9 Features People Are Adding To Dream Home Builds In 2025
This is a collaborative post.
More and more people are looking into the possibility of building their homes themselves these days. They want to be able to customise everything, especially if they’re going to be spending a lot of money on your dream home.
But what features are they most excited about including on their properties? What’s really getting people going and motivating them to conduct these complex and expensive builds? Let’s take a look:
Outdoor Entertainment Areas
One of the main things they’re looking into is outdoor entertainment areas. These weren’t perhaps as important in the past, but they’re becoming essential in today’s market.
Why are they important? More people than ever want a place where they can go outside to be with guests or just enjoy some time alone. The goal in a country like Britain is to make it warm and welcoming, even in the summer months, so that people feel comfortable being outside. That means offering some form of shelter, plenty of comfortable furniture, and perhaps even outdoor heaters or a fire pit.
Trends like retractable awnings are currently in vogue since these are non-committal. You can retract them when the weather is warm, or extend them when it’s raining but still be outside and where you want to be.
Pet-Friendly Zones
Another feature of custom-built properties that people want is pet-friendly zones. These areas are set up for animals, often in transition areas between the outdoors and indoors.
For example, a lot of new builds now have a mud room by the back door. These spaces are ideal for hosing down and drying off dirty dogs, especially in the winter. They can also be handy for keeping things like kitty litter out of the way.
Wellness Zones
For those who don’t keep pets, wellness zones are taking priority. These areas are meant to be convenient spaces that make exercise and relaxation a breeze.
Wellness spaces will often have gym equipment and purifying plants. They sometimes also contain things like saunas and jacuzzis, depending on budget and space. The idea is to be able to spend an hour or two in them every day to get incredible results.
Layered Lighting
Layered lighting is another thing that a lot of custom home shoppers want in their new properties. Instead of just fitting a single light to the middle of the ceiling in each room, they want to use illumination more intelligently.
Getting this right is challenging. However, it’s becoming increasingly possible with the right approaches.
For example, cove lighting is replacing things like basic fixtures. The result is a moodier and more attractive space.
Furthermore, buyers are specifying things like the materials they want to see in the room. Bronzes, metallics, and copper all create a nice glow and look great when paired with the proper layered lighting setup. They also recycle some of the light back into rooms, making them feel even more welcoming and attractive.
Curves And Waves
Architects are also being asked to include curves and waves in properties in 2025. The idea here is to add more organic elements to homes and to make them more interesting. Anyone can live in a box with straight lines these days, but only a few people have properties that break out of that mould. But that’s precisely what custom homes offer.
For example, a lot of new properties have scalloped millwork and rounded furniture. They also have curved lines above the doors and archways inside the home, leading from one room to another.
These might seem like small, unimportant motifs, but they make an enormous difference to the quality of the built environment. A curvier home is often a happier home, and a lot of people looking into getting custom builds seem to know this almost instinctively.
Warm Colour Palettes
2025 is also seeing the growth of people searching for warm colour palettes and tones. More property owners than ever before want their new builds to be filled with olive greens and terracotta-style beiges.
It seems simple, but the idea is to make the home as cosy and as livable as possible. These colours and hues add a sense of depth and character to the property, and they can be timeless in their own right.
What’s more, they produce the right emotions in people. Bright white is kind of stressful, which is why so many people now opt for warmer options.
Multifunctional Spaces
Whenever you visit home-builder sites, like 101 Residential, you’ll see that they prioritise multifunctional spaces. These are handy because they provide so many options for entertaining, cooking, and generally living.
The more adaptable a space is, the more valuable it becomes. Therefore, a lot of builders are now deliberately creating these zones within homes to give future owners as many options as possible.
For example, a multi-functional space can be completely cleared to accommodate guests for a party. It can also become a gym, guest suite, or a home office.
Essentially, the limit should be the future homeowner’s imagination. They should be able to do just about whatever they want with it to suit their lifestyle.
Bathrooms That Are Spas
Having a regular bathroom is great. But for people building custom homes in 2025, it’s much better to have a spa. These spaces combine all the elements of a commercial business, offering freestanding soaking tubs and heated floors.
The idea of a spa bathroom is essentially to add a bit of luxury to a home at low cost. The actual expense of one of these is fairly minimal compared to just adding a standard bathroom, but the psychological effect and practical utility can be enormous.
Sustainable Upgrades
Finally, many people are seeking to add sustainable upgrades to their future properties. They want them to be in harmony with the environment and protect the planet. For example, people are including water fittings that reduce consumption or adding solar panels to the roof as part of the design, not just an afterthought. These upgrades are green but also reduce utility bills significantly, lowering long-run ownership costs.
