Fit for a queen: Home design with the woman in mind [07/29/2006]

By Sheree R. Curry

What women want in a home often is quite different than what men want. Face it, their needs and even tasks tend to be different, and as a result everyone from the architect and home builder to real estate agents take a different approach to wooing female home buyers than they do with men."Women are really concerned with what the kitchen looks like and the master bathroom," says Alicia Phillips, a real estate agent at Coldwell Banker Burnet, Maple Grove, Minn. "Men go in and say, 'Let's go see what the basement looks like.' Men want a lower-level cave, a place to hang out." They also are interested in the backyard and the deck, while the women will pay attention to detail, such as size of the countertops in the bathroom something large enough to hold cosmetics and toiletries is preferred and the surface of the kitchen counters, such as hoping for granite, which is resistant to heat, cracks and scratches, she says.Women make 80 percent of home design and household decisions and should have a floor plan to address her key concerns: reduce stress, promote entertaining and family togetherness, and spark romance, says Linda Reimer, founder of Her Home magazine.Some of the homes that appeal to women, experts say, are ones with a large functional kitchen with a naturally well-lit and attached great room, a separate play area for the kids, private home office, a welcoming foyer, a pantry in the kitchen, window seats and a "romantic" master suite with a large bathroom that has a Jacuzzi tub, maybe a double shower and a dressing room. Another plus is a second-floor laundry room, or at least one that is not located near the garage door to "remind her" as she gets home from work that she has to wash clothes.When Phillips had her own house built in 2004, she sought out a floor plan that had many of those features. "We were really looking for an open floor plan on the main level because we entertain quite a bit," says Phillips. When people enter the home, they are greeted with a two-story foyer and a view straight back through the family room windows at the back of the house. The two-level staircase is tucked back off on the left instead of being the first thing facing you when you walk into the home. The formal living room on the right opens to a large dining room, which makes it perfect for people to mingle before sitting down to a great meal. But if Phillips is still cooking in the kitchen or her husband is grilling out back on the deck with staircase, she has a large family room that opens to the kitchen with views out to the backyard and wetlands. "Having guests in the family room [while I am still cooking in the kitchen] is great because it feels like you're in the same space."She also has a large walk-in pantry and lots of cabinets for storage space. "It makes it a lot easier to function in the kitchen," she says. With the pantry, "we have all of the food items behind one door and we still have the cabinet space for all of the small appliances and other things for entertaining that you don't use every day so that you don't have to store them on the counter top."Lots of storage space really appeals to women, says Reimer. "It helps to reduce clutter."All four of Phillips' second-floor bedrooms have walk-in closets. It's useful to have the large closets in the kids' rooms because they can store the toys out of sight, making for a cleaner room. There also is a playroom in the large walk-out basement, as well as a guest bedroom and three-quarter bath that sits back from the entertainment room with built-in cabinetry and a kitchenette. It's a perfect area to have children's parties.Women also want master bedroom suites to be "romantic" with a "relaxing atmosphere that creates the feeling of a private oasis," says Jack Parry, principal, J. Randolph Parry Architects, Moorestown, N.J. In 2004, he remodeled an 1819 farmhouse to create just such an escape. The master bedroom has its own sitting room separated from the sleeping area by two floor-to-ceiling columns. The 7,000-square-foot home has a seven-seat theater adjacent to a stone and brick game room with wet bar and fireplace, and there is a two-story foyer that leads to a 31-foot living room.Parry says women like dramatic entrances, such as two-story foyers, as they create a "wow" factor, as do coffered ceilings. Lots of natural light through "glass walls" also is important to women, he says.The Interior Door Replacement Company, a California-based franchise that sells doors, has found success in the $200 billion home improvement market by primarily targeting women.Pat Saign, IDRC's director of marketing, estimates that at least 80 percent of the company's initial contacts (through the Web site, showroom visits and phone calls) are women. "Women usually end up doing the legwork for home improvement projects and ultimately end up being the decision-makers for these types of projects," he says.Women builders also understand firsthand what a women looks for in a home."My main focus as a design builder revolves around the lifestyles of working women," says Joanne Theunissen, owner of Howling Hammer Builders in Mt. Pleasant, Mich. "I look for ways to add luxury and charm without making the house fussy. I want my clients to walk into their new house and feel as though this is home right from the first day."One three-bedroom, 2 1/2-bath house Theunissen built in 2005 has no threshold step between the attached garage and the house. It makes it easier for carrying bags in to the home from the car, or bringing boxes to the garage for storage. "Everything in the house is designed with ease of maintenance in mind and with a strong lean towards comfortable living and eventually 'aging in place,'" she says.Women today, especially those over 30, she says, are more practical with what they want in a home. "Women looking for just bling have gone by the wayside. I liken it to a good pair of shoes. She may want style and fashion, but she wants it to be comfortable and she knows she may have to pay more to get that."The homes Theunissen builds actually are rather affordable, despite her standard upgrades, like main-floor master suites and luxury baths. An executive-style home with 3,500 square feet of living space would list at around $375,000.Another woman builder, Sue Campbell of SC Properties in Jefferson, Ga., also builds all of her homes with main-floor master suites. But there are other amenities that she says appeals to women buyers that she incorporates into homes. For example, her Carolina floor plan has a two-story great room with stone fireplace and the first-floor formal living room is wired for a home office. "Today's buyer typically requests that over a living room," she says. The second-floor, which has an open iron-rail system overlooking the great room, also has a loft that is equipped as an office. It's a perfect place for kids who need access to the Internet too. "Having a second computer/TV room for the kids is becoming a necessity in today's market."She dubs the Carolina model the "Glam Plan," in part because of its glamorous, vaulted master with private double French door entrance to a wrap around porch.But for a woman to have her dream home, it doesn't mean she needs to go out and purchase a new one. Pashell Johnson loved her Brooklyn Park neighborhood, a suburb of Minneapolis, but she and her husband Art passed up purchasing another home in favor of remodeling their existing home from the bottom up to make it more efficient.One of the most dramatic changes Johnson implemented in the August 2005 remodel was expanding the size of the mud room leading from the garage to the rest of the home. "The mud room was huge for us because it is so hectic getting in and out of the garage several times a day, and being able to store all of the kids equipment. Basketball shoes, baseball shoes, indoor balls that can't go outside," she says. "It was important to have a big enough space for everyone to sit down and take shoes off and still be organized."So to enlarge the space, they knocked down the laundry room wall and moved the washer and dryer up to the second level where it belonged. "Since there are five of us and we have lots of laundry, it made sense to have the laundry room located on the floor where the majority of the laundry was," she says.Where the washer and dryer used to be is now a large entryway from the garage and a bench for guests to sit down and remove their shoes, as well as coat hooks for them. For herself, her husband, and their three boys, ages, 10, 9 and 4, she installed some built-in, open-face wooden lockers. There is one cubby hole for each member of the family. There is a large middle section with hooks for hanging coats and backpacks, there is a bench so everyone has a seat to sit and remove or put on their shoes, there also are shelves for shoes, hats, mittens and other items. The space also has a large walk-in closet for storing the longer coats, off-season or bulky items.One of the best parts of the redesign was after building a new workout room, they turned the old workout room in to a kids' play area and put in linoleum tile just in case there are any spills. But it was important for the kids to have their own private space, she says. Not just for them but also for her peace of mind. "We wanted our home to be a place where our kids can entertain too. This makes it a safe place for us and we know where are kids are." CTW Features