New Home Design 101
Living related rooms
Formal Living Spaces
Formal living spaces include those rooms that are used primarily by guests or by business associates that are shielded from the rest of the informal living spaces in the house. Such rooms would be formal Living Rooms, Dining Rooms, Parlors music rooms and perhaps a Den or an Office. Use the “Living” worksheet for each of these rooms. By now you should have the documentation technique down pat. These are rooms that definitely want some sort of vision statement. Typically they are immediately adjacent to a formal entry way and have easy direct access to a Powder Room. These rooms may or may not be facing a view and may be affected by other site parameters.
Elements of style and amenities feature strongly in these rooms. Do these rooms have special architectural wood work? How about special paneling or wainscoting? Do the ceilings have special treatments? Are there special windows or doors? Do any of them relate to specific outdoor spaces? Are there fireplaces or entertainment centers? Is a fireplace a special signature element in the home? Are there built in book cases or other cabinetry? Are there special materials used that are unique to any of these spaces? How does furniture arrangement affect the design of the space? How many people do the rooms need to serve? Do these rooms need any particular storage spaces? Are there any media or technology related amenities needed?
Informal Living Spaces
Informal spaces are those living spaces that are not defined as formal. An open concept plan may include only informal living spaces. These would include great rooms, Dining Rooms, eating areas, breakfast nooks, Dens, Offices, bonus rooms, Family Rooms, craft rooms, game rooms, and media rooms. These spaces are not necessarily individual rooms either. They may be functional spaces in part of a larger room. The large open area may include a dining area, great room and breakfast nook in one large room that may be divided only by perception. A study alcove may be placed off of a hall way. The breakfast nook might be a projection from the Kitchen. If the house needs to function both as a home for 6 and an entertaining space for 30 the open plan allows a great deal of flexibility in space utilization. Again, use a “Living” worksheet for each of these spaces.
Informal living area - living, dining & kitchen combined
Some of these spaces are likely to be strongly governed both by site parameters and room relationships. When considering these relationships, keep in mind traffic patterns. High traffic areas should happen between functional spaces rather than through them.
Elements of style and amenities are likely to feature highly in some of these spaces. Give consideration to the same sorts of issues as you did in the formal living spaces. Where should you be able to see the TV? Which rooms need to be able to see the kids while they play outside? Is the signature fireplace in the great room? Are there architectural elements that are carried into these spaces? What furniture are the rooms being designed for? Do you have special lighting ideas or needs that you wish to accommodate? How much blank wall space do you need for displaying art or photographs? What would you like to see happening to the ceilings? What sort of storage does the room need? Will built-ins feature in the room?
Food Preparation related rooms
The Kitchen
Kitchens tend to be one of the most important rooms in the house. They are often the center of entertaining and family living. Over the last several decades the arrangement of the Kitchen has evolved. Through the early 1950s homes typically had Kitchens that were contained in their own space. They were surrounded by walls and could be closed off from the rest of the house. They often had a secondary access either to the outside or to a garage. They were considered “utility” type rooms. Since then Kitchens have opened up and become more and more integral to the informal living areas of the home. Through the 1980s you could expect that your Kitchen was separated from other spaces by at least 2 walls, although they were no longer entirely closed off. Today Kitchens typically have little separation from the living spaces they are adjacent to being part of the larger informal living space rather than a separate space unto themselves. When thinking about your vision for your Kitchen, do so in that context. Use the Kitchen worksheet to document your thoughts.
Open Kitchen
The vision for your Kitchen will have a significant affect on its layout. A vision statement might be “A family Kitchen for daily food preparation that allows the cook to be part of the greater family activities and is the focus for routine meals”. In this case you’re likely to have the typical 3 workspaces (sink, stove, refrigerator) arranged in an efficiently sized work triangle. There is probably some sort of eating bar for family members to take informal meals that separates the Kitchen from the rest of the living space.
Site parameters might play less of a direct role than room relationships. However, it is often the case that the cook may want direct access to the view (rather than seeing the view across the living space). It may also be appropriate for the Kitchen to be able to easily see the outdoor area that young children will be playing in. East facing windows are always pleasant in or near the Kitchen.
Room relationships will feature strongly here. You probably want to be immediately adjacent to a breakfast nook or informal eating space. Some of the other informal living spaces will also be adjacent. Pantries may be adjacent or close depending on their size and purpose. A butler’s Pantry could separate the Kitchen from the formal Dining Room and thus be adjacent to both. Consider grocery shopping and hauling in the goods from your Costco run. It may be important for the Kitchen to be close to the garage or auxiliary entry.
Next what fixtures are you looking for? Obviously the possible range of appliances is huge. Do you need more than one oven? Do you have special baking needs? Do shorter family members need to be able to microwave their own popcorn? Do you need a dish sink and a food prep sink?
Finally, are there any stylistic elements you want reflected in the Kitchen? Do you have special needs in the cabinetry? If you are a baker, perhaps you’d like an appropriate height dough kneading space (typical counter top heights are too high). Perhaps you have large appliances that you want easy access to. Perhaps pull out shelves are more useful than stationary shelves in lower cabinets. Consider your current Kitchen and try to imagine solutions to problems you have now that you’d like to overcome in the new home. You may even want your Kitchen to be a place for displaying items. In that case, how much space do you need and what kind of lighting would be appropriate?
The Bar
Often informal living spaces, that are not adjacent to the Kitchen, have their own food preparation areas. Generally these are much smaller than the Kitchen but have some of the same elements. Use another “Kitchen” worksheet to document this.
Again site parameters generally play a less important roll. This sort of space is generally tied specifically to another room. When considering those relationships, remember the outdoor spaces. This room could serve as a staging area for outdoor entertaining as well.
A full service bar could have a sink, small dishwasher, instant hot water, ice maker, small refrigerator, wine cooler and microwave. It would have liquor storage (or display), easy access to serving glasses, storage for dishes, prep equipment and a cocktail preparation station. Often these are hidden by a raised bar similar to the commercial equivalent. A less complex version of this might have only a sink and storage.
