Week of January 8, 2010

Posted on: January 8th, 2010 | 3 Comments
  • Jeanie

    Thank-you for making me feel welcome here, John. I feel lucky to be able to learn the slow home principles in this interactive way with you!

  • Mid Mo

    Good Day everyone. Quite an interesting first exercise for me- my first week on the site. First a little on me and then comments on evaluating a space.

    I am not in the design business or have schooling in it so I come at this as consumer. I have been a renter of 4 apartments (we live in a two bedroom 600sq that is comfortable- I am surprised that I have just a few issues) and owner of 3 single family detached homes (they were ranging from 1500 to 3000sq feet)of which one was a semi custom that we built. While young I wanted to be an architect for planning home developments but the rigor of the study steered me away. These days I like to look at plans and visit open homes and developments occasionally. I had a great time designing (or helping to do so) three kitchens as part of remodels. You will find I have boxes full of graph paper with floorplans for various kinds of homes. I am always working on a house (these days it is a modular home from shipping containers).

    The light debate from these two plans made me think. The other day I asked about flexibility in planning and the community responded that it is a slow home principle. So following on that some people look at a space in relation to what furnishings they already own ( be it financial- I can hear my aunt thinking I spent xx on that couch and will hold onto it until I die OR personal nature -my girlfriend and her 50′s styled dresser from childhood). And as we saw this week the expectations of what an individual thinks a space should contain (desk in the bedroom?). These issues could cause some to choose a space over another even if the other was more slow.

    Yes I encourage them to look at the space and their things with a bit of flexibility (a dresser does not have to be in a bedroom and I have seen them used in the living room and likewise I use an entertainment unit in a bedroom for clothes). I hope that the finished products on this site (tools, guidance, book?) would also address those situations.

    *As for submitting plans, I have a trial on the software I am using. Can anyone out there point me to a site that I can load something for free? Oh I am attaching a costly redesign to the 800 plan in that part 2 thread that I threw together.

    Thanks!
    Mid Mo
    Toronto Canada

  • Meg

    Hi John,

    I’m glad the pages got to you. They’d have got there quicker if I’d have put them in a bottle with a cork and thrown it into Dublin Bay!

    Our landlord is moving back in so we’re on the move again, although just within Dublin itself rather than overseas. During the househunt it was interesting to see what our priorities ended up being. We went for somewhere walkble to school and corner shop and a few restaurants, a cycle to work and the city centre, right next to a park. It’s got good light and a bit of garden on all 4 sides. We had to compromise in other ways. It’s fast in terms of size as it’s an old house with high ceilings and will probably cost us an arm and a leg to heat it. On the other hand because it’s old it has less bathrooms. A good closet space comes at the expense of an entry space that will need a bit of furniture. A nice big dining space comes at the cost of open plan kitchen and dining.