I dont like the lack of light, in perticular only 2 tiny south facing windows. that being said thoughs i think thoughs 2 45 degree doors really mess everything up. the cause wasted space in all but the bedrooms, and i dont know how anyone could not feel on edge in that bathroom. I just cant help think of someone getting home after a long day and wanting a nice relaxing bath/shower and they come into that bathroom. Anyway i got to go but my vote is the 45 degree doors ways they mess up so much with the rest of the plan.

Hi John,

my list today would be:

4.)room with just a single window facing North
3.)kitchen / dining / living connection
2.)bathroom layout / 45-degree walls all over the house
1.)entrance – although nice size and closet – the stairs stepping down to the garage make this place rather small or even dangerous, the double door towards the living room downsizes the entrance room and implicates a very wide walking path throughout the house (as you can tell by taking a closer look to the connecting door between the kitchen and living area)

I guess a little rearranging would help a lot.

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1. Non-functioning Main Entry.

Just a simple adjustment of the door location would address a few problems with the front entrance.

Firstly, shift the door location, along with the stoop further south so that circulation doesn’t conflict with the stairs to the garage or with the space directly in front of the closet. It also improves the usage of the porch. Before the circulation was dissecting the small porch in half, rendering it non-functional. Secondly, add side-lites to one or both sides of the door for more natural lite and change the door swing to suit.

To round out the wwwth list, I’d say…

2. The isolation of the back Kitchen to the rest of the main living spaces.
3. The omnipresent 45 angles which led to most of the problems with the layout.

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I agree with the previous comments and would add one more complaint — this plan devotes far too much of its limited space to eating. Having both a formal dining space off the living room and a large breakfast nook off the kitchen in such a small house is overkill and a real waste of space. In the course of redesigning the mail floor to address the issues that the rest of you have raised, I would look at dropping down to one dining space plus a breakfast bar, and maybe use the freed-up space to add a den/study or a master ensuite if the client was interested.

1. The central bathroom with 45-degree openings plunked on either end is a major problem here, not just because it forces the main living space to accomodate it, but because as a room it mostly fails with bad layout and wasted space, not to mention the noise, ventilation, privacy issues–yuck! As others have said, the kitchen is more logical here, though there would have to be more south windows then too, and maybe there’s another house on the south side, so…skylight?

2. Two dining areas with limited kitchen access because it’s stuck in a corner between them. One eating space should suffice.

3. Bad entry door position. Louis already said what I noted down for the front entry–move door south and push back the wall that’s presently behind the tub and add windows.(Get rid of double doors while you’re at it!)

I hammered this one out, needs work but here we go:

a, got rid of extra dining space
b, opened up living are
c, moved kitchen to front of home,
d, laundry can be moved down stairs, allowing en suite bath for master bedroom. Maybe a door can be placed at the end of the hall to obstruct view to bathroom.
e, added a few more windows to southern exposure and access to back yard from western exposure. There was no door before unless it was off the nook.
f, for the entry I moved it south and placed a half wall or glass wall to allow a more open feel while adding a little more safety to the top of the stairs. There is a side light on the front door as well.
g, that gray chunk in the middle, mill work of course

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James, I agree with Louis. You’ve simplified the layout quite nicely. (I like laundry upstairs, personally.)

I also wonder about that space where the millwork is. Possibly a little bit too much space right next to the entry? Could the millwork be a freestanding, two-sided unit, and moved toward the kitchen area, creating a small hall,perhaps? Maybe such a slight break could possibly address Louis’s comment re: the front entry’s view into main living space.

Hi Terri, some good points as well. A rethink of the kitchen and the front hall do seem to be at hand.

I wonder if the mill work can be run from the back of the living space to incorporate the kitchen as well. A split between the kitchen and the dining area can be made to allow entry from the front hall and still allow the other areas to remain private.

^Yes…i had similar thoughts…

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My list would be:

1) All the 45 degree angles.
2) The two dining areas. Remove the wall between the current dining room and breakfast nook and make the breakfast nook the dining room and the living room larger.
3) I would eliminate the door from the garage into the house. I know in a cold climate it helps somewhat but you have the same amount of walking through the house with groceries and the door and steps really makes the entryway very small and cramped.
4) If the closet in the master bedroom where to go at the other end of the room, you could move the doorway and avoid the awkward entry into the room.

A very good dissection of this house by everyone.

I was struck by Doug and Terri’s observation that there is too much space devoted to eating. The nook takes up one of the best spaces in the house and the dining area one of the worst. This also underlines what I think is the major design flaw in the house which is the location of the kitchen. Volker’s redesign to move it up beside the bedroom really opens up the living areas into one continuous space. The plan that James and Louis worked on with kitchen at the front also works and has the added advantage of moving the second bedroom onto the back wall to get more light and air.

I think it is really interesting to see how much better these plans can work if they are given just a little bit more consideration. None of the changes being proposed would cost any more to build than the original (of course renovating an already built house wouldn’t be an option but changing the design before it was built would be easy).

After considering all of the comments my summary of the three worst things wrong with this house are:

1. The bathroom location and layout – thanks to Brad, Ersie, Grace, Volker, Lisa and Tony.

2. The location of the kitchen – thanks to Grace, Ersie, Volker, James, Louis,

3. The awkward entry – thanks to Louis, Brad, and Terri.