in favor of a distinct room plan

via about.com

Living in an old home, I have come to appreciate the value of having distinct rooms. And while yes, we are looking to start a renovation that will open our living room up to our back hall and kitchen, our first floor while remain four distinct spaces - kitchen, dining room, den and living room (we also have a back mud room which currently is just a dump space). We spend the majority of our time in the kitchen and living room but we also get really good use of our dining room and den. We have just a small bistro table in our kitchen so any time there is more than just the two of us, we use our big table. I also love the convenience of being able to fold laundry on it, spread out work or just drop things on it as we come in the back door. Our den gets the most use in the colder months making it more of our "winter room". It's where we put up our Christmas tree and where our wood burning stove is located. Its a great space to watch the fire or curl up and read a book. Down the road, I could see it becoming more of a cozy office/adult space when kids come into the picture. The draw of the living room is our TV and our new sofa which we are eagerly anticipating (especially because I am pretty concerned about it fitting through our front door). Each room has its own use and feel yet isn't so zoned off to only get used one or twice a year. I think for us this means we are in the right size of house. Its also a promotion for the distinct room plan which is almost never featured or designed these days.

In today's residential design world its all about the open floor plan - tearing down walls, creating full sight lines with one big space and no separation. And while, I understand the advantages of this approach - I question it. A few drawbacks I see are:
- an inability to create cozy, intimate spaces that draw people in
- a loss of usable space to circulation i.e. awkward dead space
- a greater infiltration of TV into daily life as there is basically no escaping it
- less encouragement for people to get involved in a particular activity (cooking, watching the fire etc.) because they can be in the same room but doing something else
- no privacy
- rooms outside of the "big open space" getting no use for example the dining room
These are just a few things that I have thought about and while it might seem that I am really hating on the open floor plan - I am more just trying to give pause and question what has become such an accepted trend. Some food for thought on this Monday....

Like this post? Check out wood stoves, antique home style or resource review: the distinctive floor plan.

antique home style

A couple of weekends ago, I spent my whole Sunday morning discovering Antique Home Style. Dedicated to "how to live in and enjoy older homes", the website archives vintage home designs and has a focus on cataloging old house plans. I spend a lot of my time dreaming about and drawing floor plans so to find such an amazing collection of historic plans was more than just a little exciting for me. It might sound obvious but I think its worth stating - good floor plans make for well designed homes. There are no hard rules for creating a floor plan that works well but it should have good flow between spaces, appropriate and proportional room sizes, thoughtful consideration of natural light and views out and above all be representative of the way the inhabitants live (to read more about floor plans see this post). Historic homes often times need updating and some reconfiguring to fit with modern day lifestyles but I, generally, find they are much more attuned to how people use and experience space than the majority of new construction. Below are a few of my favorite historic plans with a lot more available on my Pinterest Design|Private board. Have a good Monday everyone!

1922 Colonial Ray H. Bennett Lumber Company 

1923 The Collingwood

1928 The Cranford

resource review: the distinctive home - part 2

The second key factor in creating a distinctive home is a well thought out floor plan. Eck begins this section of the book by explaining that the floor plan of a home should express the way its inhabitants live. Advocating a move away from manufactured, cookie cutter homes (I like to call them McMansions), Eck outlines a qualitative process to better understand the details of how one lives and then to create a space tailored to this discovery. 

For Eck, there are five critical ingredients to a distinctive floor plan. The first is that each room in the plan should be a place that is used and comfortable to be in. The second is that rooms need to work together. The third is that the plan needs to relate to the site outside. The fourth is that a plan should reflect a home's exterior and vice versa. Finally, the plan should have details that help define the use and feel of the space. Ultimately, for Eck "A distinctive floor plan can, at a glance, convey what is most important in our lives" (Eck, 119).  

New Construction: 
1. Eck proposes beginning with a wish list. This can include pictures and sketches but should be focused on the quality of rooms (for example - open and bright) rather than the specific aesthetic details. 
2. From this wish list, create a diagram that speaks to the relationship between spaces. A bubble diagram is often a good way to do this.
3. Determine how many stories by considering the context of the neighborhood - you probably would not want to build a tall two plus story house in a neighborhood of low ranches, what you prefer - a ranch that hugs the landscape or a two story home that provides views out, what will function best for you and your family - will you want to go up and down stairs everyday,  cost - often one story homes can be more expensive because they require more initial site construction and can cost more to heat and cool and finally think about the site and how you want the house to relate to it. 
4. Think about what type of plan would be best suited for you. Eck outlines three types. The first is the condensed plan which combines many activities into a small number of rooms. For example, the kitchen might share the same space as the dining and living rooms. This plan tends to be the most informal. The second and most common is the comprehensive plan. In this scheme, activities and their corresponding rooms are separated and distinct. The third and final type is the compound plan. In this plan, spaces/activities are given specific and distinct locations under separate roofs (think wings of a house). With this approach, hallways and connection spaces become extremely important. 

Purchasing a Home:
1. Same as above although it becomes particularly important not to focus on just the aesthetics. When looking at a potential new home,  think more generally in terms of size and relationship of rooms rather than paint color or flooring. Make sure to take a step back and really think about the layout of the home and how well it fulfills your wish list.
2. Same as above.
3. This point applies with some adjusting. When looking at a home see how it fits into the rest of the neighborhood - you do not want to be "that huge house at the end of the block". Think about the houses that you gravitate towards - if you love the two story farmhouse aesthetic you might not be happy with a one story midcentury contemporary. With regards to function, focus on the layout and size of a potential home - do you really want to have to clean five bathrooms. For costs, think about how the floor plan of the home with affect heating and cooling costs - open and airy might have lower cooler costs but higher heating bills and maintenance - single stories generally have quite a bit more roof area than two stories. Finally, don't forget to gather an understanding of how the house relates to its site.
4. Same as above and choose accordingly. 

Modifying a Home: 
1. While you are unable to change the whole layout of your home, think about how you use your current spaces and if you are optimizing them. For example, if you have a formal dining room that you never use could you add doors and make it into a home office. 
2. Does not apply.
3. Does not apply.
4. Does not apply. 

Check back in tomorrow for a distinctive floor plan example!