Texas Hill Country Architecture -- Photo Inspiration Help, Please
Miraculously, all 4 adults involved in my little project have agreed to either a Spanish Revival or a TX Hill Country atrium home.
But wouldn't you know, I am finding it irritatingly challenging to find good examples of simple, single story, humble homes in TXHC. I'm not fancy, or cutting edge, or modern, so I would feel out of place in a fancy, edgy, or modern style home.
So far, my "collection" is home to 4 whole pictures, two each of both of the houses I like. :-/
(Obviously this first one is too tiny for 10 people, but I don't see any reason why it can't be elongated and wrapped around, while maintaining the lines and scale.)
And this one, outside of GardenWeb (photos from Dibello Architects, of New Braunfels, TX):
Is this enough?
I see so many Ideabooks with a zillion photos, and my poor architect -- whomever he ends up being -- will have a grand total of 4 exterior shots to work with.
Interiors are equally difficult... So much of what I see carries the limestone indoors. And with half a dozen kids, I just don't want stone inside the house. Sheetrock does plenty of damage on its own to foreheads and faces. Besides, limestone doesn't come in purple, and kiddos taking Crayola to it doesn't count, lol.
Thanks in advance for any thoughts, links, or books y'all care to share. :-)
Comments (12)
PROVirgil Carter Fine Art
5 years agolast modified: 5 years agoCongratulations, ODD--it looks like you're having fun and moving in a direction which you want. As HKO said, an experienced and talented Texas architect will immediately understand what you are seeking, so that shouldn't be a major worry.
Several thoughts in response to your comments:
--Atrium house: Atrium houses can be delightful, and go back as far as Pompeii, or earlier. "L" and square "C" or "U" designs may also enable many of the desirable features of an atrium-style design.
--Interiors: You have some special needs (don't we all?), and the interiors of virtually any design can easily be tailored to those needs. You don't necessarily need to start your design search there, but keeping these needs clearly in mind is important.
--Site: Although you didn't ask, I'll suggest a gentle reminder that it's the specific site conditions--opportunities and limitations--which is the beginning point for any strong and memorable architectural design. As we constantly see here on this forum, it's lots of fun to play with floor plans and collect inspiration photos, but ultimately it's the actual site which determines what's feasible and advisable. Don't become too enamored with any specific house design or type until you have specific land in mind. :-)
That said, here are some photos which may (or may not) be helpful in your jouney:
Hopefully, there's something appealing and useful in some of these photos...Happy hunting...! :-)
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Please, please, please help me find a plan
Comments (9)Mommy2twocuties, we determined our main floor square footage by first deciding which rooms we had to have on that floor. As far as room sizes, one thing I did to visualize was to measure the sizes of rooms we had in our existing house and use that as a jumping off point. For example we had a dining room at the existing home that was 11x11. I knew from living in that space that it was much too tight for the table and china cabinet that we had and the buffet that I want someday. Based on that, I knew that 14x16 was the minimum size that I wanted. We also used the same formula for determining approximate sizes for the family room, bedrooms, walk in closets and kitchen. Because our existing rooms already had the furniture and stuff that would be moving with us, it made the numbers feel real to us and give some additional perspective. Once you know what you want/need for rooms on a floor, and the approximate size of each, you can better ball park the square footage that you are looking at. It will still bloat up with hallways, stairwells and closets, but you will know if you need to be looking at 1500, 2100, or 2800 square feet to accommodate your wants....See MoreFrench Country Stucco Colors - Pics Please
Comments (14)Thanks and you're welcome. I'm not familiar with The Chablis. I'll have to look through the plans. We worked with Trey Arnold and modified the largest Armand version. Added a full lower level, deleted the room over garage, bath and bedroom (and stairs going up) but built house sturdy enough where they can be added and lived in down the road if someone wants to. Also made numerous changes to the main level, even made it larger. It's perfect now. ;) We live on a 4.5 acre lake lot and love all the windows, doors and verandas. I told Trey I wanted the windows as big as the house would allow. We bought the lot, purchased the portfolios, looked over them all and selected one. Looked over it for the next year, while children were finishing up high school, then started making changes/additions. Started building 2yrs after purchasing the lot. Build only took 9mths (was estimated to take 11mths). His website is wonderful for inspiration. I guess you saw Arnold's personal home in Veranda a few months ago. Another home he designed is on this month's cover. Charles Faudree is the designer of that home (CF also lives in a home designed by Arnold). My community has numerous builders living here. Some don't move every few years but a lot of them do. I can't imagine - I get too attached. We lived in our last home over 20yrs...granted we did gut and add on several times! lol Good luck with your project. I'd love to see pictures....See MoreModern Architecture & Controversy
Comments (55)There is little love lost between architects and interior designers. We are left to sort out their biggest mistakes so people can actually use them. Look at many of the posts in here, and you will see what I mean. I also think there is little love lost between much of the smug Harvard educated subset and the rest of the country. My father was happy when I got rejected by Harvard for grad school, he was afraid that I would go there.(They were actually #14 of my applications, I thought 13 might be unlucky) When we did tours of local firms to see the different kind of design offices a number of them said they would much rather hire students from our type of program (which I considered 13th grade, in a way) because we had a practical education. One illustrated with this story: "We had two interns, an architect from one of the Ivy's and one from an art-tech school, and we gave them the same project, to get together some lighting for a place we were doing. "In a couple of hours the art tech student came back with two piles from our resource room and said--this pile is basic lighting that I know will light the space functionally just by laying it out properly. This pile has more interesting lighting but I would need to figure out the room cavity and stuff like that, and I am a little slow at that. "The architecture student had several doodles on paper showing rectangles with lightbulbs drawn inside, because he was conceptualizing. As for Harvard, I took Organic Chem at a State school with a Harvard student, and no one wanted to be her lab partner because she broke a lot of equipment, blew up one experiment, and threw awat the desired product and kept the waste product in at least one other. She also had one of the lowest test averages in the class. But my illustrations may make your point as well, Marcolo, because the "different" infill buildings I show are all between 40 and 50 years old and I think there was still some common sense at that time....See MoreHow to make by country house look country, not suburban
Comments (33)Yardvaark, thanks for your comment. I wrote a reply earlier that ended up in the internet ether, so I’ll try it again. I am beginning to think that scale is key in the look I’m searching for. Large trees rather than small (especially small ornamentals) and large shrubs as specimens, or large, mass plantings, are found in acreage (country) rather than on suburban lots. I suppose what I’ve been focusing on is my experience in Central New York, where we lived for several years. Most of it is rural, and houses are old (sometimes several centuries). Invariably, those houses originally had very large deciduous trees planted quite close to them, obviously for shade, in an era sans air conditioning. What we’ve found is that contemporary homeowners often are terrified of trees, and dislike deciduous trees and plantings as well, so the old, majestic trees are cut down, or new ones that are planted are taken out as soon as they get to be roof-height. (One of the most common phrases we heard in CNY, I think, was “that tree is too big”.) Then, to correct the lack of green in winter, evergreens are planted, including trees, and also in the form of the ubiquitous yew hedge to serve as a foundation planting. It seems to me that these things may have to do with a difference in tastes as well as knowledge between people a hundred years ago, and those today. I do think that very few people realize that there are wonderful varieties of large trees that can be planted close to a house –not all trees are the same! People used to plant trees with tap roots and ones not susceptible to breakage. Those trees not only protected the house from sun, but “ensconced” the house, often to great visual advantage from the outside, and to a wonderful effect from the inside as well. And: Overall, I think there’s less appreciation for the various forms of natural beauty that many deciduous plants can give; whereas, most folks I talk to today think only about green leaves and colorful flowers. I love evergreens, but they seem somewhat out of place, or at least a preponderance of them do, in regions outside of the Northwest and upper reaches of the entire U.S. In summary, I suppose I associate certain plantings, especially evergreens, with the suburbs due to my experience in New York, where all the rural homes had an emphasis on the deciduous. Also, I think scale, as you mention, and type of trees, such as the small, ornamentals, are to be avoided in the look I’m going for. My vision is a classic sort of looking house (such as Georgian or Greek Revival) without a lot of the detail that I associated with a “city” look, set off amid some well-placed enormous trees. (Unfortunately, I likely won’t be around long enough to enjoy them as “enormous” trees!)...See MoreOne Devoted Dame
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PROMark Bischak, Architect
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Virgil Carter Fine Art
5 years agolast modified: 5 years agoThere are so many art galleries in Fredericksburg that the Chamber of Commerce has a folder, "Art in Fredericksburg". As for wine tasting rooms, a resident friend of mine complained, "there are so many wine tasting rooms, at elevated rental rates, that it's forcing long time retail tenants out of town..."
Lots of restaurants, tourists on the streets and cars on Main (especially week ends). But, there's lots to see, and Fredericksburg has an apparently endless new home and remodel home business, so there's always projects to see.
If you like Sunday Houses, there's lots.
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Mark Bischak, Architect