By Hal DeKeyser
Walk in more than half the new model homes for sale in Las Vegas these days and you’ll more and more find a feature that didn’t exist in houses in the Southwest a decade ago: Drop zones.
If you grew up in the North or Midwest you may well have had what they called a “mud room” or “galoshes room” as you entered – a place to take off the boots and keep the snow and mud from being tracked in. In places like Vegas and other desert cities like Phoenix, that wasn’t much of a problem, so they weren’t a part of the architectural design.
And while Sin City hasn’t gone Japanese slipper polite just yet, the idea of having a place to put your keys, the kids’ backpacks or books, maybe the cell phone evidently has become more popular or useful.
Drop zones are showing up in the Vegas new home models.
Drop zones, a place for your bags and keys, common in new Las Vegas models.
In some models, it’s just a small table or niche with hooks for hats, keys and bags. Others are more elaborate, with a bench, perhaps a few slide-in baskets, a purse rack and a push-pin or note board. They generally are near the entrance from the garage because – let’s face it – that’s the way most of the family comes in and leaves the house.
For families like mine — notorious for driving off without the phone, wallet, coffee or something – these are handy and useful and don’t take up much space.
You still have to train people to use drop zones, though, instead of just tossing the stuff in your pockets onto the handiest surface. Then you won’t have to hear so much:
“Hey, where’s my keys? Who stole my keys?”
Free consumer’s guide on buying a new Las Vegas home
Want a FREE advance copy of Hal DeKeyser’s upcoming book on how to buy a new home in Las Vegas? It walks buyers through all the steps in the process, from figuring out what kind of home you want to finding financing, shopping the models, monitoring construction to what you do in the first year. It’s a helpful guide even for those who have done this before. To get one, simply email Hal.DeKeyser@gmail.com with “I want the book” in the subject line. (No obligation.)
