Good riddance McMansions!
natal
13 years ago
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mrsmarv
13 years agolast modified: 9 years agochloe5
13 years agolast modified: 9 years agoRelated Discussions
Curb appeal for McMansions
Comments (17)Tony, i would agree with you in principle that gardens and more garden space are important to people who like to garden, but we are not the majority in today's real estate market. I guess I am lucky in one respect to live in such a tightly regimented politically correct town such as the People's Republic of Berkeley, in that the zoning controls and design review ordinances are so tightly drawn that they mostly favor existing structures over new construction. Due to this fact, there are very few McMansions being built here, and although some tear downs do occur, they usually involve keeping 90% of the existing perimeter stud walls and footprint to avoid having to go before design review. As I work alot with contractors and developers, I know the drill when it comes to avoiding headaches here in Berkeley. On the other hand, there is absolutely no requirement to submit landscape plans for approval when doing such a quasi-teardown. I compare this situation to marvelous Marin County, which Michelle Dervis would always complain that you can't fart without getting a permit first. I relish the relative freedom to be creative without having to jump through all those hoops. I also agree with the poster about how difficult it would be to live within a planned unit development which spells out what color to paint your house, or what trees to plant. Just a little too rigid for my tastes, although I have certainly designed and have seen built enough such projects that I had a hand in. I would also greatly enjoy the luxury of not looking at my neighbor's house just 8 feet away, but such is life. Such close living forces one to become more creative about planting for density and screening for privacy, while not blocking one's or neighbor's sunlight. House remodeling to add double pane windows are a nice bonus to keeping outside noise outside, or Chaka Kahn at high volume from bothering the neighbors. I don't think I have ever lived anywhere, either here in California or overseas where I had the luxury of real space to garden, so I don't miss it. I would however, miss being able to enjoy being outside in the garden year round, and winters where nothing was actively growing or blooming. I should correct that last, I wouldn't really miss not having winters at all... What does all this blather have to do with the topic at hand? Just that population trends seem to agree with my personal situation, in that high density occurs where the climate is more pleasant year round, or where the cultural possibilities and scenery cause people to pick up and leave home to try living there, wherever "there" may be. Part of my personal mission is to make each client's "there" a little more like a private oasis or sanctuary, to compensate for the nonexistent elbow room between neighbors. My own backyard is such a jungle of vegetation from around the world, that I don't even see the adjoining two story apartment building anymore, although I do have to compete with these neighbors for on-street parking and all the public transit people who park in front of my house each weekday in order to take BART to the city. Still, it is still possible to park within a 100 yards of my house, as compared to living in San Francisco......See MoreHappy March and Good Riddance to February
Comments (7)Laura, I forgot that is is almost time to spring forward. More good news! Hmmmmm.....I wonder how each of us will spend our extra hour of daylight? Cindy, I am so envious. We had over an inch of rain yesterday, so our dirt is mud/mudpuddles but I am eagerly awaiting its drying-up so I can play in the dirt too. Megan, Digging bermuda is about my absolute least favorite gardening chore ever, but at least you're getting rid of it and can plant something better in its place! Any day you can get rid of some bermuda is a good day. No, make that a GREAT day. Today I saw daffodils blooming and an adult roadrunner chasing a sulphur butterfly....and quite a lot of birds migrating north. A couple of nights ago, we not only had the spring peepers peeping, but the regular frogs were croaking as well--just a huge chorus of little croaks and big croaks and all kinds of in-between sounds. That was one of the nights when the temps stayed in the 50s, which it hasn't the last few nights. Do we even dare hope that spring is making its way to us slowly, step by step, inch by inch? In our yard, chickweed is blooming but no henbit is in bloom here yet. I did see lots of dandelions blooming, but they were on the Texas side of the river. The wind sure made it chilly and we'll still be really cold down here tonight....in the 20s, which is below normal, but our days are warming up nicely all week long. Also, I noticed another sign of spring today while inside a Barnes & Noble bookstore. Can y'all guess what it was? Gardening books. Tons and tons of gardening books, and a very heavy emphasis on edible gardening with a couple of shelves of books about growing veggies, herbs and fruit. At this point, we'll take all the signs of spring we can find. Dawn...See MoreMcMansion to beat all McMansions...
Comments (16)First of all, it won't be the largest home in america which is still Biltmore at 175,000 sq ft which is lovely to boot. This home is just ugly on the outside....no idea yet on the inside, though garish comes to mind...stripper pole in the closet???? But the fact that they are even trying to build such a place suggests that our income inequality has returned to what it was during the era of the robber barons. Most likely, they pay a lower marginal tax rate than I do. How they can see this as not wasteful is beyond me. Somehow I struggle to feel sorry for them that they had to stop building because of the crash....I hope they realize that many people had to stop working, stop living in their own home, or stop eating because of the crash!...See MoreDo you like Older homes - or McMansions ?
Comments (31)toomuchclass, you asked about the other homes on our street and in our neighborhood. We have quite a mix of architecture on our street. It's an old subdivision and some of the houses sit on 1/2 acre of land and have been there a lot of years. They are designed like ours in the old fashion Acadian style, but are about 4 times as large. LOL Some look like mini plantations. Just a few blocks away are a few full size plantation homes. The town we are moving too is close to the Mississippi river and the River Rd. as it's called is lined with some plantations from the 1800's. One of the most famous is just 1/2 mile from our house. It's a tourist attraction now. Then we have some newer homes that look like they belong in California, huge 2 story adobe's with palm trees lining the circular drive. Then we have the average 1 story ranch style. We even have a couple of gingerbread victorian styles. We are on the main street of the subdivision and some of the lots are quite large so that gives people the option of building really big if they want to. So it's quite a mix. I believe our house is most probably the smallest one though. There is a minimum sq. ft. required by the subdivisions covenant and we went with the minimum because we didn't want a huge house for the 2 of us. Just more to heat, cool and keep clean. There is no other that looks exactly like ours and I guess that's why people stop to compliment us on the style. Everyone comments on our unique roof. Today the young folks aren't looking to build this style of house so it's pretty unique to see one like it coming up in the subdivision. All the ones coming up are large California style houses/mansions. The house just next door to ours is a 2 story brick. I'm not even sure of the style, it's just a plain 2 story house. Directly across the street from us is a huge mansion of 2 stories with beautiful gardens that circle the entire property. Houses like that one surely won't hurt my property value. HA! HA! It's such a lovely scene to walk out my front door and see that house. Nothing like what I have to look at right now. Not pretty at all!!! An abandoned house, a victim of Katrina and no insurance....See Moreigloochic
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