LIVABILITY

Looking for a Home should be about finding "Livability"

Livability

What is "Livability" in regard to a home?

You will find a lot of information on the Internet about "Livable Communities". But not very much about what design features create a "Livable Home". There is information about how to make your existing home more livable with maintenance and decorating ideas, and how to make a small home livable.

The American Heritage® Dictionary has two definitions for "livable"

Livable - (adj.) Suitable to live in; habitable: a livable dwelling.

Livable - (adj.) Possible to bear; endurable: livable trials and tribulations.

We believe there is a lot more for the individual to consider beyond this definition. The various pages of this website will help you expand your analysis and exploration of what livability means for you.

Shouldn't you be thinking of those "livability" features when you look for a place to live or buy a home? Adjusting an existing home after you are living there can be expensive and stressful.

Finding what is livable for you is a self evaluation journey to know yourself, your family and lifestyle. Before you spend a lot of money on someplace that will not be livable or meet your needs.

For your home to be "Livable" - it will depend on your lifestyle, preferences and priorities.

It should be great for 'you' -- comfortable, has the features you need, you are happy there, feel safe and secure, can relax and be yourself.
It will support your favorite activities, and daily work and living habits.
It should not have characteristics that are annoying to the point of disrupting your life daily. (But some houses do - for instance - the noise from a busy highway or railroad.)

Think about and write down the things that you really like about the place you are living now and that you want to still have in your new place. These are the features that make you happy, comfortable and secure in your present home.
Next, write down what you do not like about it - what do you want to eliminate or try different from existing features.
Finally, what do you want that is missing entirely from the place you currently live?
Check each of our pages on Rooms and Comfort Features to get your thought processes going.

The home that is "livable" for you, might not be livable for anyone else! Just you! It again depends on your personal life. If you have made your existing home unique it may have features incorporated which will make it difficult to sell without changing the livability.

Some of the homes we have lived in have NOT been livable for us! We have asked ourselves "What was the architect thinking"? Did the designers ever live with this floor plan layout or experience the problems caused by small counter tops, misplaced doors, etc?

This excerpt from an architecture article illuminates this point:

"I think that great houses have to be both exhilarating and livable, but what does “livable” actually mean? Long ago, when Philip Johnson’s famous Glass House, in New Canaan, Connecticut, was new and startling, a woman visited and said rather huffily to the architect, “It’s very nice, but I certainly couldn’t live here.” “I haven’t asked you to, Madam,” Johnson replied. It’s a good reminder that livability is something that all of us determine for ourselves."

From the New Yorker Online 2004 - Article by Paul Goldberger, Suburban Chic

http://www.newyorker.com/online/content/articles/040913on_onlineonly02?040913on_onlineonly02

Good luck with your individual evaluation & look for our Livability Checklist to be available soon.

If you have opinions or ideas on Home Livability - Please Contribute!

Go to our Contribute Form

Back to Home Page from Livability

footer for livability page