920 sqft 2 Bedroom House, Alberta

Posted on: May 2nd, 2009 | 13 Comments

920 sqft 2 Bedroom House, Alberta (PDF) | 920 sqft 2 Bedroom House, Alberta (JPEG)

  • Uno

    This is a very odd plan. Who would want to walk through a zig zag corridor like that every day? It is a big waste of space and I don’t like the way you look right into the kitchen when you walk in from the front door. That is what I think is wrong with this house.

  • Sarah

    I agree with Uno’s concern about the hallway but for me the worst thing is the way the kitchen is laid out. There seems to be too much floor space and I don’t like the angled sink. I lived in a house with that kind of sink and it always felt like I was standing in the corner when I did the dishes.

  • Lisa

    What an odd-shaped unit! I don’t like the extended entry/hall walkway into the center of the house. Once you finally get into the middle of things, there isn’t any space to navigate or turn around since the dining table is right there. All the wasted space near the entry, and not enough space in the dining/living area!

  • Thea

    I think it is too bad that the tenants only get hot westerns sun. That means no sun in the morning!

  • Tony

    What a terrible layout! this must be one of the biggest stinkers on this site so far! the kitchen and study are just cabinets attached to the outside of a really odd shapes hallway….and so internal in the unit! i also have a hatred for when the master bed looks right at the dining room as it would in this plan. finally, what a shame that the decks are off the bedrooms and not the living space. overall this is so badly designed that it should be in a hall of shame of some sort!

  • Judy

    For me, the worst feature of this house is the positioning of the bathroom that opens into the dining area. We once lived in an old house that had the same arrangement, and we all hated it. It was the house’s only bathroom, and in that position everyone had to be aware of who was using the bathroom and for how long. Talk about lack of privacy!

  • Joan

    Well, it is pretty awful. I took this from the point of view that my kids had to move into it, and they asked me to fix it with my endless bucket of money. It helped me adjust my attitude.

    One thing that would be a simple fix would be to put the dining room table by the west window instead of the living room, reversing roles of the rooms. It’s not beside the kitchen, but then it’s not beside the bathroom either. It’s a small space, so it’s not as if you were jogging to get to the dining room table. Draperies hung in front of the deck access and along the west side would create a very nice dining area. If you were no longer using the door to access the deck, better use from the bedroom might be possible. This might be the herb garden deck with the other deck for sitting and socializing.

    I would hope the second bedroom could be used as the television/family room using the outside deck for more public access.

    A small wall parallel to the bathroom door would block views into the bathroom. In fact, changing the door to a perpendicular one to the current one, and putting the new wall parallel to the current door would create more privacy.

    As for the zigzap entry, some attention to remaking that desk space might make things work better. Maybe a library presentation with storage? Create a focal point with beautiful wood framing the bookshelves and cupboards? Then it would draw in the guest or owner with books and artwork on the shelves?

  • Terri

    The main problem are all those doors coming off the dining area. A close second is the limited access to the balconies. Who is going to go through the extra bedroom to get to a deck? And that little one for master bedroom/living room is too small to sit more than one or two comfortably.

    Maybe in Alberta no one uses the deck for five months of the year, so it’s not a big issue? If so, it’d be better to have the rooms extend to the exterior wall (using those decks’ spaces) and allow for better layout overall (with some major changes).

  • Louis Pereira

    Wow, what a mess! Like Tony says, a genuine stinker – worst of the worst!

    3. Unnecessary Marketing ‘Features’ (Study / Walkin Cl.)
    2. Kitchen/Study facing walls and away from the Entrance
    1. The ziggurat shape entry.

  • Louis Pereira

    …Oh! Add one more unnecessary feature to my no. 3 – a second balcony off the Master Bedroom.

  • Grace

    Yes, there is so much wrong with this plan. For me, the worst is the distance from the front door to any light.

  • John Brown

    I think I agree with Tony about this being one the absolute worst projects on the site so far. I really appreciate Joan’s valiant suggestions for making it better. The more you look at it the more you just shake your head. Maybe we should considering starting a Hall of Shame.

    After reviewing everyone’s thoughtful comments my top 3 pick for the worst things wrong with this house are:

    3. The lack of privacy from the bathroom and bedroom doors
    2. The useless bedroom decks
    1. The dark,ziggurat entry

  • Louis Pereira

    John – I thought it would be worthwhile to post this revised version which i did this time with my wife (first time visitor).

    I won’t write at length about the changes to this attached plan, but this exercise demonstrates again that with careful planning at the very outset of the project, can result in a much better product.

    [img]090502_a.bmp[/img]