Sense Of Place - A Little Less House. A Lot More Home

The Secret to Creating a House That's Easy to Sell

2012-02-08T22:34:00.002-05:00

a) Everyone wants a unique home that fits the way they live.
b) Everyone wants their house to sell easily and quickly (someday).

Are those two statements contradictory? You might think so, if you listen to some of the conventional wisdom from the real estate and homebuilding industries.

If you’re selling houses you’re obviously interested in ones that will appeal to the widest audience possible. Houses similar in size and style, and with similar floor plans.

Theoretically, that should lead to greater exposure and a greater chance of a quick sale.

If you’re buying a house, however, you want something much more personal - a home that has all of the things you need to support your unique daily life.

If you have lots of kids, you need bathrooms and casual space. And a vacation.

If you’re an empty nester, you probably want more living and entertaining space, and less maintenance. You don’t want it to look like the house next door, either.

That doesn’t sound too difficult, does it?

And yet I’m routinely asked by my clients to include things that they haven’t been able to find in any “spec” home or any online house plan.

Things like decent-sized laundry rooms and mudrooms. Things that families need, like a walk-in pantry.

They also ask me to leave out the stuff they don’t need – the formal living rooms, dining rooms, the powder rooms with the little balls of soap in the seashell bowl.

So how do you get a house that fits you, without being stuck with it forever?

What You Really Want

The whole point of this article is that a unique and interesting home, designed to closely fit the needs of your particular family, will very likely appeal to other families someday, too.

And maybe in a big way.

About fifteen years ago, I was hired to create a custom home for a client on a difficult property (the last lot available, the one that no one wanted) in a very nice subdivision.

This client had some specific needs, including accommodating a handicapped family member. We designed an unusual home with a screened porch facing the street, no formal entry foyer, a first-floor home office that converted to a handicapped-accessible bedroom, and a garage you could park sideways in.

They also wanted the home to have a character on the outside that was unlike anything else in the neighborhood.

Not exactly mainstream.

Six years ago, they sold the home. Here’s what they had to say:

“(we received) far better than average appreciation of the property when we downsized some nine years later. We sold the home by ourselves with no Realtor involved and we heard from many that the unique design and curb appeal attracted them to contact us. We had no problem selling our fine home…” (read the entire testimonial here).

And since they’re too modest to mention it, I’ll add that they nearly doubled their money on the sale.

That’s What I Want – How Do I Get It?

That’s the easy part. Figure out what you want, and put aside notions about what you think the next family living in your home might want. Tune out the people telling you what you should have.

Focus on what works for you, not what works for the real estate market.

Make a quality home that works – whatever “works” means to your family and your life. Make it interesting and attractive, but above all make it fit your unique needs and wants.

Get a whole new attitude about what a unique and interesting home could be.

Sources of (Better) Inspiration

The key is to change how and where you’re looking for new home and remodeling ideas.

Stop looking at house plan websites and home-improvement-store plan books. Most of those are recycling the same basic plans over and over again, so you’re not going to find much that’s unique.

And forget the idea that you’re going to find one complete design that does all you need it to do.

Instead, look for the parts and pieces you want – find a cool kitchen, a knockout exterior, a screen porch you simply must have. A mudroom with a built in cubby for each child.

You’ll find that kind of inspiration online at sites like Houzz.com (read my take on Houzz here); Remodelista.com, and Freshome.com. You’ll also find it in some of the better home design magazines, like Traditional Home, Residential Architect, Fine Homebuilding, Dwell (if you like contemporary design), and many others.

Don’t worry about finding exactly what you want, or whether you can afford what you see – keep a very open mind; we’re tapping the power of imagination and brainstorming here.

And don’t worry about how those pieces fit together – sorting through what’s feasible and what’s not, and working with you to assemble your ideas into a unique, cohesive whole is my job, right?

Best of Both Worlds

You’ll discover something else when you change your sources of inspiration. You’ll see that there are lots of unique homes out there and that those homes are often more valuable than most – maybe because they’re unique.

If you prefer a “middle of the market” home design, this probably doesn’t make much sense to you.

But if you get excited by living in a house that stands out from the crowd, a home that does things that most homes don’t, a home that you can fall in love with, then when the time comes to sell, you might find that “sold” sign out front a lot sooner than you’d thought.

Where do you find inspiration? I look forward to hearing from you at Facebook.com/RTAstudio.

Need expert Residential Architectural advice for your new home or remodeling project? Contact Richard Taylor, AIA or Jamee Parish, AIA, NCARB at RTA Studio.

Honey, what's that buzzin' noise?

2012-02-07T17:20:00.000-05:00

So...the contractor opened up the ceiling on this remodeling project, and the nagging question the owner had been asking for months was finally answered; "Honey, what's that buzzin' noise?"

Need expert Residential Architectural advice for your new home or remodeling project? Contact Richard Taylor, AIA or Jamee Parish, AIA, NCARB at RTA Studio.

Free E-Book for First-Time Home Buyers

2012-02-04T17:53:00.000-05:00

If you’re a fan of any of the real estate shows on TV, you’ve probably noticed how comfortable the relationship often is between the real estate agent and their buyers.

That’s important to a successful TV show, but according to Shanna LaFontaine, author of the E-book “Buying Guide: Your First Home”, it’s also critical for anyone thinking of buying a new home.

Shanna’s a Realtor in Columbus, Ohio and her E-book is packed with the practical information you’ll need to make your first leap into the residential real estate market.

Step one, according to Shanna, is finding a realtor you can trust. She’s got that right; it’s a lesson I learned the hard way twenty years ago on my second home purchase. A “trusted real estate consultant”, Shanna writes, “can help you navigate your way to finding the perfect home.”

And save you tons of time, as I discovered.

In chapter one you’ll learn exactly how to find that perfect consultant; what to look for, where to look, and how to work your way through that first nerve-wracking meeting.

Nearly every house for sale is listed on the internet these days, but how savvy is your Realtor with the tools needed to access and manage that information? Younger Realtors, writes Shanna, have an advantage here; they’re more likely to use instant communication technology – making the process easier and giving you an edge over other buyers.

That’s covered in chapter two, along with other tips about getting your home search started.

Other chapters of this first time buying guide include mortgage lenders, pre-approvals, and writing an offer. And every page is filled with tips to help you understand how the process works.

Shanna’s e-book is a nice primer for anyone looking for a top-notch realtor to help them start a new home search.

Even if you’re not a TV star.

Download Shanna’s free e-book from her blog here.

Need expert Residential Architectural advice for your new home or remodeling project? Contact Richard Taylor, AIA or Jamee Parish, AIA, NCARB at RTA Studio.

The Surprising Top Five Client Requests For New Home Design

2012-01-17T08:00:00.009-05:00

Years ago, I attended a trade show for kitchen and bath products in Dallas.

You know the kind - huge convention hall, lots of booths, vendors hawking the latest in...whatever the latest is.

Lots of free logo pens and letter openers and key fobs (a friend of mine told me that stuff is called "swag").

After a couple of passes around the trade show floor, filling my canvas tote bag with catalogs and brochures (and swag), I popped in on a seminar, where a representative of a national homebuilder was talking about new home design to a room full of eager builders.

He kept referring to homes as "products", like cars or refrigerators, and said that his company's national surveys and studies had figured out what everybody wants in their new home.

Everybody.

He had an impressive Powerpoint presentation of all these "wants" - the preferred appliances, bath fixtures, home styles, etc. - and was happily sharing it with the builders, who'd come here from all over the country.

Which is probably why you so often see the same house in Denver that you see in Atlanta.

And Seattle. And Des Moines.

For some homeowners, that kind of "design by survey" is fine; they want something middle-of-the-road, something not too different from the other houses in their neighborhood.

Something they can sell in a few years.

Others look at houses a little differently. They want a house that fits the specifics of their daily lives; that knows who they are and how they're unique; a home that might last them a lifetime.

That's personal, face-to-face-talking-for-hours-over-a-cup-of-coffee kind of information.
You can't get that from a survey.

But I've done a little survey of my own anyway, by combing through the past couple of years' of client files. I found five requests that seemed to pop up more often than others and thought I'd share them with you below.

1) Remodel

You saw that one coming didn't you? Or haven't you read a newspaper in 3 years? Homeowners are staying put. They've got too much invested in their homes and neighborhoods to let them go at the current market prices. Or they're buying existing homes in great neighborhoods and making them their own.

2) Keep it under 3,000 square feet

Not sure how this became the magic number, but a high percentage of our recent new home clients have made this specific request. It's still a much higher number than the average American home (about 2,100 square feet in 2009), but significantly lower than the custom homes of just a few years ago.

Interestingly, while homeowners are spending less on house size, they're spending more in other areas (see below). This is a great sign - we're moving past an emphasis on the "bigness" of a house as a measure of its quality.

Lots and lots of windows, lots and lots of light

3) Lots of light and windows

I've got to attribute this first to the land my clients are choosing; they're bigger properties, more open, and often, more rural.

Simply put, there's more to see than just the houses next door - so it's no surprise they'd want more glass area to enjoy the view.

A close second reason may be the architectural character and styles my clients prefer - less of the "formal" styles that have generally have fewer windows and more of the "casual" styles that work well with more glass.

4) Zero wasted space

OK, I can't say I've ever had a client ask for wasted space, but more and more I'm hearing that folks want to get the most from every square foot.

And not just because less house costs less to build and maintain, but because homeowners are coming to realize that wasted space in their house is usually offset by a loss of quality and detail somewhere else.

Specifically, homeowners are cutting back on "single-use" rooms (dens, private baths), "showy" spaces (two-story foyers, galleries, long hallways), and on overly-formal spaces (dining rooms, living rooms).

5) Energy efficiency

Another no-brainer, with a catch. Energy efficiency isn't just about insulation, high-tech glass, and geothermal heat pumps anymore; it's about designing and orienting a home to respond to the particulars of the site (read more about good design and energy efficiency here).

These days most homebuyers expect tight construction, an efficient heating system, and plenty of insulation, as much of that's become the industry standard. But when you start with energy-efficient design strategies, you can save a lot more.

Your Own Personal Top 5 List

A great place to start the design process for your next home is at your own kitchen table, beginning with a simple list of priorities from each family member.

If you asked each to list their top 5, how many do you think they'd agree on? How many would surprise you? How many might match up with my clients' list?

Need expert Residential Architectural advice for your new home or remodeling project? Contact Richard Taylor, AIA or Jamee Parish, AIA, NCARB at RTA Studio.

How To Choose Exterior Paint Colors For Your House

2012-01-15T23:00:00.000-05:00

Do you have trouble picking the right colors when it’s time to repaint the outside of your home?

Does the thought of choosing the wrong colors scare you silly?

The dizzying array of color choices are enough to give a homeowner a case of Chromophobia – the fear of colors (what the heck color is “Pulmonaria” anyway?). How do you decide what colors to use when there are so many options?

At $50 a gallon or more for quality exterior latex, you can’t afford to make a mistake. And if you don’t like the colors, your neighbors probably won’t either; colors have public impact - you’re not the only one who has to live with them.

But a little research and planning can help you get started with the confidence that the final paint job is one that you – and your neighbors - will be pleased with.

But don’t just take your painter’s suggestions, and don’t chicken out by choosing the same colors as the house down the street – get past the fear with these simple steps for figuring out how to give the outside of your home the perfect new look.

Field, Trim, and Accent

An existing house isn’t a blank canvas – after all, you’re not changing the color of the roof, the brick or stone, and maybe not even the windows (if they’re vinyl or aluminum clad). Roofs and masonry walls are large areas of unbroken color and natural starting points for creating a palette.


A good exterior paint scheme has 3 colors.

An exterior paint scheme should be made up of at least three colors: the field – large areas such as walls or roofs; the trim – corner boards, window trim, fascias, rakes, etc.; and accent – specific elements including doors, shutters, and other architectural features.

Field colors make up the majority of what you’ll see on the house and will lead you to the choice of trim and accent.

Are you trying to make your house look a little more prominent on the street? A lighter field color will make it look larger; a darker color will visually shrink it. Lighter colors can also make a house look visually flimsy, while darker colors can give it a strong, solid appearance.

But it’s the trim color that can make or break the scheme. Painting the trim the same color as the field can work in some cases, but it can also give the house an “unfinished” or “wedding cake” look. Darker trim – especially around the windows – can cause a “frame” effect, where the windows look like pictures hung on a wall.

Keeping the trim lighter than the field is almost always a safe bet.

Gutters, downspouts, and similar elements should usually be painted the trim color to help them “disappear” into the background.

The accent color is where the excitement is. Once you’ve chosen an attractive combination of field and trim, make it “pop” with an eye-catching accent color. It’s a tool to give life to an otherwise muted color scheme and draws attention to the important features of the house.

The front door, shutters, and the windows frames (not the trim) are good places for accent colors. Windows painted with accent and trim colors together can be the most interesting part of the composition.

Match The Paint Scheme To The Style

The two most important considerations in choosing a color scheme are the architecture of the house and the neighborhood context.

An historically accurate 2-color scheme

Historic architectural styles, for example, look best in their original color schemes, although these can vary quite a bit. Original Colonial and Colonial Revival homes were often quite colorful on the inside, but less so on the exterior.

Often they were painted in a single color for the field and trim, with a second color for an accent. Combined with prominent red brick chimneys and a brick or stone base, the effect is a three-color scheme.

Victorian homes – often referred to as “painted ladies” – sometimes showed off six or more colors of trim and accent. Making that look good today takes the services of a color specialist and a lot of time. But a similar effect can be had with as little as three colors if they’re well placed on the house.

The Craftsman style of the early 20^th Century sported a darker, earthier color scheme using deep browns, greens, and reds. The current popularity of the style is making more homeowners consider richer color schemes for their homes.

There are TONS of resources available for seeing examples of historically-accurate house colors – take advantage of those. Also take cues from the other houses in your area – a house should have its own personality and style, but houses don’t look good in “party dress” all the time.

Final Coat

Every color choice must be tried out on the house – don’t every buy a gallon of paint from the color chip alone! Most paint stores offer quarts of paint at reasonable prices so you can try out several colors or color combinations before you commit to a scheme.

Get a couple of paint decks (the fan-thingys with the colors strips on them) from a couple of paint manufacturers to get started. Narrow your choices down to two or three paint schemes, then buy a quart of each color – AND a quart of several other colors that are nearby on the color strips.

Here’s why – colors that look great on the color strips don’t always look so great on the walls; and you’ll never know until you try them out! Often, darker colors look much lighter on the house – so always get a quart of colors at least one tint lighter than your first choice (“tinting” makes a color lighter; “shading” makes a color darker).

Leave the colors samples up on the wall for several days before you choose; look at the color in sunlight and in shade, morning and evening. The larger the area you paint, the easier your choice will be!

A Darker Field Color With Lighter Trim

Whether you’re comfortable with choosing colors or not, you have several resources that can make the decision much easier.

Many paint manufacturers have produced pre-selected color palettes arranged by architectural style or color range that specify compatible field, trim, and accent colors. They’re available at paint and building supply stores and many are very well done.

Many paint companies have online paint selection programs that suggest proper color combinations – some even allow you to preview colors on photographs of real houses, or on a digital photo of your own home. Sherwin-Williams.com and Lowes.com both have excellent online tools.

Plan ahead, be bold in your color choices, and try colors on the house first. You’ll be thrilled when your house has a fresh, exciting new look! Who said watching paint dry is no fun?

7 Ways to Beat the High Cost of Home Building

2012-01-12T09:20:00.003-05:00

All this time you’ve assumed that you can’t afford the home you really want; the cozy, comfortable house with all the neat features that you want to get your hands on – stuff like slate countertops; the island range with the stainless steel hood; the rustic beams on the ceiling.

Really cool lighting fixtures.

A tiled shower with two shower heads, woo-hoo!

And you know you can’t afford that house because you’ve looked around and nobody’s building that cool house for less than a biodiesel-powered truckload of Krugerrands.

You know that the only way to hold down construction costs on a house is to strip all the niceties away.

The only reasonably priced homes in your area are disposable vinyl and styrofoam junk or ugly piles of brick and drywall.

You’re half right; a typical builder’s “spec” home price gets into the stratosphere when you add all the goodies…but you’re half wrong, too. The reason most houses get ridiculously expensive is that they’re pretty poorly planned.

Plan better – WAY better – and you can get what you want and keep those gold coins in your pocket.

Here are 7 ways to beat the high cost of construction and home maintenance:

1) Smaller Is Smarter (Really?)
The summit of obviousness, making a home smaller makes it less expensive. But random hacking away with a machete is the wrong approach – we need a scalpel and a surgeon. So think carefully about redundancy – why do you need a dining room AND a breakfast room AND five stools at the kitchen counter? A living room AND a study AND a family room AND a sitting area in the master suite?

Most of these uses can be combined into the same space – one nice large place to eat, for example.

Think about your furniture and how you arrange it – when you don’t know how a room is going to be used you usually make it much too big.

Carefully trim out the wasted, unused space and put the cash into that homey board-and-batten wainscot you love. Or lots and lots of chocolate.

2) Efficient Use Of Building Materials
Way back when, some really smart guys figured out that if building materials were all designed on a common module, they wouldn’t have to use or waste so much of it. So sheets of drywall and plywood are both 8’ tall and 4’ wide. Which works great on an 8’ x 16’ wall, but not so good when its’ 9 ½’ x 17’.

Lots of wasted material!

For the same reasons, structural lumber for floors comes from the mill in 2’ increments. So whose idea was it to make rooms 13’ wide? Design your house as much as possible on the established modules of building materials and stop filling the dumpster with scrap!

3) Use It Where It Counts, Don’t Use It Where It Doesn’t
I visited Steve Wynn’s Treasure Island Resort in Las Vegas a few years back and remember how impressed I was that the décor in the bathrooms in the furthest back corner of the casino was just as nice as the décor in the baths up front.

Cool. But Steve Wynn has a net worth of $2 billion. You probably don’t. So while I hope you become a billionaire, don’t spend like one just yet. Go ahead; put the granite countertops in the kitchen and the master bath but not in the laundry room (a classic “Parade of Homes” head-scratcher, that one). And your kids can do without solid brass faucets, crown molding, and a hand-painted tile backsplash in their bath. (go ahead, ask them – they don’t care!).

Same with carpet – nice stuff in the family room, cheaper everywhere else. Put the money in finishes and fixtures you’ll enjoy every day.

P.S. – Steve Wynn still has his $2 billion AND a hundred bucks of mine.

4) Design For Low Maintenance
This one sounds like a paradox; spend more here to save more later. Cheap siding, roofing, and windows will cost you way more in the long run than quality components will now. There are entire industries built around the hope that you’ll buy replacement windows and a new roof for your house someday, probably much sooner than you think.

Quality is the tortoise in this race - do it right the first time.

5) Lower Your Energy Bills - Dramatically
This goes way beyond insulation, Argon-filled glass, and geothermal systems, and will be the subject of a lengthy article in the near future. In the meantime, don’t make the mistake of designing a home that isn’t climate- or site-specific and try to force it to be highly energy efficient – you’ll be addressing less than half the problem.

The real problem you need to solve is how your house DESIGN responds to the climate and the site. For example, don’t put a big wall of glass facing prevailing winter winds where the heat will get sucked out like a black hole.

Remember your 7th-grade geometry, how a square encloses the most area with the least perimeter (remember how you thought you’d never need to know that)? Well call up your old math teacher and tell her she can be proud – because you’re going to use that knowledge in your house design. You’re going to enclose your new highly-efficient floor plan in a relatively square footprint and reduce your heat loss with fewer building materials!

Do this right and you get a big bonus – a tight, energy-efficient house doesn’t need an expensive geothermal heating system at three times the cost of a conventional furnace. Cha-CHING!

Bonus #2 - that square box is going to be better-looking, too…read on.

6) Boxy Is Bee-you-tee-full
We have millions of really great-looking homes in this country, though most were built over 70 years ago. The designers and builders of the first American suburbs were experts at making simple homes elegant and attractive.

Good-looking homes are very often based on relatively simple box forms, properly proportioned, composed, and detailed.

Today too many designers compensate for their lack of skill by loading the exteriors up with as much stuff as they can – gables, complex roof forms, heroic-scaled arched windows, inappropriate details, etc. Lots of money spent and nobody benefits but the builder (and the replacement-window guy I mentioned above).

Keep the house forms simple and you’ll save a ton of green on the building materials. Look to the early 20th Century suburbs for inspiration and lessons on the elegant simplicity of the box. You’ll have a better looking home that you can be proud of.

7) Good Design Sells
Speaking of good looking, energy-efficient, less expensive, low maintenance, smaller homes, guess what? They sell faster and for more money! Now that’s what I’m talkin’ about!!

My all-time favorite blow-my-own-horn story is of my client who (8 years later) sold his house in two weeks – without an agent – for twice what he paid to build it. All he did was stick a sign out front. The buyer said it was the uniquely functional and interesting floor plan and irresistible exterior design that sold him on it.

How happy do you think he is that he invested in better design?

Why Do Houses Have Front-Loading Garages?

2012-01-11T09:00:00.000-05:00

Lee's question (from allexperts.com):

Growing up in the 50's, the garage to our house was detached and in the back of the house, where you couldn't even see it.

To me, there's nothing nice looking about a garage, so why are so many houses that have attached double garages built with the front of the garage as the most prominent feature?

Some are flush with the front of the house, which doesn't look that bad, but so many are built to stick out several yards in front of the actual house, making the garage door the most prominent feature of the house instead of the house itself.

Is there a reason for this?

Answer:

Lee - thanks for your question!

Yep, there's a reason - with the garage out in front, a room can be put behind it (often a family room). That means the house can be narrower...which means the lot can be narrower. Narrower lots means more lots per development.

As land gets more expensive, lots get smaller. The front-loading garage is one way to make houses narrower and lots more affordable.

You're right, garages don't usually look so good out in front on most homes. That's because garage doors are so much bigger than any other openings in the house - they're out of scale. And garage doors often have very little in the way of detailing, so they're usually big bland holes in the wall.

Some homes, however, have better-looking doors, and detailing to match. Fortunately, most garage door manufacturers have added "carriage" style and "craftsman" style garage doors to their catalogs. That helps a lot.

In many "new urbanism" developments the front-loading garage has been banned in favor of the old alley-loaded garage - like the one you grew up with. That's a great trend - and a big improvement to a community plan. But it costs more - you're not going to see much of this in starter-home developments. And since the detached garage is a non-starter in inclement weather, you won't see it much in temperate and cold climates.

Lastly, alley-loading and rear-loading garages eat up backyard space...in communities without common green space, that's a tall hurdle to get over.

Like you, I hope to see fewer front-loading garages. It's happening, but not as frequently as many of us would like. Development of neighborhood plans that have common green space, and that will accommodate alleys is a pretty big deal and usually involves changing local zoning codes. But it's happening here and there, and that's a start.

Great question, thanks!

Got a home design-related question? Ask Rich at allexperts.com.

Regarding Homes - A Few Thoughts For The New Year

2011-12-29T16:52:00.003-05:00

Happily, there's much "up" to report in the world of residential Architecture, interior design, building, and planning as we enter the new year -

The "McMansion" era may be behind us, as homeowners are demanding better, tighter, more responsible and more personal design
Conspicuous consumption in home design is out; family life and quality living experience is in
Home prices are down from the ridiculous highs of 2005 to a level that reflects their true value in the marketplace (I know, that hurts - a lot - if you're trying to sell right now)
Changing demographics and economics are putting the brakes on suburban sprawl; buyers at both ends of the age spectrum have a renewed interest in "walkable urbanism"
Quality of life is once the again the primary form-generator in design, replacing the auto, which dominated design and planning for 50 years
Interior Design is less about covering every square inch with "something" and more about comfortable, casual, everyday living

So if you're in need of a resolution for the new year, try these on for size:

Architects - let's challenge ourselves to create homes that are gifts to the owners, rather than monuments to design. The best award we can win is the improvement of the lives of our clients.

Interior Designers - the best-decorated homes shouldn't look like you've been there at all; they should look like they're lived in by someone with great taste.

Builders - a renewed focus on quality, not quantity, will turn heads your way. Smaller, smarter, better is here to stay.

Planners - good design - at all levels - is the glue that holds everything together; forget you ever heard the term "Level of Service" - replace it with "Level of Design" instead

I look forward to celebrating the delightful, the subtle, the amazing, the restrained, and the responsible in Architecture, decorating, and building in 2012!

Cheers!

Need expert Residential Architectural advice for your new home or remodeling project? Contact Richard Taylor, AIA or Jamee Parish, AIA, NCARB at RTA Studio.

Can't Quite Picture It? How to See Your House Before It's Built

2011-12-27T08:00:00.004-05:00

I get it.

Having a house designed "from scratch" is scary. Really scary. You don't know what you're going to get until it's built.

It's easier to buy an existing house - you know exactly what you're getting before you buy. Even if you don't like everything, at least you know what you don't like.

Like test-driving a used car.

You can't get that through the architectural design process; there's no magic that lets you see exactly what your house will look like, before it's built.

Or is there?

Need expert Residential Architectural advice for your new home or remodeling project? Contact Richard Taylor, AIA or Jamee Parish, AIA, NCARB at RTA Studio.

Make Your House "Bigger" Without Adding Space

2011-12-19T08:00:00.033-05:00

Cimarron, NM - that's me, before I "decluttered" my pack...
Hey, is that a GOLF COURSE over there?

Two summers ago my elder son and I spent two weeks backpacking in the New Mexico wilderness. Two weeks carrying all of our food, water and gear on our backs.

The planning leading up to the trip was an immense task, trying to anticipate everything we'd need on the trail. Once in the wilderness, you have what you have - there's no buying additional camping gear on the trail.

Turns out that was the wrong approach.

We were thinking too much about the "stuff" we'd need - we should have been thinking about the stuff we didn't need.

A few days in, we realized we'd overpacked. The additional burden of useless stuff was literally weighing us down, slowing our progress and sapping some of the enjoyment from the hiking.

Fortunately, we had an opportunity to purge our packs of excess stuff - stuff we thought we couldn't have survived without - and continued the adventure happier and far less burdened.

You're Carrying Too Much Stuff, Too

There's a gentle warning we often give to our clients (probably too often) when they want to make things bigger - your belongings will expand to fill the available space.

If your closet is overflowing now, will a larger one fix the problem? Or will you buy more clothes and shoes until it's full again?

It's easy to assume that more space will solve the problems you think you have with your home, but like my backpacking trip, what you're really struggling with might be too much stuff.

Too much accumulated stuff that you've found easier to keep around than purge from your life; stuff you're not sure you'll ever need, but after years of collecting, probably don't even know you have.

This Stuff Is Heavy

Sometimes we're blind to the clutter in our homes. We convince ourselves that everything has some future value to us, and we squirrel it away in some corner of the attic, the basement, or a spare bedroom.

The leftovers from the decisions you won't make ("should I keep this, or throw it away?") pile up. You're not saving time or money by keeping everything; you're only adding weight to a growing burden.

But the real weight of that burden is that it's taking up space and preventing you from using your home as it's meant to be - a place that enriches your life.

$211,000 Is A Lot For A Broken Chair

I speak to you from painful (and expensive) experience.

Eleven years ago I rented office space for my architectural practice, space that included a good sized storage room.

It quickly turned into my "junk room", a place I could put anything I didn't want to bother with deciding whether to keep or not.

After all, I had the space, why not use it?

Recently, a friend looking for a small office to rent asked about the storage room; we decided it would be perfect and I went about cleaning it out...a much larger task than I'd imagined.

I was forced to decide the fate of eleven years' clutter, very little of which I ended up keeping. Some went to the landfill, some I sold on Craigslist (way cool, but that's another story). I emptied the room, including - it must have been one of the first things I put there - a broken office chair. Broken, as in can't be fixed. Ever.

All of that newly-empty space inspired me, and so I took on the task of cleaning out the rest of my office too. I filled a recycling dumpster - twice - with useless papers and files.

And discovered I didn't need so much office space after all. So I moved to a space half the size, saving $1600 a month in rent.

$1600 a month times 11 years - $211,000 to store a broken chair.

Piano In The Dining Room

But this article is about homes, not my office or my camping trips.

So I'll tell you a brief story about a visit to a potential client's home, a modest-sized home in a well-kept early 20th Century neighborhood, and hope it will provide you some insight into space issues at your house.

The couple I met with was interested in expanding their living space. The house felt too small, even though their children had grown up and gone.

We walked through the home, talking about which rooms worked, which didn't, and what they wanted to change. I couldn't help but notice during our tour that nearly every room was filled with old furniture, business files, and boxes of clothing.

Stuff.

At one point, the lady of the house mentioned that seating in the dining room was tight. They'd like to entertain more now that the kids were out of the house, but could only just squeeze six around the table.

As she talked, I looked around - as dining rooms go, this one was pretty big. But one wall was completely taken up by a nine foot wide breakfront, another was partially blocked by hubby's lounge chair. The third wall was occupied by an upright piano, leaving the table and chairs only a small space.

More stuff.

My suggestions - move the piano, the lounge chair, and the breakfront - caught the couple by surprise.

I was a little surprised, too, because it was clear to me that they didn't realize how simple the solution to their space problem might be. They'd lived with their stuff for so long they'd stopped noticing it.

Probably talked myself out a job that day, but if I helped them lighten their load a bit, it was worth it.

Are there simple solutions to the space problems in your home? Is clutter and "stuff" keeping you from enjoying your home to the fullest?

Tell me about it at www.facebook.com/RTAstudio

Need expert Residential Architectural advice for your new home or remodeling project? Contact Richard Taylor, AIA or Jamee Parish, AIA, NCARB at RTA Studio.

How to Take Charge of Your Remodeling or New Home Project

2011-12-08T11:34:00.003-05:00

Gimme a noun, and adjective, another noun, another adjective, a verb, and a noun. Drop them into the paragraph below:

My _____ is getting too _____ for my _____. I'd like to make it _____, but I don't want to ____ my ___.

My son came up with this:

My wall is getting too orange for my pencil. I'd like to make it tall, but I don't want to walk my television.

Hee hee.

"Madlibs" is a goofy game because your random choices give unexpected results. You don't know what you're going to end up with and that's what makes it fun.

If you were trying to create a story that actually made sense though, you'd never go about it that way. You'd start with a clear goal in mind; you'd outline, and you'd edit. Then you'd delete the whole thing and start over again (because that's what writers do).

But you'd start with an idea, a result you're trying to get at. A message you want to get across.

You'd have a master plan.

Having a master plan when you're contemplating a new home or remodeling project is essential too. Making your house make sense for the future means avoiding the random, unexpected results.

Making a master plan puts you in charge of the big decisions - what to do now, what you're going to do later.

Plan Ahead

To most people, "master planning" is more about cities and towns than individual homes. But master planning the design of a new home or remodeling project is a great way to extend the useful life of your home, save money, and get peace of mind.

Master planning your home means looking ahead to things you're likely to want to do in the future - add space for a growing family, create access to future outdoor living space, make room for an in-law.

If you know those things going in, you can design for them now and save the frustration of trying to make them fit later. A common example is the future screened porch - it always seems that it's going to block the view from a living space, unless you master plan the screened porch now as an integral part of the home design.

Later, when the budget permits, you'll know right where the screened porch goes, and won't have to work the design around existing views and window locations.

Going Up?

Like the previous example, master planning a home project often means going "out"; but it can mean going "up", too.

A few years ago, I designed a one-story family room addition with a master bedroom suite planned for a future second floor. We knew the master suite didn't fit the budget at the time, but we wanted to make it as easy to build as possible in the future.

We took a couple of steps to ensure that would happen including designing the first-floor walls to support the future second floor without any changes. And the ceiling joists - normally designed only to support attic space - were designed to support the additional loads from the master bedroom.

Since the new master suite would be the same size as the family room, the roof would be the same size too. So instead of permanently attaching the roof to the family room structure, we bolted the roof on as one piece - which means that in the future, the roof can be unbolted, lifted intact, and placed on top of the new master suite...instead of demolishing the first floor roof and building a whole new one on the second floor.

Big savings in time, money, and hassle with that one.

Finally, all of the plumbing, heating, and electric was brought up to the second floor and capped - when the new second floor is added, the first floor won't have to be torn up to tie into the utilities.

A Door to the Future

Master planning can be done on a smaller scale, too. A very common situation is a future room addition on an outside wall. The existing wall is going to need a doorway in it eventually, so we design and build that in now - and route the electric, plumbing, and heating around it. The opening is then closed in with framing and drywall.

When the new room is built, it's easy to open up the wall where we've already built the opening, and a big relief to know that we won't have any wiring, piping, or ductwork in the way.

Words for the Wise

A good master plan will help keep your house in step with changes in your life, help you avoid wasting money on future projects, and simplify the building process in the future.

It puts you in charge of your project and your future.

How would planning ahead help make your remodeling or new home project better? I'd like to hear about it on our Facebook page.

Need expert Residential Architectural advice for your new home or remodeling project? Contact Richard Taylor, AIA or Jamee Parish, AIA, NCARB at RTA Studio.

"Before and After"? Not exactly...

2011-11-25T11:34:00.000-05:00

"Before", and before long, "after"

Sometimes a very small project can have a very big impact.

This new front porch replacement, for example, is the finishing touch to a Colonial-styled home built several decades ago. The existing crumbling porch is a good excuse to "do it right" this time.

To me, this well-dressed house needed just the right jewelry to complete the ensemble - and the porch is the properly understated pearl necklace.

Not too fancy, not too fussy, classy and elegant while still letting the house keep center stage (sorry for the mixed metaphor!).

I couldn't wait for construction to finish to post the "before and after" photos, so for now, how about, "before and what it will look like when it's done"?

Need expert Residential Architectural advice for your new home or remodeling project? Contact Richard Taylor, AIA or Jamee Parish, AIA, NCARB at RTA Studio.

The Best Outdoor Party Kitchen Ever

2011-11-21T08:00:00.002-05:00

Jamee designed this great outdoor party kitchen for a home that backs up to a world-class golf course.

It's been a huge hit at parties, and was featured in Columbus Monthly magazine.

I can already taste the mesquite beef kabobs with grilled garlic & herb potatoes...a nice Chardonnay...is it summer yet?

See more photos and text here.

Need expert Residential Architectural advice for your new home or remodeling project? Contact Richard Taylor, AIA or Jamee Parish, AIA, NCARB at RTA Studio.

Another kitchen for you "before and after" junkies (you know who you are!)

2011-11-16T07:26:00.000-05:00

Jamee took on this remarkable transformation in Worthington Ohio's Historic District - read all about it and see more photos here.

Need expert Residential Architectural advice for your new home or remodeling project? Contact Richard Taylor, AIA or Jamee Parish, AIA, NCARB at RTA Studio.

My Newest Favorite "Before and After" Project

2011-11-14T18:53:00.000-05:00

We had fun giving this ranch home new life with a new look outside and lots of new amenities inside.

See more pictures and text here.

Need expert Residential Architectural advice for your new home or remodeling project? Contact Richard Taylor, AIA or Jamee Parish, AIA, NCARB at RTA Studio.

Basement or Crawl Space?

2011-10-24T09:00:00.003-04:00

In some parts of the USA this question’s irrelevant – there are few basements or crawl spaces in the desert southwest, the Alaskan tundra, or anywhere else that it’s not practical to excavate a foundation.

But here in Midwestern America it’s a frequent concern.

Most homes I design or add to have at least a partial basement; the real questions are whether to excavate an entire basement, or just part, and how deep.

Do You Have to Dig At All?

Much of the northern half of the USA is in the Temperate or Cold climate zones, where the ground can freeze to several feet below the surface. When soil freezes, it expands and pushes upwards, a condition called “heaving”.

If your home’s foundation sits on top of heaving soil, it gets pushed up, too – damaging the foundation and the house above it. Heaving damage is prevented by digging the foundation to below the “frost line”, where the soil stays too warm to freeze.

And that’s a building code issue - so yes; you probably have to dig, but how deep?

A typical crawl space has 18" - 30" of clearance

How Much Deeper is a Basement than a Crawl Space?

How deep your foundation should be depends on the calculated frost depth for your area – in my climate it’s around 32 inches. Which means by the time you’ve dug the foundation and met other foundation codes, you’ve already got several feet of crawl space by default.

If you build your crawl space properly, you’ve also already got a gravel base several inches deep, insulation, and drainage – much of what you’d need for a fully excavated basement.

And that’s what a basement is, really – a very deep crawl space.

So with most of the parts in place, it’s a matter of digging down another five or six feet, pouring a concrete slab, and waterproofing the exterior (for you other Architects, builders, engineers, and code officials out there – yes, there’s more to it than that, I know).

What’s the Bottom Line?

If the soil and climate conditions are right, I always a recommend a full basement for new homes I design. It’s a lot of additional storage space for a relatively small amount of money, and besides, you can’t really come back and add a basement later if you change your mind!

For existing homes with only a crawl space, adding a room with a basement is usually difficult and expensive – and the new space probably isn’t big enough to justify the cost. For homes with basements already, a basement under a new addition usually makes sense.

Obviously, a basement’s going to cost more to build than a crawl space. But since most of the equipment, manpower, and materials are all already on site, it’s an efficient use of resources.

And a basement’s probably the cheapest space in the house; after all, you’re already going to build part of it anyway, right?

What’s most common in your area? Do you use your basement for storage or have you finished it off? Is your crawl space dark and damp? Or do you have a dry crawl space you use for storage?

Need expert Residential Architectural advice for your new home or remodeling project? Contact Richard Taylor, AIA or Jamee Parish, AIA, NCARB at RTA Studio.

How To Save Space (and Money!) With Smart Bath Planning

2011-10-03T07:43:00.000-04:00

To a plumber, the difference between one bathroom and another is a matter of slope; some baths are bigger, some have more fixtures, but in the end, everything flows downhill.

Get the fresh water in, get the wastewater out – mission accomplished.

But good bathroom planning is more than just connecting the pipes, especially when space and budgets are tight. There are many possible configurations and types of baths and a large number of finishes and fixtures to select; and it’s one of the most expensive rooms in the house.

We all know what a bathroom is used for (that hasn’t changed!) but homes today are getting by with fewer - and smaller - baths. Making that work means understanding the basic ingredients of a well-planned bath.

The Muck Stops Here

You probably didn’t’ grow up in a house with a utility bath but your mom wishes you did - it’s the bath that comes between the muddy kids and mom’s nice, clean floors and gives dad a place to wash his golf clubs (other than in the kitchen sink).

Ideally, the utility bath is part of a family entry/mud room area, probably between the garage and the kitchen. It’s also often combined with the laundry room – the basin can do double duty as a washtub. A toilet and a basin are the only necessary fixtures; add a small shower if you’re a frequent gardener or if your kids often find their way to the muddy creek in the backyard.

Make this bath a little nicer than for just "utility", and it can easily serve as your home's guest bath, too - no need for a completely separate bath.

Two Kids, One Pail Of Water

Upstairs baths come in a wide variety of configurations. The basic “hall bath” has a sink, toilet, and tub and is accessed by two or more bedrooms through a common hallway. A hall bath with standard fixtures can be as small as 5 feet wide by 8 feet long.

But because the hall bath has all of the fixtures in one room, only one person can use it at a time. A better solution is the compartmentalized bath – a slightly larger version of the hall bath that places one or two basins in a separate room from the toilet and tub. Now one teenager can use the tub or toilet in privacy while another uses the basin.

It’s a far more family-friendly arrangement, doesn’t take up much more space, and is much smaller than two separate baths.

Another space-saving option is the “Jack-and-Jill” bath. Young Jack and young Jill share a common tub and toilet, but each has a private basin, countertop, storage drawers, and mirror. Usually that basin is accessible directly from the bedroom and provides a private dressing and grooming area for each child.

It’s a great way to keep teenagers from fighting over the basin and countertop space without the expense of two separate baths.

Domain of the Master

The big whirlpool bathtub was the centerpiece of the luxury “master bath” just a few years ago, but not so much anymore. In fact, we’re designing many new homes with a big shower but no tub at all in the master bath. It’s a bit unusual, but why install a tub you’ll never use?

The showers we’re designing in homes today are hard to beat for relaxation. Some have multiple showerheads and body-spray fixtures; all have built-in bench seats; a few have steam units. Most importantly, they're used every day.

Privacy and personal space are important in a master, but that doesn't require a lot of extra space. A separate basin and countertop space for each of the owners is usually all that's needed. Sinks are occasionally side-by-side but often they’re completely separated from each other.

And every decent master bath should also have a private toilet room, an absolutely essential feature if more than one person is to use the bath simultaneously.

American Standards

Large and numerous baths are one of the reasons that American homes have gotten crazy big and expensive. Careful consideration of who’s using which bath and how they use them will help keep the size of your home under control - and make your home more convenient and comfortable for everyone in it.

Even the plumber.

Need expert Residential Architectural advice for your new home or remodeling project? Contact Richard Taylor, AIA or Jamee Parish, AIA, NCARB at RTA Studio.

What Everyone Should Know About Cowboys and Architects

2011-09-26T08:27:00.005-04:00

Gene Autry, King of the Cowboys

Cowboys and Architects

I read an interesting article yesterday, written by a builder. It was about how you must hire your builder before you hire your Architect, ‘cause Architects don’t know nothin’ about building.

Whoa, cowboy. Hold on there, pardner. That ain’t the way the West was won.

Nothin’ against builders, mind you. Lotta good ones out there.

But let’s be clear as a springtime morning in the Rockies: Architects design, builders build.

Now if this builder’s just a bit confused about the roles we all play in the design and building process, I understand. The picture has gotten a little muddy lately and frankly, Architects are partly to blame.

Yessir, us Architects used to wear the chaps and spurs when it came to wrasslin’ with pencil and paper. But then we started forgettin’ our trail manners. Got out there ahead of the herd a little.

Left the barn door open.

And before we knew it, the builders had lassoed some of the Architect’s clients and ridden off into the sunset.

Good for the builder; bad for the Architect.

And bad for the client.

Take Ten Paces…and Draw

The writer of the article I mentioned above was used to working with Architects who did little more for the client than “draw plans”. Not surprisingly, those plans probably didn’t come close to addressing all the needs of the client, leaving the builder to fill in the gaps.

And that’s no one’s fault but the Architect’s, since his job is to find out about all those needs and then design a project that satisfies them in creative ways.

Architectural services are supposed to start way before the drawing begins, with detailed discussions about the project and detailed study of the building site (read more about the design process here.)

A lot of back-and-forth at this early stage helps make sure the client and Architect understand each other before any design work is committed to paper.

It takes time, but it’s time extremely well spent – something much harder to do when you’re focused solely on getting to the construction stage.

Great projects begin and end with unique creation; whether that’s unique Architecture, unique problem-solving, or the requirements of a unique client (aren’t they all?).

And unique creation is what Architects do best.

Yep, we want to see the project built – after all, that’s why we’re all in this business. And yep, we want to see it built on time and on budget – that’s as much a part of “unique creation” as the Architectural design. But it’s in our client’s best interest to work out all the possibilities and problems on paper before we commit to bricks and mortar.

That’s tough, I know, for a guy who wants to build first and ask questions later. So holster that nail gun, pardner, and sit tight…your turn is coming.

The Fastest Way to Move Cattle is Slowly

I reckon you’ve figured out by now that I got me a dog in this fight.

I run a Residential Architecture firm and our clients hire us for much more than just “plans”. We do what an Architectural firm is supposed to do: manage the entire project for the client including site selection, Architectural design, Interior design, and budgeting.

We help our clients choose quality contractors to bid on the project, then thoroughly analyze the bids when they’re submitted. We recommend the bid with the best value to our clients. We help them scrutinize the builder’s contract and proposed schedule.

And then, when every option’s been explored, when every decision’s been made - we let the builder build.

Never Ask a Barber if You Need a Haircut

I’ll give credit to the builder who wrote that article – he’s trying to turn a problem into a business opportunity for himself – he’d prefer not to have to wait on the often time-consuming and sometimes expensive design process before he can get his hands on the project.

If you ask him, he’ll tell you he can design it for you.

But that shortcuts a well-understood and well-regarded process that recognizes the appropriate roles of the Architect and builder, a process that recognizes the strengths of each, and more importantly, allows both to work together to accomplish the client’s goals: getting a well-designed project, built by skilled craftsmen, for a reasonable price.

Sheriff Woody

Son, the Quickest Way to Double your Money is to Fold it Over

So what’s all this talkin’ mean, out there on the range?

For you builders, find better Architects. Find Architects that understand and respect your role, and make sure you understand and respect theirs. Realize that properly delivered Architectural services are much more than “drawing plans”; can save you time and effort; and will let you focus on what you do best.

Architects – offer and deliver all the services you’re trained to. Recognize that designing a home or remodeling is an intensely personal experience for your clients, and that they deserve your full attention throughout the project. Help your clients find the best builders available, and give them great projects to build.

And homeowners – don’t be tempted by what sounds like a shortcut to get your project done faster and cheaper; get the right professional to design your project, and he’ll help you get the right professional to build it.

‘Cause you can put yer boots in the oven, pardner, but that don’t make ‘em biscuits.

Need expert Residential Architectural advice for your new home or remodeling project? Contact Richard Taylor, AIA or Jamee Parish, AIA, NCARB at RTA Studio.

A Toolbox Essential: Get Your House Right

2011-09-19T07:46:00.001-04:00

"Get Your House Right: Architectural Elements To Use And Avoid" is a book we didn't need a hundred years ago, or eighty years ago - maybe even sixty.

Knowledge of the essentials of good traditional house design - proper details, good proportions, appropriate materials - was once fairly common, spread through pattern books and handed down from carpenter to carpenter.

In the 20th Century, as traditional home design fell out of favor, much of that knowledge was lost.

Get Your House Right aims to fix that. Marianne Cusato has written a wonderful guide to what it is about a good-looking traditional home that makes it seem right. And she knows her stuff - she's an award-winning designer, educator, and speaker.

So what interest would an average homeowner have in a book about architectural details and design? Plenty, as it turns out. If you're building a new home, remodeling, or restoring an old home, this book is an essential a tool as your tape measure.

Get Your House Right answers almost every question that anyone interested in good home design might ask. What's the difference between a muntin and a mullion? What's the right style of door for my house? How tall should my baseboard be?

If this is the kind of stuff that keeps you up at night, Get Your House Right is for you.

Besides windows, doors, and trim, Ms. Cusato covers the basics of good traditional home design; entrances and porches; chimneys, materials, roofs - everything that makes the difference between an "ok" house and a great house.

But this must-have book goes further and shows you what not to do. Almost every page is filled with wonderfully-detailed pencil sketches that show you exactly what to USE and what to AVOID.

Get Your House Right is always within easy reach in my design studio - and it should be in the "toolbox" of any homeowner or homebuilder who cares about good trhome design.

I'd love to hear about "home" books that are essential to you - got any favorites?

Need expert Residential Architectural advice for your new home or remodeling project? Contact Richard Taylor, AIA or Jamee Parish, AIA, NCARB at RTA Studio.

Don't Buy A House Plan Until You Read This

2011-09-06T09:00:00.004-04:00

Pre-drawn house plans are a great way to save time and money when you're ready to build a new home.

But with the staggering number of choices at online house plan sites and in published plan books it's almost impossible to find, choose, and buy the right house plan for you and your family.

Here's the problem - buying a house plan isn't like buying a car, because you can't see a house until after it's built (and then it's too late to change your mind).

Shop Intelligently

You wouldn't choose a car by looking at its floor plan, would you?

Of course not!

You'd check Consumer Reports, Kelley Blue Book, maybe check dealer prices online; then you'd go out and test drive the car; see how it feels, how it performs, find out if it's all it's cracked up to be.

You'd do a lot of research before you plunked down your tens of thousands of dollars.

But how much research do you do on the house plan you've chosen before you commit to a process that's going to cost you hundreds of thousands of dollars? How do you test drive a floor plan?

Somewhere, Out There

If you've found Don't Buy A House Plan Until You Read This while you were reading other posts on the Sense Of Place blog, then you're likely someone who cares more about your house than the average guy.

You might have found this page because you entered the term "house plans" or something similar in an Internet search engine; if you used Google, you got almost 3 million results. Those aren't all house plan vendors, of course, but most of the first several hundred results are (I got tired of looking at them after that!).

Maybe you wanted to buy a published plan book - a search of Barnes and Noble returns nearly 8,000 results; Amazon.com lists over 2,100. The magazine racks of both of those stores are filled with plan books. Each of those books has up to 500 different house plans - you do the math!

One on-line house plan site boasts of a library of over 23,000 plans to search through; another lists nearly 15,000; how can you possibly choose from amongst all those and find the perfect plan for you?

You Need Professional Help

I'm Richard Taylor, AIA , the guy behind Sense Of Place and President of Richard Taylor Architects, a Residential Architectural Studio in Dublin, Ohio. My firm and I have been designing custom homes, remodelings, room additions, and every other kind of family home project for over 20 years.

We've talked with hundreds and hundreds of people about how they use their homes. Not just what rooms they use, but what it is that truly makes a house a home; what features they need to make their home really useful; what they don't need in a house; and what gives their house real character.

So we know house design. But that's not all - since we're responsible for preparing the actual construction plans for our projects we know from long experience what the construction drawings must include. That's not always the case with plan services that simply catalog other designer's house plans.

But I'm not here to sell you our architectural services; that's not why you found Don't Buy A House Plan Until You Read This. You're not a custom home client ; you want to find a quality pre-drawn house plan that suites your lifestyle and you want it for a reasonable price.

How I Can Help

I don't sell house plans and I don't recommend house plan services. I don't build homes - I simply want you to be as knowledgeable as possible about buying a house plan so that you find just the right one with a minimum of effort.

So I'm offering you my knowledge and experience; I'm giving you the opportunity to become a much better house plan buyer in a short time (and maybe save a ton of time and money).

That's why I've written Don't Buy A House Plan Until You Read This, a free 10-chapter course in everything you need to know to start finding your perfect house plan:

Chapter #1: House Plans Are 2D; Houses Are 3D
Chapter #2: Choose Your Building Site Before You Choose Your House Plan
Chapter #3: Changes Aren't Cheap (And Might Not Be Easy)
Chapter #4: A Set Of House Plans Isn't Enough
Chapter #5: How Big Is That House Plan (Really)?
Chapter #6: Don't Buy That Material List
Chapter #7: Construction Costs
Chapter #8: House Design and Energy Costs
Chapter #9: Buy The Right Set Of Plans
Chapter #10: Choose The Right Builder

A new chapter of Don't Buy A House Plan Until You Read This is delivered to your email inbox every few days - plenty of time for you to read and absorb the tons of great information packed into each chapter.

At the end, you'll practically be an expert on choosing house plans. You'll be able to:

Evaluate the character of the space inside a house plan
Pick a plan that is best suited for your building site
Find a plan that meets your needs without needing too many changes
Present your builder all the information he needs to prepare an accurate cost estimate
Accurately compare the sizes of house plans to each other
Save money by not buying what you don't need
Know early on what a plan will cost to build
Choose an energy-efficient design
Avoid construction mistakes by getting complete plans
Know when you've found the best builder for your new home

If you're ready to spend a little time to save a lot of wasted effort and money, get started with the Introduction to Don't Buy A House Plan Until You Read This - just enter your name and email address in the boxes below.

Click "Sign Me Up", then check your email inbox to confirm your subscription - and you're all set to go!

Need expert Residential Architectural advice for your new home or remodeling project? Contact Richard Taylor, AIA or Jamee Parish, AIA, NCARB at RTA Studio.

It's the Sense of Place September Caption Contest!

2011-09-01T09:00:00.017-04:00

Is this a house? Or an outtake from the latest Transformers movie?

If you've got a better caption for this photo, add it in the comment section below for a chance to win a $10 Lowe's gift card courtesy of Sense of Place.

The contest ends September 30th - get your funny on!

Need expert Residential Architectural advice for your new home or remodeling project? Contact Richard Taylor, AIA or Jamee Parish, AIA, NCARB at RTA Studio.

Three Keys to Preparing for a Successful New Home or Remodeling Project

2011-08-21T10:54:00.003-04:00

You have some sort of picture in your mind of how you want your house to look, to function, to feel.

How do you communicate that to your Architect, and to the people who’ll be building the walls and installing the countertops?

The key to success in a new home or remodeling project is making sure all parties – you, your Architect, and your contractor - all fully understand that picture in your mind.

Here are a few ideas to help you make your vision crystal clear:

1) Collect and Organize

Whenever you come across something that appeals to you for your house, take a photo of it; tear the page out of the magazine; or print it from your computer. Even if the photo or drawing only has a tiny thing you like, get it on paper.

An easy way to find lots of images is to pick up “home design” and “home decorating” magazines at bookstores or home improvement stores. Another great source is the website www.houzz.com, where you can create an “ideabook” from hundreds of thousands of very high-quality photographs (read more about how we use Houzz here).

Get a binder of some sort and organize all your photos and clippings into groups by room - and keep it updated.

2) Look Inside

It’s easy to think that your job – as the homeowner – is to come up with solutions for your project. And while there’s definitely a time for that, it’s far more important that you first focus on defining the problem.

That means carefully and honestly examining your daily life in relation to your house – does it really do what you want/need it to do? The more detail you provide about what does and doesn’t work in your house the better you’ll be able to evaluate proposed solutions.

Ask all your household members for their thoughts, in detail – after all, they’ve got to live in the house, too!

Write everything down, no matter how small or “crazy” it may seem. It’s through this kind of honest introspection that you’ll be able to identify your real needs.

3) Research

A successful design and construction project depends on equal expectations; the more you know about design and construction the better! There are many great books and websites that can help you better understand your house, and the issues you should know about to ensure a successful project.

Start with these books: Get Your House Right by Marianne Cusato, and The Not So Big House by Sarah Susanka.

You’ll also find dozens of articles about residential design and construction right here on Sense of Place. And while you’re here, sign up for “Knock Knock”, our occasional newsletter of great home design insights – delivered right to your email inbox.

For personalized, expert help with your home design project, stop by our office in Historic Dublin, Ohio; give us a call at 614-766-7257; or shoot us an email.

Need expert Residential Architectural advice for your new home or remodeling project? Contact Richard Taylor, AIA or Jamee Parish, AIA, NCARB at RTA Studio.

The Smartphone App That I Use Almost Every Day

2011-08-15T09:00:00.003-04:00

Although I love gadgets and techie stuff, I'm not often the first one to run out and buy the latest super-duper gee-whiz toy.

I'm not the road warrior that many of these devices are geared to, and I'm not (yet) interested in watching movies on a tiny handheld screen.

I gotta be convinced it's useful - which is why I've only just recently picked up my first Android-powered smartphone.

It's a very useful tool for me, keeping my contacts synced with Outlook (thru Gmail Contacts), letting me know when someone's left a message on my office phone, and updating me with the latest Cleveland Indians frustration.

There are hundreds of "apps" available for Android phones, but there's one that really makes my smartphone a "must-have" gadget for me - the Zillow mobile app. Zillow.com is a website that covers real estate from just about every imaginable angle - it's an essential tool for anyone buying, selling, building, remodeling, or designing homes.

Zillow's mobile app puts an incredible amount of real estate information in my hand. And linked with my smartphone's location services, it tailors that info to wherever I happen to be.

When I call up the Zillow app, it loads a map of my location, then populates that map with all of the homes for sale in the immediate area (they show as a red house icon); all of the recently sold homes (a yellow icon); and all of the rentals (purple icon). Each icon has the current price just beneath it.

Tapping on a "for sale" icon brings up a photo of the house and a brief summary of the home's features. Tapping the summary takes you to the agent's web page for that home.

Wow.

Zoom in further on the map view, and you'll see the approximate value of every house in the area - whether it's for sale or not, and a list of comparable recent home sales in the area.

Double wow.

But wait - there's more. If you have Google Maps on your smartphone, you can see directions - from your location - to the home. Even better, load Google's free Navigation service and you'll get live turn-by-turn directions to the house.

Triple...ok, enough of that.

The Zillow app helps me answer my clients' questions about the appropriate amount of money to put into a remodel (so they don't price themselves out of the neighborhood), and it helps me and my new home clients decide if their budget makes sense.

It's a great business tool that I use almost everyday. And since it works everywhere, you'll always have an answer to the question, "I wonder how much houses cost around here?"

Get the Zillow mobile app here.

What's your favorite smartphone app?

Need expert Residential Architectural advice for your new home or remodeling project? Contact Richard Taylor, AIA or Jamee Parish, AIA, NCARB at RTA Studio.

Great Use of a Stair Ledge

2011-08-11T08:13:00.003-04:00

I've always loved the way a client of mine used this stairway ledge as a place to display family photos.

It's a great way to make an otherwise forgotten space warm and inviting!

Need expert Residential Architectural advice for your new home or remodeling project? Contact Richard Taylor, AIA or Jamee Parish, AIA, NCARB at RTA Studio.

How To Get an Architectural Review Board to Approve Your Home Design or Remodeling Project

2011-08-07T08:25:00.007-04:00

If you’re planning on building a custom home in a new development or remodeling a home in an older neighborhood, you’ll likely to find your plans subject to design review.

Design review boards go by different names; ARB (Architectural Review Board), DRC (Design Review Committee), ARC (Architectural Review Committee) and others.

They’ve been called less flattering names, too, by homeowners whose proposals don’t get favorable treatment from the board.

But design review serves an important function in maintaining character, consistency, and property values in neighborhoods where it is used and should be seen as something that works in every homeowner’s favor.

Why Architectural Review Boards Exist

When you live in an architecturally restricted area, you're not the only “owner” of your house. The look of your house, and the role that it occupies in the fabric of your neighborhood are “owned”, in part, by the community.

That’s a hard concept to swallow for some homeowners. But if you keep in mind that it's probably the character of the neighborhood that attracted you to it in the first place, you’ll begin to understand why the whole community has a stake in the appearance of your home.

You have to share that character and protect it for your neighbors, as they protect theirs for you. Organized design review exists to help protect your investment, and to help you to develop your property in a way that protects the investments of your neighbors.

What ARBs Do

Review boards come in two varieties, public and private, and they vary in what aspects of design and building they control. Some are informal and relaxed in what they review while others are very restrictive. In historic neighborhoods for example, design review may be organized around guidelines published by the National Park Service that detail how to preserve and restore properties with historic significance.

In older but less historic areas, preserving history isn’t a much a concern as maintaining the unique character of the area. Often these areas are near the center of cities and have been through several cycles of redevelopment, each time losing valuable buildings forever.

“Losing” a building doesn’t necessary mean demolishing it; poorly conceived additions and remodeling projects can also obscure important parts of the neighborhood’s architectural fabric.

In new residential developments, the developers may start with a concept for the homes that includes a certain level of architectural design and detail, a palette of exterior materials, even a restriction on the architectural style of the homes in the development.

Different Types of ARBs

Public boards are almost always made up of appointed citizens who preside over scheduled public meetings. These are usually municipal boards that oversee older, established neighborhoods. Proposed projects are submitted for inclusion on an agenda and the public is invited to comment. The meetings are forums for give and take between the board and the homeowner and allow for projects to be reworked before a final vote is taken.

Newer developments engage in private design review. It is often done by a subcontracted architectural firm and is almost never in public view. Drawings are submitted whenever they’re ready, and they’re returned with or without comment at a later date. This type of review can be more difficult to navigate and shouldn’t be done without a clear idea of what is likely to be approved.

What to Expect from a Design Review

As a veteran of countless design review meetings for my own projects I’ve picked up a lot about how to and how not to present a project for review. And having been a member of several review boards (I'm currently on three), I’ve seen the good, the bad, and the ugly from the other side of the table many times.

Here’s some of what I’ve learned.

Read and understand the design guidelines. Board members love projects that are easy to approve. If the project you want to build doesn’t address the guidelines or the character of the community it’ll be difficult to get it through. Remember that it’s the community that wants the guidelines enforced.

Ask for a concept review first. Many projects benefit from a preliminary concept review. It’s an informal and non-binding once-over by the review board, and can highlight issues of concern. This is the time to find out what the board likes and what they object to, and to negotiate solutions before the project is committed to final drawings. It isn’t unusual in concept review for new solutions to arise, and they’re often more efficient than the original idea.

Be flexible. There are almost always other possible solutions, and the board may want to explore them with you. You might find that a small change to your design gets you the votes you need.

Be patient. You’ve been working on this project for a long time but it’s the first time the board has seen it. Give them time to study it, ask questions, and consider its impact on the community. And since your project probably isn’t the only one on the agenda, bring along a cup of coffee and a magazine. You may be there a while!

Present complete documents. Public review boards, in particular, require voluminous applications. Prepare detailed drawings that don’t leave unanswered questions. Bring material samples and paint colors. The clearer your submittal, the fewer things the board will find to question.

Prepare to Negotiate. Go into the meeting knowing what you’re willing to give up, and what you must keep. Design review boards will often happily trade something you want in return for the elimination of an undesirable feature.

And finally, keep in mind that the ARB that reviews your project is the same one that keeps your next-door neighbor from painting his house purple.

Need expert Residential Architectural advice for your new home or remodeling project? Contact Richard Taylor, AIA or Jamee Parish, AIA, NCARB at RTA Studio.

Design Secrets of a First-Class Home Office

2011-07-27T06:45:00.001-04:00

Several years ago I was working out of my home in an office I’d designed for myself. With plenty of space, oversized countertops, and specific places for each piece of office furniture and equipment I use (I’m highly computer-dependent), I was productive and efficient without sacrificing closeness to my family.

In terms of design, space utilization, and ergonomics, I’d thought of everything.

Then two things changed my work setting in fundamental ways; a two-year old and a four-year old who delighted in knowing that Daddy was home all day.

But that wasn’t totally unexpected; I’d made provisions to increase the privacy of my office as the children grew.

There aren’t many hard and fast rules about home office design; our jobs and lives are unique and will influence each individual situation. But a few basic ideas apply almost universally, and will help to guide you towards making the best with your resources.

Locating Your Home Office

Even a well-planned office space won’t work if it’s located poorly. If you see clients in your office frequently, and especially if you have small children at home, separate the office from the home spaces as much as possible. This might mean an entrance designed for use by clients alone. If the office and home spaces are adjacent, proper sound insulation is a must.

Will you work at home forever? If not, what will become of that dedicated office? In my home, the old office is in “phase two” of its evolution, the kids’ “playroom”. In phase three it will be remodeled into a media room for the adults. Design your office to grow and change with you.

Remodeling an existing space into a home office requires you to look carefully at the use of adjacent spaces. Many clients will think it a faux pas if they hear the toilet flush upstairs during a meeting. Speaking of plumbing, will there be a nearby bathroom for client use? Will they have to wait for your son to get out of the shower to use it?

But perhaps you don’t see clients at home. You may only need a quiet place to get in a few hours or work each day or you may find that the solitude of home is simply a better environment for what you do. If you need privacy, find it by locating the most remote areas of your home.

Let Your Work Style Dictate The Design

A few years back, I worked with a client to design a part-time home office for her small consulting business. The more time we spent discussing her work style the more we began to realize that all she needed at home was a quiet space to talk on the phone and to set up her laptop. In the end, the entire office consisted of a three-foot by six-foot desk nook tucked behind her kitchen – just enough space to type and talk, a few shelves, and two telephone lines.

If you work entirely at home, or if you bring home piles of paperwork from your main office, you’ll need greater accommodations. Countertop area and storage space are always in demand – make sure you’ve got enough. A large executive desk looks great but you will get much more use from a wide expanse of countertop.

Rather than creating expensive built-ins, many of my clients opt for what I call a “paper pantry”; a large walk-in closet, full of open shelves for paperwork, files, and office supplies. A paper pantry saves money, keeps the mess hidden, and can be used as a clothes closet should the office ever be needed as a future bedroom.

Receiving clients at home requires a place to conduct meetings. A conference table might fit the bill but don’t forget to consider how it will be used when clients aren’t present. A well-placed conference table should double as additional workspace for you.

Accommodating Office Equipment

Almost every office requires a computer. It’s the personal computer that made the whole work-at-home concept possible. But computers are still bulky assemblages of wires and peripherals that take up valuable countertop space - suddenly you’ve got no room to work.

Just like a media center in a family room, cabinets and shelves can easily be designed to hold or conceal office machinery, and free up space to work. Many times I’ve expanded the “paper pantry” concept to include office machines.

Whatever office machines you use, make sure you’ve got plenty of electrical and broadband outlets and telephone jacks so that you’ve got the flexibility to fine-tune the arrangement.

Managed Growth

If you hope to move out into commercial space someday, don’t overdo the home office. Plan for a little growth, but don’t overbuild or overdesign a space that’s destined for obsolescence. Instead, look ahead to how that space will be used when you’ve moved out of it.

If you want to grow your business and keep it at home, check local zoning codes and deed restrictions on your property before you make an expensive commitment. While most zoning codes allow limited home-based business, they often restrict the number of employees, on-site parking, and even the type of businesses permitted. A phone call to your local zoning official and a quick check of your deed may save you a lot of time and money.

Don’t “Underdesign” It

The temptation to think of a home office as strictly a place of function is strong. But if you really intend to use it, it’s vital to create a pleasant work atmosphere. Access to views and natural light helps increase the ambiance and allows you to be more productive. A few well-placed personal items give you “ownership” of the office; comfortable seating and good function reduce stress.

Keep in mind how much time you’re likely to spend there. You need to make the most of those hours so give yourself the same or better amenities than you’d expect from a well-designed outside office (you’ve already got the private parking space!). Surround yourself with an environment that supports your work and stimulates your creativity. Make it a place you look forward to going to. Properly done, a home office can be a comfortable, profitable, and liberating place to work.

Need expert Residential Architectural advice for your new home or remodeling project? Contact Richard Taylor, AIA or Jamee Parish, AIA, NCARB at RTA Studio.

What Famous Architect Sarah Susanka Taught Me About Problem-Solving

2011-07-22T13:37:00.001-04:00

I attended a conference a few years ago where nationally known Residential Architect Sarah Susanka spoke and told a story of a potential client and a small project an hour’s drive from her office.

The homeowner invited her in to talk about a family room addition; she was led through an empty and dark living room to the kitchen/breakfast room, packed with all the family’s everyday stuff.

“See the problem?” the homeowner said, “this just isn’t enough space”.

Ms. Susanka thought for a minute and asked, “Couldn’t you just use the living room for your family space?”

“It’s too dark” the owner said, “I’d open the blinds, but neighbor’s windows look right into our living room windows”.

Again a moment of thought, then, “What if you replaced the clear glass in the living room windows with art glass that would let light through but still obscure the view?”

“Hmm,” the homeowner said, “I guess that would do it!”

Problem solved, tens of thousands of dollars saved.

I’ve always enjoyed that story and have retold it many times, because it’s about what Architects really do - solve problems (hopefully, problems that involve designing stuff!).

So is an hour’s drive time and ten minutes’ advice “too small” of a project for an Architect? Most Architects I know would answer that with a resounding no – because the Architect provided a valuable service using her knowledge and experience.

The “is the project too small” question is one I hear often; here’s one from my email just last week:

“We were interested in some ideas for adding on a mud room and possibly a bathroom in the basement. I don't know if these types of projects are too small for your firm or if you can help us out with getting in touch with someone who can help us with ideas for these additions.”

“Too small for your firm” probably means “is there enough fee in it for you?”

Ay, there’s the rub.

But evaluating every potential project on fee alone is shortsighted, IMHO. Smaller projects have a tendency to lead to larger ones, if the Architect does his job well.

The problem is when an Architect’s workload is dominated by small projects – projects that take nearly as much care, thought, and time as larger ones, but return a smaller fee. Smaller projects have their own rewards, but it’s better to have a balance between project sizes.

Small projects have a way of helping an Architect maintain focus and keep skills sharp; problems must be solved quickly and efficiently.

It’s a big reason why I’m a fan of quick tracing-paper sketches rather than using “home design” computer software.

I can explore many more ideas much more quickly on paper, and I can do it all at the kitchen table, with my client.

Small projects may also require a unique approach to finding a contractor since the typical competitive bidding process might be too time-consuming. That might mean engaging a trusted contractor early on to help with pricing and product selection.

Or maybe we’ll arrange to cut down on travel and meeting time (and therefore, fees) by communicating primarily through the internet – email, Skype, and other online tools can close the distance between client and Architect considerably. Or holding more meetings at my office and fewer at the client's home.

There's almost always some combination of appropriate services, time-saving strategies, and fee structure that makes a small project feasible for an Architect to undertake - even if it's nothing more than a few minutes' good advice.

And that might mean that no project’s too small.

What A Hollywood Movie Can Teach You About Building and Remodeling

2011-07-20T07:12:00.003-04:00

Mrs. Blandings and her contractor
selecting paint colors

Summertime is here - my favorite season - and I'm supposed to be painting the house, but - doggone it - things keep getting in the way!

Speaking of housepainting, that's the subject of my favorite scene from my favorite movie - the "paint colors" scene from Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House (Cary Grant and Myrna Loy, 1948).

Muriel Blandings (Myrna Loy) describes to her contractor and painter - in excruciating detail - the colors she wants for the rooms of her house. The contractor and painter listen patiently, but they...well, watch the scene for yourself here.

It's played for laughs, but wow does it ring true!

The scene is completely accurate in portraying how strongly many of us feel about our homes, and in some ways, the differences between women and men - and how we think about the homes we share.

If you're a contractor or design professional, you'd do well to watch that scene and pay attention to what Mrs. Blandings is saying, and to what the contractors hear.

(Hint: they're not the same thing!)

If you're a homeowner, you might catch on that the picture in your head isn't always the one that your words paint. Don't ever assume that you've been fully understood.

But whoever you are, and whether or not you're involved in building or remodeling, you'll enjoy this wonderful film classic and the very familiar but funny situations that result from Mr. Blandings' efforts to design and build a new home.

And you might be surprised at what you can learn about building and remodeling from a movie made over 60 years ago.

Need expert Residential Architectural advice for your new home or remodeling project? Contact Richard Taylor, AIA or Jamee Parish, AIA, NCARB at RTA Studio.

The 6 Things You Must Have To Be Sure You’re Getting The Best Price For Your New Home or Remodeling Project

2011-07-16T22:25:00.001-04:00

Yesterday a gentleman stopped by the house to ask if he could give me a quote on trimming the trees in my yard – a fairly frequent event on my street, which has a lot of older trees.

I’ve been here 20 years, and I’ve talked to dozens of tree trimmers. So I pretty much knew what to expect as soon as he pulled in the driveway in his spotless pickup truck. The truck with the custom graphics, the chrome wheels, and the boat hitch on the back.

The gentleman got out wearing a safety vest and hardhat – both looked new, as did his neatly-pressed jeans.

As I suspected, his price was far above what I knew the work was worth. I thanked him and turned him down; the trees need trimmed, but I’m not going to make the guy’s boat payment to get it done.

How Much Should It Cost?

Luckily, I knew what the tree job should have cost. You need to know what your new home or remodeling project should cost before you hire a contractor, because there’s a difference – a big difference – between what some contractors charge, and what your project should cost.

A new home or a remodeling project is a unique, one-of-a-kind thing made from thousands of man-made and natural parts, cut to fit and assembled in the field by hand in lousy weather. The whole thing is documented on drawings that are a fraction of the actual size and don’t include everything needed to build it.

So it’s no surprise that different contractors come up with wildly different prices for the same project. How can you know what it should really cost to build?

Know Exactly What You Want

Supposed I’d made “specifications” - a list of which trees I wanted trimmed; how I wanted the cuttings dealt with; and how much clean up I wanted done at the end of the job. Now suppose I invited three tree trimming companies to bid on the job based on my specifications.

Do you think I’d get more accurate pricing? And if I were careful and complete about my specs and my choice of bidders, would those prices be competitive?

Three quotes on accurate and detailed specs would result in a very good idea of what a fair price for the job should be - can't get that kind of assurance with just one price!

Plans, Specs, and More

Competitive bidding works the same way in new home and remodeling construction. Qualified contractors submitting bids on a well-defined project know that they’ve got to give their best price if they want to get the job.

Here are the six basic thing you must have to get your project ready for competitive bidding, so you can be sure you're getting the best price for your new home or remodeling project:

1) Complete, detailed plans
Your local building department doesn’t require much to issue a building permit. All they want to know is whether the plans meet the building code, and the code is mostly about safety – not about what kind of countertops you want.

A set of “permit-ready” plans is missing a lot of what you need to get accurate and complete bids. You need far more information – especially drawings of architectural details inside and outside of the house.

2) Specifications
“Specs” aren’t part of the drawings; drawings tell the contractor where things go, the specs tell them what those things are. The drawings will show a toilet in each bathroom, but the specs tell the contractor what kind of toilets you want. If you want a different toilet in the master bath than the kid’s bath, the specs spell that out.

Without specs, you’re leaving the decisions about fixtures and finishes up to the bidders – which causes confusion and misunderstanding and makes it much tougher to compare bids.

3) Bid Invitation Letter
When are the bids due? What format should the bids be submitted in? Who do bidders call with questions? Where should the bids be turned in? How many bidders are expected?

These questions – and more – should be addressed in a bid invitation letter sent out to each bidder.

4) General Conditions
There are dozens of little issues to deal with on a construction project that have nothing to do with construction, but everything to do with the price.

Insurance is one, as are working hours; parking for subcontractors; change orders; quality assurance; dispute resolution; cleaning, and on and on. A “general conditions” document spells all this out.

5) Quality Bidders
An experienced, qualified contractor with a track record of success competing against two guys with a pickup truck and a magnetic door sign isn’t going to get you an apples-to-apples comparison.

At the other end of the scale, the tree trimmer I told you about before might have a bit more overhead to absorb than many others (and I suspect he’s more of a salesman than a tree trimmer anyway). Probably best to leave him off the list, too.

6) References
I’m constantly surprised by how often homeowners don’t check references. They can give you confidence in a contractor, but they can raise important red flags, too.

Where To Find Help

It seems overwhelming, getting all this information together and managing the bidding process. But consider your choices – clearly identify the details of your project up front, or risk overspending by thousands of dollars.

Chances are that help with all this is closer than you think. If you hired an Architect to design your project ask him if he offers this level of service. Many do, and would be more than happy to help manage the specification and bidding process for you.

But even if you take this on yourself, you’ll be much better off – and won’t pay for someone else’s boat in the process.

Need an expert Residential Architect to help with your new home or remodeling project? Contact Richard Taylor, AIA or Jamee Parish, AIA, NCARB at RTA Studio.

What Is Quality Construction?

2011-07-13T07:23:00.000-04:00

First published on Zillow Blog

A friend of mine put me on the spot a few years ago when she asked me over to take a look at the new home she’d just purchased.

“What do you think?” she asked, “It’s good quality construction, isn’t it?”

For what she paid, sure, it was decent quality; it wasn’t in danger of collapse, the doorknobs weren’t falling off, and water wasn’t dripping through a leaky roof – but it wasn’t a showcase of construction skill either.

So I pointed out a few easily-fixed problems; missing bandboard insulation, some loose interior trim, bad grading at the back, and other sloppy-workmanship issues.

I couldn’t help but notice how remarkably different the quality of her home was from the small early twentieth-century homes that we are frequently invited to remodel; homes that are still standing after 70 or 80 years with many of their original finishes and fixtures intact.

So what exactly is quality?

It was pretty clear in my friend’s new home that quality can be measured in a number of ways. As we walked through the house she asked questions about soundness, longevity, and value – will my house stand up? Will it last a reasonably long time without constant repair? Is the construction worth what I paid for it?

Will My House Stand Up?

Most likely, yes. House collapses are very rare. But sagging, settling, cracking and buckling happen to homes every day. How much a home “moves”, and the effect it has on the soundness of the structure, are signs of quality.

A quick inspection can give you some clues about the quality of the home’s structure. Check the windows and doors; do they open and close easily? Sticking windows and doors are sometimes a sign of movement in the structure caused by settling.

Cracks in the drywall ceilings and walls anywhere in the house are also a sign of excessive movement of the house frame – don’t assume a little patching and painting will cover it up!

The basement or foundation walls should always be dry, plumb, and free of cracks over 1/16” wide. Some hairline cracks are normal (especially in poured concrete walls), but cracks that you can’t paint over are a sign of bad drainage, poor waterproofing, or bad soil.

Look for two different kinds of foundation cracks – long horizontal cracks are a sign of water problems outside the house; diagonal cracks, or cracks that follow the pattern of mortar joints in concrete block, indicate soil settling under the house.

Will My House Need Constant Repair?

As a homeowner you expect to spend a little time on routine repairs, but a good quality new home shouldn’t require much. Look carefully at any home you’re considering for signs that you’ll be spending your weekends trying to keep up with it.

Water is the enemy of every house. Much of the effort of design and construction is directed towards keeping water out. When it gets in, it causes all sorts of trouble that will beg you for constant attention and repair.

Water can leak in through the foundation (see above), but just as often it leaks in around openings – doors, windows, vents, and so forth. All of these components require an additional material called “flashing” to direct water away, but it isn’t always installed correctly (if at all). Make sure your home inspector checks for proper flashing.

Cheap construction will show up first in places that get used most – doors, faucets, closet shelving, and flooring are especially vulnerable. “Hollow core” doors will save a few bucks over solid core doors, but hollow doors won’t take a beating from kids and pets. And there’s no patching a hollow door should an errant golf club make a divot in one (ask my Mom about this).

Plumbing fixtures are the same way – cheap chrome-plated faucets with hollow handles will wear out quickly, and are not as easy to replace as the home-improvement stores would have you believe.

Exterior doors should be aluminum-clad on the outside to protect the wood frame from weather damage, and entry doors should be fiberglass – the newer fiberglass products are nearly indistinguishable from wood and last a very long time.

“White wire” closet shelving systems are one of the most-replaced items in new homes. The shelves aren’t bad, but the hardware that holds them to the wall doesn’t last long. For a few extra dollars, you should opt for a site-built painted wood or laminate system (they look better, too!).

And then there’s flooring – it gets the most wear and tear and shows it, too. Be wary of sheet vinyl flooring that’s showing some curling at the edges, cracked grout in tile floors, and carpet with very thin or no padding.

Is The Quality Of My House Worth What I Paid For It?

It depends, I guess, on what you think you’re getting. For a given amount of money, there’s only so much value available.

What are you willing to trade off? If a large home is your goal, you’ll need to lower your expectations for “goodies” if you want to keep the quality high. The same goes for buyers that want lots of “curb appeal”; more stuff on the outside means less stuff on the inside – if overall quality is important to you.

And if you want quality in every respect, look for a smaller home, an older home, or a home that you can improve over time. You can add better finishes and fixtures to any home, but you can’t feasibly rebuild a poor-quality structure.

A house worth its purchase price is a house that will still look great to the next buyer – whether that buyer comes along in five years of fifty. Before my friend moves the next time, I hope I’ll have the chance to tell her that.

Need expert Residential Architectural advice for your new home or remodeling project? Contact Richard Taylor, AIA or Jamee Parish, AIA, NCARB at RTA Studio.

Can I Raise My Roof? Can I Raise My Ceiling?

2011-07-05T23:37:00.001-04:00

If you think you need more space in your home, you might be thinking about adding to the back, to the side, or maybe even the front if you have room.

How about raising the roof and adding a second floor?

Or maybe you have an older house with an uncomfortably low ceiling you’d like to make higher.

What about lifting up the roof and making the walls a little taller, or creating a “vaulted” ceiling?

Really? Can I do that?

Yep – you can, but you’ve got to get everything just right. Here are some of the things you need to consider if you want to go “up” instead of “out”.

Some Homes Are Better Suited For This Than Others

The first thing you need to find out is what kind of roof structure you have, “stick”, or “truss”. Generally, if you have space in your attic, you probably have stick framing. If not, you likely have truss framing.

A stick-framed roof with an attic has room to expand – a dormer for example, might create the additional space you need. A truss-framed roof, on the other hand, doesn’t have any attic space to expand – you’re probably going to have to raise a truss-framed roof to get more space.

And although almost any roof can be raised, the cost of raising a very large or complex roof may outweigh the benefits. From a feasibility standpoint, the best candidates for raising are gable roofs on smaller, simpler homes.

If that sounds like your house, read on.

Raising the Ceiling Height

Let’s say you want a taller ceiling – could you simply hook up a crane, lift the existing roof structure, then make the walls a little taller and lower the roof back down?

You can, and you’ll be the sensation of the neighborhood when you do!

But there’s an important structural issue you need to address first: you can’t simply add a new wall (a kneewall) on top of the existing walls. Doing that creates a “hinge” between the new and existing walls – and that’s a very unstable structure.

Instead, the walls have to be made taller from the bottom up. One way to do that is by installing new, taller wall studs alongside the existing studs. Another method is covering the existing wall and new kneewall with full-height plywood sheathing to eliminate the hinge.

Either way, you’ll need the help of a structural engineer to make it safe.

Adding a Second Floor

As long as we’ve got that crane on site, let’s take the roof up a little more – enough to add an entire second floor.

Now we’re less concerned about the “hinge”, because we’re keeping the first floor walls the same height. We’re going to add a new floor structure on top of the walls, then add new second floor walls on that.

Finally, we’ll build new second floor walls and lower that roof back down.

That’s not too complicated but we’ve created additional structural issues to resolve – first is the additional load of the new second floor on the existing first-floor walls – can they handle it?

Second is the additional load on the foundation. Chances are it can easily take the extra weight, but you’ve got to have this professionally checked out too.

Making a Vaulted Ceiling

In situations like the ones above, it can make sense to lift a roof in one piece and replace it without much structural modification – especially with a trussed roof.

But while a trussed roof can be raised, it can’t be modified to make a vaulted ceiling. You need to start with a stick roof to do that.

Exposing the underside of the sloped rafters is what creates the “vaulted” shape inside that you’re looking for, and that means removing the ceiling joists first.

That breaks the structural “triangle” that holds the roof together, and requires additional framing work to restore structural integrity.

A common solution is adding “collar ties”, which are similar to ceiling joists but a little higher up. A vaulted ceiling with collar ties usually has a large flat area above the sloped sides.

If you want the ceiling vaulted all the way to the top it gets a little more complex, and you’ll need a structural ridge beam.

The ridge beam is at the very top pointy part of the roof.

(Stop me if I’m getting too technical, ok?)

Other Stuff You Need to Know

Raising a roof, adding a second floor, and creating a vaulted ceiling are all big projects. Big enough that your local building officials are probably going to ask you to bring the rest of the house “up to code”. That can add a lot of cost.

The additional space will also need to be heated and cooled – which may require a larger HVAC system, or even an additional system.

Taller exterior walls almost need more insulation, drywall, and interior and exterior trim and finishes…which reminds me, don’t forget to raise your existing interior walls, too!

Do The Right Thing

Not every home is a good candidate for a roof-raising, but for the ones that are, it’s often a very cost-effective way to expand living space.

It’s also a sustainable move, since it reuses most of the existing walls and roof and keeps material out of the landfill.

Going “up” doesn’t increase the footprint of your house on the land, and usually makes a more compact, energy-efficient structure.

Save money, landfill space, and energy – all under one roof.

Need expert Residential Architectural advice for your new home or remodeling project? Contact Richard Taylor, AIA or Jamee Parish, AIA, NCARB at RTA Studio.

REmodel; REnovate; REstore; What's the Difference?

2011-06-26T21:55:00.002-04:00

Clear communication between owner, contractor, and Architect is critical to a successful home design project. Agreement on some simple definitions is a good place to start.

"Remodeling" is often broadly used to describe any kind of change to an existing house. Technically it's more accurate to say that remodel means to change the character of a house or a portion of a house.

A renovated kitchen
in Chillicothe, Ohio

So when you convert a den into a master bedroom you're remodeling the den; when you combine a kitchen and dining room into one large eat-in kitchen, you're remodeling the kitchen and dining room (this is an extremely popular type of project in our office right now).

"Renovating" is a much more specific term. It means, quite literally, to make new again. An out-of-date kitchen, updated with new finishes and fixtures, has been renovated. Replacing old windows with new ones is a renovation project.

A home undergoing restoration
in Appomattox, Virginia

"Restoring" a house is sort of the opposite of renovation - instead of updating, you're making the house like it was before (i.e. you can do a historic restoration but not a historic renovation). Even if you convert existing spaces back to their original use, you're still restoring the original rooms.

Removing vinyl siding and fixing up the original wood siding and trim is a restoration project.

Confused? Let's REview.

Three similar terms, three different meanings. I remember them this way:

Remodel: changing the use of a space or spaces
Renovate: make a space new without changing its use
Restore: return a space to its original use, and/or return a space to its original character

What do you think - how do you use these definitions? What other "RE" terms apply to home design?

Need expert Residential Architectural advice for your new home or remodeling project? Contact Richard Taylor, AIA or Jamee Parish, AIA, NCARB at RTA Studio.

Is the "Fear Factor" Trapping You in a Home You Don't Love?

2011-06-11T18:47:00.003-04:00

Monday morning a few weeks ago, an email appeared in my inbox. The author began with a few tentative questions about remodeling her house, then blurted out:

"I don't know anything...and have no idea where to begin to determine if the project is possible and/or remotely affordable...I'm so afraid of the building process".

Does that sound like you?

Although there’s a ton of information out there about designing, building, remodeling, and decorating, it doesn’t help much; every magazine you pick up, every blog post you read, every remodeling show you watch tells you something different – what to do, what not to do; styles that are in, styles that are out.

Someone suggested that you ask around the neighborhood, so you did, but that didn’t help much either - one of your neighbors used this company, one used that company. One did the whole thing himself. One had a great experience; one not so great; and one will never, ever, EVER remodel a house again!

Almost everyone has serious concerns at the outset - should I remodel or add on? How much should I budget? Who should I hire (if anyone)? How do I avoid getting ripped off? What should I do first?

If you’ve been thinking about a new home or remodeling project, but just can’t seem to get started, you’re probably feeling the same fear as the writer of that email.

So what’s your biggest fear about building a new home? What scares you most and keeps you from “doing something” with your house?

For an expert Residential Architect to help with your new home or remodeling project contact Richard Taylor, AIA or Jamee Parish, AIA, NCARB at RTA Studio.

In The "Houzz" - A Great Way To Organize Your Home and Remodeling Ideas Online

2011-06-08T21:44:00.002-04:00

I like sharing tools that help you do a better job of participating in the process of designing your home or remodeling project.

This online tool is a huge help in getting your project headed in the right direction, and in finding ways to more clearly communicate your ideas and visions to your design professional.

Back in the dark ages of about five years ago, our clients did that by purchasing home design and decorating magazines and tearing out photos to show us. Which meant if we wanted to each have copies, we'd have to scan and print, scan and print, scan and print...

So how cool would it be if you could share hundreds of images with your designer online? What if you could select those images from tens of thousands of very high quality projects? What if your architect could view them online and add other images?

That's what Houzz.com lets you do - and why we're enthusiastically recommending it to our clients.

The genius of Houzz.com is how it lets you create "ideabooks" to organize your images by room or any other way you choose.

How about finding the right images? Houzz lets you browse by style, type of space, product, metro region, and type of design professional - so you don't waste time scrolling through images that don't make sense for your project.

And these aren't just any old photos either; they're mostly submitted by architects and interior designers showcasing their best work (yep, we're on there, too!).

But wait - there's more! Houzz lets you add comments to the images in your ideabooks - so you can tell your design professional very clearly what you find appealing about the photo.

And - you can ask questions about the photos and have them answered by other Houzz users. So if you see a cool lighting fixture for example, you can ask who makes it and who sells it.

Cool, huh?

Go to Houzz.com right now and start creating your own ideabooks to share with your Architect or Interior Designer - after all, why should we have all the fun?

Need an expert Residential Architect to help with your new home or remodeling project? Contact Richard Taylor, AIA or Jamee Parish, AIA, NCARB at RTA Studio.

4 Keys For Choosing Where To Site Your House

2011-06-06T09:00:00.001-04:00

Great home design always starts with the site - a truly special home is never designed first, then placed on the property.

How do you evaluate a site for your house? How do you find the right part of the site to build on?

Start with the four "S's" - Slope, Sun, Soil, and Sewer.

A house and site working together
with great results

Slope: The slope of the property can have a big effect on the cost of your project - a house placed on a slope will most definitely cost more to build than a house on a flat lot.

Does your house have to be placed on the slope?

Perhaps it can be placed at the top or bottom - taking advantage of the views from the slope but not incurring the costs of building there.

Many owners of sloping lots want to take advantage of that situation by including a "walk-out" basement in the design. It's one way to increase the space in your house for a relatively small cost. The steepness of the slope will partly determine how much excavation and/or fill is necessary to create the walkout.

Homes on sloped lots often require more (read: costly) gravel backfill material at the foundation; they might need expensive retaining walls to create a flat area for a driveway or hold back soil at the walk-out; and they usually have a full basement - whether you want it or not.

Here's the bottom line - carefully analyze (with the help of your design professional) the impact that your sloped lot may have on your design; design a house that's appropriate for the lot without unreasonably expensive construction techniques.

A room designed for sunlight -
Note how deeply into the room the sun reaches

Sun: Many homes are designed with the primary family living spaces at the back (kitchen, breakfast room, family room). These are the rooms you want sunlight in; the rooms with all the expensive windows.

And you'll get that sunlight through those windows, too - if the back of the house faces more or less south. That's where the sun is, remember?

If your lot is on the south side of the street, great.

But what if your lot is on the north side? All that living space, all that glass, isn't going to get any direct sunlight at all. Or worse, your lot faces east, and the afternoon sun pours through that wall of west facing glass like a blast furnace - heating up the house and fading the furniture and carpeting.

Since we're talking about sunlight, now's a good time to bring up the subject of energy consumption. Houses are designed to keep heat in, or to keep heat out, depending on the season. The easiest and least expensive way to keep heat out of the house is with proper orientation of the windows and doors. The easiest way to keep heat in is to reduce the number of windows - so pay close attention to the number and location of windows in your design.

A properly oriented plan can save you a lot in fuel bills and give you a lot more enjoyment of your house and your building site.

A good house-site relationship

Soil: It's amazing, every time a backhoe starts a new house foundation, how different soils can be from one building site to another. From loose sand to solid rock and everything in between, and sometimes all on the same site!

Soil type can have a big impact on the cost of construction. Even if you know a lot about the underground conditions on your site, it's a good idea to keep a little cash in reserve to deal with potential surprises lurking under the turf.

How much do you know about the soils on your home site? It's relatively easy to learn the basic characteristics from your County Extension Service or local building department. You might also contact builders and excavators with experience in the area and ask them what they've encountered on other projects they've built near you.

Some types of foundation systems that are popular in one region are unheard of in others. Typical practice in many areas is poured concrete walls - a potentially expensive option if your plans call for concrete block. It's important to know what foundation systems are common where you're building.

But even a house with the proper type of foundation for your site may need to be specifically engineered to accommodate the local soils - and the local building department.

Soils drain and retain water differently, and soils have vastly differently capacities to bear structural loads. In most areas, you'll have to show the building department that your foundation is designed for the local soils conditions.

Room additions should also
take advantage of the "four S's"

Sewer: The Plumber's Credo - "everything flows downhill" is extremely important to remember when designing your home. On a developed lot, the municipal sanitary sewer line is buried near the front (usually) of the lot. The height of this pipe will determine the depth below grade of the basement slab since the effluent from the house must "flow downhill" to the sewer line.

An undeveloped lot is one where the utilities - electricity, water, gas, and public sewer - aren't brought from the street to the buildable area of the lot. On larger undeveloped properties there may not be any public sanitary sewer to connect to at all. On such a lot, you'll need some type of private sanitation system.

Several types of private sanitation systems are in use today including the traditional septic tank and leach field, aeration systems, and "mound" systems. They can vary widely in cost, and not all health districts allow all types. The choice of system will also be heavily weighted by the soil type and slope of the lot, and the available area(s) for the system. A typical leach field system will require a large clear area for a primary and second field.

Since a private sanitation system is more expensive than connecting to a public system, the cost isn't typically considered in the "base" cost of building a house. A private sanitation system is usually an "extra".

Slope, Sun, Soil, and Sewer - keep these in mind when selecting a property to build on and when designing your home and you'll have a more successful project!

Where NOT to Build a Room Addition

2011-06-01T22:29:00.004-04:00

No cats were harmed in the writing
of this article (especially this one)

It’s been six years since it happened…

I like finding creative solutions to tough problems, but this was the one obstacle in twenty-three years of practice that stopped me cold.

I’ve tried not to think about it all this time, but - I’m finally ready to talk about it.

(deep breath...)

Two very nice folks with a lovely condo invited me over to talk about an addition. We had nice chat; they showed me around the place.

It was a pretty typical condo, units on either side, not a lot of light getting to the interior. Kitchen needed some work. Main living space small and difficult to furnish – too many openings, not much wall space, hard to arrange furniture.

A small addition would solve the space problem, but mostly, it would allow for a lot more windows – pumping much-needed daylight deeper into the home.

The easy answer was an addition to the living space out the back. It’s the east side, and would get morning light. But the views there were a little lacking. We’d have a privacy issue too, with the neighbor’s outdoor living spaces so close by.

Hmmm.

“Hey”, I said, “what about a small addition to the front?”

“The front?” said the lady of the house, “that won’t work, why out front is –“

“No, no,” I said, cutting her off in mid-sentence, “we can make that work. We’ll have to move the kitchen a little, but you were going to remodel it anyway. Doesn’t really matter where it goes, once we’ve decided to replace it.”

“But you don’t understand” she said “out front is impossible, it’s – “

“Yes”, I said, I know it’s a tight area. There’s a fence there, and we’re close to the setback line. But remember we don’t need much more space, what we’re really trying to do is get more light into the house!”

“No -” she was leaning forward a bit. “- It’s not because of the space or the light!”

“Of course it is,” I countered. “That’s what this project is all about, isn't it?”

“But…but that’s where the cats are” she said, almost whispering. She was looking at me with great concern.

“The cats?” I looked around the house – there was a dirty yellow tabby at her feet, and an aloof Russian Blue on the couch in the living room. “The cats are right here”.

“Not these cats”, she said, waving her arm around the room, “the other cats!”

I must have looked as confused as I felt, so she explained further.

“The other cats – the ones we had when we moved here twenty years ago.” Her eyes were glistening now. “The ones we buried right in front of the breakfast room window – we can’t build there!”

Aahhh…those cats…of course…well, we’ll just, ahh, we’ll simply move the um, the…or maybe we could…hmm…ahh

“Tell you what,” I said, “let’s take another look at that back wall in the living room. The view’s not perfect, but we can bring in some landscaping, maybe a decorative fence, ok?”

Need an expert Residential Architect to help with your new home or remodeling project? Contact Richard Taylor, AIA or Jamee Parish, AIA, NCARB at RTA Studio.

Let's Get Small - The Steve Martin Guide To Kitchen Remodeling

2011-05-30T08:00:00.041-04:00

Let's get small - or at
least let's not get any bigger

So…earlier this week Jamee and I gave a seminar on kitchen, bath, and living space remodeling.

It was very well attended and we’d like to thank each and every person that attended – thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you…(umm, any Steve Martin fans out there?).

If you’re like most of the people we talked with, you’d have probably enjoyed the “before and after” segments the best. A couple of “ooos” and “ahhs” from the audience was proof of that!

The topic was about getting more livable area from your home without adding any new space - something that should be on the top of your list of concerns if you’re thinking about updating your home.

Kitchen and breakfast room - before and after

This project – one of Jamee’s – is a great example of that. The “before” plan shows a couple of problems with this awkward arrangement:

A small kitchen, buried in the center of the house
Three separate eating areas
A convoluted traffic pattern (how do you get to the dining room?)
Really poor lighting
Soffits compressing the space – making it feel small and dark
A great view of the backyard wasted

Floor plan before - and after

The space-planning solution is straightforward – combine the breakfast and dining rooms into one space; make the kitchen larger and move it to the back (solving the circulation problem and taking advantage of the great views); and open the dining room wall to the kitchen.

Three types of proper lighting including recessed cans (general lighting), pendants (decorative lighting), and undercabinet lights (task lighting) brighten things up considerably.

Kitchen and dining room - before and after

And of course new finishes and fixtures improve the function and give the remodeled spaces an updated, modern appeal.

Another designer might have suggested an addition to solve these basic planning issues, but lack of space wasn’t the problem – it was a lack of properly-planned space.

And what did the owners have to say? Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you...

Need an expert Residential Architect to help with your new home or remodeling project? Contact Richard Taylor, AIA or Jamee Parish, AIA, NCARB at RTA Studio.

Do These Four Easy Things And Your Basement Will Always Be Dry

2011-05-27T21:58:00.000-04:00

Water in all its forms is the enemy of every house. Rain, snow, ice, groundwater, and water vapor will take every available opportunity to find a way to appear where you don't want it and damage your house and your belongings.

Almost everyone is familiar with the dreaded wet basement, but few know the causes or know how easy a wet basement is to prevent! Here are a few simple steps you should take to save yourself big money and big headaches:

1) Keep your gutters and downspouts clean and properly connected. Their purpose is to carry water away from your house; clogged, disconnected, or leaking gutters and downspouts allow water to drain up against the foundation and into your basement.

2) Make sure that the soil around the perimeter of the house is sloped to drain away from the foundation. Why? see #1 above! The soil grade around new homes often settles quickly, causing water to pool right up against the foundation wall. Check the grade and add soil if needed!

3) When building a new house, install exterior AND interior perimeter drain tiles; purchase the best waterproofing system you can afford ("black tar" isn't enough!) and backfill with gravel.

4) Install and maintain a sump pump, connected to the drain tiles. This'll drain away any water that makes it to the bottom of the foundation wall before it has a chance to get into the basement. Install a battery back-up system - if it's raining and the power's out, the sump pump doesn't do any good!

How To Burn Down Your House (and why)

2011-05-22T19:51:00.000-04:00

It was late in the day when it finally happened. A puff of smoke appeared just over the rooftop at the far right side of the house; then another appeared, near the chimney.

Within moments smoke was pouring from the entire roof and flickers of orange flame began appearing in the windows.

A cheer went up from the assembled crowd as the flames grew; soon the roof weakened and began to collapse. A dozen firefighters stood by, cheering along with the crowd.

Huh?

Usually, a home burning to the ground is a tragedy, a disaster, a crime – or all three. This, however, was a welcomed event that would benefit the homeowners, the fire department, and dozens of families we’d never meet.

What?

Ok, maybe a little background is needed here.

The derelict home my clients had purchased wasn’t worth much; in fact the only real value was in the property, a sloping lot with several large trees, located in a quiet midwestern college town.

This was the site they’d chosen for their dream home. Problem was, there was already a house there.

Whenever possible, existing homes should be remodeled, renovated, reused. After all, reusing an existing home is the height of sustainability. But this little home was too far gone from years of neglect – it wasn’t worth saving.

But that didn’t mean it couldn’t serve a higher purpose (or two).

The owners first contacted the local Habitat For Humanity “ReStore”, a discount home improvement store that re-sells new and reusable home improvement building materials. Habitat’s volunteers came to the house and picked up cabinets, appliances, doors, windows, hardware, and anything else they could salvage and resell.

Habitat uses the funds from reselling these salvaged items to advance their mission of eliminating substandard housing and creating homeownership.

That’s a great way to make use of perfectly good building materials that otherwise might have ended up in a landfill - and that the owners would have had to pay to haul away.

And that would have benefitted no one.

The next call was to the local fire department, to let them know they were planning on burning the house down. Obviously, they were thrilled!

No really, they were – because the owners offered the house for a training burn. A training burn is a controlled burn, giving the firemen a chance to practice firefighting techniques in a real world scenario.

The fire department arrived after Habitat had taken away everything useful. They put wood pallets and hay bales in each room and burned them one at a time. The exercise lasted all day; they’d burn, put out the fire, and burn again.

They’d invited all the neighbors – they came with lawn chairs and blankets. It was almost like a Fourth of July picnic (with bigger, hotter fireworks).

It was fascinating to watch the burn – and a sobering reminder of the dangers that firefighters face in service to the community. We were all kept about a hundred feet from the house but even at that distance, the heat from the fire was incredible.

After a full day of training, it was time to burn the house for real. The fire department set one more strategically located fire and let it runs its course. A backhoe stood by and used its bucket to push the house in on itself as it burned, keeping the burning debris within the home’s foundation walls.

When the fire ended, little was left but the foundation walls and ashes, saving the owners the cost of demolishing the house and hauling the debris to a landfill.

See more photos of the new house here

Before long, a new home rose where the old one had stood, and a new family moved into the neighborhood.

And somewhere, miles away, someone bought some building materials from Habitat For Humanity and helped put many more families into homes they thought they’d never have.

Not every house is a good candidate for a training burn; fire departments are picky about the ones they choose. And of course a house that can be renovated should be.

But when it makes sense to burn a house down, the benefits spread throughout your community in ways you might not imagine and may never know about.

And it’s a great way to get to know your neighbors – “Honey, these are the Smiths, they've just moved in and they’ve invited us to their "house-warming" next week!”

Need an expert Residential Architect to help with your new home or remodeling project? Contact Richard Taylor, AIA or Jamee Parish, AIA, NCARB at RTA Studio.

How to Pick the Right Window Style for Your Home

2011-05-16T06:52:00.003-04:00

Yes, I know -
some of you
like this look

A striped tie with a checkered shirt; tennis shoes with a tuxedo (hello John Mayer?); or painting your house bright orange.

Technically each of those combinations functions properly - you need a tie, you need shoes, and your house needs paint - but is that really how you want to look?

The same applies to the windows in your house; any window style fills the holes in the wall - but they're either the right type for the house's style or they're not.

Fortunately it's not hard to get started on picking the right style for your house, since the great majority of traditional homes in America have either double hung or casement windows.

Double hung windows are the ones with two pieces that slide up and down.

Casement windows are the ones with the cranks, and that swing outwards like a door.

Traditional house styles in America can be (very) roughly divided into a couple of broad categories that reflect their origins. A quick look should tell you which style category your traditional house falls into, and which type of window is appropriate for it.

Double hung windows on an English Colonial home

Houses with English Colonial roots typically have double hung windows. Homes with this lineage are easy to identify, as they vastly outnumber any other house style in America.

If you've been to Williamsburg, VA you've seen double hung windows on early English Colonial homes.

Casement windows are common to homes with European Medieval heritage - Tudor is the most common medieval style. They're also found in some far less numerous early 20th Century American styles such as Craftsman and Prairie, and some newer "styles" like French Country.

Casement windows on a "French Country" home

In a new home, choosing the right window style is one of the most important decisions you and your Architect will make.

In an existing home, maintaining the character of the original home can be just as critical.

Get the right windows and your house will look proper and complete...get them wrong, and well - it's like tennis shoes with a tux!

Need expert help picking the right windows for your new home or remodeling project? Contact Richard Taylor, AIA or Jamee Parish, AIA, NCARB at RTA Studio.

April Caption Contest - WE HAVE A WINNER!

2011-05-03T06:52:00.001-04:00

Uh...I think I hit a water main.

We have a WINNER in the April Caption Contest!

Congrats to Melanie Cooper of Kennesaw, GA! Be sure to check out her blog, "Mom With A Pen".

Thanks everyone for the great caption ideas!

Stay tuned for the next caption contest, coming soon!

How to Easily Take Near-Professional Quality Interior Photographs for Almost Nothing

2011-05-01T20:33:00.006-04:00

If your business has anything to do with the interiors of homes – designing, selling, decorating, building or remodeling – you depend on photographs to communicate the value of what you do to your potential clients.

You already know that great photographs can make an ok project look fantastic. You also know that poor shots will make a great house look second-rate.

You want every project to look great.

Architects and designers know that winning a design competition is almost as much about the quality of the photos as the quality of design, and so they routinely spend thousands of dollars on the best architectural photographers they can find.

Take great photos like this without special equipment or skills

But even though you want the best photos possible, you can’t commit that kind of money for every house you’re selling or every kitchen you remodel. A digital camera helps make better shots, but the photos still lack that “wow factor” you see in professional shots.

Go Pro?

What professional photographers know about shooting house interiors is that while the human brain and eye are excellent at adjusting for a wide range of contrast, cameras are not.

If you don’t compensate for contrast, you end up with shots where the dark areas are a little too dark, and the light areas are a little too light; or, the exposure on the interior is just right, but the world outside the windows is much too bright; or the exposure outside is just right, but the interiors are much too dark.

Sound familiar?

Too light and too dark is how your eyes routinely see the world – but your brain balances the contrast and makes good images out of bad ones.

Cameras can’t do that, so the pros compensate by adding lighting – lots and lots of lighting – to make everything bright and greatly reduce the contrast, which results in a much better picture.

Three Wrongs Make A Right

But you don’t need lights to get great interior photos; you can turn three poor shots into one great photo with just your camera, a tripod, and a $100 piece of computer software.

It’s a process called High Dynamic Range photography, or HDR. It’s very easy to do and you’ll be astounded by the results. HDR takes the “just right” shot of the windows, the “just right” shot of the interiors, and combines them with the average shot into one great photo.

All without expensive lighting or special skills.

With HDR, you’ll never attempt to take one great interior photo again; instead you’ll take at least three bad ones and combine them into one that shows off your best work.

Stand Still, Laddie!

HDR only works if the three “bad” photos are taken from exactly the same spot. You’ll need a steady tripod for that, and you’ll need to be sure no one’s walking around the house, causing the camera to vibrate.

Your digital camera also must have manual aperture and shutter speed controls; 35mm SLR cameras have these features but “pocket” digital cameras usually don’t. I use an older Canon Digital Rebel and it works just fine. All the photos in this article and most of the photos on my Architectural firm’s website were taken with the Rebel.

Too dark.......too "average"........and too light...

Ready, Aim, Shoot – Shoot – Shoot!

The first photo you’ll take is the “average” one. Use the camera’s automatic setting and note the shutter speed that the camera selects when it takes the shot. This will be our “middle” shutter speed.

Now turn off the autofocus and put the camera on one of the manual settings. I use the “Time Value” setting on my Rebel, which allows me to control the length of the exposure. Be sure you don’t change the focus or zoom!

Use HDR to combine the three shots above into one spectacular photo!

Next, adjust the shutter speed so that the photo is much darker. If you have windows in the shot, try to find a setting that makes the view outside the windows look properly exposed – regardless of how the rest of the room looks. If you have to take a bunch of photos to get the right shot don’t worry – when you process the photos in HDR you’ll choose the ones you want to work with.

Finally, turn the shutter speed dial the opposite direction to create a shot that’s obviously much too light. The windows in this shot should look extremely bright, but don’t get so bright that you lose all the detail. Again, keep all the shots; you’ll select the right one(s) later.

HDR to the Rescue

I use a little $100 program from HDRSoft.com called Photomatix to process the three lousy photos into a mind-blowing great shot. It’s a quick download from the Internet and is very easy to use. Photoshop also has the capability to process HDR photos but I prefer the results I get from Photomatix.

You can process more than three photos if you like, but I’ve found I usually get very good results from three carefully selected images.

A shot for the windows, one "average", and one for the interiors

All the software requires is for you to drag your three photos into the editing window and it does the rest. I won’t go into the details of operating the software, but you’ll be offered a series of previews of how to process the photos; some are more artful and some are more realistic. You’ll choose the shot that appeals to you best.

Save the processed photo and you’re done! I’ll often crop the photo or adjust the brightness a tiny bit with Photoshop at this point, but that’s about it.

Up to Snuff?

Are the HDR shots as good as you’ll get from a pro? Nope – but they’re far, far better then you can get without HDR and they’re practically free. HDR won’t turn you into a professional photographer, but you don’t need pro shots every time – especially at three or four thousand dollars a job!

The final photo balances the contrast between inside and outside

With a little practice, you’ll learn what exposures work best to get fantastic results. You’ll know how to tweak the software to get amazing depth and color, and you’ll learn to make even average interiors look great.

How To Make Your Home Bigger Without Making Your Home Bigger

2011-04-28T09:00:00.016-04:00

must...have...more...space!

First published on Daily5Remodel

Space is something our culture can’t seem to stop talking about – office space, parking space, even personal space – it’s everywhere, but it seems we always want more.

And while the culture of "more" is changing, too many of us still automatically equate “more” with “better”. It’s something I see frequently in my practice - homeowners considering a remodeling or addition project often assume that “more space” is the solution.

But is it? Adding more space doesn’t always solve problems in an existing home, and sometimes creates more. Rethinking and replanning existing space can often result in much better living spaces – for far less money and hassle than adding on.

A great example is the project in the before and after floor plans below. This cool little contemporary home sits up above a river, with views of the water below (towards the top on the plan drawings).

A closed-in kitchen that blocked views of the water, an awkward L-shaped living room, no utility storage, and too much space devoted to the “den” were robbing the owners of a comfortable daily life in their home.

They wanted a new kitchen, pantry, mudroom, office, much better living space, and better views of the river. With so much on their wish list, it’d be natural to think that adding on would help.

Yet a close study of the house revealed that the problem wasn’t a lack of space, it was lack of well-planned space. So here’s what we did to get this home working the way it should, without adding a single new square inch.

The den was pushed towards the back of the house, freeing up space for a coat closet, mudroom shelving, and large pantry. That allowed us to move the kitchen towards the right side – which opened up the family room.

The dining area stayed where it was, but with a low bookshelf separating it from the family room (see the perspective view below). Partial removal of the wall between the dining room and stair opened the floor plan even more - and allowed us to design a new railing that matched the character of the existing woodwork.

The result is an open, comfortable living space that seems much bigger than it is and is packed with storage and practicality.

More open space, more livability, more comfort, more storage…hmm, maybe more IS better!

Does Your Home Have Green DNA?

2011-04-20T18:57:00.003-04:00

First published on Zillow Blog

It takes someone who’s part artist and part scientist to design a beautiful, livable new home that’s energy-efficient, uses less material to build, and connects with its building site – what we call “green building”.

But beauty can be skin deep and sometimes “green” is too. A truly green home is green from the inside out, meaning that the “green” can’t be separated from the “home”.

Sure, you can make any house more energy-efficient, but that’s usually just cosmetic surgery. Loading up a house with energy-saving gadgets helps a little, but a green home is born that way, starting before the design was just a twinkle in the Architect’s eye.

If you’re thinking of bringing a new green home into the world, here are (five) simple ways to make sure you conceive one that has green in its DNA.

1 - Face The Sun

Wherever in the world you live, your building site gets more sunshine from some directions than from others. Using the free energy from the sun means putting your windows where they can gather sunlight.

Properly placed, windows that direct solar energy into a home can contribute significantly to winter heating – and add joy and comfort as well.

If you think that will affect how living spaces are arranged in your design, give yourself ten points – you’ve already begun to see the relationship between environment and design.

2 - Shade It

Those same sun-facing windows of course might also be a liability in the summer, when your air conditioner is struggling to expel that excess heat from the home.

The “gadget” response to this is expensive window glass that reflects some of the heat energy, but solar shading is a better solution.

The difference in the sun’s angle above the horizon in winter and summer allows overhangs and other simple shading devices to block the harshest summer sun while admitting the winter sun. Warm sun in the winter, cool shade in the summer – and less energy used…perfect!

3 - Shape It

Remember eighth-grade geometry, when you and your friends wondered why you had to learn this stuff? ‘Cause you’d never ever need it…ever?

Your education is about to pay off big time – because geometry makes some house shapes more energy-efficient than others.

A circle – as you recall – encloses the greatest amount of area in the least perimeter, right? And while you’re probably not going to build a circular house, a square’s an efficient shape, too. The less exterior wall area you have, the less opportunity your hard-won energy has to trickle out.

That’s not to say you can skimp on insulation – that’s a critical component – but start with less wall area and you’ll be way ahead.

4 - Against The Wind

As much as sunlight brings warmth into your home, wind draws it out. “Wind chill” affects houses, too.

Windows are the biggest culprits, so place those away from the winter winds (often the west or northwest side). The windiest side is also a great place for utility rooms, garages, closets, and other spaces where sunlight and comforts aren’t important.

Shielding a home from winter winds isn’t a new idea – take a drive out in the country and see how many old farmhouses are built on the east or southeast sides of thick stands of trees. You might not have a forest on your property, but a little earth-berming and some evergreen landscaping can have the same effect.

5 - Get Small(er)

This one’s easy – a smaller house uses less energy. And done right, a smaller home can be even more livable than a larger one.

Most homes today are filled with underused and wasted space. Thinking hard about how your home supports your daily life can reveal areas that you rarely use – but heat and cool anyway. Saving space is very green!

If you’re going to deliver a new home into the world, make sure it welcomes the sun, uses energy wisely, and isn’t bigger than it needs to be – give it “green” DNA!

Does Architecture Matter?

2011-04-16T21:22:00.008-04:00

Paul Goldberger of The New Yorker

Paul Goldberger, Architecture critic for The New Yorker, was asked in an interview, "does Architecture matter?"

He responded, "It doesn’t matter in a sense it’s not a cure for cancer, it’s not bread on the table, it’s not justice in the courtroom. I think Architects sometimes tries to pretend that matters like those things. It doesn’t. It doesn’t sustain life."

Wow, that part about Architects sure sounds familiar. We do get a bit, umm, focused sometimes on what we do and how we're going to save the world with it.

Which turns some people off. Maybe a lot of people.

But maybe that's because deep down it's sometimes really just about passion - really strong passion about changing lives through great design.

Yeesh, that didn't help at all. Still sounds pretentious. Doesn't explain the black turtleneck.

How about I let Goldberger explain? Here's the rest of his answer to the "does Architecture matter?" question:

"But it can do an incredible amount to give the already sustained life
meaning. It gives us a kind of richness in deep depth and a resonance to
the background of our life."

Well said. I guess that why he has a Pulitzer.

Watch the interview here.

Classical Columns - Handsome or Ho-Hum?

2011-04-15T07:00:00.002-04:00

Classical columns are common features on the exteriors of many traditional homes. They grace porches and support entry pediments on many period home styles.

But there's a right way and a wrong way to size and install columns on your home.

Getting the details right is the difference between an "ok" design and a handsome, timeless façade.

Here's how to get it right.

A common mistake is creating columns that are too narrow for their height. There's room for a little variation in diameter but typically, the height of columns should be around 7 and 9 times the diameter at the base.

The top photo shows very well proportioned Doric columns - their height/diameter ratio is close to the proper standard. And that's a big part of what makes them look great, and why this building has been a timeless classic for many decades.

Contrast that to the second photo - the columns are waaay too tall, giving them a spindly, unstable look. But hey, the house isn't done yet - there's still time to fix this architectural faux pas!

Another big "oops" with columns (and this one is very common) is setting the columns too far in from the face of the horizontal construction (the entablature) above.

That's the case in the next photo - see how the entire column and capital (the top of the column) are completely under the entablature? Doesn't look quite right, does it?

Finally, in the last photo, the face of the columns line up (more or less) with the face of the entablature; the capitals stick out a little bit. That's the right way.

In fact, this porch is just right in every detail, including the height/diameter ratio. Nice!

How To Empty Your Nest (With a Little Help)

2011-03-26T18:20:00.004-04:00

We get to know our clients pretty well over the weeks, months (and sometimes years) of their design and construction projects. They talk with us about their homes; their hopes and dreams; and tell us the stories of their lives.

Sometimes, we’re a part of their stories.

A few years ago, I was working with a couple designing their retirement home in northeastern Ohio. They’d been imagining this home for years – it was going to be their last, and they wanted it to have everything they’d always dreamed of.

The couple was in their late sixties, and all of their children had graduated college, moved out, and gotten on with their own lives – except one, their 23-year-old son, still living at home.

We were reviewing an early set of preliminary plans at their kitchen table when the son walked in. He sat down and listened as I described each of the rooms and answered his parent’s questions about the design.

At some point in the discussion he chimed in with a few comments about one of the upstairs bedrooms – the biggest one, the one with the attached bath. He asked for a few changes and it became increasing clear that he assumed this bedroom would be his.

Unfortunately, that wasn’t in Mom and Dad’s plans for their house.

The son wasn’t at the next meeting, and that’s when the couple confided in me that they’d like their son to move out - but they hadn’t the heart to ask him to leave. I told them I could help with that, and headed back to the office to make a few revisions to the plans.

A week later we were again all at the kitchen table – Mom, Dad, son, and me. The son wasn’t as excited about the revised plans as Mom and Dad were, however, because “his” room had gotten considerably smaller.

“I’m sorry”, I told him, “but we’ve got to cut costs somewhere.” Over the next few weeks we tweaked the design several more times, each revision making the son’s “suite” a little smaller.

Eventually the son stopped attending our meetings. “Where’d your son go?” I asked, already suspecting the answer. “He’s moved out,” Mom said, a hint of a twinkle in her eye, “he said he couldn’t live in such a small room, so he’s gone and rented an apartment!”

And now we both have another story to tell.

The Basics Of American Home Style

2011-03-07T09:00:00.005-05:00

Pocahontas was chatting with her friend Captain John Smith, comparing her reed-covered hut with his sturdy log home. “Hey John,” she asked, “What style is your house?”

“I’m not sure,” Smith answered, “but I think it’s a Colonial.” (Rimshot)

American home design from the Colonial period through the late nineteenth century followed trends and reflected popular tastes. Well-known styles were often “all the rage” for a number of decades until another style supplanted it; rarely did more than one or two styles dominate home design at the same time.

Elements of Style

The two important characteristics that have the most to do with a house’s style are massing and detailing. Massing is the size and shape of the “boxes” that make up the house; detailing is everything from trim and siding to windows and doors.

The John Blair House Kitchen, Williamsburg, VA

The earliest American homes were simply massed. The classic Williamsburg Colonial – upon which many hundreds of thousands of American homes are based – is a simple rectangular box.

A Colonial home is usually clad in wood siding or brick, and has double-hung windows (the kind that slide up and down).

Colonial homes were based on simple European models and were rarely exuberantly detailed. The Georgian style – a simple two-storey brick box with symmetrical windows and a centered door – is a well-known example.

Revival and Eclectic Styles

Home designers and builders have been influenced by styles from earlier times throughout American history. In the 19 th Century, many homes were based on classical models.

Greek Revival

Greek Revival homes have very simple forms, often just a single rectangular block. Taking cues from Greek temples, builders added a front porch with massive columns, and a very heavy cornice line at the roof.

Italianate styled homes emphasize the vertical and are almost always very elaborately decorated. The cornice line at the roof of an Italianate is notable for wide overhangs and large scrollwork brackets, and the windows are often crowned with ornately carved headers.

Colonial Revivals aren’t copies of original Colonials; rather they’re liberal interpretations of all shapes and sizes, using Colonial details and elements for inspiration. The Colonial Revival style was extremely popular during the early 20th Century and almost always has a front porch, a detailed cornice line, double hung windows, and symmetrical massing.

Tudor is a very free-form style, asymmetrical with very steeply pitched roofs. A wide variety of material is seen on the outside, although the best-known examples include some “half-timbering” – areas of stucco or brick broken up with wood timbers. The entry of a Tudor home is often modest but heavy, and windows are broken up with many small panes.

Victorian Homes

“Victorian” refers to a group of styles popular in America during the late 19th century that was made possible in part by the invention of new framing techniques.

Queen Anne Victorian

Queen Anne is the most common Victorian style and is characterized by an irregular shape, a steeply pitched roof, elaborately carved details, and large porch.

Queen Annes are best known for their multi-hued color schemes and complex siding and trim details.

Shingle style is uniquely American in origin, and was one of the first styles to be embraced by society Architects of the late 1800s. Shingle style homes are often similar in massing to the Queen Anne style, but as the name suggests, used wood shingle siding as exterior cladding.

Unlike the Queen Anne, shingle style homes usually shun elaborate exterior detailing and trim.

Early 20th Century

In the first half of the 20 th century American Architects began developing new home styles instead of relying on classical and European models for inspiration.

Among the more notable American styles is Prairie, popularized by Frank Lloyd Wright but practiced in various forms throughout the country. Prairie homes are typically long and low with deep roof overhangs. Porches are common and usually supported by massive columns. The Prairie style wasn’t in fashion long but strongly influenced hundreds of thousand of “ranch” homes across the country.

The Gamble House - A Landmark Craftsman

Craftsman style began in California and quickly became the preferred style for small homes across the country until about 1930. Small Craftsman homes are usually called Bungalows and are characterized by low-pitched gabled roofs with wide overhangs. Details such as beams and brackets are very common.

A Craftsman home has a “hand-crafted” look that continues throughout the interior.

Classifying Your Home’s Style

Determining a home’s architectural style can be tricky, . But most homes, new or old, contain at least a few recognized elements of an identifiable style, and identifying those elements is the key to classifying the style of the house.

February Caption Contest - WE HAVE A WINNER!

2011-03-01T21:37:00.001-05:00

"I've seen this design
a bunch of times...it's very poplar"

Congrats to Mr. Dan Turner for submitting the winning caption!

Your gift card is on the way!

Think you can do better?

Check in on April 1st for the next Sense Of Place caption contest!

Your House Isn't As Big As You Think And Why That Will Cost You Money

2011-02-28T09:01:00.002-05:00

One of the most confusing and misleading metrics in the home building and home selling business is area - the "size" of a house.

The problem is that there's no adopted standard - everyone measures it differently. There has been a move in the last few years to create a universal standard like the one architects use (specified in AIA contracts), but it isn't mandatory, and isn't yet widely used.

Many state boards of real estate specify a process to measure house area, but it's a recommendation, not a requirement. So "house area" means different things to different people.

The one thing that is always true is that area is never measured from the inside of the walls - the area of a house always includes all wall thicknesses interior and exterior.

Not surprisingly, builders and realtors often want to show the largest number they can - so they sometimes measure the entire perimeter of the house on both floors. They may or may not include porches, stairs, and two story spaces. Since you don't know their basis, it can be very hard to compare one house to another.

A relatively impartial source is your county auditor or assessor - they calculate the size of the house for tax purposes, and therefore measure all houses the same way. And although their measurements aren't always a true reflection of the size of the house, they use the same protocol - so it's easier to compare one house to another.

But county records show only the gross areas contained within the perimeter of the foundation, which doesn't accurately reflect the "livable" space within.

A better way is to list areas separately, rather than combining them into one number; that's the way we calculate areas at our office:

1,500 SF or 1,850 SF? Depends on who's measuring!

We first measure the perimeter of the house at the exterior wall sheathing - not the siding or brick, just the framing - on both floors.

Next we subtract the upper part of any two-story spaces and deduct the area of stairs on the second floor (since they've already been counted on the first floor).

Spaces that are less than 6' high aren't counted in the "main" number (areas with sloped ceilings). Instead, we list those areas separately.

In fact, we show a listing of square foot areas that lets you know where the areas are being counted from, something like this:

First floor: 1,500 sf
Second floor: 1,000 sf
Subtotal heated areas: 2,500 sf
Finished basement: 800 sf
Total heated areas: 3,300

Screened porch: 200 sf
Open porches: 200 sf
Garage: 600 sf
Total unheated areas: 1,000 sf

To simply say that this house is 3,300 sf or 4,300 square feet, or 4,700 square feet (if you include upper volumes and stairs) would be misleading. It's more informative to say it's a 2,500 sf house with a screened porch, garage, and finished basement.

The best you can do right now (other than measuring it yourself) is to ask the builder or selling agent their basis for measurement. You need to know exactly what's included in that number if you're comparing homes based on size.

Learn about construction costs here.

Re-Learning The Meaning Of "Home"

2011-02-28T09:00:00.000-05:00

For much of the history of this nation, "home" was defined in the community sense as much as it was individual "house" sense.

Home always was a village, a town, a neighborhood, and the people we shared that community with.

Home was something larger than just the house we lived in.

But affluence changed that. No longer do we need to go out to the movies; we can build a movie theater right in our own home.

Why meet friends at the local tavern, when we've got a perfectly good full-sized bar in the basement, complete with neon beer signs and fake brick walls?

And what's the point of joining the community at the park for the Independence Day fireworks show when we can hold our own "show" on our 2-acre lawn?

For many families, the "convenience" that affluence bred has evaporated. But in the dust that remains, many have found specs of gold. They've ventured out from behind the walls of their castles and discovered the simple joys of community.

A wonderful opportunity is before us to reconnect with our neighbors, to recreate our communities.

It's a chance to remember how much we have to gain by bumping into our friends and neighbors outside the movie theatre; a chance to share a drink with a stranger at the pub and get to know him; a chance to experience the community spirit of watching fireworks on a blanket at the park with a picnic basket.

It's time to rebuild our sense of community, and relearn a greater meaning of "home".

At Sense Of Place we're excited to be a part of this new awareness of the meaning of home.

And that's what this blog is all about!

Guest Blogger: Ten Tips For Simplifying Your Space

2011-02-21T09:00:00.009-05:00

Please welcome guest blogger Margaret Everton, an architecture design writer who often focuses on how good design can affect behavior. Before consulting privately, she received her MA in writing and ran a design boutique in Los Angeles. See her at places like www.houzz.com.

When considering a serious downsize, you may scratch your head at where to begin. It can be stressful, especially in the current economy, to think of letting go of possessions. But take heart: you aren’t simply pushing your life out the door for a sparse existence. You’re taking steps to simplify and add greater abundance to your living. Here are ten steps to get you on your way.

Evaluate the object in question. Try to go through each item with a wider perspective. Ask yourself if you’ve been keeping this object because it has value itself to appreciate (your grandmother’s silver that you use), or if it simply has sentiment attached to it. In most instances, the memories attached (that are the real value) still remain when the cluttered item is gone.

Reconsider how you archive. Along those lines, consider how archives can help you get rid of stuff. Rather than keeping around a red cake stand that your mother gave you (that, face it, you’ll never use )simply because you can’t face the guilt of letting it go—consider keeping a log of the meaningful things that have passed through your life. Take great photos. Keep detailed journals.

Let go and allow yourself to evolve. Clearing out the stuff in your life is the outdated you making way for the new you. This can be unbelievably clarifying as you give yourself permission to reassess and change for the better.

Allow for visual quiet. Just as an artist needs a blank canvas, a writer a blank page, blank space in your home can provide for peace and unexpected creative releases. Love your things, but balance the design in your home with aesthetic quiet.

Keep or acquire multi-purpose furniture. Whether you’re downsizing to simplify or fit into a new dwelling, you’ll want to re-evaluate the role of your furniture in your home. We recently got rid of a guest bed that was taking up an entire room and are replacing it with a chic fold-out couch. Create a dining room that can be both daytime office and evening dining space. Make your sideboard offer coffee up top and hide your kids’ toys within. You get the point.

Keep true toys for the kids. Where kids are involved, it can be extra challenging to downsize. Studies have shown that fewer toys enhance creativity and encourage deeper play. True toys (ones with multipurposes and that can grow with the child—such as blocks) can be so much more versatile and interesting in a small space. Plus you’ll watch your child’s imagination actually improve in the process. Pretty cool.

Stick to one collection. No, slimming down doesn’t mean getting rid of all of your beloveds. In fact, it’s making more room for them. If you’re not a minimalist at heart, consider focusing on one collection. Art. Copper pots. Little strange robots. I, for instance, no matter what the cost will not get rid of my books. The library is simple to balance this collection. Balance is good.

Remember that outer simplicity is the start. Keep in mind that something is driving your desire to simplify. It’s not just about the stuff. Whatever your motivation, the outer clutter is simply a place to start. From here you can enhance your daily life with a slower focus, or start to really design the space that fits you perfectly right now.

Remember the scarcity/abundance balance. Along those lines, we keep our stuff to create a sense of abundance. Think oppositely. Think how keeping simple is the better way. Make greener choices that produce less waste (for hints, check out The Zero Waste Home http://www.zerowastehome.blogspot.com/). Find abundance by filling your space with less items made of better quality.

Be the guard at the door. Letting things go won’t matter in the long run if you don’t radically change your paradigm. Think smaller, simpler, sparser. We gave our kids the image of the Buckingham Palace guards, who move for no one. Be a snob about what comes into your home, and make your new space exactly what you’re dreaming of.

Post script. I’m not just talking the talk. This month, my husband and two young kids participated in what we named The Great Awesome Cleanout. We radically swept through our home and so far have donated about 1/3 of our stuff. It is so freeing to be so deliberate about our dwelling. And the stuff we bade farewell? In our six-year-old’s own words: “Whew. We can breathe!”

Knock Knock - The Latest Issue Is At Your Door!

2011-02-10T20:23:00.002-05:00

If you're already "in the door" with Knock Knock, our occasional newsletter, then you've just received the latest issue (and you're thrilled beyond words)!

If you're not signed up (gasp!), it's not too late to get this issue, and future issues full of tips and insights into making the most of your home.

It's FREE - sign up now for Knock Knock in the boxes to the right -------->

Guest Post: Nesting In Small Spaces

2011-02-09T08:00:00.003-05:00

I'm happy to welcome Kerrie Kelly, ASID as a guest blogger on Sense Of Place. Kerrie's an Interior Designer and proprietress of Kerrie Kelly Design Lab in Sacramento, CA. She's an aficionado of getting more from small spaces and today writes about small-space interior design:

At the beginning of the new year, many of us look to organize and balance the items we have collected over the years. In smaller quarters, this may mean mixing styles, colors and unmatched elements, which can ultimately create a space that reflects the “real” you if these simple guidelines are followed.

1. Maximize Your Floor Plan

Multitasking furniture pieces: Free up precious square footage by getting creative with your furniture’s purpose. Turning larger pieces, such as a bed, with the longer end against the wall can create a day bed effect that is functional for sleeping as well as for a cozy hang out area.
Nimble pieces: Select pieces that can be agile within your space. Flexible elements such as stools, trays, ottomans and side tables can be easily moved around for additional seating, nightstands, small desks and serving tables. Don’t be afraid to add handles or casters to pieces for maximum flexibility.
Create a symmetrical layout: Center heavy pieces on the room’s perimeter to create an anchoring sense of order. Flank a sofa by matching bookcases to offset the visual weight a piano or fireplace. You can make a compact room feel much bigger by choosing fewer large, bold pieces instead of several smaller furnishings and accessories.
Lighten up: A special table or floor lamp gives a room instant style and ambience. You can get a lot of task light out of lamps in a small room without needing much overhead light. The most beautiful fabrics and artwork are useless if they are hidden in darkness!

2. Claim Your Colors

Identify your palette: Begin the color selection process by pin-pointing your favorite objects in the space. Pull color from rugs, artwork, furniture, fabrics and accessories to create your personal palette. A small space isn't a place to have high-contrast, jarring color and patterns. Go for color, but keep it all in the same tone.
Unify opposing pieces: A coat of white paint can pull together clashing woods or colors. Paint accent pieces to complement each other. Harmonizing shades keep a small space from looking too busy.
Paint smart: A very pale hue bounces light around just as white paint would, but also adds a colorful element to create the appearance that tiny confines are larger. If you prefer darker tones, take the wall color onto the ceiling or use a shade that's two or three shades lighter than the walls on the ceiling to keep the contrast levels down.

3. Solutions for Storage

Box it up: Bulky items like sheets, blankets and off-season clothing can easily slide under the bed in dust-free boxes when not in use. Colored or fabric-covered boxes can conceal items while decoratively perched in bookcases.
A little fabric: Wall-to-wall drapes can expand their use while cleverly covering floor to ceiling open shelving and architectural eyesores.
Concealed cabinets: Doors can hide file boxes and day-to-day functional items, while open shelving can display decorative books and collectibles. Personalize pre-fabricated cabinetry by staining or painting the doors. Upholstering the front of cabinet doors with padding, beautiful fabric and nail-head trim is another appealing option.

Remember, while a diminutive room has the potential to be a "jewel box" in your home you really have to be detailed when decorating it. Everything becomes a focal point.

The eye travels quickly around a small room, so you want each piece to have meaning and impact with your own personal touch.

How To Talk With Your Architect (And Be Sure He’s Listening)

2011-02-07T06:51:00.001-05:00

A while back when I wrote the “He Said, She Said” post, I poked a little fun at the differences in how men and women communicate when it comes to matters of the home.

That was a fun post to write, because each of those three stories was based on real experiences with real clients.

Couples who have their own dynamic, their own ways of working together, and their own way of working with me.

And that’s a huge part of what makes each project so personal and unique.

How well you and your Architect communicate will affect how closely the design meets your needs and how much “you” ends up in the final project; after all, it’s your house!

But you don’t need a master’s degree in Architecture to have meaningful conversations with your Architect; here are a couple of ways to make sure your message is getting through.

Don’t get into details yet
- keep it “up in the air” as long as you can.

One Step At A Time

Home design moves through several phases; each one gets more detailed and “concrete” than the one before.

The earliest phases are conceptual and fuzzy on purpose; you’re looking at the whole project from 100,000 feet up.

Your Architect shouldn’t start on the next phase until you’ll comfortable with everything you’ve seen so far.

Study the relationships between spaces in the design before you let him move you to the more detailed preliminary design drawings. That way, you’ll both be quite literally on the same page.

3D views - it isn't "Avatar" but it helps!

Another Dimension

Architects are really good at looking at 2D stuff and seeing 3D stuff. But you’re probably not – no surprise there, huh?

In fact, Architects are so used to looking at 2D and seeing 3D that sometimes we forget that the whole world doesn’t work that way.

The danger in looking only at “2D” drawings is that what you think you’re seeing might not be what your Architect is really showing you.

3D drawings help you “get into” the project and feel the character of the spaces.

And that will get you and your Architect closer to communicating on the same level.

So make sure you know what’s on the table by asking for the 3D stuff. Don’t agree to a design until you’ve seen enough of it to be certain you understand exactly what it looks and feels like, inside and out.

Entablature...Architrave...Entasis...eeww!

No “Archi-Talk”

Just like you, your Architect is struggling to find your common ground. And like you, he’ll sometimes fall into familiar patterns when communications get strained. For Architects that sometimes means esoteric and arcane terminology (like “esoteric” and “arcane”, for example).

Stop your Architect in his tracks when you don’t understand something. You’re not supposed to know what fenestration is, or where to find the entablature and you won’t offend your Architect or embarrass yourself if you ask.

Your Architect needs to know what you’re thinking; the dialog needs to be on your terms.

A couple of great books for learning the language of Residential Architecture are Sarah Susanka’s classic The Not So Big House and Marianne Cusato’s Get Your House Right. Anyone thinking about a home building or remodeling project of any size should read both. And for a better understanding of the whole process, try Gerald Lee Morosco’s How To Work With An Architect.

I think I said this once before, but it’s worth saying again – it’s your house.

A "swipe file" of design ideas
helps you communicate
with your Architect

A Picture May Be Worth A Thousand Words, But A Thousand Pictures Are Even Better

Of course you expect your Architect to make lots of cool drawings for you to look at, but sometimes you have to draw us a picture - or at least show us one. Better yet, show your Architect LOTS of pictures.

It’s the easiest way to start him understanding what you like and don’t like and will help get your project off in the right direction.

Most large booksellers have racks of “home design” magazines of some sort – grab a pile of those and cut out images that appeal to you. Make a folder for each room – a “swipe file” – and add images as you work through the design process.

Even better, set up an account on Houzz.com and create an “ideabook” online. You’ll find a nearly endless portfolio of excellent ideas for your swipe file there that you and your Architect can both contribute to and comment on. (Read my take on Houzz here).

On paper or online, sharing some visuals to your Architect is a great way to make a connection.

Carved In Stone

Every conversation with your Architect should be reduced to notes. So much information gets passed back and forth that it’s easy to lose track of decisions you’ve made, and ideas you want to explore further.

Meeting notes give you both the chance to see where you might have misunderstood each other and make corrections.

Typically, I type up meeting notes in Word within a few days of a meeting and email those to my client; they’ll add, delete, and change as they see fit and email the notes back. I’ll admit I’ve been surprised at times by how differently my client and I interpreted something; writing everything down is a great equalizer.

“He Said, She Said” Reprise

One more quick story – at the first official meeting with a new client, the wife was overflowing with ideas about their new house. Positively bursting at the seams with everything she’d been thinking about for years.

We were hitting it off, firing on all cylinders.

Hubby was quiet. Kept looking at his watch. Taking calls. Seemed more than a bit disinterested. Finally he got up from the conference table and put on his coat. His wife looked up at him, almost as if she’d expected this.

“Just make her happy” the husband said, “I’ve got a tee time”.

How To Avoid The Ripple Effect And Project Creep

2011-01-24T07:32:00.000-05:00

Two demons wait for unsuspecting homeowners, hoping for their chance to gobble up time and money on new home and remodeling projects.

The Ripple Effect lurks quietly in the background. Just like the movements on the pond surface for which it’s named, The Ripple Effect starts out small and grows, expanding until it engulfs the entire project.

Project Creep is a silent menace, staying out of sight until it's too late to avoid and putting the whole job at risk.

Pebble In The Pond

The Ripple Effect is the remodeling budget’s worst enemy and can wreak havoc on small and large projects alike.

A window replacement is simple, isolated project, right?. But the interior and exterior trim must be replaced and painted and the exterior siding may have to be reworked, especially if the new window isn’t the same size as the old one.

And that’s just the beginning. Once that window is replaced and the new window trim painted, the rest of the trim in the room looks bad by comparison and so you decides to paint that, too. A pebble’s been dropped in the pond, and the ripples have begun to spread.

What started out as a simple window replacement ends up as the refinishing of an entire room.

In new home projects, the ripple effect is more pronounced in open plan designs. With fewer walls to separate spaces, it’s difficult to make flooring transitions from one room to another so more expensive floorings often cover more of the house. The lack of interior walls also requires a more expensive structural system and makes the placement of ductwork and plumbing more difficult.

Don’t Make Waves

But the ripple effect can be controlled if you take a moment to consider the impact one project can have on other parts of the house. The root of the problem in the window replacement example is that a new standard sized window won’t exactly fit the existing opening – necessitating the replacement of the trim.

But a custom sized window, carefully installed, might allow you to reinstall the existing trim inside and outside, and avoid the ripple effect entirely. Sure you’ll spend more on the window but you’ll save everywhere else, and avoid the ripple effect.

And in a new home project careful planning of the room layouts and space adjacencies allows flooring and other finishes to “break” where you want them to.

Project Creep

Project Creep is a close cousin to the Ripple Effect. Project Creep happens when the extent of the work begins to grow, creeping along at first, until no one seems able to control the spiraling costs.

Older homes, for example, often require building code upgrades when they’re remodeled – upgrades that may have little to do with the project itself. When structural loads are changed in any way, for example, the existing structure must be rebuilt or retrofitted to meet updated code requirements. And moving structure usually means reworking the wiring, ductwork, and plumbing that’s been routed through the area.

Project Creep can attack new home projects, too. Sometimes the causes are almost impossible to predict, such as when the excavation of the site uncovers poor soil conditions. Sometimes the cause is an outside force – an architectural review board, for example. But mostly, project creep is a result of a difference in expectations between homeowner, builder, and architect.

Plan Ahead To Avoid Ripple And Creep

On any project, start with a clear idea of the level of finish and quality you expect. Don’t assume that the architect and builder are in tune with your ideas about finishes – discuss your expectations in detail and whenever possible, see the actual finishes and fixtures.

If you’re not the detail-oriented type, hire a professional interior designer.

Poor quality drawings cause additional unplanned work during construction, and always end up costing homeowners money and time. My firm’s been hired many times to correct drawings done elsewhere that contained glaring errors, omitted necessary structural steel, or just plain didn’t work.

Sloppy drawings are an open invitation to Project Creep.

On a remodeling or room addition project, evaluate the feasibility of the project in terms of the impact it will have on parts of the home that you’re not intending to remodel. Often, room additions can easily be designed to minimize the effect on the existing structure.

Finally, always have realistic expectations about your project budget and communicate that budget to your architect and builder. When everyone understands the project’s financial goals the chances for success are greatly increased.

Watch Out For Hidden Problems In Older Homes

2011-01-21T09:00:00.007-05:00

“Yikes!”

“Uh-oh…”

The homeowner and I were watching our contractor remove deck boards that concealed an area of a foundation wall that we thought might have settled.

The homeowner had noticed a problem when the front door began to stick, and an unmistakable settling of the floor under the door had soon followed.

The contractor and I assumed that water had caused the foundation to settle, leading to a drop of the floor system - a relatively common problem in older homes that is sometimes easily stabilized and repaired.

At this house, however, the problem looked much worse. A large section of the band board – a strip of lumber that surrounds the floor system – was completely rotted. We’d expected some damage to the band since we were sure that water (the cause of the rotting) was the culprit in the foundation settling.

But here the foundation looked intact. It was the band itself that had collapsed, causing the floor system to drop several inches. Worse yet, the damage extended well into the floor joists.

Ugh. Which one of us was going to give the homeowner the bad news – her minor settling problem in the house she’d recently purchased was rapidly becoming a very expensive major repair?

Not Aging Gracefully

Problems in older homes are often well hidden. More often than not, serious damage doesn’t show any symptoms until the damage is significant and expensive. There are clues, but even trained eyes sometimes have difficulty telling normal wear and tear from the signs of serious underlying problems.

Most old-home problems, however, have predictable causes and if you know where to look you can find hints that might lead you to discover concealed damage. Find the problems early enough and you might be able to fix them relatively easily, or keep yourself from buying into unexpected expensive repairs.

H-2-Oh No!

Water is the number one cause of damage in all homes, especially older ones. Look for missing or damaged roof shingles, rotted or loose trim boards, and disconnected or plugged-up gutters and downspouts.

Problems with gutters and downspouts are the biggest cause of water damage – they must be cleaned and checked regularly. If you’re looking to buy an older home, check the condition of the gutters and downspouts – they’re big clue to finding hidden water problems elsewhere in the house.

As the ground around a home settles naturally, it can slope in toward the house and begin directing water at the foundation wall. Modern waterproofing systems can delay the subsequent damage for a while, but older homes don’t have sophisticated waterproofing systems – if they have any at all. Many very old homes have porous stone foundations that have no ability to repel ground water.

Check the grade at the perimeter of the house – settling near the foundation may indicate water in the basement.

Plug It In

When your grandparents’ family gathered around the Philco radio in the 1930’s listening to the Jack Benny Show they weren’t putting much of a load on the house’s electrical system – the radio and a lamp or two may have been the only electrical appliances in the house.

But now there’s a TV in every bedroom; two or three computers; dozens of light fixtures; and a whole kitchen full of modern electrical conveniences. The appliances have grown – has the electrical system kept pace?

Each fixture or appliance “draws” power from outside in the form of amps; the more fixtures, the more amperage required. If the fixtures need more amps than the electrical system is rated for, the system can overheat, spark, or fail entirely – all potential fire hazards.

Any home over 40 years old is a likely candidate for having an outdated electrical system. Check the electrical panel for the amperage rating – modern homes require at least 100 amps and many require much more. Older homes may have “fuseboxes” rated for 60 amps or less.

Check any visible wiring to see if it’s made of aluminum, which is also considered a fire hazard and was discontinued decades ago.

Look around the house – are there lots of extension cords and plug adapters? Are there “burn marks” around some switches and outlets? Are there rooms without any outlets at all? Replacing an electrical system to remove safety risks or to bring the system up to current codes can be a very expensive project.

Home Sweet (Old) Home

If you own an old house, keep up with the maintenance to prevent costly repairs. If you’re thinking about buying one, check carefully for the signs of hidden damage and unsafe conditions first – a little detective work might keep you from saying “Yikes!” one day.

Grandpa's Dodge

2011-01-07T09:00:00.015-05:00

I can still hear the crunch of the gravel driveway under the tires of Grandpa’s Dodge Fury at my grandparents’ home in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio.

I remember how well the house seemed to fit them and my great-grandmother, who lived with them, and how everything had its place in their home.

In that simpler time homes were smaller and less complex, as were the lives of the people those houses sheltered.

They were very comfortable in their modest ranch. It wasn’t a custom-built house, but it was unlike any of the others in their neighborhood. It was small, but spacious, and it had character. Knowing my Grandfather, I’m certain he shopped for the best bargain on the street, but he also knew construction and got himself a solid building of quality materials.

When as an Architect, I began to think seriously about home design, I wondered how that house came to be that fit them so well. I like to think that their quiet little homestead was designed and built with care and craftsmanship by someone who had a pretty good idea of the kind of family that might like to live there.

Our lives are more varied and complex now, and the design of our homes should support and reflect that.

The opportunities for architectural invention in home design today are limitless – new materials, products, and construction techniques are constantly being introduced, and new technologies are having an impact. Unlike days past when historical styles ruled home design, our options today are wide open.

We are free to interpret style, or to create our own to satisfy our aesthetic desires.

But all of these available design tools are too rarely used to create homes that are molded to the lives of their owners.

Instead, homebuyers find themselves having to choose from among a few floor plans designed to appeal to a broad market, and then struggling to give it personality and character with just paint, carpet, and furniture.

We try to make a house “ours” with features and decorating and never consider that it is the architectural design itself that brings a house to life.

We lose sight of what’s possible and end up with just another house instead of a home.

Designing and building a new home is an opportunity to create something brand new, something unique, something as individual as you. Great homes often defy any stylistic categorization because their inspiration, their “style” comes from the lives that their owners lead.

These homes are built with character as the major construction material – the architecture and the “decorating” can’t be separated.

Houses like these are so much more than just the number of bedrooms and the size of the floor plan – they’re the ones that you return to look at again and again and think, “wow, there’s something about that house that I really like”.

What you like about those houses is the result of the owners having taken an active role in creating the design from the very beginning.

They realize that homes are made of life, of love, of memories, of wishes, and of spaces -- not of living rooms, crown molding, and draperies.

Good home design brings people together in pleasant ways. It provides for the family as a whole, and for each individual’s privacy. Good design does all of these things, and it starts by taking the time to ask clients about the details of their daily lives.

A client of mine described her family’s eating style as “hit-and-run”. That little pun tells me a great deal about the design requirements of her kitchen – much more than I’d discover poring over cabinet catalogs with her. We spend hours talking with our clients before a single line is drawn. To commit any less an effort to an examination of the personality of their family is to rob them of the benefits of custom home design.

Lifestyles change from generation to generation, and houses should change too. And yet, the majority of homes built today are little more than updated versions of 300-year old Colonial designs.

Incredibly, we are still building parlors and formal dining rooms for families that never use them.

A better house and a better living experience are the results when client and Architect work closely together to examine the uniqueness of the client’s lifestyle and how it informs and molds the design of the home.

My grandparents moved south to retire many years ago, leaving that old house behind for the next family.

I wonder if it fits the new owners as well as it did my grandparents, or if they’ve had to make changes to accommodate their unique lifestyle?

I hope they haven’t paved the driveway.

When Is It Too Cold To Build?

2011-01-03T09:00:00.025-05:00

Here in central Ohio, winter doesn't really kick in hard until after the first of the year. That's when we sometimes get long periods of below-freezing temperatures.

The harsh weather makes it difficult to build - when does it become impossible?

Frozen ground doesn't necessarily mean you can't excavate; backhoes used for digging residential foundations can break through at least 12" of frozen soil.

And since it takes about three weeks of consistently below-freezing temperatures to freeze the top 12" solid, you can usually count on being able to dig until the end of January or into February. If the ground is frozen more than 12", it's often best to wait for warmer weather.

But as you get into the latter days of winter, the frozen ground begins to thaw - and you risk a delayed project as the jobsite turns to mud (and stays that way until well into Spring).

Even if the excavation is complete, "stupid cold" can bring a project to a halt. Masonry work can't proceed in below-freezing temperatures as the mortar won't properly cure (and I recommend contractors not use anti-freeze in mortar).

Likewise, concrete can't be poured on frozen ground.

Carpenters find working in very cold temperatures difficult, too and the quality of their work can understandably suffer. Roofers may not be able to work at all - besides the danger of working on a frosty roof, building paper and asphalt shingles can become uselessly brittle.

If the project you're about to start is a room addition, or a remodeling that will open an outside wall, you need to be certain your existing home is protected from the cold.

A good contractor knows to "weather in" a room addition before the wall between new and old is opened up, and how to secure and properly insulate a necessary opening in an outside wall.

Every winter project schedule is subject to change as weather affects building far more in the winter than other times of the year. Be sure you account for this in your timeline, and be sure your contractor knows how to minimize the negative effects of this harshest of seasons.

January Caption Contest - WE HAVE A WINNER!

2011-01-01T13:08:00.002-05:00

A Great Place To Conch Out!

Congrats to Mimi Goodman for submitted the unanimous judge's choice for the January caption contest!

Didn't win? Stick around, there's a new caption contest every month! The February contest is on right now!

The Best Architecture Of All

2010-12-31T11:35:00.002-05:00

At the end of this wild ride of a year, as all of us at Sense Of Place were focused on highlighting man-made creations, I'm reminded that man's best work still pales in comparison to the wonders of the natural world:

Glacier National Park, from thedailygreen.com

Frog eggs in Hungarian lake, from Nationalgeographic.com

3' diameter lilly pad in Florida, from nationalgeographic.com

Paria Canyon, AZ, from nationalgeographic.com

Baffin Island, Canada, from discovery.com

Regarding Homes - A Few Thoughts For The New Year

2010-12-30T22:09:00.003-05:00

Happily, there's much "up" to report in the world of residential Architecture, interior design, building, and planning as we enter the new year -

The "McMansion" era may be behind us, as homeowners are demanding better, tighter, more responsible and more personal design
Conspicuous consumption in home design is out; family life and quality living experience is in
Home prices are down from the ridiculous highs of 2005 to a level that reflects their true value in the marketplace (I know, that hurts - a lot - if you're trying to sell right now)
Changing demographics and economics are putting the brakes on suburban sprawl; buyers at both ends of the age spectrum have a renewed interest in "walkable urbanism"
Quality of life is once the again the primary form-generator in design, replacing the auto, which dominated design and planning for 50 years
Interior Design is less about covering every square inch with "something" and more about comfortable, casual, everyday living

So if you're in need of a resolution for the new year, try these on for size:

Architects - let's challenge ourselves to create homes that are gifts to the owners, rather than monuments to design. The best award we can win is the improvement of the lives of our clients.

Interior Designers - the best-decorated homes shouldn't look like you've been there at all; they should look like they're lived in by someone with great taste.

Builders - a renewed focus on quality, not quantity, will turn heads your way. Smaller, smarter, better is here to stay.

Planners - good design is the glue that holds everything together; forget you ever heard the term "Level of Service" - replace it with "Level of Design" instead

I look forward to celebrating the delightful, the subtle, the amazing, the restrained, and the responsible in Architecture, decorating, and building in 2012!

Cheers!

Designing A Winter-Ready Home (video)

2010-12-27T16:58:00.002-05:00

He Said, She Said

2010-12-17T09:00:00.020-05:00

John and Cindy

The new, bigger closet he was having built for her would finally allow them to spread out and organize their apparel. His golf shirts wouldn’t be jammed together so tightly that the colors bled. Her skirts wouldn’t be hidden between her dresses and her slacks, and both of them would be able to find their shoes.

He’d get rid of the temporary studs-and-cedar plywood closet he’d built in the basement and bring her out-of-season clothes upstairs. He saw it as an opportunity to give their wardrobe a breather.

She, however, saw all this new, empty space as an opportunity to buy more clothes.

Vicki and Don

As an account executive in charge of a large budget, she was used to organization and was therefore taking a methodical approach to planning their remodeling project. She researched costs, compared returns on investment for different kinds of additions, and even attended an evening course on house design.

She measured their existing house and calculated exactly how much new space they’d need. She charted the construction schedule and got pre-approved for the loan. She’d done everything but draw the plans but even then, she’d interviewed five architects before she made her selection.

She knew he’d appreciate the careful, logical approach she’d taken and when everything was ready, she showed him the plans.

“Wow” he said, “This bathroom plan is sweet! I’ll be able to watch Sportscenter from the toilet!”

Rick and Fran

There was no doubt about it. They’d outgrown their house. Well maybe not outgrown, he thought. After all, it wasn’t too small; it was just that the house and their lifestyle didn’t really fit anymore. The children were nearly teenagers, and it seemed that the adults controlled less of the house every day. They’d still be living together as a family for another seven or eight years and they needed a change.

“It’s time,” he announced one evening at dinner, “to look for a new house!”

And so the search began. He’d be in charge, of course, since the purchase of a new home is really an investment decision, one he’d make by evaluating cold, hard facts. “Most houses and neighborhoods are the same,” he declared to his wife, “we’re looking for value, school system, and proximity to work.”

Eventually he narrowed the choice to three candidates; a moderately-priced two-storey colonial with a large yard, but the kids would have to take the bus to school; a somewhat larger, more expensive home within a five-minute commute to his office; and an older home that needed a little work but in a highly desirable neighborhood.

He arranged to show her all three homes on Saturday morning. It was a crisp autumn day and they enjoyed the drive around town.

He could tell that she liked the first two homes and he began to contemplate skipping the third. It wasn’t a brand-new home after all, and he didn’t think she’d be up for remodeling. Why go through all of that hassle and expense when the other two homes were in move-in condition?

And so, secure in the knowledge that he’d chosen the two best possible homes in town for his family, he turned the car left, away from house number three, and headed out of the neighborhood.

About three houses down, a small handwritten sign with two yellow balloons attached to it caught her eye. “Open House Today” it said, “1 to 4”. “Look honey”, she said, “there’s a nice house”. He slowed the car and took a quick look over his shoulder. He recognized the Tudor-styled house with the painted siding as 1245 Carnegie Street, a home suggested to him several weeks earlier by a real estate agent.

He’d glanced at the listing but dismissed it immediately. “It’s a nice-looking house" he said, "but it's too small and needs too much work - we’re looking for something we can move into right away”. “It has great curb appeal,” the agent said, “and yes, it needs some TLC but it’s priced well below market.” “I’m sorry,” he replied, “but it just doesn’t meet our criteria.”

“Can we just stop and peek inside?” She was still looking at the two yellow balloons tied to the posterboard sign.

“Honey,” he said, trying not to sound patronizing, “I checked into that one a little while back; it’s not a good fit for us.”

“But it’s so cute!”

Cute. He felt a slight tightening in his stomach. The last time he’d heard her use the C-word it had cost him a new Boxster, when he’d been all set to sign the papers on a two-year old LeSabre.

But wait a minute, he thought, there’s no risk here. The house really is too small for us, and it does need a lot of work. Why not satisfy her curiosity?

“OK,” he said, “one quick look. But we have to hurry – we need to get an offer in on a house today.”

Five weeks later, he was showing friends the kitchen of their new home. It was a very nice kitchen, really, especially if you could imagine how it would look after the remodeling.

New cabinets, countertops, and appliances, that’s all. And then it would be brand new, as would the bedroom and bath they’d soon be adding onto the second floor.

“Welcome,” he said, “to 1245 Carnegie Street.

The Perfect Treefort

2010-12-13T09:00:00.015-05:00

“It should be about this big…”

My six-year-old son’s voice trailed away as he paced off an area in our back yard about the size of a blimp hangar.

“…and about that tall…”

The Client

He pointed to the top of the tallest tree in the neighborhood, but had the Sears Tower been on Bellaire Avenue he would have chosen it instead.

“…And it should be red…”

My two-year old interrupted: “and yellow…”

“…with a windmill on top, and a rope ladder, and a slide, and a swing, and…can you build it today?”

“Well,” I said, and started to explain that before we could even start to build his new tree house, plans had to be drawn; cost estimates had to be calculated, and we hadn’t even picked out a site yet. It was a pretty big tree house so we might need a structural engineer.

Could I build it myself or would I need to get competitive bids from contractors? I was just getting to the part about applying for a building permit when he broke in:

“Dad,” he said, “you can do it, you’re an arky-tek.”

(Slight pause as I choked down the lump of pride rising in my throat – how could I say no to that?)

“Okay. Hand me my credit card, son, we’re off to the lumberyard.”

The finished "Castlefort"

Like a lot of architectural projects, this one started off with a clash of dreams and reality. As the “director” of a project, I’m often challenged to sort out the possible from the impossible and simultaneously create something beautiful, useful, and lasting. And if my client is open to alternatives and willing to explore options to control the cost, then we’ve got a realistic chance of bringing the project in near the budget.

But the budget for the “castlefort”, as my kids had now come to calling it, was only $300. And even that began to look like a distant dream when we got to the lumberyard. Yikes! For a minute, I thought the prices were in Yen.

I just needed utility-grade lumber, not the straightest, smoothest boards on earth; not perfect knot-free specimens lovingly hand-carved from trees that had lived long and happy lives and in the end, had fallen softly into thick beds of pine straw – just plain old 2 x 4’s.

Eventually, I culled out the worst looking boards from the bunch and talked the store manager into a sizeable discount. We were back on budget.

I’d known early on that the biggest problem we faced in the siting and design of our tree house was the lack of trees, or at least trees that could support a tree house.

But there is always another solution lurking in the background, hidden behind the pile of baggage in my brain that keeps trying to tell me what a tree house should look like.

The solution was really quite simple when I realized that it wasn’t so much that the tree house had to be up in a tree, it just mostly had to be up. And so we built it on stilts in a simplified version of coastal construction where pilings are sunk into the sand to hold up the floor deck. With my six-year old supervising, I set four 4 x 4’s into postholes and filled them with concrete.

The rest of the project had many of the elements of a “real” house; framing, siding, roofing, painting, even indoor/outdoor carpeting. I balked at my son’s request for electricity and cable TV but gave in on the chimney/skylight.

Painting was collaboration between my kids, my wife, and me; the adults handling the outside while the kids tackled the interior décor. To the relief of our neighbors, the exterior complements the house. The inside, however, looks like an oven after a particularly bad lasagna explosion. But the kids love it, and so do I.

Right from the beginning the castlefort was a huge hit with the neighbors and their kids. At every party it’s the first place the kids go and it is the center of activity for almost every game they can think up. But then a funny thing happened – the neighbor kids started asking their dads when they’d start building their castleforts. For at least one dad, the pressure was too much; his tree house is on schedule for a late spring completion.

One evening my wife and I were sitting on the deck watching the kids play tag around the castlefort. “Honey”, I said, “I wonder how old the boys will be when they get tired of playing in the castlefort?”

“I don’t know if they ever will,” she said. “Right now it’s a big toy but eventually it’ll be a secret hideout, or a cabin for summer sleepovers with their friends,” “Why maybe they’ll even invite their girlfriends over to see it someday.”

“Girlfriends?” I said. “Girlfriends?” We looked at each other for a moment and suddenly the realization of what she’d just said hit her.

“Ten years, babe,” I said. “Then it’s coming down!”

Prevent Winter Ice Dam(age) With A Quick Check Up

2010-12-10T09:00:00.002-05:00

Lucky you if you've never heard of ice-damming! Perhaps you live in a part of the country where this winter pest isn't a problem.

But here in the Midwest, ice damming happens without much warning, and can cause significant damage to the inside and the outside of your home.

Ice dams are caused when warm attic air melts some of the snow on the roof; the water runs down to the roof overhang and refreezes. The cycle repeats until a "dam" of ice has built up on the roof overhang.

The dam, and large icicles that often form with it - can get heavy enough to damage the roof - even pulling off gutters and downspouts.

More critically, the ice dam blocks the drainage of additional snow-melt from the roof, allowing water to back up under the shingles. That water can wick up under the shingles and leak into the house, damaging insulation, framing, drywall, and trim.

So how do you prevent this snow-belt menace?

Plenty of insulation and proper ventilation of the attic space is the long-term solution. The right amount of insulation helps keep heat out of the attic, preventing the snow-melt that leads to ice damming.

A qualified insulation contractor can check your attic for the proper insulation thickness, type, and installation. Get this done now, before the winter sets in - after snow is on the roof, it's too late!

4 Rules of Thumb for Better Home Design

2010-12-03T07:02:00.002-05:00

Recently a friend asked me to help him figure out the proper size for a family room addition he was designing. He was looking for some "rules of thumb" that would guarantee a comfortable, “architecturally-correct” space – a short cut to a good design, because lot of money was at stake and he didn’t want to do it wrong.

You might be surprised to hear (from me, anyway) that much of what you need to get good design is something you (the non-architect!) already have – the ability to do a little research; plenty of patience; knowledge of your own personal comfort; and reasonably good taste.

There’s no secret formula that guarantees a successful design, but follow my four “rules of thumb” and you’ll be well on your way to better design.

Rule #1: Good Research Leads to Good Design

Start by fully understanding your site
in every season and every kind of weather

Before any real design work can begin, you need to have a thorough understanding of the problem.

It starts with researching your building site; locating other buildings on or near the site; mapping out the best and worst views, noting the climate and sun angles throughout the year, measuring the slope, and anything else that might affect your homes’ design.

Simply walking your site at different times of the year and in different weather will tell you a great deal about how your house might fit, and how the design should respond to the conditions of the site.

The other part of what you need to do is less tangible – writing down your dreams and desires. But a little research saves the day here, too. Most bookstores have large racks of home design and construction and decorating magazines and they’re full of product ads, decorating articles, and project reviews – all stuff you can use to prime your design pump.

So get started on this right now - purchase a big stack of magazines; grab the scissors and start clipping everything that remotely appeals to you. Organize your clippings by room and put them in file folders. Now you’ve got yourself a “swipe file” to help you define your tastes, keep track of your ideas, and communicate your tastes to whoever’s going to help you get this project designed and built.

Rule #2: Start Slow

Keep it loose

Yeah, I know you’re excited – you’ve been thinking about this for months – planning, dreaming, collecting ideas, visiting other homes and generally gearing up to get started on the design.

But there’s danger in arriving at a solution too soon. As designs begin taking shape, they become more “real” and more difficult to change or even discard completely – something you have to be willing to do.

A slow start means keeping the design “loose” and deferring any irrevocable decisions until you’ve looked at lots of options.

Keep things in the “brainstorming” stage as long as possible…keep your sketches loose…be open to change on a whim.

And stay away from designing stuff on the computer – anything your draw in a program looks far more finished than it really is. This is a time for exploring ideas, not for completing the design.

Rule #3: Design From The Inside Out

Design rooms around furniture

Rule #3 is the one my friend with the family room addition needed the most. There’s no perfect size, for his room or for yours.

Too many homes are designed from the outside first, leaving awkwardly sized rooms inside. But that’s exactly backwards; good design should fit you, not the other way around – you’re a unique individual with unique needs.

Designing from the inside can be something as small as making sure that your bedroom fits your king-size bed without blocking the window, or as large as deciding whether you really need a dining room, living room, and other “formal” spaces in your house.

But mostly it’s about figuring out how you’ll use your rooms and getting your furniture placed in them – and then designing the spaces to fit. You can start working that out on paper with scale cutouts of your furniture or even by putting some chairs out in the yard and moving them around (a trick pros use, including me!).

That way you’ll be sure everything’s been accounted for, and reduce “left over” space.

Rule #4: Simpler is Easier – and Better – and more Affordable

Simple forms usually make better design

Put that Architectural Dictionary away! Good design is almost always simple design – neat, uncluttered, simple geometry, good proportions, and appropriate details.

The most iconic American house styles are the simplest forms; they’re still around after nearly 400 years on this continent.

One of the reasons is that simple forms enclose more space within a smaller perimeter (remember 8th grade geometry?). That makes simpler forms less expensive to build.

Inexperienced home designers often try to make up for their lack of understanding of the subtleties of simpler forms and details by artificially complicating the footprint and elevations of a design, or by making the house bigger (we don’t do bigger on this blog!).

And don’t be fooled by what you see at the home shows; keep it simple, keep it restrained, and you’ll have a better design.

No Secrets

When I ran these ideas past my friend working on the family room, he took them to heart and reconsidered his entire design. In the end, he designed a smaller addition than he’d originally proposed and saved quite a bit of money.

I hope you’ll make the same smart design decisions he did – get started with your research today!

Bringing A Farmhouse Back to Life - Before and After

2010-11-29T09:00:00.005-05:00

The house as found...

The experience of helping to bring a dying home back to life is hard to describe; it's humbling just being invited to participate in resurrecting history.

Returning a home to it's original state (or very close to it, anyway) is a little like time travel, as we get to see, and show - for the first time - what the home was like long ago.

I always wonder what happened in between...why did this once-proud home fall into such disrepair? The original owner of this home obviously built it with care. What changed in his life that convinced him to cover the sublime exterior with aluminum siding?

When did central heating become so necessary (in a house with a coal-burning fireplace in every room) that it was acceptable to install a furnace in the kitchen? Why was the mass-produced aesthetic of wood paneling allowed to obliterate the hand-crafted human feel of horse-hair plaster?

Did these changes parallel changes in the life of the owner, or do they reflect changing values of subsequent owners?

The "new" old exterior

Fortunately, this owner saw the beauty underneath and understood the value of a house with character.

It's a large home by farmhouse standards - about 1900 square feet - so the new owner didn't need to add space.

The kitchen as found...

The redesigned, renewed kitchen

What he did add was love and pride - and we all gained a little more beauty in our lives.

See more photos of this house here.

We have a Winner in the November Caption Contest!

2010-11-27T17:00:00.005-05:00

"We loved this house, but it was just out of reach!"
Submitted by Nicole - our winner!

So...the sequence of events that led to this bit of construction are hard to imagine!

At what point did someone start to think there might be a problem??

Thanks to everyone for the excellent caption ideas!

Congratulations to Nicole, winner of the Tim Horton's gift card!

Wild and Wonderful Christmas Lights

2010-11-23T15:42:00.001-05:00

Did you take advantage of a warm weekend to put up Christmas lights, so you won't be stuck doing it in the wind and cold?

Yeah, me neither.

But these homeowners are a little more ambitious - take a look at their spectacular Christmas Extravaganzas!