While generally I blog about grand old houses and palaces, it may come as a surprise to you that I actually favor the small houses from the early 20th century. Once copiously built and now widely abhored, these cottages and bungalows are under constant threat; knocked down or mutilated beyond recognition in quest of glorious 'space', generally at the cost of quality.
Lately I was going through a book in my library released by the Morgan Woodwork company in 1921 called "
Building with Assurance" which was a thinly veiled catalog of their offerings under the guise of a magazine. Exhibited were a number of beautifully illustrated house plans and elevations which just happened to use their wares. Over the next few days I'll bring you some of my favorites but it is beyond me why someone would need more than these 1500-2500 sf houses unless they had 10 kids. Most of our grandparents and parents were raised in houses of equal size and smaller (some of the houses built after WWII were barely 1000 sf remember).
Of course, I wouldn't be living in this house as it was built had I come across it in its original form. This is afterall the 21st century and modifications would have to be made. Of the 1,675SF house, I would probably create a larger eat in kitchen from the small porch, pantry and original kitchen. Additionally, I would open up the stair into the entry hall and possibly the kitchen. The maid's room (who has a live in maid in this day and age in such a small house?) would make an excellent study or den with bookcases replacing the small closets. The full bath makes a generous powder room and coat closet facing the hall.
On the second floor, I would use bedroom #2 as the master bedroom. Bedroom #1 would become an attached bath (through the original closet door) while the sleeping porch would be glassed in and become a join dressing / sitting room with closets on the north wall closing off access to bedroom #3. Bedroom #3 would then become a nice guest room with access to the hall bath. Honestly, do I need more?
Well, "smallish" plan. This charming brick house looks pretty similar to a lot of the building stock of the 1920s and I can see why so much was built similarly-whats not to like?
I should mention that I got off on this small house kick because I spent 4 days this past weekend in Seaside, Florida. Seaside, as many of you probably know, is the famous new urbanist town designed by Andres Duany and Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk in the 1980s in the Florida Panhandle. More recently, the film "the Truman Show" with Jim Carrey was filmed there and you may recognize it from that. 
The houses in Seaside are small, charming and in a cohesive atmosphere that many people have called 'Disneyesque' or overly-designed but I love. I mean, how can you have TOO MUCH design or thought put into a neighborhood? Lamest arguement ever. Generally the opposite is the problem, as evidenced driving along the highway to Seaside and the other new urbanist communities that have sprung up nearby. I'll be posting more on Seaside shortly when I get my photos organized but I was not disappointed.
Getting back to the subject at hand, I don't believe this house is actually all that small but could use some updating to the plan. While one is tempted to make an addition to help create 'more space' -the entire purpose of this exercise (or at least these posts) is to try to think creatively and use what you have; Think outside of the box by staying within it! Better living through smarter planning and less waste is my goal. Clearing out the warren of pantry and small side entry in order to create a larger kitchen would help, as would creating a master suite from the 2 bedrooms on the right of the 2nd floor. Hopefully a bathroom could be added to the attic floor without too much expense, maybe in place of the storage above the master suite below. Of course, I would not be changing the numerous outdoor porches and charming exterior shown in the rendering. Stay tuned for some beautiful photos from Florida!
You may remember the 'small' house from yesterdays post. To prove my point about some small renovations were all that were needed to move this house into the 21st century I quickly (and messily) sketched some alternate floor plans. 
Before: the first floor was ok but lacked an open kitchen, a powder room, and a traffic pattern for modern living.
After: I opened the entry hall to the living and dining rooms. I also opened the sunroom into the living room with a large beam holding the wall above with flanking decorative columns. I opened up the back of the house to a new terrace with a long pantry off the new kitchen. The previous kitchen was small and cramped but once it was gutted, provided enough space for a small powder room (so small the door needs to open out!) and a larger kitchen. The addition of a larger group of windows over the sink, matching those in the living and dining rooms, opens the kitchen to the side garden.
The second floor was under-bathed and had additional bedrooms that were not needed (remember the 3rd floor has 2 small bedrooms and an extra bath). I turned the old hall bath into a closet with the 3rd bedroom becoming the master bath. Double sinks and an extra large shower were on the top of my priority list. I should have reversed the door swing on the old hall linen closet of course - oops! Remember this was fast and quick. Bedroom #2 gets a small walk in closet with access to an efficient but private bath.
I tried to minimize any changes while respecting todays love of open floorplans, private bathrooms and larger closets. What would you have done differently?
On the second floor, a generous master bedroom with a fireplace and lovely porch is already in place, but I'm sure along the way it would have been glassed in. I'm ambivalent either way (glassed in or not) but I would definitely want to carve out an en-suite bathroom. The rear bedroom and existing bath would need to be reconfigured to that end, hopefully also providing a walk-in closet for the master suite.
While I'm getting rid of a bedroom (or possibly two) on the second floor, don't forget the attic has 2 bedrooms and its own bath!
On to real cakes; I passed this bakery, 
New York always holds a few surprises for you.
While in New York this past weekend, I stopped into a grand building at the corner of 8th avenue and 14th street.
The building in question is now a 
While I'm glad to see beautiful old buildings getting a 2nd life rather than meeting with the wrecking ball, I have to question the number of bland branch banks (every street corner in many cities including here in DC) when beautiful old structures sit vacant.
This definitely is the most beautiful CVS ever built and even had great new lighting. What examples of repurposed buildings are near you?
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