Tag Archives: interior design

Americans want the “New Old House,” an older-looking home with McMansion amenities

Posted on by

The Wall Street Journal describes the trend of architects and builders putting together homes that look old and have character but have all the latest features:

“The first words that come out my clients’ mouths are, ‘We’d love to have a real old house. We just can’t find one,’ ” said architect Russell Versaci, who runs a Middleburg, Va.-based practice. “And the second thing they say is, ‘We are so sick of McMansions. We just want to get out and get back to reality.’ ”

What architects like Mr. Versaci—along with certain discriminating prefab builders and house-plan companies—offer instead is known as the New Old House: a sanely proportioned residence that’s historically accurate on the outside, but conceived for the needs of modern Americans on the inside. Austere Greek Revival farmhouses with roomy island kitchens. Time-travelesque Craftsman bungalows with startlingly open floor plans. Walk-in closets designed to hold more than a few Civil War-era muslin petticoats…

The exhibition is timely. According to Amy Albert, editor of Custom Home—a Washington, D.C.-based magazine that caters to architects, designers and high-end builders—a hankering for authentic traditional residential design is one of 2014’s big trends. That said, “People aren’t seeking exact replicas of historical houses,” she added. “They want architectural purity in the elevations and the details, but inside they want connectivity and open floor plans.” Discerning homeowners, she said, are demanding that custom builders bone up: “Mixing a Palladian window with a Craftsman column is not going to cut it. Even if people don’t have the vocabulary to articulate why it’s wrong, they instinctually know it is.”…

Both Mr. Versaci and Mr. Schafer acknowledged there’s something potentially inauthentic about recreating oldness, especially if you go to the extent of simulating patinas on stone (using coffee) or, as Mr. Schafer mentioned, importing $50,000 mature beech trees so your New Old House’s landscaping doesn’t look too new. “Making a mirage is an issue,” said Mr. Versaci. “My personal preference is to let a house age through natural processes. If you choose quality, natural materials like unlacquered brass, they will eventually age. But some 21st-century Americans, who are used to ‘add water and serve,’ just don’t want to wait.”

One of the more interesting parts of the new second edition of A Field Guide to American Houses is the last section on newer houses, dubbed Millennial Mansions, which discusses the differences between an authentic looking older home and a fake looking older home. For example, a new home in a Craftsman style might not have the correctly proportioned pillars on the porch or might be built on a slab when such older homes in this style usually had a basement.

Yet, the problem with historicity is not just about recreating the past. There is also an odd lack of interest in a historic interior as it is all about the exterior. If anything, this just reinforces the same mindset these people criticize about McMansions: it is all about making an impression with the exterior and then having a flashy interior. Would the people who complain McMansions don’t provide a good psychological fit make the same complaint about these new old houses?

Also, are these New Old Houses much smaller than the average McMansion?

The popular colors coming to your home: green (it’s healthy), blue (it’s comfortable), grey (fits with stainless steel appliances)

Posted on by

The president of the Color Marketing Group discusses what colors are popular for homes today:

A small example: A while back we looked at the emerging interest (in the United States) in herb gardening, as it moved from suburban yards into urban areas. (We thought consumers) would find themselves relating closer and closer to herbal green colors in general. And yes, there has been an uptick in attraction toward this “healthy” green in the past few years. People find themselves saying, that would be a nice hue for my home.

About a year ago, CMG predicted that blue would dominate color movement for the next several years. This can show up in clothing fairly quickly, but in some industries, such as the auto industry, that can take a few years.

We picked blue to grow because people perceive it as stable and comfortable, reflecting how they’re more likely looking at their world these days. However, tastes in blue are moving away from denim and indigo: The actual CMG color of the year was a midrange one we called Re-Blued, which works with lots of colors of the palette, from warm to cool…

Seriously, though, gray is coming because so many of us have stainless-steel appliances in our kitchens. That has led to a gray movement in the kitchen. It’s in paint, but we see it in cabinets in stains over wood or in painted gray finishes. Or it shows up in accent colors — people look at driftwood gray and say, that’s a color I can live with for a long time. Europeans may change their kitchens every two or three years, but Americans live with their kitchens a lot longer.

Plus, gray is new — it’s a color that’s not anything that a generation before has seen in kitchens.

This is a good reminder of how while homeowners might think their furnishings and design choices are an expression of their individual tastes, choices are often shaped by an industry that wants to sell products and what these products mean. Colors and design choices run in cycles – remember those harvest gold appliances? – but consumers may not be behind much of this.

It is interesting to see green pick up steam because it is perceived as healthy. I wonder of how much this is related to it being natural as well: plants, trees, vegetables, healthy walls.

“McMansions Gone Rogue”: critiquing McMansions on Pinterest

Posted on by

For a gallery of photos that critique McMansion rooms, check out this Pinterest page. These rooms have some interesting design elements and beyond these style choices, they don’t look very liveable.

I presume the solutions for these rooms is to consult the interior designer who put together this page. Is her solution primarily about better interior design in these spaces or would she advocate for different homes, like the Not So Big House, all together?

 

Why the interiors of model homes look better

Posted on by

Here are some tips to help your home look more like a model home:

Professional home stager and model home designer Katie Schafer of Chicago-based Dressed to Sell has a one-word explanation for why many new homes bear little resemblance to picture-perfect models: clutter…

Another common mistake, designers say, is assuming the furniture from your old place will fit effortlessly into your new scheme. Moving is a great time to get rid of pieces you no longer need while identifying new ones to enhance your space, said Mary Cook, president of Chicago-based Mary Cook Associates…

Cook’s upcoming book, “The Art of Space,” scheduled for publication in 2013, elaborates on those seven elements in detail. A biggie, she said, and one that most homeowners tend to overlook, is scale, the size of something, and proportion, its relationship to the things around it. Rooms that are too full — or too empty — just look wrong, she said…

Color is another element that well-decorated models employ wisely. While new homes are often delivered with white walls, a Mary Cook-designed model can have as many as 25 different paint colors. Thoughtful-yet-fearless use of color can add richness that makes a home feel warm and inviting.

In addition to color, model home designers are experts at mixing patterns and texture, said Helen Velas, president of Naperville-based Eleni Interiors. While the average homeowner isn’t likely to be as skilled, home-goods retailers have become good at bundling pieces together to help people get that custom-designed look, she said.

Staging can go a long way to helping make a sale. However, I’ve always been struck by the unreal image model homes present. The lived reality of an average American home includes clutter, probably some non-perfect furniture, and maybe some clashing colors and patterns. It involves residents and family members moving around, appropriating spaces for their own use, and being comfortable. We know this from our experiences so why would we fall for the “staged” home?

I wonder how much of this has to do with presenting an aspirational image. Think of the average cluttered home: how many residents would be willing to show that off to strangers without cleaning up(though after going through a number of for-sale homes a few years ago, there was a higher percentage of people doing this than I would have imagined)? Or think of the common image of a home: in advertisements, new homes, movies, art, magazines, etc., homes look put together. That is what we think it is supposed to look like. I remember reading about a company that had started including people in their staged homes; this added a special touch in helping people imagine themselves in the home. And this all ties into the larger American Dream image of the “perfect home.”

Interior designer chooses 1963 modernist home over (all?) McMansions

Posted on by

I’ve written about this theme recently but here is another version: an interior designer in Houston chooses to buy and redecorate a 1963 modernist home.

Architect Preston Bolton designed this stunning Tanglewood residence in 1963, a look that appears fresh and modern today. In the spring of this year, Kristen and Lee Nix moved in, but not before she transformed the sleek abode into a comfortable home for the couple and their 2-year-old son.

“I knew right when I walked in what I wanted to do,” Kristen said. “Grass rugs, grass cloth on the walls, not a lot of color but lots of texture.”…

“I felt like the house had such good bones in it . . .  it was different with its high ceilings and clean lines.”

The mid-century modern structure provided an ideal palette for Kristen’s interior design skills, honed at the knee of her mother, designer Sheridan Williams, and via a degree in interior design from Houston Community College.

1. The dichotomy presented in the headline is strange as it sounds like this interior designer and others only really have two choices: either a McMansion or a modernist home. Both of these types of homes are a small subset of all homes constructed. I think this is probably an example of McMansion being used as shorthand for all sorts of suburban homes and a modernist home clearly stands out from this crowd.

2. I’ve argued before I don’t think most Americans would choose a modernist home over a McMansion. Does this article prove my point by suggesting it takes an interior designer, someone trained in decor, style, and design, to choose the modernist home over the average and/or bland McMansions?

3. Why no exterior shot of the entire home??

Changing sets in “Clybourne Park” from a nice 1959 house to a home ready to be knocked down for a McMansion

Posted on by

The play Clyboune Park is on Broadway and just won a 2012 Tony Award for Best Play. In going from Act 1 to Act 2, the play shifts from a house in 1959 to the same home 50 years later that is ripe for a McMansion teardown:

That’s because Clybourne Park is a biting, funny riff on Lorraine Hansberry’s classic play A Raisin in the Sun, one that takes place in the house that Hansberry’s African-American characters purchase in an otherwise all-white neighborhood. It’s talked about, but never seen, in her play, but it’s the fulcrum of the conversations in Clybourne Park.

“The first act is in 1959, in sort of an Eisenhower-era middle class/working class household,” Ostling explains. “The people are packing up to move. And in the second act, it’s 2009. The neighborhood sort of went down, the house is trashed, and they’re preparing to raze it and build a McMansion. So it’s really two completely different sets.”

In the first act, the set has a cozy, lived-in feel — from the flowery 1950s wallpaper to the period doorknobs. When the curtain rises for Act 2, most of the details have changed significantly.

“All the woodwork is painted over,” Ostling says. “The front door has been replaced — because we were thinking, you know, they probably wanted more security, so that nice wood-and-glass front door is replaced with a security door that has some serious bolts in it.”

During intermission, the set has to be changed very, very quickly; a crew of five swings walls in a highly coordinated intermission ballet. When they first rehearsed the changeover, it took 30 or 40 minutes. Now, Ostling says, “We’re not waiting for the crew at all. We’re waiting for people to go to the bathroom!”

The home may be the same but much has changed between 1959 and 2009, both in American neighborhoods as in what Americans expect in their interiors. I would be interested to see what the “ready to be razed for a McMansion” interior look is these days – probably not much granite and stainless steel.

I’ve always been intrigued by how homes are portrayed on TV, in movies, and in plays. On one hand, they are typically depicted as “average” places. Of course, this look is very staged and I’m not sure these homes really look like typical homes. Yet, they always feel a little strange already as you know they are often cutaway all along one angle to allow for cameras. You know what this is like if you have seen a play or gone on a TV set where the interior looks a little familiar but is completely open with plenty of room for cameras and lights.

The anti-McMansion is a 1938 Cape Cod?

Posted on by

The Washington Post highlights what it calls the “anti-McMansion”: a 1938 Cape Cod in Silver Spring, Maryland. A couple of thoughts after looking through this photo gallery:

1. What seems to make this the “anti-McMansion” is its smaller size and older age. At the same time, we are never told the exact size – does this mean it isn’t all that small? We also don’t know what kind of neighborhood this is in – a denser subdivision or bigger lots?

2. Like many houses from this era (see the homes from Levittown as another example), this home has undergone some changes. The garage was converted into a room. A 12-by-15 room was added to the back of the house. The entrance was moved. There are two sunrooms.

3. Older house with Restoration Hardware and Ikea furniture but also a lot of older objects like teapots. Interesting mix…

4. Things we don’t see: no televisions in the pictures (though two computers), no view of the kitchen, only the kid’s bathroom, a view of the yard.

5. How can you have a gallery like this and not have a picture of the outside???

6. I’m still thinking through this idea of an “anti-McMansion.” Here are some of the other differences these photos are trying to point out: the home has been customized (not one size fits all). There are older furnishings. The emphasis is not on the “impressive” parts of the house such as a huge foyer or a gleaming kitchen but rather in the carefully chosen furniture and furnishings. There is no large garage that dominates the house. There isn’t one big huge “great room” space. Is this the best example of an “anti-McMansion”? I’m going to keep looking.

“Authentic” Philadelphia Main Line mansions ruined by McMansion interiors?

Posted on by

Common critiques of McMansions spend a lot of time on their exterior: the mishmash of architectural styles, the large garage facing the street, the oversized front door and windows, and the impressive front that doesn’t extend to the sides and back. But what happens if the outside of the home is an “authentic” exterior and the insides are changed to reflect more modern, perhaps McMansion-like, tastes?

Something unsettling has been happening on Philadelphia’s storied Main Line. Magnificent early 20th-century mansions, which are meticulously maintained on the outside, have had their interiors transformed to the very height of muddled McMansion style. This is no isolated incident, but a veritable epidemic among the mansions of this traditional old money bastion. For example, this 1929 stone manor in Haverford is well presented on the outside, but the interior is some post-modernish mess where the lowlights include a garish abstract area rug, a pair of hideous curved couches in the living room, and glossy black tile. The brokerbabble tells it one way—”grand old world made new”—but it looks more like grand old world messed up. Meanwhile, the high price tag, $2.9M, virtually ensures that no one will take on the challenge of restoring this country estate to its former glory…

This raises an interesting question: can a home be a McMansion just because of its interior? This is not the traditional definition of a McMansion but the criticism is along the same lines of the complaints about the exterior: it is not “authentic” and is more garish and driven by popular tastes (granite countertops, stainless steel appliances, etc.).

While the exteriors of homes can be protected by preservation districts and regulations regarding teardowns, how would those who don’t like these McMansion interiors fight against them?

And while this article suggests this is a “veritable epidemic” for older mansions like these, are there any numbers to back this up? It is unreasonable for people to update the interiors in older homes to match newer tastes?