Nicolette Toussaint Comfort and Joy Home Design San Francisco, CA (415) 794-6956 Living in Comfort and Joy Blog E-mail Nicolette

Above: A detail from a space plan done for clients who made a major move. They loved to read, but were "drowning in papers and books." My plan ensured that storage would be close at hand, not just in the office, but also in the living room where they liked to read. In the 3-D plan above, I used filing cabinets to separate the dining area from the living room space. The photo shows what the finished space and filing dividers really look like. The cabinets not only keep the papers neat, they also serve as a handy buffet for parties. Below: Visualization and space plan for an incredibly small, 504 square foot modern apartment.

A Place for Everything

The words "space planning" often prompt a bit of head-scratching, even though it's very familiar to designers and architects. The term feng shu is more familiar to many people, at least in San Francisco where I live.*

When clients ask me what space planning is and whether they need it, I generally ask them a couple of questions:

• Did you ever toss and turn, unable to sleep because you could hear what the folks in the next room were saying and doing?
• Have you ever watched a movie in which movers were instructed to carry heavy furniture here, there and everywhere because the new householder couldn't figure out where it should go? Has that movie been a scene in your life?
• Have you ever tried to make a meal when the cook and the cook's helpers were constantly bumping into one another?
• Have you ever felt overwhelmed by stuff in your house? Or felt like you couldn't move without banging into the furniture?

Those are all instances of poor space usage, examples of why space planning is essential when you're moving, buying a new home, remodeling, or replacing furniture and updating rooms. It's also important when your family is growing, when the kids have grown leaving you an empty nest, and when aging or disability presents new needs and limitations.

Gain Privacy, Quiet, Convenience and Comfort

 

I have taken particularly joy in renovating two San Francisco houses, circa 1906 and 1930, replacing the patched and disjointed floor plans with comfortable layouts. I enjoy spacial puzzles, and enjoy fixing problems like these:

• Remodeling bedrooms where the doors and windows leave inadequate room for the bed and dressers
• Creating kitchens in which you can cook without running back and forth and colliding with your helpers
• Solving the "cheap motel" problem of noise from a neighboring room (not necessarily from the next-door occupant - it could as easily be a refrigerator or or heater that's ruining your sleep)
• Creating storage space and reducing clutter in homes with inadequate closets
• Improving lighting, heat and cooling by reorienting doors and windows to take advantage of passive solar heating and cooling

It's a thrill to get testimonials and hear clients say:

• "The movers just left, and everything fit exactly where you said it would."
• "We thought we were just messy, but now it's easy to keep this place neat. We're no longer drowning in papers."
• "I can sleep through the night."
• "I'm not freezing this winter, and the heating bill is a lot lower than it was last year.

* I have a friend who is an American-Chinese architect. He assures me that much of feng shui is about safety and comfort. There's also a spiritual component. But unfortunately, quite a bit of hucksterism is practiced on the credulous as well.