A luxury-hotel stay is the ultimate sensory escape. So it’s no wonder homeowners and designers alike are looking to hotels for their home-design cues. “The term ‘resimmercial’ is going around the design community,” says Young Huh of Young Huh Interior Design and Cosentino Design Alliance member. “It’s essentially the concept of blurring the lines between commercial and residential design to create a home experience with elements of hospitality you might see in a spa or a luxury hotel.”
Private residences are infusing both a sanctuary-like feel to attend to self-care needs as well as an element of leisure to everyday living. It’s a trend with which Jim Tinson, AIA, CEO, Hart Howerton, is very familiar. His firm, which consists of architects, planners, landscape architects, and interior designers, works on projects that span the residential, commercial, and hospitality markets—designing everything from hotels and private clubs to residential communities, private homes, and institutions.
“What we talk about is designing complete environments; everything we do informs the other,” Tinson says.
His clientele no longer draws a distinction between their vacation accommodations, private clubs, or primary residences, he says. “They’re well-traveled: They’ve seen the best things; they’ve been to the best places” and they’re referring to those places when deciding how to design their homes, Tinson says.
“We bring elements of leisure to primary living and then create destination homes that basically reflect a mobile lifestyle,” he says. “There’s a focus on elevated amenities and hospitality experiences baked into private homes.”
Here are some of the top trends blurring the lines between home and hotel in private residences:
“ We bring elements of leisure to primary living and then create destination homes that basically reflect a mobile lifestyle...There’s a focus on elevated amenities and hospitality experiences baked into private homes.”
Jim Tinson
AIA, CEO, Hart Howerton
Hotel-Style Suites
Instead of standard secondary bedrooms, Tinson’s clients are asking for complete suites, “so that guests walk in and feel like they’re staying with the graciousness of a high-end hotel.” Subsequent bedrooms are designed in exactly the same ways: with en-suite, comfortable bathrooms, closets, and black-out shades in the fashion in which Tinson’s firm designs hotel rooms.
In-Room Kitchenettes
“Every client right now is looking for a morning kitchen or wet bar in their [primary bedroom] suite as well as guest rooms,” Tinson says. This could be a below-counter fridge or a coffee station. “They want the kind of hospitality experience they would get at a hotel delivered to their home.” Even the ability to grab a bottle of water or juice—or make a cup of coffee without having to go to the kitchen.
Spalike Experiences
From curbless showers to stand-alone tubs to indoor-outdoor showers set in a garden, primary bathrooms are becoming more and more like spa retreats. For Huh, a spa bathroom can be achieved with something as simple as a luxurious bathtub and a neutral, calming color palette. Then there are wellness rooms with hot and cold plunges and infrared saunas. “We’ve even designed massage rooms with outside access, so a therapist could come in from the outside,” Tinson says.
Family Zones
Today’s hotels feature fun zones the entire family can use simultaneously. “In the old days, we would create spaces just for kids; now we’re designing family entertainment destinations with a game room, indoor-outdoor pool tables, bowling, and a golf simulator,” Tinson says. And clients are requesting these same family zones in their own homes.
Ski-Boot Rooms
Anyone who’s gone to a five-star ski resort knows part of the beauty is in the boot room. Now, these same swanky storage facilities are being installed in private residences. They might look like expansive mud rooms that are designed with features such as heated lockers, boot warmers, and ample equipment storage, Tinson says.
Complete Cocktail Bars
Home bars are going way beyond the roll-up cart or basement-afterthought variety and venturing into full hotel-bar experiences. For example, Tinson designed a hotel-worthy cocktail bar for a client that felt more like a real bar with racks overhead and seating. “My client wanted to be able to entertain guests in a hospitality-type environment in the comfort of home,” Tinson says.