A Decision

Latest Yutaka plans and images
Latest Heartful plans and images

I have been off work for a week due to the Golden Week series of holidays. The time this has given us, plus the fact the we are now holding up the project by not choosing a builder, has given us the drive that we needed to make a decision on a builder.

It has become increasingly difficult to choose between the two, and I am writing this, in part, to clarify my thoughts and words in preparation for explaining to a builder tomorrow.

In terms of style, Heartful has been out in front for a long time. Their designer seems to place presentation above most other things and their building looks great from the inside and out. Last week they resolved the mezzanine issue by opening up the corner of the downstairs hall. It has now become a 1.5 storey annex to the upstairs. As it is situated right in the middle of the upstairs it should allow the heat to travel up and circulate sufficiently.

Heartful's kitchen gives us a large pantry that can be completely sealed off or opened as desired. Above the dining and kitchen area is a loft. We had always like this loft overlooking the living room for the whole width of the house. The supplied us with some great images of the inside of the house from various viewpoints. Seeing the views from the end of the living room looking towards the kitchen and lofthave demonstrated how low the loft will be, even in the middle. It seems to be so low that only a child could be comfortable up there. We had always planned for this to be storage to an extent, but with access by a ladder, it would not be suitable for storage for large items - and this is something that the house seriously lacks.

The main bedroom has a walk-in closet which would mainly be used for clothes. Appliances and food for the kitchen are covered by the pantry and kicthen itself. Suitcases, futons, boxes and the like have nowehere but the loft as it stands.

The images also give an insight in to the width of the upper floor. At five yards it gives a living room much more spacious than we have at the moment. Five yards though, is the width of all we have upstairs. This building is long and thin.

Outside, the deck faces in the direction of the river and lake. The views will be as good as they can be from our land. In order to meet our bedget, the builder had to remove some of the cover from the deck and also from around the entrance to the house. The footprint of the house is fairly large due to the larger ground floor. Fitting a double carport and storage for my sailing gear and tools will leave little for garden.

Yutaka's house feels more like a family house. The finish is plainer and the spec is lower but is seems to be more practical.

The deck has a covered area for use in all weather and for putting washing directly from the washroom. The bedrooms are comparable with Heartful, as are the bathroom, toilet and washing areas. With our planned changes to the kitchen (making the pantry one yard wider) we will have as much space as Heartful.

Yutaka's loft is larger and due to the slope of the roof, it has more area that is uesable. We will switch the loft stairs over to where the toliet is currently located on the plan and move around the bathrrom and toilet. This will result in freeing up more space where the roof is at its tallest (210cm). The roof at its lowest point in the loft will be 70cm.

The living room is the same size as Heartful's, but the mezzanine over the stairs will add an extra one yard to the width of this area and increase the size that it actually feels.

The deck is uncovered at the moment, but this will have to be addressed. The built-in carport is a valuable addition and still leaves plenty of space to fit in the other things we require in the garden.

We spent a few days trying to convince each other to choose Heartful, mainly because it looks so nice. But in the end we new that Yutaka is going to be more practical and fit our needs better. We now hope that we can select the right materials and finishes to present the house as we desire.