Floor Plan Friday! (An homage to Blogging Project Runway's Fleurchon Friday!)

Well, my signature scent post was so popular I hate to post over it so soon but obviously this has to be posted on Friday (also I made Other Eric take this picture and load the image on to the computer last night so he would kill me if I didn't use it today).

Yes, I lied! I admit it; I lied! I'm a big liar and my pants are on fire! OK? Are you satisfied? I promised there would be no more Top Design floor plans but I just couldn't help myself. I have a problem and I need to be stopped.

Anyway, here it is: one last idea for the Santa Fe Lofts used in the final challenge of Top Design. My challenge, as always is to create a two-bedroom apartment while keeping as much open loft space as possible. This last plan has smaller bedrooms than my previous one but it creates more open living space and it includes a second bathroom! I moved the kitchen, however, which creates more plumbing work. If it isn't possible to get pipes through the cement floor, it may be possible to run pipes to the kitchen sink along the right-hand wall, under the windows. This plan would even work with the original front-door placement (which was over where the big storage closet is now, on the left-hand side).

Here's the post with my first plan, which was part of the Top Design Floor Plan Challenge over at Linda Merrill's :::Surrounding::: site!

Here's the post with my second plan, the one where I lied about it being the last one!

Here's a link to the Santa Fe Lofts web site, where I got the basic floor plan.

That's it! No more! I really, really mean it this time!

Final Top Design Floor Plan Post! Really!

OK, so here is my final idea for the loft spaces used for the finale of Top Design. Excuse the quality but Eric had to photograph my drawing with his camera since we don't have a scanner. This design goes beyond what was really possible on the show but this is what I would do if I had a little more time to remodel the space.

The plan is from the Santa Fe Lofts web site and it is the same unit but they have changed the end of the loft where the front door used to be. In the units used on Top Design there was a series of small hallways leading off the main stairwell that led to the unit's front door and then over to the fire exit. In the new design they have incorporated those hallways into the unit, creating a better space and room for a walk-in closet. The kitchen door is now used as the main door. Obviously Matt and Carissa were not able to do this but since the building has done it I thought I would include the change in my dream design.

The other major change I have done is to completely rearrange the kitchen and bathroom. This probably would have involved too much plumbing work for the five days they had on Top Design, but with a little more time it shouldn't be much of a problem. The plumbing is in roughly the same place (in fact, I haven't even moved the toilet). I've created a more private bathroom and a more open, bright kitchen.

I've created a separate vanity area for the bathroom, which I think is very important if people are sharing one bathroom. I know big, open bathrooms are very trendy now because people apparently like sitting on the toilet in front of their loved ones. Personally, I prefer a little privacy, so a separate vanity area is very useful. Next to the bathroom is a laundry closet. I've also included a small linen or coat closet by the front door, which uses the wasted corner from the kitchen.

The front door opens to an entrance hall that leads out to the living/dining area. The furniture is just to demonstrate the amount of space. You can see there is plenty of room to move things around or add different pieces. I like a kitchen that has windows and is open to the living areas. It isn't a huge kitchen but, if organized well, it should be very functional.

The bedrooms are very spacious and one would make a very nice office. Yes, there is a bit of a walk to the bathroom but, in this long, L-shaped loft with the plumbing down at one end, some room is always going to have to be a long walk to the bathroom. At least it's a pretty direct route down the inside corner of the apartment. The master bedroom has a door to the fire exit. For some reason this bothers Eric. I guess he wants to be trapped in the event of a fire. Personally, I think the bedroom is the best place to have a fire escape.

So, anyway, that's my ultimate two bedroom plan for that loft. If you haven't, check out Linda Merrill's ::Surrounding:: site for a loft design challenge. The winners were announced this past Thursday. Thanks again, Linda; it was fun!

Shear Genius Recap, Top Design Floor Plan Challenge, and The Mexican Riviera!

What do these three things have in common?

Well, all of them will be mentioned in this post, silly!

First of all my Shear Genius recap is up, over on Bravissimo:

Episode Three: Texas Chainsaw Massacre!

You can also check out my two previous Shear Genius recaps:

Episode Two: Roots: the Nexxus Generation!

Episode One: Iron Hair!

Second: all the floor plans are in for the Top Design Floor Plan Challenge, over at :::Surroundings::: Go vote for your favorite! You only have until Wednesday to help pick a winner!

Third: Please let me know about your experiences with Princess Cruise Lines or the Mexican Riviera. Eric and I are taking a seven night cruise on the Golden Princess to Puerto Vallarta, Mazatlan, and Cabo San Lucas at the beginning of October and would love to hear any advice.

I have a big birthday coming up this summer (it ends in a zero!) so I thought I should do something fun. Originally I thought I should probably have a party since I've never had a birthday party (since I was a child) and it seemed like about time. But when I thought about how much I hate parties, it seemed like a stupid way to celebrate. Don't get me wrong, I like people, I just don't like big parties. They make me uncomfortable.

So, instead, I decided to go someplace I've never been before and I want to do a little snorkeling, because I love that and I never get to do it. You can't really snorkel in Los Angeles and, surprisingly, the snorkeling isn't very good in London either, which is where we usually seem to end up on holiday. (I did get to snorkel on Oahu last year and loved it!) So, first I thought Caribbean but was worried about hurricane season and the Mexican Riviera was closer and cheaper. Eric suggested a cruise, since that's what he has always wanted to do. So it was set.

We almost took the Norwegian Star because it is 8 nights and goes all the way down to Acapulco but a travel agent friend told us not to take Norwegian so we are taking Princess, which thrills Eric because Princess was the cruise line used for the Love Boat. Anyway, we have a balcony room so we can escape the crowds. Unfortunately we won't get much time in port. I'm planning to snorkel in Puerto Vallarta and Cabo and do a land excursion in Mazatlan. I'd love to see more of Mexico but that will have to wait for another trip.

I've never been to Mexico and I've never been on a cruise. Let me know if you have any tips. Thanks!

Update on Top Design Loft Challenge!




Linda Merrill of :::Surroundings::: is hosting a design challenge. Think you can design a better space for the lofts used in the final challenge of Top Design? Well, show us! Go over to :::Surroundings::: and get all the information. There will be a poll to determine a winner and there will be a prize! I don't think a deadline has been announced but get those entries in soon!

Click here for the main Loft Challenge entry with the contest instructions!

And keep checking back to the main :::Surroundings::: site for new entries!

Here's mine:

Sorry about the quality but I printed out the basic floor plan, drew on it, used wite-out on it, taped pictures of furniture on it, photocopied the finished product, then faxed it to Linda, who scanned it and posted it! Yeah, that picture's been through a lot!

Anyway, Linda did a terrific job with the floor plan. We didn't have the exact measurements so everything is approximate but I think it's pretty close. One interesting note is that you can look at some floor plans at the Santa Fe Lofts website and one of the plans shows the loft used on the show (it looks different because the bathroom is smaller and the main entrance has been closed off to make a walk-in closet, but it's the same plan). There are no measurements on the plan so it doesn't help in recreating it perfectly but the interesting part is that it says the total square footage is 1,400 square feet. On the show we are told the lofts are 1,700 square feet. That's a big difference!

I designed it for Matt's needs for a master bedroom and a smaller child's room. The master bedroom takes up the general footprint of the daughter's room on his plan but I attached it to the window to make it bigger. So this adds windows to the bedroom without really taking away any of the living space.

I added the smaller bedroom in the oddly-shaped, mostly unused entry space by the front door and moved the front door to the kitchen. I think in a loft apartment it is appropriate to enter near the kitchen and this door actually opens into a hall space leading into the living rooms so I think that works fine. Alternately, if you really want to keep the front door where it was, you could add a hallway above at the top of the smaller bedroom, which would create a very small, narrow space that is roughly the same size and shape of the room Matt created for his daughter. the difference is that this space would have windows.

I like having a nice open kitchen. That wasn't really possible here but I removed the hall closet to add a breakfast area and open up the kitchen a little bit to the main living areas. I think that connects the spaces a little bit and you should actually be able to see some of the windows from the kitchen.

So, those are my ideas. Get your ideas in to Linda!

Top Design Loft Floor Plan Challenge!

The talented Linda Merrill of ::surroundings:: has created a basic floor plan of the loft spaces used in the final challenge on Top Design and is hosting a challenge. Can you figure out a way to use the space better? I know I'll be submitting an entry! I love floor plans! Fun!

Check out Linda's post here!