Remodelling Townhomes In Atlanta

Posted on: August 4th, 2010 | 27 Comments

This is Day 197 of the Slow Home Project and we need you to join us in our quest to evaluate the design quality of houses in nine North American cities in nine months.

It’s Wednesday on the the Slow Home site and that means it’s time for another Design Project! This week we need your help to re-design the main floor of the “Chadsworth II” townhouse in the “Overlook at Claremont” development in North Druid Hills – about 15 minutes north east of Atlanta.

The “Chadworth II” is 2,221 sq ft on three floors and has 2 bedrooms and 2.5 bathrooms. There are some significant design flaws on the main floor which need to be addressed – so, here are the guidelines for this exercise:

1. The kitchen, living and dining spaces need to be re-located and re-designed – the living room really needs a focal point.
2. The windows to the front and back are precious and should be utilized for the principal living spaces – not for the inside of a pantry as in the current design!
3. Although not well designed – let’s leave the stairs as they are. Let’s imagine that this is outside of the project budget.
4. Although they are in an odd location in-plan – let’s also leave the powder room and back closet – again, think budget constraints.
5. There will be bonus points if anyone can figure out a way to get a coat closet at the front entry without changing the stairs! Remember there is a level change between the front door and the kitchen level that has to be addressed.

Day 197 – PDF
Day 197 – Existing
Day 197 – Demo
Day 197 – Full Symbol Library

See John's Final Design

Good luck everyone and we look forward to seeing your finished designs – we will be posting the results on Friday!

See you tomorrow for our “In Detail” episode looking at entry spaces in town homes!

  • Murray

    [img]th01.jpg[/img]

    Here is my go – my biggest decision was the relative location of dining and kitchen – you can see my final choice after a bit of deliberation.

  • Matthew North

    Murray – interesting scheme with the coat closet also acting as a grounding element for the dining space.

  • Joshua

    [img]atlantatownhome.jpg[/img]

    With such a wide open plan, I wanted to keep it that way the most part. I’m not sure if the space between the dining and the kitchen should have anything, but I was thinking an arch. I was trying to find a way to have a little bit of a study, but the desk just off the kitchen is all I could get. It still wouldn’t be a terrible spot for a computer anyways. Nothing special other than that.

  • Franco

    [img]franco2.1.jpg[/img]

    Here is my go- I too had quite a bit of difficulty laying out this plan. (Murray my apologies that our two plans are so similar, I found that the kitchen worked so well in the rear of the unit).

    The plan in itself is fairly self-explanatory. Two notes: I replaced the railing in the front with a solid wall and placed a closet in the main entry. As this is a half-story rise, depending upon the height of the closet, there may be room for a ledge above the closet or a window.
    The second note, I have a niche on the hallway side of the floating fireplace, I thought it was a nice little detail.

  • Andrew

    [img]designprojecttownhomeatlantamcconnell.jpg[/img]

    Here is my entry! I positioned the dining and living spaces at the ends of the floor so that they would receive the most natural light. The kitchen is at the center of the plan and I still wanted this space to receive as much natural light as possible but I also wanted to use some walls to help define and separate the space. So I used only a couple of walls that run along the back of some of the counters and positioned them so they block very little sunlight.

  • Tiffany

    [img]1_atlantatownhome.jpg[/img]

    I started by deciding that I wanted the living room to overlook the entry and the kitchen to be close to the patio door for ease of access to the BBQ. I also prefer plans that are extremely open , incorporating the dining and living in adjacent areas, as they can be easily rearranged for hosting parties. As I continued to lay this out, I realized that I was recreating the main floor of the Townhome that I live in. This is not surprising as I love the layout and versatility of the spaces, and given the openness I know that there is ample natural light within all areas of the floor.

  • Tiffany

    [img]3_atlantatownhome.jpg[/img]

    Try that again!

  • Frances GF

    Hello,

    My design has simple clean lines.

    The kitchen has long stretches of counter top and three windows above and with no upper cabinets on this wall the kitchen should feel bright and open.

    Built-in storage and display extend along the living and dining areas.

    I am not pleased with the front closet, I sooo wanted to straighten out those stairs to accommodate a larger closet.
    Can’t wait to see what innovative ideas the Slow Homers come up with, you never disappoint!

  • Frances GF

    [img]1_shdp76demo.jpg[/img]

    Again!! I didn’t attach. Sorry.

  • Mid America Mom

    [img]atlantatown1.jpg[/img]

    Decided a middle kitchen would work. Originally went with my favorite a U but decided a double galley would be a nice change. There is a line of sight into the dining room from living room so you could see some interesting light fixture.

    I wanted to have a coat closet that went up above the second floor and that would also act as a sideboard. But it felt too tight in the entry. So here is a solution, that can be on the landing, also decorative – http://www.homedit.com/alone-illuminating-coat-hook/ or http://www.erichginder.com/ghost-tree.html .

    Mid America Mom

  • Steve in Van

    [img]chadsworthiielevation.jpg[/img]

    The developer’s pics show that these windows are really french doors — they go all the way to the floor. Placing a kitchen counter or furniture in front of them is problematic.

    http://www.newhomesource.com/homedetail/market-84/planid-770919

  • Terri

    [img]atlantath.jpg[/img]

    Good point about the windows, Steve! Thankfully, it won’t affect what I did. :)

    I also chose to incorporate a central kitchen. I thought this would allow the two seating areas (dining/living) a better view to outdoors; also, the kitchen is closer to those stairs when packing groceries up from the garage.

    There’s a small closet at the top of the curved steps for the front entry. A bench is tucked beside it to complete this space. I eliminated the wide end on the stairs beside this bench, but I didn’t think that was changing the staircase per se.

    The other elements are labelled. I didn’t know how to indicate that the TV can pivot into the room to direct it towards the couch. The shelves are supposed to be the focal point. I don’t like furniture in front of windows, so I didn’t put in a sectional; but given Steve’s point above, maybe that was a fortuitous choice. ;)

  • ReneP

    [img]1_redesignwk5.jpg[/img]

    My remodel relocated the kitchen to the center of the plan. The more I think about it, the more I seem to like having the kitchen in the center – the hub of the home. I think of the traffic that is always in and out of it, and the heat a kitchen generates – appropriately in the center. The kitchen is economical and still retains the pantry. The traffic trajectories from the angled stairways was difficult to deal with and I found I could not avoid the wasted space they create – so at least the trajectories lead into open spaces and are not blocked. I then added a bookshelf between the staircases to use up some room there. Coat closet by the front door with sliding doors – closing off the view from the entrance onto the dining room. The dining room was another issue for me – I did not want to make it too big, so I thought of having a study behind it that is separated from the dining room by a wall with two interior reeded-glass windows – the door into the study is barnyard-style sliding door (made out of zebra wood – grain running vertical).
    The living area has two focal points – the television sandwiched between two tall built in bookshelves – and the patio with its folding-glass doors (how is that for budget constraints?).

    Now I am looking forward to seeing what everyone else did :)

  • Matthew North

    Steve in Vancouver – great find with the developers web site! Now I’m looking forward to your plan submission! (hint – hint!)

  • JPod

    [img]sample2.jpg[/img]

    I did this at work, so I had a tough time with sizing and drawing shapes. I tried putting in a closet at the front, if you’re wondering what that is.

  • ReneP

    [img]redesignwk5copy.jpg[/img]

    Ok – dining room has been niggling at me since I posted – after not wanting to have the dining room too large, I feared that I made it too tight – so here is a re-submission with smaller table for 4.

  • Frances GF

    [img]2_shdp76demo.jpg[/img]

    Good catch Steve! The interior photos definitely show french doors and not windows.
    Therefore a quick redesign was necessary.

  • Jamie L

    [img]jamiel.jpg[/img]

    Heres my try! I put the kitchen in the middle

  • Tayler

    [img]1_taylercaseyfloorplan1.jpg[/img]

    I agree with ReneP, I like the kitchen in the centre too. I second her justifications.

    That nook behind the family room is supposed to be a small reading area.
    I found this plan really open and I still have wasted space in my plan. It was tricky this one.

  • ReneP

    [img]redesignwk5fr.jpg[/img]

    Oyieee…room in study for french doors now :-)

  • Grace Coulter

    [img]designprojecttownhomeatlantagraceforjohn.jpg[/img]

    interesting designs everyone. MAM I like your links today. Those coat hangers are amazing. everyone envision those in my design lol. cheers

  • frazer

    [img]4_vanroekel.jpg[/img]

    here’s my version. I wanted to keep enough space around the stairs for the large amount of circulation. It seemed logical to place the kitchen in the centre to allow for the dining room and living room to take advantage of the light. The partial wall in the kitchen helps to achieve some separation and order in the spaces while the wrap around counter connects the spaces.

  • Dan M

    [img]scan0034.jpg[/img]

    Here we go, I found the angles and the stairs problematic here, really not the ideal placement and design for stairs but I did what I could with them. i have left an area for circulation from one side of the townhome to the other and tried to keep it as open as possible while still allowing for storage and living. I have also changed the windows a bit (they are indicated).

  • Dan M

    [img]danatlantatownhome.jpg[/img]

    try that again…. didn’t think the scan was that big…

  • Tara

    [img]atlantatownhousev1.jpg[/img][img]atlantatownhousev2.jpg[/img]

    I made two submissions for this week’s design project.
    They have many similarities but I experimented with the different options for placement of the rooms. I created a closet and study block across from the stairs in order to make better use of the space and provide needed ammenities. I tried to use the windows to their highest advantage and keep the floorplan relitively open. I think the submission with the kitchen in the middle works better for me.

  • Kyle B

    [img]draft2.jpg[/img]

    In my design I used the kitchen in order to separate the living and dining spaces. I love having the dining table near the balcony, making it inviting to eat outside, weather permitting. After drawing the plan with a U-shape kitchen I realized I had a lot of wasted space behind the table so I turned the kitchen into an L-shape with an island and extended from the counter some millwork which can also double as a study.

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