Use your lifestyle as a blueprint when designing your dream home

Designing a home, whether from scratch or renovating, can be exciting and a little overwhelming, especially for first-timers. There can be a lot of decisions to make, from choosing a home layout to selecting amenities to the inclusion of your favorite furniture or design elements. To help guide your decision-making, we turned to Mike and Kathy Verble, who had their home custom built in 2015 to take advantage of the favorite parts of their lifestyle.

For the Verbles, it was important to consider how they were going to live in their home to ensure that they would fully utilize every space. Here are the things that the Verbles thought about as they designed their dream home in sunny Sarasota:

Design for your hobbies

When you leave your house to do something you enjoy, think about what it is you’re leaving for. Are you going to the golf course, to browse a botanical garden, try a new wine bar or coffee shop or take the dog for a walk? Think about what you’d enjoy not having to travel to and aim to create a similar space in your dream home. Skilled designers can help you create a putting green, gorgeous backyard garden, wine cellar or tasting room, a coffee bar or a dog run right in your own home. The Verbles took this approach by adding a professionally designed five-hole golf course and 1,000-bottle wine cellar.

Think about your frequent visitors

The top priority for The Verbles was creating a space that their out-of-state kids and grandkids would love visiting.  They created a game room, complete with a pool table, dart board, arcade games and direct access to the pool that their energetic grandsons would love. For the outdoors-loving, active granddaughters, they designed a gorgeous pool with wrap-around sun deck and a tennis court. The goal was to create a special space for each person in their family.

Incorporate your life experiences

By the time you’re ready to design your dream home, chances are you’ve had time to collect prized pieces from your travels, family heirlooms, artwork or sentimental tokens. Think about the commonalities between the items and incorporate those into the overall design of your home. The Verbles have a strong attachment to their European travels and have collected prized furnishings and antiques from their globetrotting. They’ve incorporated the pieces into not just the interior design, but the overall elegant feel of the home.

Utilize all your space.

Inside and out, utilize all the square footage around your dream home. Designing your dream home doesn’t end at the back door. If you have neighbors close by, maximize the square footage of the yard by planting some privacy landscaping to create the feel of a secluded, relaxing haven. If you live in a country club, take advantage of the golf course views by creating multiple sitting areas. The Verbles added the feel of an island oasis with expanse of lush foliage and a Savanah to surround their home.

Work hard, play hard

For the nights where work inevitably must be brought home, create a comfortable space to work or create. Ideally, set the space far enough away from the high-traffic parts of the house, but close enough to stay connected to the family. The Verbles created an office space that’s private and secluded, but with a direct view of the front yard. And when they are ready to retire after a long day of work, they can escape into their billiards or media room to kick back and relax.

For a peek inside the rest of the Verbles dream home, visit the listing page here. The property is available for $7.995 million through Roger Pettingell, an affiliated sales associate with Coldwell Banker Residential Real Estate.