Case Study: NE Portland House in need of a more spacious feel

The house described below is cramped and is not optimally functional.  We provide solutions by redesigning the floor plan.

Property details:
Neighborhood: Hollywood district NE Portland
Main level square footage: 840
Unfinished basement square footage: 400

Design Challenges

• The laundry room occupies 58 square feet of this already very small home.
• The back door ends up being the main access to the home being that the front door faces a busy street and there is off street parking to the rear. Yet the haphazard laundry set up makes for an awkward and unappealing entrance to the house.
• This kitchen has very little usable countertop space. The fact that the countertop is broken up into three small surfaces on one side makes the space less usable than if the countertop were consolidated.
• The bathroom is very cramped.
• The first bedroom is accessed off of the living room, and has only a makeshift closet.
• The existing basement stairs are rickety and have just over 5 feet of headroom.

The Solution

• Opening up the wall between the kitchen and living room lends a much more appealing and spacious feel to the space. In a small space it is best for the layout to be as simple and open as possible. The more divided the space is, the more cramped it will feel.
• By extending the cabinetry to left of the range and consolidating the countertop a much more usable layout is achieved.
• By reconfiguring the front bedroom more space is giving to the bathroom creating a more modern layout. Also the bedroom is no longer accessed through the living room.
• Moving the back door to the kitchen allows for the entry/laundry room square forage to be given to the bedroom.
• Reconfiguring the stairs makes the basement more accessible so that the laundry can be moved downstairs.
• Over all the following is a much cleaner, functional and modern floor plan.

For 3D renderings visit our 3D modeling page