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October 30, 2007
Too Weird Architecture
It's Halloween week, so I thought I'd get your take on scary houses. You know the kind -- the ones that, when you drive by them, you think, "Who on earth thought that would look good?" I used to live in one, sort of. It was a perfectly acceptable Colonial from the front, but sometime in the late '60s, the then-owners decided they needed a family room. So they apparently hired somebody whose sole purpose was to give them the extra square footage they wanted -- with no regard to how the addition looked from the outside: like a giant white shoebox with a few windows cut into it and a flat (and leaky) roof stuck onto the back of an all-brick house. (Flat roofs in snow country are such a bad idea.)
A while back, I got a really interesting book titled What Not to Build: The Do's and Don'ts of Exterior Home Design, written by Sandra Edelman, Judy Gaman and Robby Reid. The cover photo says it all: a house with (among other things) Doric columns; brick (two kinds), stone and stucco;at least four different styles of windows, ranging from double-hung to casement to octangonal fixed to something that looks like it's out of 1955 Miami -- well, you get the idea. I sure hope the photo is the result of computer art; I'd hate to think anyone actually lives in a house like that!
What's the scariest addition (or new construction, for that matter) that you've seen? In non-residential, I'd have to pick the expansion of Soldier Field in Chicago. (As many locals say, it looks like a spaceship landed on top of the venerable old stadium.) Other nominees for my personal hall of shame includes porches and decks slapped onto houses with no regard to its style and garages that cover 1/2 (or more) of a front elevation. Share your own pet architectural peeves with the rest of us. I'm sure we can all relate!
Posted by Marjie O'Connor, HGTVPro.com Staff at 12:43 PM | Comments (0)
October 16, 2007
Why McMansions? Why not Affordability?
Himself and I spent part of Sunday going through a couple of the houses on the local HBA's Parade of Homes. They were both $1 million plus. (This was obviously closer to a fantasy tour than actual shopping for a new home.) I felt kind of happy that I could spot some missed opportunities to make the houses even better -- and that's without being able to check the insulation, HVAC systems, windows, etc. There was poor design in some of the kitchen cabinets (yeah, that's a cute little pull-out, but you still couldn't reach the stuff on the shelves), and the cathedral ceiling in the family rooms would have been much more dramatic if there had been uplighting behind the elaborate crown moldings. So I decided not to buy either of them. (Hearty guffaw here.)
I was e-mailing about this with Fernando Pages Ruiz, who has written a couple of books on the subject of affordable building and remodeling, as well as articles for HGTVPro.com on the PATH Concept House (see Breathe Easy: Radon Mitigation and A PATH To the Future of Homebuilding). I told him that I don't understand why builders are still putting up these McMansions. They are gorgeous houses, but sheesh! There are already so many on the market here in Knoxville and elsewhere around the country.
Fernando responded with something I think is very profound: "Without a tight budget, anyone -- even a builder -- can put up a beautiful house. The strictures of affordability are like those of a fugue or sonnet. It's tough to be creative within the tightest limitations. It takes talent, a lot of study and experience. It takes a great builder to build a great affordable house."
He's so right! It's a lot easier to dazzle potential buyers with elaborate master suites, multiple fireplaces and mudrooms bigger than my living room. But not as many consumers are impressed by an airtight building envelope, high-efficiency HVAC, and water-conserving plumbing. I didn't get a chance to check about any of those at the show houses; I don't think the real estate agents would even have known what I was talking about.
There actually are some affordable houses on Parade of Homes, too. I'm going to check them out this weekend. I'll be interested to see what they offer. And this time, I'm going to ask about the quality behind the walls, too.
What is your take on affordable housing? Is it possible to build a truly quality house at a reasonable price? Have you found any ways to shave costs without compromising the house's performance? What features provide the biggest bang for the buyer's buck? What features make a smaller house "live large"? Let me know. It'll make it easier for me to decompress from those dazzling manses I saw the other day!
Posted by Marjie O'Connor, HGTVPro.com Staff at 12:01 PM | Comments (22)
October 4, 2007
Remodeling for a Dream Home
Next week I'll be at the 2007 Remodeling Show in Las Vegas -- probably my favorite trade show of the year. It's more manageable than the mongo-huge International Builders Show, and it covers more categories of products than the Kitchen/Bath Industry Show.
Another reason I love this show is that I love remodeling -- the whole idea of taking an existing home that probably functioned okay for previous owners and customizing it for new occupants. I've lived in eight houses in the last 30 years, and no matter what the virtues of each one, I always made big plans for changing it.
My favorite remodeling projects are kitchens and bathrooms. I'm not alone there; those are by far the most frequently remodeled rooms. With older homes, it's fun to upgrade and update without detracting from the personality of the house; with newer ones, I'm relentless in finding and (ideally) fixing any shortcuts or sub-par products used by production builders. (You know who you are!)
I'm now planning yet another kitchen remodel. We got a good deal on our present house three years ago because very little remodeling had been done since it was built (by a production builder) in the mid-'90s. I'm going to bring it up to the level of most other homes in the neighborhood, which have already been upgraded, by adding quartz countertops; reconfiguring the kitchen floor plan; installing more -- and more functional -- cabinetry; replacing the faucet; enlarging the island; and moving the refrigerator to improve traffic flow in the work area.
Sure, I'm nervous about sinking a lot of money into my house when housing values are dropping. But I expect to live there for years to come, and by the time I sell it, the market will have recovered enough that the traditional ROI for kitchen remodeling will cover most of the cost. And in the meantime, I get to enjoy a kitchen built just for me (well, almost) -- and get the same sense of satisfaction I enjoyed after I remodeled my last kitchen. (Boy, do I ever miss it!)
While I would love to build my dream house someday, for now I'm looking forward to another dream remodel. (If that sounds like an oxymoron, let me tell you that I have discovered the secret to relatively painless remodeling: Get a really, really great contractor!) My husband and I will continue to add less expensive features to the house, too: crown molding that's actually in proportion to the height of the ceilings; a railing around our oversized front stoop to create an actual porch; new bathroom vanities, faucets and counters; and built-in cabinets in the bonus room and family room. (Adding storage is always a good idea!)
As a builder or remodeler, what is your take on getting the biggest bang for the buck in kitchens and bathrooms? What's the one "Wow!" feature you always include? Which ones get the most positive reaction from your customers? Let me know; I'm always looking for new ideas for my own house!
Posted by Marjie O'Connor, HGTVPro.com Staff at 4:53 PM | Comments (2)
October 1, 2007
Aging in Place: Beyond Wider Doorways
This is National Aging in Place Week. Big deal, huh? Well, it means a lot more if you're a baby boomer who's suddenly aware that retirement age is a lot closer than you thought. (Think about something that happened to you 10 years ago. Seems like yesterday, doesn't it? Well, guess what? The next 10 years will go even faster.) With retirement comes some consideration about what you'll do afterwards -- and, if you stay on that path, what will happen as the years whiz by.
Study after study shows that nine out of 10 people want to stay in their own homes as they get older. (I'm still waiting to meet that 10th person who hopes to land in a traditional retirement or nursing home. Most of my friends are, like me, boomers, and sitting slumped in a chair year after year is the last thing on our to-do lists.)
As a result, "active adult" communities are popping up all over the place. They're quite a bit different from the old-style retirement communites, too. They are truly for active people. Many are built around golf courses; they have activity and health centers, swimming pools, tennis courts and walking trails. I've visited a couple of them, and I gotta tell you, between the thoughtful floor plans of the houses to the lifestyle the communities offer, even I -- a veteran of 22 moves -- was tempted to go for 23. Too bad I was too young!
It's not just new construction feeling the impact of aging in place, either. Smart remodelers are keeping it in mind when they take on projects for clients of a certain age. I have one remodeler friend in Sarasota, Fla., who is of a certain age himself ("My clients call me 'Kid," he laughs through his full white beard). He was one of the first to earn the Certified Aging in Place Specialist designations from NAHB. Bob includes accessibility features in all of his projects, whether the client asks for them or not. The demographic in his market means he has seen a lot of cases where clients wished they'd built those doorways and halls wider in the first place, even though they never expected to be in a wheelchair or on a walker.
There are lots of ways to add accessibility to a home without making it look institutional. In fact, many of them make the house look -- and function -- better. Besides wider doorways and halls, curbless showers and lever doorknobs make life easier for just about everyone.
I'm constantly impressed by the clever ways that builders and remodelers make life better for the customers now and in the future. I'd like to hear about more of them. What's the smartest feature you've seen in accessible design? Have you come up with a terrific solution of your own in a particular project? Let me know. I love reading about this stuff!
Posted by Marjie O'Connor, HGTVPro.com Staff at 9:58 AM | Comments (49)
