In the fourth refurbishment feature of our series, Bella Brodie takes another look at the park home marketplace to reveal more ways to improve your park home or lodge.
If you love flicking through images of the latest park and leisure home models, you’ll enjoy picking up the latest trends and ideas, and maybe you could even include them in your own home or holiday home when it’s ready for an update.
One of this year’s trends is drinks zones, and we can see built-in areas for cocktails, hot drinks and even concealed areas that open up into fully functioning bars. I can remember one of the manufacturers asking me a couple of years ago if there was something I thought might be popular that I hadn’t seen in many homes and I did mention that despite being teetotal myself, so maybe I gave them food for thought! So, if you have always wanted to see something in a park home that hasn’t appeared yet, let us know!
KITCHEN INNOVATIONS
As the way you use space in your park or leisure home often needs careful thought, we have also noticed some really good kitchen design being incorporated. With pull out storage areas such as spice racks and mini larders filling voids that would have been left empty previously, items like Lazy Susans and pull out storage can all help avoid having to rummage at an odd height. We’ve also seen homeowners think again about how they use their cupboard space to avoid cluttering up the floor, incorporating recycling and general refuse bins into existing cupboard space for easy access. Another gem of an idea is one of the new American style fridge freezers with phone app and a stocktaking system builtin – that’s a fantastic way to make sure you avoid wastage, don’t run out of your favourites and nothing goes out of date!
Of course, pull-down and pull out storage can be introduced in bedroom areas too if you find any shelves difficult to access or organize. Simple updates like this that make your life that little bit easier are well worth thinking about, but many of us curse these things regularly yet never think to change them, which is odd, really.
…time to plan ahead for 2025!
AL-FRESCO DINING
Another growing trend in new lodges is having bi-fold windows near to dining areas that you can throw open at halfheight. These appeared a couple of years ago in the Victory Franklin and we have seen recent examples from Kingston Park and Leisure Homes where lodges have had these built in. While we haven’t seen any retro-fitted yet, we have definitely noticed that in bespoke lodges they are starting to be requested more at build point. While that may be a bit more of a change than you want to consider if you like your home the way it is, it is something to consider if you’re about to have a lodge or park home built from scratch, and this particular growing trend does suggest that al-fresco dining is as popular as ever.
YOUR OUTSIDE SPACE
Now is as good a time as any to pick up an end-of-season bargain in terms of garden furniture and stow it away for use in the Spring. If you also fancy a built in barbecue and drinks chiller, we’ve flagged up Vuestro furniture before and they are well worth a look. As you may be pottering about outside raking up leaves and plant debris that won’t make it to next year, why not consider introducing a compost bay if you live in a park home, or a water butt to make watering easier next year? Or if you want to use planters to create a potted kitchen garden and host a variety of edible plants, plotting your timelines on your new 2025 calendar to make sure you have all you need well ahead and don’t miss any key timelines might be a good way to start. Talking of garden leaves and debris, you don’t want to be dragging that into the home with you either so it may be worth checking your matting is up to the job and firm enough to cope with winter demand. They do need replacing now and again!
A VISUAL CHECK
While we’re still thinking about the outside space, it’s worth carrying out a quick visual check on the outside of your property to make sure it’s winter-ready. If you’re thinking about applying a coat of paint or additional protection, there isn’t a lot the folks at Resitex don’t know about that, and they are happy to give advice where needed – they supply many of the main park home manufacturers so you can be sure that their advice will be park home appropriate.
A QUICK BOOST OF HEAT
Rather than turning your entire heating system up when it’s chilly out, it may be more economical to just give your main living area a bit of a boost of hot air if you don’t have a fire built in already. Parkhouse Air Conditioning can install units that can both heat and cool a room, making sure you are comfortable quickly whatever the weather, at minimal cost, and don’t take up much wallspace. Well worth the cost for peace of mind that you won’t be too cool all winter or run up a massive bill you won’t like at the end of the quarter!
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION:
www.parkhouseac.com
www.vuestro.furniture
www.resitexcoatings.co.uk
www.vuestro.furniture
www.resitexcoatings.co.uk
