Well .Transom lights above a window or doorway, small windows higher up on a wall, skylights and glass block or slubbed glass panels to borrow light from an adjacent room are solutions she sometimes suggests. Fireplaces angled into a corner location, a design solution we never saw a few years ago, has two advantages, Rositch says. For people who watch a lot of TV, Wells cautions that above the fireplace may not be the ideal solution. For comfortable viewing without neck strain, the base of the TV should be 24 to 30 inches from the floor. New ceiling mounts are a better alternative, she says, since they tilt and can be viewed comfortably from a reclining sofa or chair.
Most kitchens are open to the living areas with counterspace accessible from both areas.
To provide as much built-in storage as possible, cabinets are sometimes stretched to the eight foot level, instead of the traditional seven feet and full height pantries are an important bonus even in small units. We call them parkside decks. For bathrooms, the general rule is one bathroom per bedroom,but in some more affordable projects a two bedroom unit will make do with a singleslightly more luxurious bathroom. Even with the most cunning plan, a homebuyer makes trade offs and compromises. A smart plan puts as many of those features as possible into an affordable package.