March 20, 2017 Shading solutions for luxury modern homes

Talk to high end home builders or anyone in the business of creating luxury designer homes and you may be surprised to learn that the conversation will quickly turn to high end shading solutions. Gone are the days of simply slapping an awning or a shade sail over your outdoor space; today’s shading solutions are an integral part of most custom designed homes and you can be sure they will rank fairly high on any homeowner’s wish list. There’s one obvious reason for this; the Australian climate, which is nothing short of extreme in the summer months. Shading can also be a boon in cooler months however, offering protection from downpours and winds.

And solutions such as awnings or pergolas are as much a design choice as a functional one these days. Typically they should be thought through and specified in the early stages of most modern home designs.

Years ago, the outdoor room was a concept little understood and rarely talked about, except in design and architectural circles. These days it’s fairly common for many homeowners, and Australia is leading the way in designing and creating outdoor rooms that add a whole new living zone to a home.

Outdoor awnings perform a vital function in modern home designs in both the warm and the cool seasons. Superior engineering and aesthetics, as well as handy add-ons like motorisation that make operation smooth and easy, have positioned awnings at the forefront of homeowners’ minds. Add to this a wide range of fabrics with various functional benefits and a broad array of colours and prints, and choosing an awning now seems far more fun than the “grudge” purchase that it was once upon a time.

Thanks to the use of materials such as lightweight aluminium, a modern awning or pergola can span a greater distance without the need for extra support posts. They cover wide expanses without too many support structures, meaning the flow of the space remains uncluttered and allowing you to arrange furniture, planting and other elements as you see fit. This is also an important innovation in light of modern tastes that favour wide window openings. In addition many contemporary models allow for manual adjustment to individual support posts, a very useful feature in circumstances where water run-off is needed during or after a heavy shower or indeed to provide more nuanced shading in sunny weather.

Higher quality shading solutions should be easy to spot and are well worth the financial outlay as they will add to the liveability of most luxury modern homes, provide few maintenance challenges and will probably even boost the resale value of the property, particularly if installed in a considered way in key areas such as over swimming pools or outdoor entertaining areas. Most high end home builders should be able to give you detailed advice as to what solutions will work best as well as whether you need a pergola or an awning or a combination of both to meet your outdoor shading needs.