Designing houses is really the only thing TJ Monahan of Designed Happy can ever remember wanting to do, other than playing center field for the Yankees. “Spoiler alert, I didn’t get much further than Little League,” he says. As a kid, Lego was his gateway to residential design. Lego eventually turned into cardboard models of houses. Cardboard models turned into drafting classes in high school. And drafting classes turned into two degrees in Architecture from The Catholic University of America.
He’s been working in the industry since 2001 and has had the chance to work at a handful of great companies and with a lot of great clients. Now, he’s thrilled to have the opportunity to take all that experience and use it to make Designed Happy the best place to work for his employees, as well as the best place to work with his clients.
TJ shares some of his thoughts on the current trends in home entertainment.
What are homeowners looking for as far as home entertainment?
The way people entertain, much like everything else in their home, is very personal. Two of the projects we have in design right now are on opposite ends of the entertaining spectrum. One project is in Potomac, Maryland, and the homeowners want to remove the wall between their living room and sunroom and strengthen the connection between the living room and the kitchen. The clients also want to expand their deck and enlarge the kitchen with an addition. All of this will allow the owners to entertain 40-50 people regularly.
The other project is in Northeast, Washington, DC, where the owners like to entertain two or three couples or no more than eight people at a time. They want a better kitchen to be able to prep for the entertaining but absolutely don’t want to see the kitchen mess while people are over. So, for them, we’re finding ways within their existing footprint to make the kitchen work better, while at the same time enlarging the adjacent dining room and keeping it private.
What have you designed as far as home entertainment for your family?
On a personal note, when we designed our family home, we were somewhere in between the recent projects mentioned above. We weren’t hosting huge parties regularly, but we did like the open feel of connected spaces, and we also didn’t want to see a mess. For us, that meant a kitchen that was completely open to the family room and dining room, as well as a prep space tucked around the corner to hide some stuff away. There’s no one-size-fits-all entertaining solution; it’s a very personal decision.
What are some of the types of entertainment spaces that are popular right now both for inside and outside the home?
There are a few project types that are very popular now including:
- Wine rooms, especially under the basement stairs. This space could be decorative with modern racks and a full glass wall, a more enclosed space with climate control, or something in between.
- Bars. Whether it’s a full bar in your basement or a custom dry-bar furniture piece in the dining room, people are interested in finding fun ways to include bars.
- Screen porches that extend your interior entertaining space outside, especially with heaters and fans to allow for almost year-round use. Even better, consider having more than one entrance from the inside of the house to the porch to make entertaining flow better.
How does technology play a part in home entertainment?
Another consideration is technology. As our homes become more connected, you have the option to integrate smart features when you remodel or build new. Personally, I’m a big fan, but some people prefer the physical light switch to one on your phone – there’s no right or wrong here. Here are a few ways to incorporate technology into your entertainment plans:
- Music. In-ceiling speakers have been around forever, but with the advancement of Bluetooth, streaming, and hardware technologies, you can do some cool things now. For example, you can get hidden speakers that play through drywall.
- Lighting. Having a connected lighting system can be fun. Depending on the kind of bulbs you get, you can go from being able to dim lights all the way to completely changing their color – hello orange lights at the Halloween party. You can also have the lighting levels change with the sunlight.
- Shades. Connected shades are my favorite. They still seem like magic to me. Imagine you’re having a dinner party in the summer. When people come over, it’s light out and after you eat dinner, it’s still light out. But as you’re starting to have your after-dinner drinks that you grab from your under-stairs wine room and serve on your custom dry bar, the shades quietly and automatically start to lower. The lower the sun gets, the lower the shades get. And as the shades come down, your lights start to automatically dim, and without doing anything, you just went from daytime entertaining to evening entertaining. So cool.
Where do you see home entertainment headed in the future?
So where are we headed in the future with all of this? While I can’t predict the future, I do know three things:
- People have strong opinions about how they prefer to entertain.
- Technology is making it easier and easier to personalize experiences.
- Thoughtful designers help create better experiences.
Given that, I think the future of entertaining is going to look exactly the way you personally are hoping it looks. And when you create your ultra-personalized entertaining space, be sure to invite me to a party – I’d love to see what you came up with.
