Ex-Montreal Girl
Active Member
In a well laid out suite, in buildings with like on top of like (i.e. living rooms on top of living rooms, kitchens on top of kitchens, etc.), no useless tunnel corridors, no double vanity ensuites with ginormous showers, 1000 sf for a 3BR is not ideal but do-able, especially if the developers include common spaces for kids.
The typical post-war East York bungalow is 800 sf with maybe another 800 sf in the basement, half of which is usable due to furnaces and low ceilings. Think how many boomer kids grew up in those.
Sure there was a period that followed -- maybe the 60s-70s -- 80s -- that the apartments got bigger but things change. All that's happening is we're going back to what was once realistic.
The problem today, IMO, is too much wasted space created by trying to cram as many units as possible onto a floor, resulting in some crazy layouts. Build a 2BR here and a 3BR there and oh look, there's 500 sf in-between so let's squeeze in a 1+den. And so on. We checked out a 2400 sf "penthouse" in one 2011 building and were wondering where all the space went. A teeny kitchen that could not accommodate a full-size fridge, let alone a French-door fridge, a MBR that could barely hold a queen size bed and two wee side tables, a ridiculously long hall that was about four feet wide, not enough to line with IKEA type closets so totally wasted, etc.
The typical post-war East York bungalow is 800 sf with maybe another 800 sf in the basement, half of which is usable due to furnaces and low ceilings. Think how many boomer kids grew up in those.
Sure there was a period that followed -- maybe the 60s-70s -- 80s -- that the apartments got bigger but things change. All that's happening is we're going back to what was once realistic.
The problem today, IMO, is too much wasted space created by trying to cram as many units as possible onto a floor, resulting in some crazy layouts. Build a 2BR here and a 3BR there and oh look, there's 500 sf in-between so let's squeeze in a 1+den. And so on. We checked out a 2400 sf "penthouse" in one 2011 building and were wondering where all the space went. A teeny kitchen that could not accommodate a full-size fridge, let alone a French-door fridge, a MBR that could barely hold a queen size bed and two wee side tables, a ridiculously long hall that was about four feet wide, not enough to line with IKEA type closets so totally wasted, etc.