Think smart homes, hi-tech bathrooms, a separate home for entertaining, a cooler kitchen, custom detailing, and creating a self-sufficient home
I love to blog about the latest luxury real estate trends. A recent post I wrote focused on the Scandinavian trend called “Hygge.” This blog will share the top six trends I’m noticing in the luxury real estate sector.
- The Smart home
By now you know it’s possible to dim your lights, open the library shades and heat up the sauna—all while your plane is still taxiing on the runway. Homeowners can not only control creature comforts from afar, but can oversee security systems—locking and unlocking gates, windows and doors, and monitoring encrypted security cameras from anywhere the owner is online. High-end offerings from companies like Savant Systems let Santa Barbara homeowners fine-tune their home from their smartphone.
A growing number of high-end suburban and rural homeowners here in Santa Barbara and across the country are building stand-alone houses for entertaining. Owners typically outfit entertainment houses with indoor pools, full-sized kitchens, media rooms and even basketball or squash courts. Film buffs can create a true home theater with Prima Cinema Player, a device for viewing first-run movies at home the same day they are released in theaters. Many new luxury towers also provide lavish lounges for residents to entertain guests.
- A Cooler Kitchen
The kitchen has long been the domain of the latest gadgetry. Another must-have for today’s luxury Santa Barbara homeowners: a built-in water filter by Grohe that dispenses carbonated water straight from a faucet. Smart appliances send alerts if a stove is left on. And the open kitchen takes on new meaning with a hidden backsplash that rises from the countertop to display tools and appliances and then vanishes.
- Making Your Home Self -Sufficient
It’s easy for Santa Barbara homeowners to allow the Earth to heat and cool their homes. A geothermal heating and cooling system can be three times as efficient as a traditional HVAC system, and a subterranean system can replace unsightly and noisy. Remember, even the best heating and cooling system will be compromised in a blackout. Don’t allow the wine cellar climate-control or security system to fail. Just install powerful automatic generators. A large system that toggles between natural gas and a 2,000-gallon underground diesel storage tank can operate a home at full capacity for a week or longer.
- Custom Detailing
Recent advances in computer software allow architects and designers to custom build details of the home in ways never before possible. Using 3D modeling software and printers, a designer can create a precise model from a two-dimensional drawing. With robotics, a manufacturer reproduces it. The result: long-lost or badly damaged antique Beaux Arts or Art Deco features can be precisely recreated, or architects can design a modernist, spiraling staircase with laser-like precision.
- The Hi-Tech Bathroom
New building technology continues to benefit the bathroom with smart technology that can heat radiant floors and towel warmers on cue. Smart glass turns a clear glass shower stall opaque when someone steps in. And a bathroom mirror by Séura, the same or similar to those often found in high-end hotels, transforms into an LCD television at the press of a button.
All six of the luxury real estate trends mentioned above fit perfectly with the Santa Barbara lifestyle. If you’re interested in trying any or all in a new home in Montecito, Hope Ranch or any of Santa Barbara’s upscale communities, please check out my comprehensive website then give me a call at 805.886.9378 or email me at Cristal@montecito-estate.com.