Not surprising, we have decided to go with option number 2, with some modifications to the original design.  We are going to push the kitchen toward the back of the house where it can get the maximum amount of light.  As with most homes, the kitchen will be the heart of it and we want it to be as pleasant as possible because we know we will spend most evenings cooking and doing homework there.  I can picture a nice comfy chair by the fireplace where I can read on cold snowy nights.  In reality, I will rarely get enough peace and quiet to do that but a girl can dream, can’t she?

For the living and dining room area, we decided to forgo the china closet for an open archway so the space won’t feel so closed in and dark when you come up from the stairs.  As much as this was a nifty idea, we don’t really have any china to put in there anyway—but feel free to steal this idea for your own renovation.  We would also prefer the powder room door to face the stairs instead of into the kitchen if this is structurally feasible.

Our next design decision will be deciding on back doors and windows.  It is harder than you think.

By definition, the parlor floor (or parlour floor in Canadian) is the second floor in a townhouse. In its original form, the building’s front steps accessed the parlor floor. The parlor is traditionally the grandest floor in the townhouse and almost always has the building’s highest ceilings. Historically, these floors were used for entertaining with two rooms separated by a staircase. These rooms were usually living rooms, libraries or formal dining rooms.

Our parlor floor will be somewhat historically accurate but let’s face it, times have changed, and our parlor floor will have to include the living, dining and kitchen area.  It will also have a shared entrance with the rental unit that will be on the top floor. Not the grand entrance we’d like but sometimes you have to accept the financial realities.

Like the garden floor, we were given three options for the parlor floor.  You’ll note that on all the plans there is an entrance way between the dining room and the kitchen.  This is an original pocket door that we want to retain.  Although there might be options that are better without it—our goal is to keep some of the house’s original detail intact and we don’t want to take the chance of damaging it by moving it around.

Parlor Floor 1

In this first option, the powder room we planned for this floor is in the extension planned for the back of the house.  The kitchen area is pushed toward the middle of the house.  This was our original idea because the current full bath is in the extension in this part of the house.  For this option the left wall in dining area is opened up with an archway, and as true New Yorkers, there is a little closet added because we can never have enough closet space.

The pros: This option leaves space for a small table and chairs in the back corner by the deck which might be nice.  Installing the powder room will be easy because it will be in the new construction.  We can put a window in the powder room, which has the obvious advantages especially because it is near the kitchen area.

Parlor Floor 2

The cons: We give up one of our fireplaces and the placement of the bathroom on the back of the house removes some wall space which could contain nice windows allowing additional light into the kitchen.

In option number two, the kitchen is moved to the back of the house.  The half bath is moved toward the middle of the floor.  For this plan, our architect devised a nifty little built-in off the dining room that could be a china closet or built in book shelves.The obvious pros to this option is that we keep the fireplace (non-working but hopefully working one day) in the kitchen, which will look nice.  It also still allows us space in the kitchen corner for a table.

Parlor Floor 3

The cons:  There is not many but the bathroom opens up in the middle of the kitchen.

In plan number three, the kitchen is L shaped and there is no island.  This option opens up the kitchen to provide lots of cupboard space and room for a table.  The fire place mantle is taken out and a pantry is put in its place.  Our apartment now has a pantry and I love it.

The china closet is gone in this option but could still be added in or we could leave it as is and add the hall closet back in.   We could also move the pantry to the other side of the powder room.

Since the extension will leave us with a long and thin building, natural light is something that we want to maximize and will factor into our final choice.

For the garden floor, out of the design options presented to us, we chose  number three with modifications to include a few elements from the other designs.  The most important component that factored into our decision was the need for a reasonable amount of space in the bedrooms, while maintaining a decent amount of closet space.

We were also seduced by the idea of our own bathroom.  What had we been thinking?  Considering how long it takes our eight year-old to get ready for school now, just imagine what it will be like when she is actually allowed to wear the make-up she tries to sneak on.

The changes to the original design option three also included the moving of the laundry closet to make room for a larger master bathroom (although it still won’t be overly large).  About a foot (or .3048m) was taken from the master bedroom area as well so that the spare room could be lengthened while still allowing for a standard five foot tub.  The second bathroom was reduced in size (since it will have only a shower) in order give an extra foot or so back to the second bedroom.  The architect was also able to give us our linen closet.  It is the little things that make you happy.