In many parts of the world (like some South Asian, East Asian, and Arab countries), adults living with their parents or grandparents has long been a cultural norm. And contrary to home-soil tradition, Americans are continuing to follow suit: Angi’s just-dropped 2024 State of Home Spending Report reveals that a significant 25 percent of respondents live in multigenerational homes. Compare this to an already high 14 percent of buyers who bought multigenerational homes in 2021 to 2022, per a previous National Association of Realtors survey. High mortgage rates and tight inventory of existing homes are certainly cost factors, but family living also reflects dynamics of aging elders, adult children who haven’t left the nest, and those boomeranging back home. If the “trend with benefits” seems right for your situation, here are a few ways to combine households harmoniously, from interior designers with inter-gen experience.
Divide and Conquer
Cathie Hong, who designed a friend’s home to accommodate three generations, suggests providing aging parents with their own “wing” of the house if possible, for a bit more privacy and a noise barrier (short of an ADU). Hong embraced the multigen movement herself for six months when she, her spouse, and their four kids moved into her parents’ home while they renovated their place. In order to keep the peace, they divided the house into two zones outside of the bedrooms. Her parents took the family room, where they could quietly read/chat, while Hong and her family used the formal living room as their play–slash–movie-watching hub. “It was chaotic at times,” she says. “But it worked well to establish boundaries and expectations from the get-go.”
Maximize Multi-Use Space
In tighter quarters, like the basement apartment Eva Voinigescu renovated in her parent’s Canadian home for her and her husband’s use, strategizing how a single floor can comprehensively serve daily needs is key. The designer fit both a six-person dining table and a low-footprint double desk supported by IKEA filing cabinets in the open kitchen and dining area. She also nixed bulky closets in the living area in favor of two Havsta cabinets, scaled down the fireplace, and wall-mounted the TV. “It is a really functional 400-square-foot living space,” she said of the glow-up.
Prioritize Family Function
When Zoe Feldman designed a family’s Georgetown, Washington, D.C., townhouse to welcome both a set of maternal parents and a third child, she took into consideration how high-traffic the home would be. Enter: a mudroom with large cabinets, plenty of coat-hanging space, and convenient shoe drawers. Feldman made sure frequently touched fixtures like handles would look great but stand up well, too. “My kids’ sticky fingers will eventually make it onto every surface, so everything needs to be family-friendly and durable,” the owner noted.
Find Common Ground
In Hong’s setup, the kitchen, breakfast nook, and formal dining area were communal spaces where everyone could come together for meals. But sharing has to go beyond designating zones: Part of their agreement to keep things fair was also splitting cooking responsibilities every other week.
Be Intentional With Color
When it came to decorating her client’s home for eight, the trickiest thing for Hong was trying to marry the homeowners’ and their parents’ aesthetics. “I tried to keep things a bit more traditional in the common spaces,” the designer says. Their long dining table, for example, blends a classic shape with unexpected details like slatted legs. Meanwhile in the kids’ bathroom, pastel pink paint (pictured above) and cloud-print wallpaper give the littlest members of the household a place that feels all theirs.
Consider Inclusivity
While common areas do often need to work “one for all,” a touch of thoughtful personality can help bring generations together. In Feldman’s Georgetown project, the home incorporated a sitting area open to the kitchen, where family and guests could hang out around meals. To offer her parents a sense of belonging, the owner decorated with meaningful Chinese heirlooms. “It was important to me to incorporate some items that would honor them and make this as much their home as it is ours,” she said of the renovation.
