Remodelling Townhomes In Vancouver

Posted on: July 14th, 2010 | 37 Comments

This is Day 176 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 Slow Home site and that means its your turn to try your hand at re-working an existing floor plan and changing it into a Slow Home!

The townhouse we have chosen today is “Unit L” in the “Carrington”, a 30 unit infill development in Oakridge – just outside of downtown Vancouver. The plan has 1,100 sq ft and 2 bedrooms and 2 baths.

Although the layout is not too bad, there are several things that could be improved in this plan, including:

1. A better connection from the interior to the exterior space of the back porch.
2. A better defined entry.
3. A new kitchen layout.
4. A reorganization of the living space, furniture layout and fireplace.

Keep the stairs and the front entry closet in its current location but feel free to change the door and window configuration that faces the back terrace. For an extra bit of challenge, see if you can slip in either a guest bathroom or a study!

Day 176 – PDF
Day 176 – Existing
Day 176 – Demo
Day 176 – Full Symbol Library

We look forward to seeing your posted plans and we will review them on Friday!

See John's Final Design

Join us tomorrow where we will be looking “In Detail” at bathroom space design in townhouses!

  • MollyK

    [img]shvanthr1jpage002.jpg[/img]

    Here’s one revision with the living area adjacent to the kitchen. Am considering several other possibilities…we’ll see if I can get them posted later.

  • MollyK

    Quick explanation of kitchen design. Decided against U-shape in my first redesign because sometimes the U has awkward corner cabinets that aren’t user-friendly. The “empty” wall could easily house a spice rack or message board.

  • Terri

    MollyK,
    Nice to see you’re back! MAM was wondering at your absence last week. I thought maybe summer holidays…I like your redesign. I know John is a fan of dining fireside, and I think quite appropriate in Vancouver. I’m not sure if I’ll be doing a redesign too.

  • Murray

    [img]vantownhouse.jpg[/img]

    Here is my attempt – I don’t think it requires any explanation. Looking forward to seeing other plans.

  • Jamie L

    [img]jamieproject.jpg[/img]

    Here’s my try. I didnt relocate the kitchen, I just put a single door access to the porch and put some windows.

  • Kyle B

    [img]draft3.jpg[/img]

    Here is what I came up with. Not sure if I went outside my boundaries by changing the back wall. Matthew did say to give some thought to it!

  • Kyle B

    I realized I forgot to include a dishwasher… I’m sure it could fit between the stove and sink!

  • Franco

    [img]franco2.jpg[/img]

    Here’s my try.
    Again fairly self explanatory. I liked John’s concept, so I based my off of it. I wanted to maximize upper cabinet space, so I got rid of the larger windows in the kitchen and did the box out over the sink.

  • MollyK

    [img]shvanthr2jpage002.jpg[/img]

    Here’s another redesign with the dining area adjacent to a “G”-shaped kitchen. Looking at my 2 entries I notice that the living area seems smaller in Design 2 with the kitchen getting more elbow room. In Design 1, the kitchen is a bit smaller, allowing for more room in the living area. I think I like Design 1; everything feels better proportioned and the dining area gets its own space. So many times it has to “tag” along beside the kitchen.

  • Terri

    [img]vanth.jpg[/img]

    I also put the kitchen at the front after first leaving it in the back. Replaced french doors with sliders and moved fp, surrounded by millwork.

  • MollyK

    Hey Terri,
    I was on vacation…really needed a break from the site to focus on other things. It is nice to clear your head…never like to be overly invested in one thing.;)

  • Mid America Mom

    [img]vantown2.jpg[/img]

    Hi- I thought of moving the kitchen up (maybe a later plan) BUT I went with a favorite of mine, the open floor plan middle kitchen. This helps to define the spaces. Beauty is that you could put the dining in either space. Against the door is a wall with 1 foot deep built in.

    Mid America Mom

  • Therese

    [img]day176redesignfloorplancopy.jpg[/img]

    Here’s my redesign. Tried to make it as simple and straightforward as possible.

  • Mid America Mom

    [img]vantown3.jpg[/img]

    Another with front kitchen and a desk space.

    Mid America Mom

  • Terri

    MollyK,
    Well, that holiday must have given your creative design brain a good rest–drawing two configurations!

    Same with you, M.A.M.–I like that kitchen at the bottom right of the plan–nice! So far, you’re the only one to try that configuration.

  • Ashley P

    [img]townhouseremodel.jpg[/img][img]1_townhouseremodel.jpg[/img][img]2_townhouseremodel.jpg[/img]

    So here is my floor plan. I came across a problem with a kind of dead zone around the enterance by the kitchen. I wasn’t too sure how to solve this but I think after I go through other examples I will get some ideas. One idea I had was to extend the wall by the enterance and make the kitchen a more of a C shape but I look forward to seeing alternatives!

  • Amanda

    [img]dailydesign2.jpg[/img]

    Here is my design. After looking at some of the other design ideas I realized that the kitchen could also stay on the back side if it was layed out the correct way. However, I still think that my design works well.

  • nicole

    [img]6_pp1.jpg[/img]

    After reviewing other options, I see that this option keeps the circulation space within the kitchen to a minimum.
    Overall, there is not a lot of space here!

  • Tara

    [img]vancouvertownhouse2.jpg[/img]

    Here’s my redesign for this week.
    I thought that the front part of the house was the best for the living room because of its width and the large windowed area at the front of the house. I created an extra storage wall at the front entry to seperate the space from the living room. I opted for a double sided fireplace to define the living and dining rooms as well as allowing both spaces the enjoyment of the fireplace. I changed the back exterior wall to have sliding doors in the centre of the wall, allowing full use of the patio space while not interupting the main living areas. This also allowed for windows to be centred on the dining room and kitchen as well.

  • Mid America Mom

    :) Thanks Terri. I see you have millwork in the entry and that is a nice touch.

    ******
    We have seen two of us attempt to place a 1/2 bath and another 2, a desk. Lots of millwork and some fireplaces. I like seeing the fireplace flanked by millwork as this is a good way to address the depth created by an interior grabbing element.

  • Frances GF

    [img]2_faltwandsl35.jpg[/img][img]1_shdp73demo.jpg[/img]

    I like the idea of opening up the entire wall with folding doors. See the image hopefully included.

    I kept everything else simple.

  • jim baer

    [img]100714slowdesignjpg.jpg[/img]

    i got carried away…… :-0

  • Frances GF

    Tara- I really like your treatment of the terrace wall, keeping the access in the centre.
    As to the double sided fireplace, who couldn’t love that.

    In my rush I completely forgot to include the fireplace in my plan.

  • JessicaC

    [img]designprojecttownhomevancouvercullenforjohn.jpg[/img]

    Not at all a drastic revision of the plan’s organization. The placement of the fireplace in the centre of the plan acts to service both the living and dining areas, and stands open to the entry; operating to receive visitors and signal the heart/hearth of home.

  • Frances GF

    John- Love the frosted glass wall partition. If the smooth side of the glass was in the entry it could also be a message board.

  • Kcull

    [img]revised.jpg[/img]

    Here is my attempt, I tried to define the kitchen with the U shape, which also defined the front entrance. From there i added a door off of the dining area and the living area

  • BradW

    MollyK – hope you had a great vacation – good to see you back every once and awhile

  • BradW

    Frances GF – nice plan, liking the open back wall and the associated design image.

  • JPod

    [img]floorplanweek2.jpg[/img]

    The kitchen is moved to the area adjacent to the main entrance, and reorganized to improve access. The borders of the entryway are clearly defined by the staircase and the partial barrier of the kitchen counter. The window in front of the sink provides access to sunlight, and the kitchen area is kept somewhat enclosed by counters and appliances. There is easy access however to the dining area, which is close by. The fireplace has been moved to an enclosed living space, with seating facing the television. Double doors in both the dining area and the living room provide unobstructed access to the porch.

  • ReneP

    [img]wk2redesignv2.jpg[/img]

    Tight space, so I did a lot of fiddling: moved the from entrance to make room for closet doors, and added a console table in the nook the stairs create – I think the entrance’s diagonal lead into the space works well;kitchen- basically moved to opposite corner/front-of-home but – rearranged a little (also added a dishwasher) and built a separating wall to isolate the entrance – I also added an eating bar that is connected to the tiny powder room I squeezed in; Living- centered fireplace with medium sized flat-screen tv to its left (our right), and added another set of doors out to the patio – I love the idea of almost opening up an entire wall to the outside (I don’t know how this unit is sited – Carrington gives no siteplan that includes the orientation – and so I fantasize that it opens to the North – thus mostly always well-lit and cool – and overlooks a dog park). Nothing fancy – but still cool :-)

  • ReneP

    Just finished looking over everyone else’s designs! Folding doors!!! Love ‘em! Made me realize how unfurnishable the back deck is in my submission :(

  • Grace Coulter

    [img]designprojecttownhomevancouvergraceforjohn.jpg[/img]

    fire escape is not an issue in this design… interesting designs out there today everyone. I look forward to going through them all.

  • frazer

    [img]1_townhome.jpg[/img]

    here’s my take, i wanted to maximize the window for the kitchen and allow access to the patio through both the dining and living room.

  • bstone52

    [img]vancouvertownhomerevised.jpg[/img]

    Here’s my revised plan – opened up the patio and moved the kitchen, might have cramped the tv area a bit.

  • Andrew

    [img]1_designprojecttownhomevancouvermcconnell.jpg[/img]

    Here’s my submission. The changes aren’t very drastic but I opened up the back wall with windows and a sliding door and I tried to keep the circulation clear from the front to the back. I also moved the kitchen to the front and tried to use it to help define the entrance area as well as define its own space through the island/counter. The fire place was also moved to become a clear part of the living room.

  • Tayler

    [img]taylercaseyfloorplan.jpg[/img]

    Sorry for the late submission, I was in bed all yesterday with a terrible migraine (this weather in Calgary keeps changing!). Anyways, I am really coming to terms with the fact that I will never be an architect…

  • sdokter

    [img]redesignprojectreal.jpg[/img]

    Here is my redesign project. It is pretty self explanatory and simple.