Very interesting ideas on this thread! I'd say I'm most in line with LazyGardens: We're sticking to a simple almost square footprint, which is a money-saver. I say "almost" because we will have a bump-out covered patio at the back, but it's not a "busy" footprint. In that same vein, we're sticking to some inexpensive, standard-cost items: - the house'll be around 1700 sf - simple roofline - standard sized windows and doors - open floor plan But the biggest of all is that we are purposefully planning NOT to build to the extent of our budget. That is, we are building a house significantly beneath our means. We want a small house that'll be easy to maintain, and because we're building inexpensively, we can afford to go all-out on the couple of things we really want, and it means that we can pay cash, which is freedom to do more of what we want (instead of what the bank wants). Perhaps equal to that in importance: We are questioning EVERYTHING. Why do we want this? Why do we want that? We've determined that a whole lot of things that most people say are necessities . . . we don't actually want. I LOVE the arches that some of you are using! I can't believe the HGTV people say these things are old-fashioned and out of style! Every time they say Ewwwww and rip out an "old" arch to update the house, I die a little inside. Come to my house, arches! I will adopt you, paint you a pretty color, and smile at you every single day! Oh, and together we will boo-hiss the HGTV people. Autumn, I'd also like to know the website where you're getting your arches -- and don't forget to share pictures with us when yours are farther along! I totally agree with Annie when she says, Put your money where it'll show. For example, I never quite understand people on HGTV who put big money into custom closets. I mean, I see the point in well-made organization inserts that'll allow you to use every inch of the space . . . but people are going to SEE your kitchen and your living room -- even you aren't going to linger in the closet. I'll second what someone else said about being careful of old materials =ing increased labor. Doors are a good example. If you buy a new pre-hung door, a carpenter can pop it in super-fast (costing you little). On the other hand, if you bring him a used door sans frame . . . he's going to have to fabricate a frame from scratch, and that'll take him much more time (and you'll pay more). So if you're bringing in old doors (or whatever else) because you want the old-fashioned, nostalgic look -- cool! But if you're bringing them in to save money, you might be shooting yourself in the foot. On the other hand, vintage-nostalgic-cottage is our style . . . and I am searching out vintage light fixtures. However, the Electronics teacher at my school is having his intro-level students refurbish them for me as a lesson! He appreciates "real work", as it is educational for them. If something is ruined, or if I buy something beyond repair . . . well, I've saved so much that I can afford to "lose" occasionally. I pay for materials and slip him a case of sodas every now and then. He's also going to do my electrical for me. Likewise, our school's Masonry teacher is going to lay my brick. I wish Plumbing were offered at my high school! If you're looking for used items, don't neglect the Housing for Humanity resale store. People donate really good stuff to them (and a bunch of junk too). For example, I saw a WONDERFUL kitchen island -- brand new, never installed -- with beautiful black granite countertop -- last summer. It was on sale for some ridiculous price like $800. I still regret not buying it. I would've gladly purchased cabinets and countertops to match it, though I don't know where I could've stored it. And I'll disagree with one frequently-mentioned concept: I don't like the idea of building what you can afford today with the idea of ripping it out and replacing it when you can afford to upgrade (this seems to come up with countertops most often, but it could apply to other items as well). In the long run, this costs MORE, and it's wasteful -- both in terms of personal finances and ecological resources. If you're not going to be happy with what you can afford, ask yourself whether this is the right time to build. I was very interested in Tulips' link to the three-house comparison and spent more time than I care to admit studying those images. Honestly, I was surprised that in every single set of pictures, I strongly preferred the mid or high priced house. I would not have said that windows/lighting and crown molding were THAT important, but the website made a solid case, and now I am a believer. I'll throw out one more item: The fake wooden floors in the low house really couldn't hold a candle to the real hardwoods . . . though I wonder if it would've been SO EVIDENT if the rooms had been full of furniture.

I'd use a large textile wall hanging - a rug or tapestry, or even an art quilt - since large/high spaces like that usually need a bit of softening way up there. Even if/when you got a large wall unit for your tv and stuff you'd still have quite a bit of empty wall left above it. The iron thingies could go on the half-wall on the right that looks like it's the upstairs hallway. (Paint the HVAC grilles to match the walls, too, but you know that already.) I have the exact same table lamp as you do on the sideboard by the armoire - mine came in a set with two floor lamps about a squintillion years ago. :-)

I hadn't seen the DWR kitchens. Remodelista and Apartment therapy have the same press release. The cabinets shown look heavy to me, probably because of the edges that stick out. The Viola Park and Henrybuilt above are much cleaner looking. Both of those photos look really dated to me, in a way that other Modern cabinets, especially the Euro ones, don't. Perhaps it's just a matter of what I've seen. The above look like kitchens that I've seen in houses they were original and new styles in. ... Come to think of it, though, for all that Modern is enduring, Poggenpohl and Pedini are showing different looks within that now than the ones I was seeing fifteen years ago. Maybe Henrybuilt just needs to update their advert photos? I absolutely agree that their forms could work in just about any house if detailed right. Modern endures unless it's '80's red or blue lacquer. :) In a neutral material/color, inc. the Henrybuilt woods and the Viola white, it is very little black dress. I think the most "insistent" thing about the Henrybuilt, however, is the hardware. That absolutely plugs it as Modern, whereas the flat slabs of the Viola could be any flat slab Euro, across many decades. It's all pull doors, but otherwise doesn't look much different from my own bamboo, which is much quainter looking. Of course, the other thing that makes the Viola Park is the lack of clutter with the flush cooktop, hidden hood, and, presumably, integrated everything else. I've always agreed, in general, about the age of house/period of kitchen thing, though sometimes the locale and/or style of the house have more to say about it. Even when I was thinking white kitchen, it was never going to be Peacock Scullery-ish, and certainly not inset with cup pulls. That would look really off in my 25 year old house. So would a lot of Art Nouveau. The house is rectilinear, and too new. OTOH, the little A.N. details, work, and help make my kitchen look grown in place rather than slapped on top. I think it's a case of what a colleague called "instant ancestors". That was about using clipart photos in a collage. The portraits give a sense, in the collage, of a community, with history. It doesn't matter that they're not the actual people from an actual community. They convey the message just by their presence. Using some details from days gone by in a kitchen (whether salvage or repro), like using old family pieces and/or antiques in another room, will give some temporal depth to the room and make the date much less obvious.

A&AE, I have been following this discussion with great interest, because I am going to be decorating with some pieces in the future that are "Japonisme," which is Chinoiserie's cousin, lol! My mom lived in Japan for a year back in the mid 50's and brought back a ton of stuff. Some of it was made more for European tastes. Also, she lived in SF for three years after that and bought a lot of Japanese influenced things to go with what she brought back. I have inherited it all now. So I tend to love Asian influenced things but also I have a style that can be described as "sentimental" or as I call it, "cozy granny" because most of the stuff I like hasn't been in style since granny's day or even great great grandma. I've always liked antiques, but at my age, things that are considered antiques today are the MCM stuff I grew up with. When I was a kid back then, that was NOT the definition of antique! I like stuff from the late 1800's through Art Deco. I like Victorian, but couldn't live with most of it. Arts and crafts is one of my favorite styles and that definitely had an Asian influence. I don't know if Chinoiserie has ever been extremely popular, but right now I am up against a couple of trends which I think are also influencing how a younger generation might view Chinoiserie. One is gender, because my SO for whatever reason, is very strongly against floral things. My dad didn't like floral things all that much either, but he often just acquiesced to my mom and that was fairly typical I think of male/female relationships in the last century and maybe even the one before that. The home was the typical purvey of the "woman of the house" and Chinoiserie was popular with them. I think there is a great deal of sexism in considering certain colors and motif's "feminine" but it's out there and prevalent so there you go. My SO certainly suffers from that cultural conditioning. So now that men are taking a more active role in home-making (at least some men, my SO included) and marital relations are looked at more as a partnership, there's a lot more influence of taste that might be considered "masculine" in the home, from color palettes to art and furniture styles, like the "industrial" trend. Not to say that men don't like florals and women don't like gears, but I know in my decorating dilemmas, it is often gears vs flowers and we tend to compromise on styles and designs that are less extreme--abstracts, geometric stuff, etc. I'm not sure what will bring about a revival of the taste for Chinoiserie or even Victorian or antique anything. Folks are more transient nowdays and aren't as inclined to devote themselves to a set aesthetic in their homes. They want a flexible look. So I think individual pieces of Chinoiserie will always be popular, like art, dishes, fabrics and accent furniture. I think the total look will remain popular with only a few folks who can afford it. Because of the transience, I am afraid the days of those gorgeous Chinoiserie influence wallpapers are gone forever, at least in big common spaces in homes. While I love the look, even I myself would not go for it, because I would want to be able to more easily change out the look of a room from season to season or year to year. But I have little vignettes of Japonisme all around my current home. When I have some time, I may post some of them. Here's a quickie, just something I totally threw together. The framed pictures are very old calendar pics that my mom had from back in the 50's in SF. They are just there right now to fill up the space and hide the very ugly white back of the shelving units. They will go on the wall eventually, and my mom's collection of Japanese dolls will go in the unit when I get it properly set up and the glass doors installed.