It's easy to focus on how you want the interior of your custom home to look, but spending ample time thinking about the exterior is an important part of the design process. Your custom home builder can provide you with a lengthy list of exterior features that may appeal to you. One such feature is a breezeway — a covered space that generally connects a pair of structures such as a home and a garage. Adding a breezeway outside of your custom home can be a good idea for a number of reasons, including the following:
Comfortable Living Space In Inclement Weather
Many homeowners appreciate how the addition of a breezeway outside of their home provides usable exterior space during periods of inclement weather. While you might enjoy spending time on your deck or patio when the weather is good, these areas may be less than comfortable when it's raining or snowing. Having a breezeway will give you a covered area in which you can set up patio furniture and other amenities to have outdoor living space regardless of the weather conditions. If you're an avid barbecue enthusiast, you'll appreciate the ability to grill food in this area during rainstorms — something that you might feel resistant to do with a barbecue on an uncovered deck.
Curb Appeal
You may feel as though a breezeway offers a high degree of curb appeal compared to having two buildings that sit unconnected. For example, if you want a detached garage close to your custom home, you may feel as though it and your residence could look a little awkward. Fortunately, a breezeway offers a visually appealing way to tie these two structures together. Typically, a builder will construct the breezeway out of materials that are present in both of the structures that it's connecting, creating a cohesive look.
Convenient Storage Space
A breezeway also provides a significant amount of convenient covered storage space for you. If you plan to have a wood-burning fireplace in your custom home, you might plan to store some firewood in the breezeway so that it stays dry and is easy to retrieve when you need it. You can also store recreational equipment such as bicycles in this space. In both cases, using the breezeway for storage means that you aren't taking up valuable garage space with these items. Consult with a custom home builder to learn more about adding a breezeway to your home plans.