Ideal first floor for modern living (read: tv people)

We have a 20’ x 52’ townhouse facing south and are planning a remodel of the first floor. We were originally planning living room in the front, center dining area, and kitchen in the rear looking at the garden. However, as we are playing with layouts we realized there isn’t an ideal space for causally hanging out (5+ people) and having a conversation as well as lounging in front of the tv. We are now considering making the dining area in the front, a center kitchen, and a deep living room in the back, uninterrupted by the staircase and utility closet. This would allow for multiple large couches and a big tv. I’m surprised this isn’t a more common layout (albeit not the traditional brownstone look). Anything immediate watch outs or considerations for reversing the flow?

In my opinion, dining in front is good. I realized after a few places that if my dining table is not by the windows, but further back toward the center in a brownstone or other long apartment layout, I won’t sit there – I will just gravitate toward sitting somewhere with natural light (or even a view out the windows when it is dark out), whether for eating or for other work I might do at a table. So I now prioritize putting my dining table near windows, even if there is a more common designated place for a dining table that is away from windows – I utilize those internal darker spaces for storage, with furniture along the walls (bookshelves, dressers for hats and sweaters, stereo equipment, table to be used for buffet serving when having people over, etc.) and I use the center area as a pass-through space to get to the spaces I actually sit and spend time in (rather then putting my dining table in the center of such areas as previous occupants have done.)

I also realized this about kitchens – that if my kitchen doesn’t have natural light, I won’t spend time being hap py puttering around in there cooking , or be made happy working when in the space – whereas in the sunlight, it is a happy space for me. So I wouldn’t put a kitchen in the center, unless the natural light reaches it (and I have yet to see a deep brownstone where the natural sunlight reaches the center sufficiently for me, even if there is unusual light penetration due to a break in tree cover, or even in sunny top floor apartments.)

This need for natural light poses some dilemmas for brownstone layouts, as windows are limited. Is this one floor where all of your common space is, or is there another partial floor for common space? If you have a room on another floor to dedicate to another common area, for either hanging out and/or a tv watching space, that can help a lot.

If the common space is all on one floor, it can be useful to think of the useful space to spend time in two spaces, front and back, rather than three rooms, and combine two of the functions (such as dining table and kitchen) together in front or back. (Combining living and dining also works well, too.) Then the darker internal space can be used largely for storage (which can include the fridge, oven and lots of the kitchen cupboard spaces, as well as bookshelf space in the living area) and as a walk-through area, as well as providing space for a bathroom, coat closet, utility closets, etc.

If the brownstone is too narrow for that and needs to be thought of as three room areas front to back for kitchen, dining and living rooms, you could put the part of the kitchen where you spend time (which for me tends to be the sink area where I prep food and clean up) facing toward windows (I’m fine with the fridge and stove and storage cabinets being on a wall where I am facing away from windows when using them.). I prefer this to a galley kitchen in the middle where both walls of kitchen items run along the longer brownstone walls, where you are never facing the windows while working. While turning the kitchen breaks up the space a bit from front to back, it allows you to use the natural light better (and breaking up the floor a bit is not necessarily a bad thing, as it allows some separation for when people are engaged in separate activities on the same floor.)

For watching tv, natural light is not necessary (especially when the TV watching takes place in the later evening hours, as it often does), and windows can even be a hindrance due to glare issues.

One solution is to have a smaller area for tv watching that can be away from the windows, and have your main larger group hang out space elsewhere near to windows. Rather than have that sitting area center around a tv, you can have a projector tv with a screen that pulls down, or an unobtrusive wall-mounted tv where you can watch tv with others in that room when you want to, but where the tv does not dominate the room when not turned on. This is especially nice if the living/dining area is combined.

You should go with what works for you, depending what activities you want do in natural light, and how you think you will use the spaces.

We’re likely to move the TV to the basement.