Rule #1 It’s All About the Space

Essential, strategic, and simple advice on managing the living space of your favorite place.

It’s all about the space, bout the space, no troubles.

“Space, the final frontier.”

Great people have said great things about space. I feel the need to discuss it as well.

With a young family, we moved into a small home of about 900 sq. ft. on the main floor. The home had a partially finished basement.

Being the handyman that I am, I finished the basement beautifully.

We had a tile shower down there, and whether on purpose or coincidence, the texture on one tile spelled “god.” I truly found “god” in my shower 😊.

The day came when we decided to build, and we did. Then on Thanksgiving Day 2002, we moved. Fools we were. Dinner came late that day.

Oh, I forgot to tell you, while in the small home, and before I remodeled, my mother-in-law gave us a queen-sized hide-a-bed sofa. I couldn’t believe how comfortable it was except for the one-inch bar that permanently destroyed the small of my back.

But why did I sleep on it in the first place since we had a doghouse? Hmmm.

I had strong and sturdy sons by the time we moved, and try as we could, we could not get that hide-a-bed couch out of the basement.

Here’s the problem: The stairs were only 3’ wide, and the hall was only 3’ wide, and the genius who remodeled the basement made the opening to the family room smaller than when we first moved in.

Yeah, we left that glorious hide-a-bed for the buyers.

I drove by one day and thought I heard a chain saw.

You see…here is the problem…Space matters. There was not enough space to move furniture in and out of that house.

Never put 3’ wide stairs in a house, and never put in 3’ wide hallways! These must be 3.5 feet wide minimum, and you will learn in a minute that 4’ wide is even better.

Here is the deal, you won’t miss 6” in a room, but 6” of space in a hallway makes all the difference!

And here is something else…

In our new home, we didn’t know, so we put 32” doors into the bedrooms. Made sense at the time.

But I have a married son who visits with his wonderful wife and twin daughters. They hijack Jason’s room when they come. Here’s the problem…The small cribs we have for the daughters are 33” wide.

I keep a hammer and nail in the upstairs closet to pop the door off to move the cribs in and out of the rooms. Ahh, you say, “but the cribs are still too wide, but to those of you who have moved furniture before, you can fit it through doors if you stand in on end and finagle the legs just right to rotate the crib out of the room.

Why didn’t I make the bedroom doors 36” wide?

The standard exterior door is 36” wide so you can move furniture in and out of the house. But what good is that if you can’t get the furniture into the bedrooms?!

Yesterday, I had to replace the washer. We decided to go through the door that led to the garage. Yep. Had to pop the door off. Why would anyone put a 32” door into a laundry room or garage?

Put every 36” door you can in your house. That must be your default size. Except many bathrooms. The typical bathroom is only 5’ wide and with the vanity, you have room only for a 32” door unless you make the bathroom 5.5’ wide which puts a useful little shelf at the end of your tub/shower area.

So…Here’s the rules:

• – Staircases 3’ 6” minimum. Remember the handrail sticks out into the stairs at least 4”. Therefore, 4’ wide is better.
• – Hallways 3’ 6” minimum. But, if a door is at the end of a hall, a 36” wide door with trim will not fit or look quite right. You must rip the trim to only about 2” wide. Therefore, a 4’ wide hallway is better. Taking 6” out of a room doesn’t hurt it much, but taking 1’ from a room…that hurts a little, so be careful.
• – Make every door possible 36” wide or invest in a hammer and a nail 😊.
• – 3’ 6” between the kitchen counters and the island bare minimum. 4’ is better. More than 4’, you must take at least two steps between the two and it gets a little annoying.
• – Garage doors must be at least 9’ wide and 8’ tall for single and 18’ wide for double. These days contractors install 16’ wide garage doors. Don’t do it!
• – Do everything you can to get a window and a 36” man door in the garage as well. You say, “We don’t need a 36” man door into the garage because we can open the garage doors.” Yes, you can, but you will wish you had a 36” man door as well (I promise). Almost extinct these days, but a 24’ X 24’ garage is delightful. 24’ X 36’ garage minimum for a three-car garage.
• – Make typical closets 25” deep. Your sheet-rockers will love you for that. OR make your closets 3’ deep and hang clothes on the side walls and put fancy shelves in the middle.
• – Make closet doors as wide as you can. No one likes to climb into the sides of the closets to get to the clothes on the ends.
• – You want at least 3’ 6” in front of all vanities. You guessed it…4’ is better.
• – Demand all light switches be put at least 4.5” from door openings or the switch interferes with the trim. Your electricians know how to easily do that, and your good ones do it anyway. But check with them to be sure.
• – Half baths are best at 39” wide min. 36” wide is too narrow. Three inches makes more difference in that narrow room than you think.
• – If you build a 3’ shower and tile it, you will hit your elbows every time you wash your hair. 3’ 6” to 4’ is better.
• – An 11’ X 11’ bedroom is excellent in size. 14’ by 16’ minimum for master bedrooms. House costs may cause you to take a foot off each direction of the rooms, and that is still OK.

Dang…more bullets than the OK Corral!

Now Listen to Me…I am the only one who will tell you this. You have a rug in front of each exterior door, don’t you? And every time you open the door, your door grabs that rug and moves it across the room, doesn’t it? Putting the rug back in place is an American ritual.

Tell your contractor to put a ½” to ¾” spacer under the threshold of ALL exterior doors and thank me later. Waterproof spacers are best (like decking facia or some siding materials). The spacer lifts your front door so it will swing over your rug instead of throwing it like a frisbee.

I draw homes and I will look out for you and your spaces. See me at poulsenhomedesign.com.

I have actual house plans there that demonstrate  the information above.

Do you want to learn more about maximizing space in your home?

See the following:

Are you living in a home and just need to make more room with what you already have?

Get advice from Nick Lewis at: https://youtu.be/p-9eV9_Q7IQ?si=YJrOntbmvEYql_k-

Hey, this was a good article. Don’t space it off 😊.