The Entryway

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Architecture, Build, Construction, Design, environment, Home, Homeowner, Houses, real-estate, Residence, Shelter, style

Though you live in your backyard, the world inevitably beats a path to your front door. Well-designed entryways can offer, privacy, light, charm and character to your home – without breaking style or the budget.
A new door, some well-placed windows or a fresh coat of paint can work wonders on a tired façade or an out-of-date entry. According to architect Richard Hartmann, “The ambiance of your home actually starts outside. It’s a whole sequence of events. Meandering through landscaping on a slightly curved path, for example, enhances the experience. ”

Here are a few tips for adding style:

* Add window boxes. They add color to a plain exterior when they’re overflowing with plants or flowers.
* Replace old hardware with brass numbers, handles, a mailbox or kick plate. Ceramic or hand-painted house numbers are good alternatives.
* Add a new front door, sidelights or transom. If you can’t afford to replace the door, add decorative molding around the one you have.
* Use clay pots or sculpture to spark an uninspired entry.
* Add an awning over doors or windows. With Florida’s seasonal rain showers, it’s practical as well as pretty.
* Add carriage lights on either side of the front door or low-voltage path lights along the walkway. They can help bring your best foot forward.

Sweet Beams: Inspiring everyone who lives under a new roof! is available on amazon.com.

Dig this!

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Build, environment, Family, Florida, Gardens, Home, Homeowner, Houses, Residence

When they bought their Hyde Park home 34 years ago, Flip and Rick Miller began transforming the backyard. The result is an outdoor refuge where they can rest and recharge in privacy and comfort.
“He’s passionate about trimming,” Flip says with a smile. “He gets his aggressions out.”
“It’s tropical – you have to trim or the plants take over,“ explains Rick, a broker with Smith & Associates Real Estate.
The Millers recall listening to a speech several years ago by the award-winning garden and floral designer Rebecca Cole at the University of Tampa’s GREENFEST luncheon, which raises money for Plant Park.
“She kept referring to ‘vistas’ and ‘sight lines,’ Rick says. “When you stand in any spot in a garden and look in one direction, your eye should be drawn to something.”
Heeding her advice, Rick divided the yard into distinct sections, creating visual vignettes with plants in containers. The double lot which surrounds his home now showcases a series of “outdoor rooms,” featuring large pots packed with his favorite tropical plants and succulents.
“During the summer rains I run home from the office to cover the succulents with our vinyl grill cover,” he says. “They need such little water that a week of afternoon showers will cause them to rot.”
Admittedly “manic about clay pots,” Rick believes every yard needs to have a consistency of design.
“Too many different pots takes the focus away from the plants inside them,” he says.
His meticulous attention to detail paid off: The Miller yard currently is featured in the 2013 edition of Container Gardens magazine.
What is the secret of his success? A dolly large enough to move a refrigerator.
“During hurricanes or freezes we say to hell with the cars and move 50 pots into the garage,” Rick says, grinning.
In addition, gardening in containers makes it easy for him to control the soil type needed for specific plants.
Their backyard is not only a relaxing private oasis, but an exciting entertainment space: The Millers hosted soirees for Las Damas de Arte, The Tampa Museum of Art, Rose Garden Circle, and MOSI – as well as 250 people for a neighborhood picnic.
A playhouse built in 1922 – and enjoyed by three Miller children – was converted to a charming tool shed.
“When our children grew up and moved away, Flip wouldn’t let me take the play equipment down,” Rick says. “I said ‘I’ll show her, I’ll landscape around it.’ I planted beach sunflower which is a tough native perennial. And now we have three grandchildren, who love the swings and the slide.”

Photo by Cliff McBride

Patriotic thoughts

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Homes, Memorial Day, Residence

• Both George Washington and Thomas Jefferson designed, built, and loved their own homes.  If you currently feel overwhelmed by yours, remember: The Founding Fathers also ran the country at the same time…

• The personal residences of every U.S. President are still standing, except one belonging to William McKinley.

An escape hatch

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Acrhitecture, Design, Residence

The best residences include places to be together and places for quiet time alone.

 Playrooms and family rooms foster fun. But we also need an escape hatch, a place to retreat for tea and talk, thinking or reading.

Architects, designers, and builders love the challenge of providing both. Let them solve your problems – big and small.

 “Victorian Wicker” photograph by Jamieson Thomas

One inch closer to heaven

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Attic, Construction, Home, Residence

The attic is the space that separates your head from the rest of universe.

 The hinged wooden steps pull down, like the hatch of a mysterious ship. Hot air bursts from the opening.  Climb the steps, and peer into the dimly lit space with a combination of despair and optimism. How can this become habitable?

 Break through the bedroom wall and add a new dormer to capture the view of an oak tree. Storage behind the kneewall, additional insulation to benefit the rest of the house, and wood floors will make this place a nest for dreams.

 The attic is more than just being upstairs… In this place we are one inch closer to heaven.

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

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.