Male-Order Design

By STEVE KAUFMANContributing Writer

Its difficult to talk about the roles of men and women when it comes to home decorating without risking a 25-years-to-life sentence for political incorrectness.

Many men are the chefs in the family and want the kitchen designed to accommodate their wants. Many wives are the entrepreneurs in the family and need a personalized office for their business activities or financial management.

Men can be the gardeners, women can be the do-it-yourselfers. Or maybe shes the one who clears the decks and shuts everyone else up when a Kentucky basketball game is on TV.

Happens all the time.

But when home builder and designer Rob Osborne was asked to discuss What Men Want in terms of home redesign and remodeling, it was necessary to make some assumptions and give in to generalizations for which well almost certainly be criticized.

Osborne runs Details Consulting Group (www.detailsconsultinggroup.com), and has been a custom home builder for more than 20 years. He has worked with hundreds of thousands of customers and has seen trends cycle in and out. What he has found is todays men want to be involved in more of the decision making, and certainly the budget, of the project.

But hes also getting more involved in some of the design details, Osborne says, and that can include decisions about the kitchen, master bathroom, exterior of the house and still, and always the finished basement.

Most of the men Ive worked with dont care too much about the color plan, he says. They may, he says, take an interest in architectural details like, say, the crown moldings but mostly they defer to the woman on those decisions.

However, the kitchen is increasingly falling into the male realm. Most of todays home designs include a wide open floor plan with the kitchen integrated into the great room, Osborne says. Its more than just preparing Tuesday night dinner for the family. Its part of the entertaining process.

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Male-Order Design