I find that no matter what size of lot you own, at least in an urban environment, designing a home comes down to problem solving within the City Code. There were so many parameters that were already in place from the get-go that our house basically designed itself. Admittedly, there were times at the start when we felt cornered, and that there weren’t a lot of creative layout options. Especially when we penciled our needs down.
List of Absolute Needs:
- 3 Bedrooms minimum
- at least 2 full bathrooms
- open layout kitchen/dining/living space
- largest roof deck we could legally design
Of course our wish list looked quite different.
- 4 Bedrooms
- 3.5 bathrooms
- Mud Room
- Laundry Room
- Walk-in Pantry
- Powder off Mezzanine deck
- A/C
- Radiant Heated Floors
The original “dream” list went on and on and on…
Our budget and the land we are sitting on just didn’t make many items off our original list feasible. We plan on having A/C and radiant heat (on the 1st floor only), but the space issues just could not be resolved. During the initial stages of design, it’s important to get all your wants out on the table. It’s a good exercise to know exactly what you desire for your dream home. How you want it to perform so that you can live comfortably and move rhythmically through its spaces. You may be surprised at what your spouse feels is important versus what you feel is necessary. A man-cave? What?!?!? Refining the list of spaces that will become your family’s actual future home is the next step of home design.
Next, you can tackle the City requirements. I say, let your architect/designer work out the details, but just keep in mind that there is a lot of pushing and pulling before the final layout and its dimensions passes through. We knew we wanted to max out on the height of our building as well as the width. Not that we wanted a big ugly box, but in the end, if we are being honest here, kind of. Just not the ugly part. Most people will want to maximize on their lot if it’s tight. If you have a sprawling plot of land, your built-space vs. open-space possibilities expand, but knowing that we were sandwiched between two existing neighbors, we knew we would have zero backyard and not all the “rooms” we dreamed of. So “compromise” became our motto. Practically no back yard meant placing high priority on a roof deck so our kids had some semblance of outdoor space to play. And be assured, the City Code told us exactly how big we could make our darn roof deck.
I’m also not fully in love with the idea of the bedrooms being on two different floors, but after a few iterations we knew that it was an inevitability. We are going to have to make the best of it. Kids zone on the 1st floor and Master Suite + Public Spaces on the 2nd floor. Again, “compromise” and move on. (I’ll let you know what a pain in the ass it is to carry groceries up to the 2nd floor once I’m living in the house a few months…)
My point is, architecture is about smart problem solving. Knowing exactly what your family needs to function gracefully within your home is the first step to tackling the problems that will arise. And they will arise! But have no fear. Pencil out a day in the life of your family. Don’t let go of the things that are important. (For example: kids spaces must be together, kitchen/dining/living spaces must feel airy.) But be open-minded and compromise on the rest. (For example: our backyard vs. deck situation, our bedroom locations, and garage must be 2-car and at the front of the house off the street…) The Code will dictate a lot, so breathe through the inevitabilities and I wish you the best of luck designing a home that still resolves the issues with innovation and style. A good designer can and will make the spaces flow to make them special, and come alive.
Don’t stop Dreaming!
-K
You can get this bag