A houzz contributor, not too long ago, had made a wine rack out of 4'x4' wooden pallets, that are used in the US to move a load of goods with a fork-lift truck. Perhaps they have them in your country. He cut them in half so they were only two feet deep and stacked them up to high counter height. The wood would be a nice contrast with your concrete, might add a little warmth to the space. cascio.offsite@gmail.com

I strongly second One Plan's idea about looking for another architect. If this one is not motivated, all the fame in the world is not going to help. An alternative approach to finding an architect is to find some good contractors who have built things you like. Ask them for architects' names. Make sure they work in your price range. In the meantime, you can find out from your local building department what the set back and height restrictions are. Are you required to build parking areas or garage space, what kind of airspace restrictions do you have for neighbors' views and sunlight, that kind of thing. Often this stuff is on city websites or handouts at the office.

Interesting seeing designs from another country. Assuming the PUJA is located in the right location and the entrance to your home is the set of double doors adjacent to the car, I have the following comments/suggestions: 1. Regarding the bathroom on the bottom of the picture: a. It appears you have a walkway taking you from the large double doors(gate?) to the bathroom window. Is this correct and is this what you want? b. The room is sufficiently wide to add a bathtub or a shower. Switch the locations of the sink and the toilet, have the toilet turned to face into the room. This would provide easier use. You might also want to consider using a pocket door, will make the room feel more spacious. 2. Regarding the bedroom on the bootom of the picture: In the US we have built in closets but I kow other cultures use stand alone wardrobes. Not knowing what is custom in your country or what your preferences are, I would suggest moving the door over a couple feet and providing a building in closet the full length of the wall. This would allow you to completely customize the room's storage capacility - will it be filled with shoes and clothing or will is have boxes of files, luggage, etc. 3. The drawing room: a. If outsiders are not to use your family space, the orientation of the room will force people to see/walkthru your family lounge. b. If possible, can you shift or resize the drawing room such that it align better with the family lounge? If it can be shifted downward a few feet, you could angle the entry into the kitchen and the view from the family lounge would look better. c. As an alternative, could you reverse the stairs such that the main family lounge area shifts upward? recognize you will likely need to move the bedroom doors and possible reverse the bedroom and bathroom on the lower part of the picture to make sure the doors would work. 4. Kitchen: By US standards this is an average to smaller kitchen. we certainly have smaller ones in condos, apartments, and small homes. That said, I do believe in maximizing capacity and capability. The kitchen traditionally gets a lot of use by the family and has to be able to meet a multitude of needs. I am assuming the plan for the frig is to be located immediately next to the sink - where the empty space is. here are some thoughts: a. Do you need a door for the kitchen? If not, remove, if yes then make it a pocket door. b. Center the window to the OPEN area over the cabinets and align the sink in the center of the window. this will help with symetry. When in the kitchen, typically people spend a lot of time there - prepping, washing, drying, etc. It would give a nicer view than a blank wall or upper cabinets. c. Center the stove - this again helps with symmetry whioch in turn helps with aesthetics. d. Do you have sufficient storage in the house - think of everything that you have and the food products, kitchen items you will need to store. Again, culture differences mandate different needs. In the US we tend to do a bit of bulk shopping and generally have more "stuff" than we need so it is hard to determine what the right level is for you. Make a list of ALL the items you have for the place and assign a space to them on the plan. This is the best time (and least costly) to make changes to construction. 5. Regarding the bedroom on the upper wall - is there a reason the windows are different sizes, why not stick to the same size? 6. Storage room: Is there a way to relocate the "Low Height" restriction at teh entrance? Not sure is this simply means you aren't going to loose a couple inches or if this means a few feet. Big diffeence on how usable that space is. I hope some of these comment are useful. Best of luck with your project!

I am so happy to see you here! I will have to go back and see if i can retrieve my posts... thought I would make them into a little book for my daughter, with photos. Quick run-down on the bathroom (not travels, no time) - The kitchen has a rather elegant sliding door with beveled glass panels. Painted white, since this was the original colour. GD's new bathroom has the doors I had picked earlier; i thought of polishing them but decided sprayed automobile paint (on a resin primer) would wear better. Especially since it is such a small bathroom, and she is so splashy. I have this finish in my kitchen and it has lasted 15 years now. A tad chipped here and there, but only needs a wipe down once a week. Same finish for the balcony doors, also split like the bathroom. We have a new wardrobe, a study table with built-in shelves, and a small chest of drawers for her odds and ends. I want to re-tile the tiny balcony, more as a little statement. Currently we are looking at Portuguese tiles, though I did think a mosaic with a funky cat might be nice. Let me see the costing. The room will be painted a neutral adobe, with bright white woodwork and an off-white ceiling. This means she can go wild with cushions and covers. Other changes in the flat; We have changed the glass in the master bedroom and living room from small cramped panes to a single pane for each section with a 1" bevel all round. Doubles the cost of the glass, but looks so elegant! The air-conditioning is being re-located. The compressors were all mounted in the bedroom and living room balconies, which looked terrible and meant the balconies (very narrow, only 30" deep) couldn't be used for anything. Not even plants. So they are being moved so that the compressors can be mounted at the rear of the building. two down, one to go. Now we can put in some nice plants, fishtail palms etc. The kitchen counter on one side came out intact and will be reused elsewhere. I am planning overhead storage, cupboards, and a draining cupboard for plates and glasses. Right now there is no dish washer, though a place is earmarked, but for now I will put in a cupboard with steel racks for cups, glasses and plates, all hidden behind pressed glass doors. This is all in the planning stage.... Pictures in a little while, they are mostly on my ipad and don't transfer well to the mac. They come without numbers... so I have to rename the or something. Somebody tell me how to do this!