The site www.coolhouseplans.com publishes their “Featured COOL House Plan” at the top of the site. I don’t know if this is a randomly generated plan (I tried refreshing a few times, but with no luck to in getting the site changed). I decided to check out their “featured” plan. It was memorably titled: CHP-29918: Triple Arched Front Porch. You can click on the title to go to the CHP page with the the plan.
What about this plan? Well…first the good. The Garage does not stick out and make it the most prominent feature. It has a nice covered porch. It’s relatively efficient…that is it packs a lot into a small space. It’s comfortably “traditional”…but I’m not sure that’s a good thing. The bedroom end is nicely laid out…not too much to complain about there. Functionally sized bedrooms and bathroom, with a window.
Now, the bad.
The sense of entry is really stifiled in such a small “hall.” The flanking walls constrict all who come and go. Imagine trying to say “goodbye” to somebody in this space. Then, the coat closet is down the hall a bit. A sure fire way for the guests to forget their coats. The arrangement of the dining room makes me want to put up velvet ropes with some notecards explaning the provenance of the furniture in the room. Is this an everyday meal spot? You’ll also notice, as a general rule, that most plans don’t have furniture placements. That’s because they don’t want you to see how poorly furniture (and by extension, your life) fits into the space. The kitchen is a mess…sure, the “work triangle” is almost right there, if you didn’t have the worthless puny island in the way. I won’t even begin to discuss the lousy placement of the refridgerator. The traffic flow from the garage is horrid…sure, it’s close to the kitchen, but again, there’s no sense of entry into the house. The breakfast area will barely fit a very small table…it’s wasted space. You’d be better off making the kitchen larger.
Do you really want to go through the kitchen to get to the master bedroom? There’s really no choice. The washer and dryer are also in a space so small ther’s no room for the actual laundry. There’s no light and air in the area…just a tight little hall. The mechancial equipment takes valuable space out of an already small and tight garage. Not only that, but it’s an awfully long run to the bathroom on the other end of the house.
The great room isn’t all that great. The fireplace makes a nice focal point, but I’m not sure how you’re going to arrange furniture in the room…and what about a TV (and the almost always prevalent “entertainment center”)? And, if the TV/Stereo is on the wall adjacent to the bedroom, it’s going to be awfully noisy in there.
Can you see yourself living in this house? If you can, it’s probably because you’re in something equally bad already (or worse, so this becomes an improvement). I suspect that your life won’t be improved by this plan…there are plans that more efficiently use the space than this plan.
I recently had the opportunity to visit some people in South Jordan, Utah. South Jordan is home to a new development in the “New Urbanist” style - Daybreak. New Urbanism is (my definition coming) the idea that current social and enviromental problems can be solved if we remake our cities into what they used to be. New Urbanism hearken’s back to the time when we all walked and is rooted in nostalgia for a times and places that probably never exististed. Part I is more about new urbanism than it is about Daybreak specifically. Part II (and will I get to Part III) will be about the development specifically and even maybe a house plan.
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