Resene Avalanche Resene Soothe Resene Poured Milk Resene Thumbs Up Resene Alabaster Resene Escapade Resene Rose Gold Resene Yuma Resene Eighth Stonewashed Resene Napa Resene Sea Fog Resene Twilight Zone future proof A pragmatic look at preparing your home for the challenges you know about - and the ones you don’t. Left: Using a darker colour like Resene Thumbs Up for the bottom of the wall and a lighter colour like Resene Poured Milk for the top creates more vertical space, making the room feel bigger. The platters displayed on the wall have been painted Resene Napa and Resene Sea Fog, the vase is in Resene Eighth Stonewashed, the plant pot is in Resene Twilight Zone, the coat rack is in Resene Rose Gold and the floor is in Resene Yuma. Above: An arch detail in Resene Avalanche added to this Resene Soothe living room wall makes the room feel larger with the illusion of a doorway to another space. The coffee table is in Resene Escapade, the plant pot is in Resene Avalanche, the side table is in Resene Alabaster and the vase on top is Resene Soothe. The floor has been painted Resene Alabaster. I f you’ve found a home you plan to stay in for quite some time, it’s a smart idea to make sure it not only meets the needs of today but also the changes that may be on the horizon. While we may not be able to look into a crystal ball that’ll reveal everything that’s in store for us, it’s pretty safe to say that how we live in our houses now is likely to be quite different from how we’ll be living in them in five, ten or twenty years to come. Not only is smart technology drastically changing the way we live, work and play in our homes, there’s a much bigger picture to be seen here too. Social, economic and age-related changes can greatly impact the way we use our personal spaces and what we need from them to support those transitions. Children stay at home longer than they used to while they study or launch a career; aging parents are staying longer in their own homes or opting to move in with other family members and more members of the family are now working from home at least part of the time. All of these things mean there are often more people in a house at any one time than in generations past, all with different needs, abilities and belongings to store. If we don’t have a clear picture of what exactly we’re facing, the most important thing we can demand of our homes is flexibility. We need floor plans that will make it easier for us to lean into the changes that we know will be inevitable (like aging), as well as the unknowns - those tricky challenges that have yet to present themselves (such as an unexpected expansion of your family unit or a disability brought on by age or unforeseen circumstances). Try these tips to ensure your home will be agile enough to tackle future changes. Creating division through contrast Using bold or contrasting colours to break up a space is a simple way to divvy things up when you’re short on rooms. If your home office sits in the corner of a living area, consider painting the walls, floor and ceiling of that area in a colour that contrasts with the rest of the room. Not only will it be eye-catching, it can also serve as a reminder to keep office clutter from creeping outside of its set boundaries. This same idea can be carried over to define a special activity area in any multi- use space, such as a dining area or a special place for kids to play within a larger living room. Making space where there is none In a packed house, optical illusion can go a long way. Painting walls in graduated shades from darkest at the bottom to the palest at the top can help to create additional visual height. For even more interest, you could opt for diagonal stripes instead of horizontal ones. This also allows you to bring some bolder shades into a space that could be overpowered by a single, strong wall colour. You can also use paint to create negative space and bring extra dimension to an otherwise small or boxy room. For example, you could paint a rectangular 65 64 tips and tricks