"Does that look right?" A question of flow at unit #9.

before

   In my former career as a graphic artist, regardless of how complicated a project became, there was always one question I could ask to absolutely simplify the situation:  "Does that look right?"  It required a simple yes or no answer.  If the answer was "yes", I was done.   If the answer was "no", than I could build on it with one of my next questions:  "Why?" or "What do we need to do to make it look right?"

In the case of unit number 9, the relationship (flow) to the living room and kitchen did not "look right". Why? It was dark and getting to the kitchen took effort.  Once you made the effort to get into the kitchen, you felt like you were in a different country - totally cut-off from the rest of the place. You also had to walk through the work area of the kitchen just to sit down at the table.

"What do we need to do to make it look right?"  Well, we could take out the wall to the left of the fireplace if it was not load bearing.  With my rentals, I really don't get involved with removing load bearing walls and then building headers to support a load just to make a place look right, (unless you are walking through bedrooms to get to other bedrooms), this is where I draw the line.  I actually do care about the cost and time involved.  I may be able to get a little more rent for a brighter place with better flow, but if it's structural and not a necessity, I ain't doing it. In this case, the wall was cosmetic, so we went for it, and tore it down.

after

Once it was put back together, painted, and the new flooring was put down, the new opening positively changed the flow of the living room/kitchen relationship.  This layout allowed for more light, and totally different furniture layout options for both rooms.  One other benefit gained was the use of the heat in the living room from the large radiator in the back corner of the kitchen!

So, does that look right now? I think... YES!