesn’t belong in a drawer or in a box under the bed. It is a part of what makes you unique, and should be prominently displayed in your home.
When people come to visit you, they won’t remember the shape of your house in a neighborhood full of row houses. They won’t remember the furniture you picked up for a bargain at Furniture Emporium. They won’t even remember those striking, hardwood floors throughout the living space, as there is nothing unique about hardwood floors.
But they will remember that pristine collection of unspoiled GI Joe action figures still new in box. The Barbies dating back to 1970 will turn more than a few heads. And the historic autographs from every president since Washington will be the talk of the town. But only if they’re prominently displayed.
Setting your home apart is all about being unique. You have to take a few risks, some of which might fail miserably. The worst decorating disasters happen to those who are unafraid. But so do the adventures that end up inspiring a generation.
It all starts with you exploring what makes you unique and interesting. Unique furniture pieces are a good starting point. But must also be paired with unique spaces in the home, and the prominent display of things about which you are passionate.
