Gee, what took them so long?

lol

Love the article. I have long thought my idea of home design would be different than the norm. Exceptional laundry facilities, better storage in the kitchen, and a crafting area would be among the tops on my list. Yes, kitchens that work with the living areas would be terrific.

Speaking of automatic lights. I had my dh put one in our little laundry room...no more going in there with an armful of dirty laundry and fumbling for the light. It goes on and off without my intervention. Such a simple delight.

My ideal 'woman-centric' home would have tons more electrical outlets(especially in the bathroom) than my current house.

Thanks for posting. I enjoyed reading it.

I really have only one word:

Duh...

But I totally agree with HappyinTexas.
What [TF] took them so long?!

Why is designing a house for women a novel idea at all?
I mean, didn't anyone ever notice that the WOMAN was the primary decider when it came to which house to buy anyway?

I went shopping with a good friend of mine for a new SUV not long ago. And the one she fell in love with? It had a spot for her purse! (What a concept!) Right between the seats, accessible, handy... Why doesn't every vehicle have that?

Not at all offensive...sigh.

Love this idea. And Sweeby, it's so funny about your friend, I mentioned to a male friend years ago that car makers needed to get their act together and start designing vehicles for WOMEN. We don't want our purse on the floor next to us, or even on the seat, we need a place to keep it handy.

Good to know SOMEONE is getting smarter and realizing that women hold just as much, if not more, purchasing power decisions as men on these big ticket items! And we girls are big girls who can make these decisions on our own. (Ok, off my soap box now!)

LOL Sweeby on that purse thing. Really...it is little things that speak to practicality that really sell products. The manufactures of the cookie cutter car and house could sooo benefit from listening to super-users on design.

I'm a single women in a 3000 sq ft new home. I think it spoke to me because it was a floor plan in a retirement community built by Del Wbb. Del Webb knew how to meet the needs of the older consumer who had excessive life-experiences and knew about convenience and practicality. He understood the magic of great floor plans.

I am on my third Nissan Murano....why...because it is uber-comfortable, has great performance, electric seats, GPS and a sun-glass holder...LOL

BRING ON THE GOOD DESIGN!!!!

LOL about buying a car because it has a place for a purse. Several years ago, we did NOT buy a big honking 4 door Ford F-150 because there were no cup holders in the rear seating area. Cup holders make my life easier.

My only issue with this is: 'And don't expect to see a living room in a Woman-Centric Matters' home -- just a nice big great room so women can interact with their families while they're in the kitchen." Why are WE still the ones EXPECTED to be in the kitchen all the time???? My DH is a much better cook than I. Although I do like a lot of the features, maybe the issue isn't just design. Good design is good design. Attitudes still need a little work, it seems.

Thank you for sharing this- it was a wonderful read....... and while I am not sure that some of these great features (or lack thereof) would be deal maker or breaker, they sure do ring true for me. Very good read.:

I drive a Land Rover because it's gonna get me where I'm going.....now apply that to a house.....? I want function...I want built-ins....low maintenance....high tech...off the main road and acreage.....

At a college reunion I spoke with one of my engineering professors, who told me of the great new course they were instituting, Design for Manufacture. This was to review the design of the product with an eye for how it would actually be built. Wow, I said, forget about designing for manufacture, how about designing for maintenance? As a consumer who has to live with the product, I want to be able to keep it functioning. He had no idea that this would be an issue.

I just want a laundry area next to the bedrooms---that vents straight out the back. I can't tell you how many new home owners have issues with the stupid idea of trying to vent a dryer straight up throught the roof, or worse, venting down through the slab where all of the moisture condenses and stops it up in about a month's time. And I want at least enough room to fold the clothes in the laundry room and some room to hand stuff up too. Put all of this in my master closet with a built in coffee machine and beverage fridge and I might never leave the suite!

And while I don't care for the concept of a "formal living room" and want to have an open concept plan, I also do want a "den", sunroom, office, or other comfy space where I can shut the door and watch my TV shows or read with a minimum of disruption when the other half (or kids for other families) has friends over and monopolizes the "family" space.

I want a vanity space next to a sink and running water, but not necessarily in the "bathroom" with good lighting and a mirror that telescopes to me because I'm blind as a bat and getting worse.

Most of all, I want smaller square footage than most home plans that I see being built. As attractive as having a maid would be, it'll never be in my future. So, if I have to clean it all, it had better be all space that I use and no wasted space like a formal dining room that gets used once a year and accumulates dust the rest of the time.

Re. cars and exterior shots and interior
designs..yes! I'm in the market, and already
know what the thing looks like from seeing
it on the road. I want great shots of the
interior! I am craving a luxe interior in
warm tones, but most are still in boring
gray, black or light taupe. Years ago I owned
a Mercury Cougar. It's interior was in camel:
a combo of soft corduroy and leather.....it was
yummy!

I used to embarrass my ex-DH by walking through model homes remarking on how stupid the designs were (and then occasionally saying it to the sales people). By the flawed and/or hard to maintain house designs out there, there are obviously a lot of architects designing houses who have never done any housekeeping.

What moron came up with the idea of a walk-through laundry room? You don't dare drop a piece of clothing on the floor which you can't keep clean, and you risk being slapped in the face with a door by someone coming in from the garage. And no floor space at all. And have you seen the laundry rooms built without a washtub? Someone who doesn't do laundry (like maybe an architect) would not understand why you need anything more than a washer and dryer. They don't understand that to get hot water in a front load washer, you need to run a faucet nearby. And where do you fill and dump the pail of water to clean the ceramic floor? And then there is wall-to-wall carpeting in bathrooms. I'd better stop, I feel a rant coming on.

This is the light switch that HappyinTexas probably has. They are fabulous.

Here is a link that might be useful: Sensor light

How about a kitchen floor with a drain right in the middle of it, and a retractable house that you could use to hose down messes? And while we're at it, all the windows in the house would tilt in for easy washing.... The laundry room would have plenty of room to hang clothes that are drying and would offer plenty of easy access/hidden storage to the soap, bleach, etc. At least one bathroom would include a shampoo bowl like salons have. I could go on ....

What timing!

About 2-3 yrs ago I told DH that if there was one dream thing that I could do it would be to design and build a custom home based upon a survey sent out to women.

I would compile the data, come up w/ the design concept and have my dad and FIL (the architects) design it. I would market it drom dream to fruition and then sell it. DH kind of looked at me and asked 'Why?' and I said - 'You're a man - you wouldn't understand. Men are commonly the ones who come up w/ these designs and then build the houses. What do most of them know about what we do or how we operate? This is a fabulous idea and one that would sell.'.

Yep, graywings, that's similar to what we have. One of the best decisions we've ever made.

Yes, yes, yes to all the laundry ideas. One of my pet peeves is the walk through laundry. While I don't have that, my laundry 'room' is little more than a walk in closet. Laundry is something we do every dad-blamed week. Sometimes every day. The next one I have (if I have another) will be loaded with space to fold and hang, plus storage for holiday and entertaining supplies.

Ditto some thoughtful plentiful storage in the kitchen. I want an old fashioned pantry like my sis-in-law had. Walk in dream. Sigh. Good task lighting and built in cookie sheet holders. And pull out drawers so I can get to the stuff at the back of the cabinets.

Any house I'd design would have some decor elements built in...like an electrical plug close to or on the mantle so I can plug in lamps or something on the mantle. Plenty more under the eaves outside for Christmas lights.

Did I mention a creative room?

I LOVE the idea and I love the motivation for it! As many before me have already said, WTF took them so long to realize this?!?
Eighteen years ago, we were looking to buy our forever home. DH, who was totally tied down to his very busy practice, could not get away to look at many homes. So, while DS was in school, our realtor and I looked at 119 homes. Beautiful homes, but to my eye, there were so many impractical drawbacks to each of them. Impractical tile that looked great but would be a bear to keep clean. Bathrooms with views to nowhere. Bedrooms situated with views into their neighbors bedrooms. Impractical closets . . . entrances . . . laundry rooms . . . and the kitchens! I should have been an architect, as I could immediately see the impracticality of most of them!

I love the great, practical solutions mentioned above in the article. THAT's the kind of home I was looking for back then and that's the kind of place I'd look for in the future! We had to custom build to get that kind of stuff and we still got a screwy kitchen that I had to replace finally. I'm going to do more research on this company. Thanks, V-rn! I hope that I never move from here, but if I do, I'm looking for one of these homes for sure!
Lynn