Respecting Space
I've been making a list in my head of why I dislike Mondie's project. Then there other people's rehabs I dislike too because both they and the Mondie proposal do not seem to respect space.Townhouses and rowhouses in my section of Shaw are tiny. Less than 2,000 square feet with many in the 1,000 sq. ft. range divided into two or three floors. Compared to some single family homes I've seen up for sale out in the inner ring burbs being 3,000-6,000 square feet, city homes are much smaller.
That smaller space has to be taken in account. In my house don't even dream of trying to get a king sized (or even queen or double) box spring upstairs. If it don't bend, it isn't going to get around the bend. Futons rule. People and people's stuff have to get through the house and just reducing the space from some larger place's specs just won't work. I keep thinking of this one thin (so not ADA compliant) hallway I saw in one open house. It led to a bedroom. The room was big enough to house a large bed but there was no way to get a box frame or any large furniture in the room because of the hallway. Whatever had to go into the room needed to disassemble or bend.
When a house is shrunk you have to take into account where are the walls and other things that do not move. I have my horror story of trying to get a fridge in the house, past the portion where it pinches a bit where there edge of the stair and the living room wall come close. If I had 1 or 2 more feet, the pinch, which I'm sure on paper looks fine, would not be a problem. I'm sure the stair would not have ruined Nora's dress because it was a tight squeeze. But it did.
Living in a small space, not only do you need to make sure stuff can get through the door and down the hall, it shouldn't overwhelm a room. Big fridges and ovens and other things that would look fine in a regular American home can make a city kitchen look painfully tiny. Big couches with the sectionals and things that fill the suburban sized living room, crowd the city living room.
So just don't think you can take an 18 foot design and lop off 4 feet to squeeze in another house without having to deal with the consequences.
posted by Mari @ 14.11.05
4 Comments:
I feel ya. We got a tiny house and during one furniture delivery it took a half an hour to get the couch in and one delivery guy almost broke his wrist trying to toss a queen size mattress though a front window.
My roommate and I recently discovered this problem when we moved into our U St house. We spent hours trying to cajole first his queen, then my double boxsprings up the stairs. Only after we took enough chunks out of the stairwell walls did we finally give up, go to IKEA, and buy some bedframes that didn't require boxsprings that we could haul up the stairs in pieces. Oh, and the expensive heirloom bureau? Forget it, it's collecting dust in the backyard shed.
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Sorry about deleting the comment but I'm going to have to crack down on anonymous (initals, that's all I ask) comments.
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