The 3 Rooms I Refuse To Live Without In My Next Home

BY BRIDGE HENNESSEY

When you shop for your next home, do not just look at bedrooms and bathrooms. Think about the rooms that truly change how you live every single day. For me, there are three I will never give up again: a real home office, a real laundry room, and a real kids’ playroom.

A TRUE HOME OFFICE

Not a corner of the living room. A real room, with a door. My home office is set up so I can actually welcome people, with space for extra chairs, a proper work surface, shelves, and room to breathe. I can host clients, have serious phone calls, spread out documents, and still feel I am in a professional environment, even if I am at home. There's ample space to move around, I could roll out my yoga mat in here, for a quick stretch. When my eldest son moved out to College, I renovated his bedroom to suit my business needs, now his old closet is my personal library and a hide away for my filing cabinets. Once you get used to working in a space made for focus and for receiving people, it is almost impossible to accept going back to the kitchen table.

A LAUNDRY ROOM THAT WORKS AS HARD AS YOU

My laundry room is one of my happiest non negotiables. I have bins to separate whites that need to be bleached, colors, and blacks, so everything is sorted from the start and nothing piles up. All the Tide detergent, Bounce and iron are tucked away in cabinets, with clean quartz countertops, a beautiful deep sink, and space to fold everything on the spot. The ironing board is there, within arm’s reach, and nothing spills into the rest of the house. There are never dirty clothes lying around, and everything goes directly back into its bin. Once you have this level of order, you simply cannot imagine going back to an open laundry corner in the hallway. RICHELIEU offers some solutions: pullout hampers, bins... but I personally buy my clothes racks, bins, bags at IKEA.

Because I live with two teenage boys, 17 and 18, who can burn through multiple outfits in a single day between school, sports, work and going out, I also planned for two full sets of washer–dryer machines from the very beginning, with enough dedicated space, electrical capacity and plumbing built into the room. When it’s designed properly, laundry stops feeling like a punishment and starts feeling like a simple routine you can stay on top of. Two sets of machines mean you can run bedding and towels at the same time as everyday clothes, and you’re never stuck waiting for a free drum. For resale, that kind of well‑planned, “family‑ready” laundry room is the kind of detail that quietly impresses serious buyers and makes them think, “These people really thought of everything.”

A KIDS' PLAYROOM THAT LEAVES THE CHAOS BEHIND CLOSED DOORS

The kids’ playroom does not have to be on the main floor. It can be in the basement and still be absolutely essential. That is where the video game console lives, the Legos, the toys, the crafts, and even a ping pong table. It is the space where they can watch movies, laugh loudly, and just be kids without disturbing the parents. Ideally, it is big enough for sleepover parties, extra mattresses on the floor, and all the energy that comes with that. And when the door closes at the end of the day, the rest of the house feels calm again.