Has apartments not catched up to NZ?

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MikeAqua

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Reply # 1960257 19-Feb-2018 11:32

Aredwood:
MikeAqua:

webwat:

Imagine a tradie having to park a van in the basement and not having anywhere secure to store tools etc. I presume you remember what its like carrying anything heavy up and down through the lifts.

Would be OK in ours ... locked garage with swipe cards required for all pedestrian and vehicle entrances, security cameras.

Assuming that the van could even fit into the basement. Lots of them have quite low height restrictions. And tradies normally carry ladders and other stuff on top of their vans.

That's a good point. The ceiling height would be OK but the door entrance may not be. I've never looked too closely as we don't bother with a car in Welly.

Mike

tripper1000

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Reply # 1960331 19-Feb-2018 12:58

The big thing that turns me off with apartments in central Auckland is their small size. I have had 3 friends living in flash, OK but old, and rubbishy student type apartments. They always seem to be smaller (floor area wise) than a modest house, even the really nice ones, but in my mind, they need to have at minimum the same floor area as a house, and preferably more area to help compensate for the lack of outdoor space, particularly for families. As I understand it, NZ apartments do tend to be smaller than foreign ones.

richms

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Reply # 1960545 19-Feb-2018 19:42

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What do you use all the space for tho? Houses are typically stupidly large in NZ, with bedrooms undersized compared to large general purpose rooms with a kitchen in one end of one of those rooms.

Richard rich.ms

alasta

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Reply # 1960550 19-Feb-2018 19:49

My place is only about 50sqm and even that is bigger than I need. Some people enjoy having a minimalist lifestyle.

Aredwood

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Reply # 1960606 19-Feb-2018 20:58

richms:
What do you use all the space for tho? Houses are typically stupidly large in NZ, with bedrooms undersized compared to large general purpose rooms with a kitchen in one end of one of those rooms.

That is still preferable to that trend (which comes and goes) of having separate rooms for everything. Separate kitchen, dining room, formal lounge, informal lounge, rumpus room, lobby (room that the front door opens into), atrium (room at the top of the stairs). And of course a network of hallways to tie all those rooms together.

The designer has then run low on space, so they make the bathrooms and bedrooms small and poky to try and
fit everything in.

Looking at the original plans for my nothing special 1960s house. It had a dedicated laundry, that was bigger than the only bathroom. A rumpus room that you could split into 2,
reasonably large bedrooms. And a pointlessly large lobby.

Laundry has since been converted into a 2nd bathroom. And I will probably pinch some space from the lobby to make that bathroom bigger, so the laundry can go back in there. And use the rest of the lobby space for some large built in cupboards.

shk292

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Reply # 1960733 20-Feb-2018 08:38

richms:

What do you use all the space for tho? Houses are typically stupidly large in NZ, with bedrooms undersized compared to large general purpose rooms with a kitchen in one end of one of those rooms.

Reminds me of a time I borrowed a car in the UK, which was being looked after by a friend of a friend, living in a typical UK flat. It caused her great concern when I said I'd need to take out the child seats before driving off in the car, because she had nowhere to put them in her apartment. I've also known people with bike racks suspended over the bath or in the living room because there is nowhere else safe to store a bike. I'll have my kiwi house, thanks - although the kitchen is stupidly small

MikeAqua

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Reply # 1960737 20-Feb-2018 08:53

We live part time in small 1 bedroom apartment. It's officially 35m, but by the time you take out the floor space occupied by cabinets it's about 28m of usable floor space. That's enough space for two of us (with some clever storage) and to have two guests for dinner (just enough room).

If we lived there full time it would get too small during long periods of bad weather. Otherwise we make use of public outdoor spaces. The waterfront, parks, beach, walking tracks etc.

The one thing I would miss about living in an apartment full time would be a private outdoor dining area. I like to have friends over for BBQ.

Mike

kryptonjohn

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Reply # 1960754 20-Feb-2018 09:33

richms:

What do you use all the space for tho? Houses are typically stupidly large in NZ, with bedrooms undersized compared to large general purpose rooms with a kitchen in one end of one of those rooms.

Personally, I use that space for enjoying the feeling of space. Maybe I'm claustrophobic bit I like my space. I like a bedroom I can walk around the bed without squeezing between it and the walls. I like a home office, I like the kids to have their own living space and I like each kid to have their own room. All of these I consider luxuries that I've worked long and hard for.

So I look at my 300m2 home and I look at 100m2 apartments and I get the sh#ts just thinking about living in one.

Oh, and 4 bedroom apartments are very rare, unless you get into the multi-million dollar bracket, in which case you could afford a free standing house anyway.

But take a look at old houses and state houses. The rooms are tiny rabbit warrens. Houses these days have much larger and more open spaces.

kryptonjohn

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Reply # 1960755 20-Feb-2018 09:33

richms:

What do you use all the space for tho? Houses are typically stupidly large in NZ, with bedrooms undersized compared to large general purpose rooms with a kitchen in one end of one of those rooms.

So I look at my 300m2 home and I look at 100m2 apartments and I get the sh#ts just thinking about living in one.

Oh, and 4 bedroom apartments are very rare, unless you get into the multi-million dollar bracket, in which case you could afford a free standing house anyway.

But take a look at old houses and state houses. The rooms are tiny rabbit warrens. Houses these days have much larger and more open spaces.

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