How would you describe your own home design style?
- Country
- Contemporary
- Mission
- Traditional
- Eclectic
- Other
You will not be able to change your vote.
How would you describe your own home design style?
You will not be able to change your vote.
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Replies
"Mission" is a furniture style. In architecture the style is more commonly called "Arts & Crafts".
Good point!
Plus, does "home design" mean the interior design of the home, which is what I thought it meant until I read Waynel5's post and then realized it could mean the home's architecture.
Confusing to me.
Ruth, I'm a fairly new member to Taunton's forums but I have read every poll. Every poll has good responses to make the polls more effective. I would like to know if Taunton plans any follow-up polls taking into consideration making them more precise. What is wrong with doing a "preliminary" poll, then refining it according to participants' suggestions and doing a second poll to see if it is more revealing. I have some background in designing polls and wonder why Taunton would continue to phrase options in ambiguous ways when responders complain and offer sound suggestions.
First, let me say that as a member of the New Media staff, I am merely the "messenger" here. I put the poll online, but in most cases I don't have much input into the questions. They come from elsewhere in the company, and I'm sure that your comments will be seen by the magazine and marketing folks.
We are limited by the software in the sort of poll we can do (we aren't able to have respondees rank their responses or select more than one option), and we are limited in the number of choices we offer because the poll also appears on the home page of the Inspired House site, where we don't want it to overwhelm the rest of the page. Ruth DobsevageTaunton New Media
Thanks Ruth! I am glad to hear "I'm sure that your comments will be seen by the magazine and marketing folks" but it would be nice to get word from them. I realize you are the messenger and meant no disrespect to you.
For this particular poll it would be helpful if the choices linked to Taunton's definition and if they are inquiring about the exterior or interior (I think someone else mentioned that).
I also wonder if they can compare the responses from the home page vs those from the forum. Just curious.
No offense taken, not to worry.
I'm guessing that the question refers to interiors, not exteriors, but I'm not absolutely sure.
The poll on the home page and the poll on the forum are one and the same -- it doesn't matter where you vote. I don't think we can get stats about where votes were cast. Ruth DobsevageTaunton New Media
You left out McMansion, if you're talking about exterior styles.Things are going to get a lot worse before they get worse.Lily Tomlin
I may well have "McMansion" Is there a certain size or style that earns this (somewhat derisory) term? I thoroughly understand the hype about "NotsoBig" houses (having lived in England until I was 30, I have lived in smaller homes than the first 2 car garage I had in the U.S.) However, when my husband and I sat down to figure out what we wanted in a home, it became clear that my man wanted "wasted space" we need rooms (such as a formal dining room) that are used infrequently enough, to look nice all the time. I don't have to clear the homework & clutter just to have a relaxing meal in there. We have our larger than we need home sitting on 5 acres - so there is plenty of room for it.
I checked "Other" in the survey, because I have a colonial/contemporary house. Its not a replica, and I like contemporary styles, but still wanted my house to have the feel of everything being familiar. My husband is from South Carolina - he likes the traditional columns and red brick. But when it came to the interior, well, we have lots of wood & a traditional "feel" but I'm not fooling anyone with so called Williamsburg lighting (they didn't have electricity!) - my fixtures are modern - very modern.
It is interesting to ask what it is that makes a large house a McMansion. Here in the Washington DC area, McMansion is used to describe two kinds of houses.
One, used less often, is an in-fill house built in an established neighborhood on a vacant lot or where a smaller house has been razed. This kind of McMansion overpowers its lot and doesn't fit into the look or tone of the neighborhood. Imagine a three story neo-victorian in a 1960s development of ramblers and split levels, possibly the one house in the 40 YO neighborhood that doesn't have any trees because the house was built on the maximum allowable footprint. It isn't any big house, though. Some neighborhoods are very proud of the old farmhouses or manor houses that remain from before the development was built, and there are architects in the area who specialize in enlarging small houses in great old neighborhoods without creating disharmony.
The other kind of McMansion is part of a development of identical, or almost identical giants, and around here they are almost always sort of neoclassical or georgian. They often have brick fronts, but siding on the backs and less visible sides. They tend to be very close together and to take up most of their lots. My county has average incomes and education levels higher than the national average and the builders are banking on high-income professionals who want show-place houses for entertaining, but who never go outside except to get in their cars. In those houses the deck is the most important outdoor space, and gardening is something you hire a landscaping company to do while you're at work.
There is a member of this forum who lives in the upper western part of my county, in a lovely old farming town near the Potomac River. I don't know if she'll agree with me on the asthetics, but her area is getting a sort of "acne" of these McMansion developments. You'll be driving through country that has been farmland for 350 years, watching the gentle piedmont roll by, and then pass a stand of trees only to find a barren hilltop with 10 or 12 of these crazy things all jammed together, with a huge brick gateway at the main road, and a row of tiny little bradford pear trees behind the gates.
I don't think your house would qualify as a McMansion in my understanding of the term. It sounds as though you are building a unique house to suit your family's needs, and that you are building it in scale with your property.
I guess we do not qualify - have brick on all sides of the house (in truth, there is no reason not to in Oklahoma, brick is pretty cheap here).
There never was a tree on this piece of land, it was grazing, and still is on 2 sides of our property, but we are in the process of planting them for windbreaks & privacy (I'm sure will will be surrounded on the 2 undeveloped sides some time in the future). No bradford pears though - so far, we have planted oaks, pines, tupelo, walnut, pecans, apples, and peaches. I think I'm going to put in some bald cypress in a boggy corner where our lands drains off to. Oh, I put in some dogwoods, but I'm not sure they survived, and I'll add some redbuds if/when I replace those.
I do think my home is unique (moved in last November so I'm still thrilled with it!) We have over 4,000 sq ft of space, but only 2 full-time bedrooms and 3 bathrooms. I have the best kitchen ever - for me, because we have a table & chairs in the middle (as a petite lady, I find islands unfriendly for work or sitting). I also have a small, indoor pool which has enabled me to go pain-free through winter & no arthritis medicine. Most importantly, we gave up a lot of sq feet to a safe room - the tornado season is coming!
Something I have not seen included in any of the beautiful "not-so-big" houses in those dreamy books (that I bought for a single friend that is getting ready to build) is a safe room. Since they have such thick walls, they are not easy to design around - and to be useful, they need to be kept pretty much empty.
I enjoyed your description - I won't be describing my house as a McMansion :-)
How wonderful to have an indoor pool! My mother's arthritis was already serious when she was in her mid-forties, and nothing she did for it helped her as much as swimming did. Somewhere along the way, though, she decided it was too much trouble to keep going back to the swim center twice a week, and gave it up. She would not ever have designed herself a house with a pool. If she thought my father needed it she might have.
I'm also a petit person, and my husband is very tall. Both of us are the wrong height for standard kitchen counters. We both really feel the wrong height when we roll out pastry (his thing) and knead bread (my thing). Our big "someday" is rebuilding our kitchen, and we will include an island with either two heights or with an electric lift that adjusts the height of the counter.
I nearly didn't do the pool - when we were making our final list up with the builder, my husband said if "we don't do it now, we never will" and as I have had arthritis following an op on my hip since I was 23, I figured I should do it. I never did like using public pools - they have to put so much chlorine in the water, and just finding a parking spot irks me. Now I get up in the morning and just get in. The utilities are about the same as my membership to the Y was. I couldn't keep up going to the Y even though it made me so comfortable and helps with reducing osteoporosis in the future (something us little ladies are extremely vulnerable to).
I still haven't furnished the room, and at first, I had trouble figuring the water heater. I was scared for a while that we had made a big mistake. Now, I just throw a cup of acid in every couple of weeks (high Ph in my area) and scoop one or 2 bugs out every few days.
Maybe someone here has suggestions for seating in my pool room? It is very much an indoors/outdoors space. We have 5 sets of french doors, concrete floor, stone coping around the pool, and similar colored tile in place of base boards. There is cobalt blue tile round the water line, and I have a few deep blue pots with plants. I have a big coffee table that has stone tile and wrought iron base, and an aquarium that sits on wrought iron base. My man (love hime!) is constructing a courtyard outside the long side. I want the courtyard and pool room to have a Roman feel - the pool is tranquil, not at all beach-like, but I do not want to over-theme it!
So what kind of chairs would be good for sitting next to the coffee table, comfy, and OK to sit on in a wet swimsuit?
Oh and you might consider getting one of those ergonomic mats for your kitchen - the ones that feel really good to stand on and are non-slip etc. They elevate you an inch or so, and would be an economical improvement until you can redo your kitchen.
The term “McMansion†to me describes what home developers did in the fast growing "bigger must be best" economy of the latter ‘90’s. McMansions are the cookie-cutter closely built “trophy†houses that offer more rooms than the average family needs. Whereas the Not So Big House is a methodically designed plan of how the space is actually utilized. What is small to me may be huge to someone else. Here in the northwest, McMansions usually have rooms for separate activities rather than using a room for multi-purposes.
I’ve had homes with expensively furnished formal living and dining rooms that were kept ‘pretty’ for that occasional first-time guest to see. But as guests become friends, we walk right past the living room to the family room-kitchen area where everyone feels more comfortable and welcomed.
When designing our current home, we cut down on square footage after we hosted my husband’s company’s annual holiday party in our former large house. We hired a pianist to play the piano in our beautifully decorated living room. During the evening, the pianist sought me out in the crowded kitchen and asked if I wanted him to continue playing the piano as no one was in the living room but instead in the kitchen area. I decided that night that my next house would have the grand piano in the kitchen. Well, the piano is now in our great room near the kitchen and when we entertain, our guests are all together in one large room. The different activity vignettes are well defined in the great room for visual interest and because there is a place for everything, the area stays pretty clean. Did I mention that we are now empty-nesters?
The concept of a McMansion, to me, is more about the mentality of the building than it is about size. It is the mentalitiy of quantity over quality.
playing in the dirt in beautiful East Tennessee, zone 6B
My home is french country. It is, ironically, in the city. It's about 75 years old.
the mags tell me that 'my' style, in terms of decorating, is cottage. The furniture is mostly mission-style, with a couple of shaker-style and deco pieces, as well. What do they have in common? Clean lines - the deco pieces are of course a bit curvy - but no painting or carvings on any of them. It's all about the wood!
what would you call a 325 year old red colonial besides old?
Be well
andy
edit:Guess I'd go with "country".
My life is my passion!
http://CLIFFORDRENOVATIONS.COM
Edited 3/2/2004 6:23:31 AM ET by Andy Clifford(Andybuildz)
Interesting... I'd call Andy's home Colonial -- I'd use this
term for both architectual design and if he uses it, the interior
decoration. Of course, he could decorate his very old home with
1970's retro... Though I do rather hope not.
I took the poll to refer to the style of "house", ie. architecture.
Mine is Other -- Cotswold Cottage. A sub-species they tell me of
Elizabethan, but I'm not sure why since it actually can predate her
16th century reign. In any case, the floor plan is unique, rooms
are almost never square/rectangular, all tend to be small, but the
windows are both large and numerous. Built about 1928, I'm having
both fun and moments of mania as I renovate/repair/redecorate.
Mine is in central PA (where McMansions are very popular too -- like
weeds they pop up all over the place).
We love our eclectic “not so big house†that was designed and built five years ago. When I showed our builder/friend a copy of the “Not So Big House†book, he said our house should have been in the first issue. The house is very functional with no waste.
PK
Interior Designer