A dim view of evening meals

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chandelier, dining room, Home, Homeowner, House, interior design, New Home

Originally designed to hold a number of candles, chandeliers were suspended from the ceiling to reduce the hazard of fire. It’s easy to see how they became the focal point of many rooms – in particular, the dining room.
According to interior designer Alice MacCullough, chandeliers also create ambiance at mealtimes for relaxed conversation.
“The success of this depends on diners being able to see each other properly across the table, without being dazzled or thrown into gloom,” she says.
MacCullough suggests a pendant light suspended from the ceiling, that is just above the eye level of diners to eliminate glare. She also recommends adding a pair of candlestick lamps on the buffet or sconces on the wall.
“Even a torchiere in the corner is nice,” she says. “Lighting is the single most important part of any interior design.”

* Over a dining room table, the bottom of the chandelier should be 30 inches above the table and 12 inches narrower (6 inches on either side) so people won’t bump their heads when rising from their chair.
* If a dining room’s ceiling height is more than 8 feet, raise the chandelier 3 inches for each additional foot of ceiling height.
* Light from a chandelier should not be the only source of illumination – a mistake often seen in dining rooms. Other light sources might include recessed down lights in the ceiling, wall sconces or floor lamps.
* The rule of thumb for a chandelier‘s proper size when not hung over a table: It can be in inches what the diagonal of the room is in feet.
* Positioning a chandelier off-center above a buffet against the wall will make a small dining room appear larger.
* Always install a dimmer switch to control mood and atmosphere.

“Sweet Beams: Inspiring everyone who lives under a new roof,” is available on amazon.com http://www.amazon.com/dp/1490592652/

Better than a lien

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Architecture, Build, Construction, Home, Homeowner, Houses, New Home, real-estate

Life is more complex today. In the past to ensure payment for work, masons secretly would place a glass pane inside the chimney flue to prevent its use. Only after they received payment would the mason climb to the top of the chimney, drop a brick and break the glass.

Excerpted from Sweet Beams: Inspiring everyone who lives under a new roof!

Write your name

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Build, concrete, Construction, Houses, Memories, New Home

• Never miss the opportunity to write your name into a freshly-poured concrete slab.  For the real stars among us, go ahead and press your palms into it. Don’t forget the date!

Excerpted from “Home: Celebrating the Spaces of Your Heart.”

Kitchen tips

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Family, fellowship, kitchen, Memories, New Home, Table

 

 

• Remember the great moments in the kitchens of your life…food prepared for you or by you, fellowship with your friends and your family.
• Choose kitchen cabinets like furniture, deliberately. Design low cabinets for children. They can pick out their own cereal and learn to put away dishes.
•  Make your kitchen big enough to hold a table – a place for kids’ construction projects as well as a place for guests to make memories. 
•  Most home accidents happen in the kitchen. Keep a first aid kit there.

 

 Excerpted from Home: Celebrating the Spaces of Your Heart, written by Renee Garrison and Tom Szumlic

The quirky ones

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Architecture, Dreams, Homeowner, Homes, New Home

    The homes we all remember the most are the quirky ones.

 

    The backstairs that connected Mrs. Hinkle’s kitchen to her bedrooms were woefully narrow and steep. A single overhead bulb illuminated the twisting, dark blue treads. But the terror of climbing them inevitably disappeared when visitors reached an awkward landing. It was there that they first glimpsed sunshine streaming through the bullseye window at the top of the stairs.

  Certainly it would never qualify for the pages of any glossy architectural design magazine.  Perhaps this is why we remember the quirky homes: they have vitality and offer a richer, more stimulating experience. Odd proportions are much more intriguing than safe or expected combinations.

   We all have these eccentric spaces in our memories: The secret narrow hallway that connected two rooms through the back of closets, the doorway that went behind the stairs.

• The homes of our memories give form to the homes of our dreams.     

Florida architecture

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breeze, Design, environment, Florida architecture, Homes, New Home, ventilation

Early Florida settlers built their homes with features that we now recognize as environmentally friendly: Wide overhangs to shade windows and porches, high ceilings and big, operable windows for ventilation.

That is precisely what Orlando architect Geoffrey Mouen, AIA had in mind when he designed “Tradewinds,” the 7,316-square-foot show house in Baldwin Park sponsored by Builder Magazine.

“Early in the design, we analyzed the typical direction of the wind,” Mouen says. “The breeze comes across the pool and into the house through big doors that open up. The house is designed to capture the prevailing breeze coming across the lake through the atrium and into the main living spaces. Hot air rises through high, clerestory windows and the observation tower to help ventilate the interiors.

“The whole goal here is we’re not relying on new gizmos and gadgets to keep the house comfortable,” Mouen adds. “We’re using traditional methods that respond to the Florida climate. Of course, we can close the house up and use air conditioning when the weather is too hot. But our goal is to allow people to turn off the electricity for eight months of the year, open the house up and enjoy the beautiful, temperate climate.”

Combining classic and contemporary design (Mouen calls it Anglo-Caribbean influences) the house was raised six feet off its lakeside lot for privacy from the adjacent Cady Way Trail. Runners and roller-bladers who pass by have no way of knowing that the 9–foot louvered doors facing them lead to a Roman atrium – complete with fire cauldrons and a waterfall.

The residence has an unusual exterior – some neighbors believed the three-story building was a restaurant while others speculated it would hold church services on Sundays. However, the design actually optimizes the path of the sun to create intentional solar heat gain, interior natural light and exterior shading opportunities. A standing-seam metal roof reflects Florida’s harsh sunlight while prevailing winds from the Lake Susannah keep 2,200-square feet of covered outdoor areas cool.

Fourteen windows in the observation tower draw hot air out of the residence like a passive attic fan.  Undoubtedly, early Florida settlers would approve.

Start a compost pile

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Gardens, Growth, Homes, Houses, New Home, Writer

The inevitabilities of life are never more evident than in a compost pile.  Throw in a few decaying leaves, your coffee grounds, a little manure and some plant clippings and voila! They are slowly transformed into something that fosters new growth.

Today, why not start an emotional compost pile too? Throw in your discarded hopes and dreams, a little life experience and slowly you’ll grow to discover a rebirth… a new outlook.

   A garden is as much a state of mind as an actual place. It exists because you discover a place of beauty that feels apart from the outer edges of the frantic world. At the center of the garden is a personal refuge and a source of pleasant thoughts. So, along with your hoes and rakes and shovels remember: The most essential piece of garden equipment is a hammock.

Hello world!

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Architecture, e-book, Homeowner, Homes, Houses, Housewarming, Humor, New Home, Residence, Writer

     As an architectural critic, I have met and interviewed many homeowners throughout my career. When my friend, architect Tom Szumlic, proposed writing a book on the subject of “home,” I was intrigued.

      Whether the goal was to design or simply to publish their home in a newspaper or magazine, we discovered some common themes among individuals and families who created nurturing residential environments. 

   The pages represent years of collective and diverse observations on the art of being good homeowners, good neighbors, and good communities.

      This e-book  will have little relevance to those looking for a how-to manual.  It will not teach you how to build a deck, wallpaper your kitchen or tile a bathroom. Nor is this an academic musing regarding architectural theory (at least, not intentionally.) 

      Rather, this e-book is intended to provide some insight into what is truly important…creating a unique form of shelter for our souls.