Social conditions affecting build design.
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6 months ago
last modified: 6 months ago
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worthy
6 months agolast modified: 6 months agoRelated Discussions
How does your region affect your decor/taste?
Comments (81)The first house I lived in was on the Salt River Indian Reservation in AZ, just a wooden cottage raised up on concrete footings. Some years later - my Mom and Dad bought a brand new rancher in Phoenix- this was late 50's when the 6 story Westward Ho Hotel was the tallest building in Phoenix. Our house, as most were in the area, was a pink cinderblock built on a polished concrete slab. No two story homes or basements. The older areas had a few 2 story homes but that wasnt the norm,that was old Phoenix money or the Wrigleys! We had vinyl tile, popcorn ceilings and wool avocado wall to wall in the living room.Later shag rugs in the bedrooms!( pink and red for me!) When I was a teen we had a decorator that chose traditional furniture with a mediterranean Spanish flair and used pecan wood tables.All of the windows had WTs that would keep the sun out. Some people used to foil over their windows.I never heard of a roller shade until we moved back east to MD. Also never encountered stairs, except in the old Montgomery Ward store which was a story and a half balcony! I think we leaned traditional with a Spanish flair because my Mom grew up in a huge Victorian with land in the Maryland countryside and my Dad grew up in a big house in Mass,in a clapboard center hall colonial. I still live in MD in a small colonial revival house built in 1923. My taste has changed from Colonial Williamsburg to "cottage whatever". I think it is more comfy for us. and vintage thrift stuff mixes well with family pieces -the real colonial antiques and the victorian antiques. My neighborhood is mostly colonial revivals, quite a few Queen Anne Victorians as well as some gothic victorians. There are also quite a few 4 squares. Most all of the houses were built in the 20s with a few in the 1880s. Traditional decor seems to be the norm and seems to be age related- Potterybarn-esque for the younger crowd to Wiiliamsburg traditional and a couple -make- you -gulp Victorians( and not in a good way) Unfortunately the trend here in the last 10 years has been huge great room add ons- so you have many houses built in late 1880s early 20's with monstrous things sticking out the back. Definitely not in keeping with the vintage of the house. Inside, these rooms are beautiful but lack the charm that is found in the rest of the house.Crossing into the great room is like entering another country, one that has little to do with the rest of the house.Looks like they all use the same floorplan. Predictible. Talk about stereotypes, Aunt Jane and Lynne no offense, but when I was growing up, to us Arizonians ya'll were Easterners to us! Bit of snobs we were. Still am as far as Mexican food! LOL I equate the Kokopelli Southwestern style of decor with the big hair of the 80s! Never saw any of it growing up in AZ, just in the East and thought who are they fooling with that fake stuff?...See MoreHire a structural eng. before hiring a KD/ID or design/build firm?
Comments (25)Sophie Wheeler: You're assuming way too much. What makes you say that I don't seem to take into account the associated costs of removing bearing walls, when I clearly stated above: "I hate surprises, especially big ones. That's the reason we would like to know BEFORE we commit to this project just how many dollars we'll be spending on putting in beams, RELOCATING PLUMBING, ELECTRIC, DUCTS, etc." All the affected rooms will need new flooring that's not a news item for us. We also know we will need to spend money on floor matching if we enlarge the narrow opening between the kitchen and dining room. How much we will spend on this kitchen reno will not be limited so much by our finances but by the value increase that a large family kitchen will add to our 3000sqft , 4 bedroom house that has one big problem: A tiny, 60's kitchen more befitting a small cottage. We just simply don't want to overspend. The estimated size of the value increase will mostly inform our decisions....See MoreList of design/materials decisions to make when building a house
Comments (40)This is great advice, BUT...what if you and your spouse aren't on same page or timetable. My husband is all about the nuts and bolts of construction, but I am trying to be proactive and get some other decisions made about what he deems more "decorator/cosmetic" type stuff...i.e., cabinetry and interior trim/casing, etc. I tried to tell him the cabinets could have a lengthy lead time depending on what we pick, and that BEFORE we can decide on cabinetry, we have to make a decision on appliances. In other words, we can't plan cabinetry around the 25 year old refrigerator he doesn't want to get rid of until it croaks... We should "plan" for the refrigerator we "want" rather than what we "have". I also want a 36 inch rangetop instead of a 30 inch gas cooktop, and that too has go into the planning. I know he's thinking we'll take a wait and see approach - meaning what we have left $$$-wise and then make appliance decisions, but in the real world it doesn't work that way. I've just run into the same issue with the siding on the house - the plans were drawn with hardie board & batten siding to give the project a fresher mountain farmhouse look. Our GC assumed that meant we wanted to paint the siding after installation because my husband really didn't listen to me when I talked about using a rustic prefinished hardie siding. He thought the "rustic" could just be painted on afterwards, and now is crazed because the GC is telling him the local company that prefinishes the hardie has a 3 month lead time due to their volumes, and the other company that does that type of prefinishing is in Canada and the Pacific Northwest and we'll have high(er) freight charges. It goes back to thinking that "painting" is just "painting" and is a cosmetic thing......See MoreHow will the Covid-19 pandemic affect future home design?
Comments (41)I just remembered a conversation some of the parents had a pickup on the last day before our school closed. It was about difficulty finding toilet paper. One person who was there was making the case for Toto washlet type toilet seats to avoid the scramble for toilet paper. I predict that those will rise in popularity, especially if the toilet paper scarcity continues. Similarly, I think people may start to return to cloth napkins, dishcloths, rags, dish towels, etc.. They may be forced into it by supply shortages, but then they'll realize how much better it actually is for many thing. I agree that the Toto washlet would be very nice right now with TP being in short supply; however, I don't think most people are aware of its existence. While I personally try to avoid filling landfills with single-use items (including cleaning items), I don't think turning to cloth in case of another pandemic is a realistic solution. Why? Because whatever our next crisis is, the details will vary. Our next crisis might have to do with electricity, and we might lack the ability to wash cloth items. That's the hard thing about preparedness: you prepare without knowing for certain what will happen. I missed the comment about brick and mortar schools. I’m also a teacher and believe that if learning was left up to all students and it was strictly online the retention would be poor. There have been many studies showing that. Yes, and that mirrors my personal experience. I fully accept that right now we have to do what we can for our students -- but as a long-term solution, this isn't a great choice. I don’t think anyone liked the feeling of not being able to buy whatever we wanted whenever and wherever we wanted. Yes, we are very spoiled today -- popping into the grocery store to pick up whatever convenience product and out-of-season fruit -- and we don't even stop to think about it. If there's a silver lining to this thing, perhaps that's it: it forces us to be grateful for just how much we have. In terms of creature comforts, the poorest American lives a pretty cushy life compared to all the generations who've come before us. I think if people would just do their normal shopping and stop hoarding there would be stuff on the shelves. Absolutely true, but I do understand the fear: I may not be able to leave the house to get more. We may be sick, and I need to be prepared to take care of my family's basic needs....See Morepalimpsest
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