Fixing a 1300 sq.ft. Townhouse – Part 2

Posted on: March 18th, 2011 | 8 Comments

John and Matthew display the design changes they’ve made to turn a 1300 sq.ft. townhouse into a “Slow Home.”

If you enjoyed today’s Design Minute, you may also like “From Fast to Slow: Fixing an 800 sq.ft. Apartment” and “From Fast to Slow: Fixing a 2500 sq.ft. Single Family House”.

  • http://deleted S.N.

    That is great really solution to the problem.
    Just one remark: Where so you put TV? That living room is a bit awkward..
    I would remove sitting on the island, move dining table to the right, and rearrange living room area so that sofa faces the windows… than there are more options for the TV….

  • Jesse

    I really enjoy these compact townhouse segments, this building type just has so many challenges and yet accounts for a lot of the new infill building in cities. I love the ideas to improve them, I’ve built several of them and know I can do better.

    I wonder if John and Matthew might show an example of using the kitchen island as an effective sole dinning area in one of these compact floor plans. I would like to eliminate the dinning table altogether but one sided seating at a island doesn’t seem intimate enough to be the only option even in a small plan. I would like to dedicate more room to the living area by combining the kitchen dinning function. I’m stymied by the seating on the kitchen side of the island in a table like seating arrangement because it seems to interfere with the kitchen function to have chairs there. Yet when you supersize the island to allow for dual functionality I seem to end up engulfing the same amount of space as having a dinning table….

  • Terri

    I like this solution too, but I have to agree with S.N. on the couch placement. I don’t like looking directly at a kitchen when I’m out of there–no matter how beautiful the cabinetry. And he makes a good point about TV placement too. I’d be tempted to put the couch with its back to the entry and create a focal point on the end wall (shelving that includes TV?).

    Jesse,
    We’d had some Slow Homers offer photos in the past of some good seating for dining nicely incorporated into the end of an island. It looks like there’s plenty of space here for this option.

  • Brad W

    If memory serves, us old timers worked on this in a past design segment. I think the comment about the TV came up then as well. Regardless, it is a good exercise that exemplifies what I have always thought about designers and architects – they hate TVs :)

  • Matthew North

    Brad W……nothing gets past you!! I love it!

  • Terri

    BradW & Matthew
    You know, I thought that plan looked vaguely familiar, too, but after a while they all do. Good to know I’m not really losing it!

  • Jon

    Hi. I really enjoy followig slowhome from my smart phone when I’m on the go. I was wondering if you have changed your video formating because as of recently I have been unable to view the last few videos you have posted. Keep up the great work. The video edits are great tools in this world.

  • http://slowhomestudio.com Eric

    Hi Jon,

    I’m looking into the reason why the videos aren’t showing up on smart phones. Once I find a resolution, I’ll post a comment.

    -Eric