Houseplans.com Hot Sheet

EYE ON DESIGN: First Family Rooms

Presidential Story Lines

In time for Independence Day, Janet Maslin's insightful review of a new book about Abraham and Mary Todd Lincoln's relationship in today's New York Times is the perfect springboard for a Houseplans.com topic: Presidential homes. She likes Daniel Mark Epstein's The Lincolns: Portrait of a Marriage (Ballantine) because it describes in detail how the couple lived, providing as she says, "an exacting evocation of the 19th century household." This comment made me think of presidential houses and their influence on home builders and new home buyers. For example, the architectural power of The White House, designed by James Hoban in 1792, is strong even today: you can build your own updated version with one of our plans, and here it is.

It's plan # 119-189  (part of our Landmark-Inspired Collection) and comes with a two-car garage on each side of the portico (camouflaged by the tall pedimented ground floor windows) and an expansive great room. Fun to think of John and Abigail Adams hangin' out and sippin' mojitos by the kitchen island...It's a house that clearly makes every occasion a state occasion.

Or think of George Washington's Mt. Vernon with its famous flat pediment on the entrance side and the two-story portico running the width of the house on the river side, shown in views from the collection of the Alexandria, Virginia Library, below.

 

 

You'll find versions of these features on houses in leafy suburban enclaves from New York to Hollywood. Our plan #72-184, below, offers a handsome adaption, with a pediment that's actually more in scale with its facade (No offense to George -- I like the innocent way his pediment just seems to hover at the top of the house, barely keeping the adjacent row of windows under control, like an unruly clutch of chicks.)

This Houseplans.com version includes a guest suite in the left hand wing and the garage in the right hand one. The front courtyard serves as parking area and entrance garden.

A more modest presidential icon is the Lincoln Cabin, where Abe spent a little time. Here's an early view from the Abraham Lincoln Historical Digitation Proejct and the Chicago Historical Society.

Early American frontier cabins like this one later prompted nostalgic views of log building as Americans began rediscovering their history. Modern versions, usually much expanded and used as getaways or vacation cabins, remain popular -- like our plan # 17-462, and show that the form has come a long way.

Note the porch and all that glass. The Presidential log cabin also influenced the development of another American architectural invention: Lincoln Logs building blocks created by Frank Lloyd Wright's architect son John Lloyd Wright and still made today.

 

These blocks may be toys but they're still a good way to get a feel for the character, simplicity -- and limitations -- of strict log building. And they feed the imagination. I have a set and my children and I continue to play with them, though I tend to add other elements in order to make miniature urban environments -- but that's a story for another posting. Happy Fourth of July!

EYE ON DESIGN: News from PCBC

Talking Points

At this week's Pacfic Coast Builder's Conference in San Francisco the glass was half empty and half full: in other words there was an understandable air of worry about economic realities but also a sense that this is an exciting time of reinvention with its own set of opportunities. Two speakers made me think about a key aspect of my job -- editing our universe of 28,000+ plans down to manageable collections.

Consumer research guru J. Walker Smith (president of Yankelovich, Inc. and author of Generation Ageless: How Baby Boomers Are Changing The Way We Live Today...And They're Just Getting Started) spoke about how our lifestyle aspirations are changing dramatically. The super-abundance of choice has paradoxically created numerous scarcities. For example, if you Google something and get hundreds of thousands of results, that's not very useful -- there's a scarcity of truly relevant information despite all the abundance. We need ways to smarten or personalize the search for what we want. And that's what I hope I'm doing when I assemble groupings of plans out of our huge inventory. I want to be your "Smart Plan Searcher."

Take this delightful house.

It's plan 64-168 in our Summer Living Collection. I included it in the collection because to me it immediately says seashore vacation. I think it's romantic and wonderful. And here's another in the collection:

I can imagine enjoying an evening meal outside on that covered terrace (plan 410-123). My goal is to help you think about what you want in a home by gathering houses that illustrate particular ideas or design approaches. So if you're interested in the concept of summer living -- which is all about a relaxed outdoor-oriented lifestyle that's not confined to cabins -- I hope this collection helps you clarify what you want in a house.

Also at PCBC, best-selling author Malcolm Gladwell spoke about the mechanics of good judgement; how the process of making accurate assessments of the world around us is fragile and easy to undermine. He was elaborating on themes in his recent book titled Blink (a fascinating read). I think looking for the right house is a good example of what he's talking about: while you're judging what plan is best for you it's easy to be distracted by insignificant details. This "tail wagging the dog" or "woolgathering" syndrome happens to me sometimes as I organize plans around a theme or feature. (It also happens when I'm driving and take a wrong turn because I've been admiring a building instead of concentrating on where I'm going...). I always need to remind myself to concentrate on the clarity of the plan or elevation and how it relates to the subject of the collection. It's no wonder that coaches are always yelling "Focus!" at their team members.

Home Show Hit Parade

Several new products at PCBC caught my attention. 

Wireless Light Wizard. I was impressed by a new wireless, radio frequency-based lighting control system that reduces the amount of wiring needed in a new home. It's called the Whole House Lighting System from Verve Living Systems. Once it's installed you can change where you want to put your light switches. In effect each switch becomes a remote. You can even keep one in the car so when you get home in the dark you can click all the lights on as you enter the garage.

Flexible Faucet. Kohler has introduced a cool new articulating kitchen faucet. The segmented neck can move in any direction for aiming the spray, even upwards to create an instant drinking fountain.

And the gear-shift like handle is seductive too.

Canopy Kit. Many new houses don't have weather protection over entries. Here's a fine solution: the LightLine canopy kit from Feeney Architectural Products. It's a sturdy ultraviolet light-resistant acrylic (clear or tinted) panel supported on stainless steel brackets. It comes in a kit you assemble and then screw to the wall.

The same company makes handsome handsome railings out of stainless steel cables that almost disappear.

Skylight Power. Velux, the people who bring you a huge range of versatile skylights have now created a skylight lookalike that's actually a solar powered hot water heating mechanism.

It looks just like a skylight. Pretty cool.The hot water tank is separate from the solar panel. Stay tuned for more product news.

EYE ON DESIGN: Miles of Tile

All Fired Up

Decorative ceramic tile is way cool: there's an almost infinite array of colors, textures, styles, and motifs. Using it is one of the simplest ways to inject a little personality into your new house. Consider it for a kitchen backsplash, a shower, or even as a permanent rug in your front hall floor, like this example:

Here are more examples to get you thinking. Bet you can't look at just one.

 

The latter two examples are from California Pottery and Tile Works, which continues a long tradition of ornnamental tile manufacture going back to the early 20th century in places like Malibu, California. In fact you can still see examples of the original tile made by Malibu Potteries, which was a precursor to California Pottery, at the Adamson House in Malibu. The handsome Spanish Colonial Revival style house was built for the daughter and son-in-law of Malibu Potteries' owners, Frederick and May Rindge, in 1929 and is a veritable tile showcase. It's now a state park so you can tour it. My favorite features in the house are the tile rug shown above and the dog-washing tub outside the kitchen, shown below.

Even without the tile this is a good idea for dogs -- and humans too! -- on hot summer days.

Or here's an example of Arts and Crafts tile from Pewabic Pottery in Detroit, Michigan, which was founded in 1903 and also has a museum you can visit.

The tiles have a handcrafted look.

I use this spiral one -- it's three inches square -- as a coaster on my desk. Maybe some day it'll go into a backsplash.

If modern is more your taste, then consider Heath Ceramics, which was founded in the 1950s in Sausalito, California and has been beautifully revived and reinvigorated in the last few years. Heath's elegant minimalist architectural shapes and subtly layered colors add depth and character to any space. I'll have more to say about Heath in a future posting.

EYE ON DESIGN: New Perspectives & Products

Be the Change

I've heard Ghandi's famous phrase often recently with regard to green building. But last Friday at the Dwell On Design Conference and Expo in Los Angeles it seemed relevant in more general terms. Take the panel on evolving modes of architectural practice moderated by the multi-talented Frances Anderton, Dwell's LA editor and the producer of the design and architecture program "DNA" for KCRW Radio (I was the mystery guest). The architects talked about how they weren't just designers but also builders, branders, fabricators, and even developers. It struck me once again that the best architects are trained imaginations, adept at seeing problems as opportunities, especially as they spoke about looking for new materials, new uses for old materials, and new ways to make good design available to more people. That's where I came in, because like Dwell and Sunset, Houseplans.com is also about changing the architectural paradigm so that better home design becomes accessible to a wider audience. The idea of changing perception was visible throughout the expo. For example, here's the "Bollero" light from HOM Lifestyles.

It makes you think about light as a kind of rope trick, which in a way it really is if you include the cord!

Or here's a raised bed that rolls. It's called the Food Map Container, from Food Map Design, founded by a landscape architect.

The tub is made of 100% recycled post-consumer plastic. Its comes in short and tall sizes and is perfect for small patios or decks where you want to grow something quickly and move it around easily. It brings new meaning to the phrase "garden variety."

More for Outside and In

Some other products caught my eye, like these long narrow modular concrete pavers.

They're from Stepstone Inc. and create a deck-like pattern on the ground.

Or, getting back to Ghandi -- I mean green -- here's a company that makes bamboo cabinets.

They're from Bamboo Hardwoods in Seattle. They're durable, sustainable (bamboo is a grass and grows very fast), and the cabinetry radiates a honey-warmth.

Kirei Board is getting more attention. Here it's used for a vanity.

Manufactured in Japan from reclaimed sorghum straw in a nontoxic adhesive, Kirei Board is a strong, lightweight substitute for wood. My friend and former colleague at Sunset, Peter Whiteley, has even used Kirei in his woodworking projects. See his handsome "Eco Table."

These products complement many of our plans, like #48-254.

When you start looking, new possibilities abound. See the change!

OPEN DOOR POLICY

Door Jam

A good front door does two things: it protects the person and projects the personality. Here's one that says solidity, security, sophistication, and wealth.

It's the front entrance to the Charnely-Perskey house of 1892 in Chicago, designed by Louis Sullivan, the father of the skyscraper and the great teacher of Frank Lloyd Wright. The organic-geometric metalwork is characteristic of Sullivan and gives the door its vivid presence -- there's plenty to admire as you wait for it to open. Fittingly, the house is the headquarters of the Society of Architectural Historians and is open for tours.

Another approach, equally sophisticated but now all about openness as well as security in a deft biomorphic balance of opposites, is the entrance to the Casa Mila apartment house of 1910  in Barcelona, by the great Catalan architect Antonio Gaudi.

The view is looking out toward the street, as if you are inside a cage that's mellting before your eyes.

Lightness and transparency are taken to another extreme in the front entrance to the Farnsworth house of 1951, not far from Chicago in Plano, Illinois (which you can also tour). It's hard to tell there's a door there at all -- you can just make out the double doors in the middle of the glass wall.

The great International Style architect Mies Van Der Rohe designed this house for a doctor who wound up hating it. So maybe it didn't fully express her personality. Plus, privacy ultimately became and issue. But the house has influenced modern architects ever since -- the idea of openness is very powerful.

Probably most of us would be happy with a good solid front door that's not quite as closed, cage-like, or open as those three examples. The following sampling of doors made from reclaimed wood might help you think about just how open or closed you want your front door to be. They're from La Puerta Originals, a remarkable establishment in Santa Fe, New Mexico that specializes in creating doors from a vast collection of antique wood and salvaged door sections from around the world.

 

Reproduced from reclaimed Douglas fir and recycled iron, it's welcoming  and secure at the same time.

Or here's one with shutters so you can open a small section of the door for air circulation or to see who's there.

And finally here's one that's really a Dutch door; the top half opens so you can make guests feel welcome without opening the whole room.

Most front doors should complement the style of the house. But it's really up to you and your taste and pocketbook and how you want the portal to function. So as you look for the perfect new house plan, don't forget to open a few doors.

EYE ON DESIGN: Home Movies

Screen Savers

Movies are a great way to stimulate architectural thinking, especially in summer when relaxation is on the agenda. Call me a little narrow (nothing new there!) but I love films with good residential architecture. High on my list is the modern Frank Lloyd Wright-inspired stone-and-steel aerie above Mt. Rushmore in Alfred Hitchcock's North by Northwest.

According to a very fine article by Sandy McLendon on Jetsetmodern.com (which is the source of this image) it was a stage set. But you just can't beat the stone base, the window wall, and that crazy cantilever. It's Luxuriant Modernism -- With An Edge!

I'm also a fan of the more traditional shingled beach house on Long Island in Something's Gotta Give where the huge white kitchen seduces the eye with its array of storage cabinets and expansive island; and the over-the-top Tuscan mansion in Holiday (built in 1929 by well known San Marino, California architect Wallace Neff for his own family) where the master bedroom mimics the presidential suite in a five star hotel. Seeing such films again -- while paying closer attention to design details this time -- is an enjoyable way to research what you want in a home.

In fact, I have a friend who assigned film homework to his architect. He wanted his new rural getaway to resemble a classic hip-roofed, veranda-wrapped Australian farmhouse, like the one in the 1982 horse filmThe Man From Snowy River. You can see something similar in a recent listing on the website of international realtor L. J. Hooker, who even uses that movie title to describe the house:

It's a classic ranch house form: the simple strong shape of the hip roof and generous veranda create a memorable image of life on the range. Here's a variation from Houseplans (81-101) that combines the hip and the gable. You can find many other variations by browsing through our Collections.

This sort of house suits a rural setting and conjures images of horses tied up to the posts while their riders relax on the porch. A seductive summer idyll, and something to ponder as you dig into the popcorn.

GREAT HOUSES IN THE MOVIES LIST -- Your suggestions welcome (a great place to start looking is the website www.movie-locations.com.)

--Frank Lloyd Wright's Mayan-inspired Ennis house in LA in Blade Runner; the Neo Classical brick Filoli mansion in Woodside, California (by San Francisco architect Willis Polk) in Heaven Can Wait, with Warren Beatty; the round-towered Victorian in Mrs. Doubtfire; the Roman pool temple at Hearst Castle as the villa in Spartacus; the Gamble House by Greene and Greene in Pasadena (the ultimate Craftsman bungalow and open to the public for tours by appointment) as Doc Brown's house in Back to the Future...

EYE ON DESIGN: Carbon Dating

Firepits and Barbecues: The Remix

Dusk is my favorite time of day, especially now that spring is turning to summer, because I enjoy dinner outside -- with a dry rose or some prosecco, naturally. That usually means sitting around an outdoor firepit or barbecue (when "spare-the-air" regulations permit). And though we need to be careful about particulates in smoke, according to The New York Times Magazine's recent "Green Issue" barbecuing with charcoal is practically a net zero regarding carbon emissions. Whew! Summer still has some sizzle. But as I start to clean the big rusty black cauldron-on-a-tripod that is our grill, I wonder about alternatives that might bring our backyard into the 21st century. Here's what I've found with a cool stainless steel look.

The sturdy propeller-like design of The Conmoto Outdoor Fire Pit reinvents the campfire for suburban life.

The screen on Pilgrim's Modern Fire Pit prevents flying sparks and completes the elegant curve of the lid.

I'd call this one "Beyond The Pail!" or "Got Hot Milk?!" It's the Eva Solo Tabletop Grill (porcelain and stainless steel with a teak stand) and takes the hibachi idea in an entirely new direction. I love it. Of course the charcoal should be equally well-designed...

I hope all this grilling has spurred your plan search. For a quick round-up of barbecue-friendly floor plans like the one shown here, explore our Designs for Outdoor Living Collection.

EYE ON DESIGN: Modern Marketplace

Contemporary Giving and Living 

With the graduation and wedding season upon us, I started thinking about how I like to give well-designed contemporary objects like bowls or architectural book-ends as special occasion presents, and that brought to mind Placewares, one of the best contemporary design stores I have ever visited. To my mind it rivals Conran's in London and New York because the objects on display are so well edited. Placewares and its adjacent Lyndon Gallery is in the tiny town of Gualala three hours north of San Francisco on California's Mendocino Coast. Browse for everything from Marimekko pillows and mid-century modern dishware by Heath Ceramics to artwork by Lawrence Halprin, America's most famous landscape architect, who designed the Roosevelt Memorial in Washington, D. C.

Luckily Placewares has an online store. This tempered glass trivet caught my eye: 

And here's a house that's quite affordable at $150 (drawback: it's only 8 inches-tall...) It's a plaster model of the house of Victor Horta, the Belgian architect who epitomized the Art Nouveau style of architecture...

It and a variety of other models, including miniatures of Jane Austen's house and architect Sir John Soane's house (Richards is from Bath, England), are for sale at Placewares.

   

The architectural bent isn't just a random act of architectural passion. It's in the air and perhaps even the water. Placewares is a mile or so from The Sea Ranch, the second home community famous for its environmentally sensitive planning and contemporary ranch-inspired architecture. Halprin did the landscape plan in the 1960s. The original condominum building at the southern edge of the community--with its central sloping courtyard and shed-roofed tower forms--was designed by award-winning architects Charles Moore, Donlyn Lyndon (the brother of Maynard Lyndon, who owns Placewares with his wife Lu), William Turnbull, and Richard Whitacker. It draws inspiration from area barns, the 19th century Fort Ross just a few miles south, the Bay Region Style, and the architecture of Louis Kahn. Here's an image of Charles Moore's own unit by photographer Jim Alinder.

The big blue box on tree trunks over the built-in sofa is like a giant two-story piece of furniture. It defines a sitting area below and a sleeping loft above. Ingenious! The checkerboard pattern on the adjacent wall turns the kitchen into another focal point. Charles Moore was the Merlin of making small spaces live large in the imagination. Here the vacation begins as soon as you step inside.

You can read the history of The Sea Ranch and explore many important custom house plans through the sumptuous and critically acclaimed book The Sea Ranch, by Don Lyndon and Jim Alinder.

You can even rent a house here (many are by well known architects), which is an excellent way to test drive contemporary design as you plan your new Houseplans.com home. The rentable house shown below is from Rams Head Realty and should get you dreaming about summer vacation even if gas prices are making it impossible to actually go anywhere:

EYE ON DESIGN: Fire the Imagination

The Strength of Simplicity

Recent stints on two design juries reminded me that inspiration often derives from limitation: constraints in materials or budget have a way of freeing the imagination.

City College of San Francisco's ARCHISTRUCTERIOR competition celebrating the Architecture Department's 60th anniversary took the form of a happening in a downtown plaza. Each team of students was asked to design and build a full-scale construction representing the cultural, social, and ethnic diversity of specific San Francisco neighborhoods within four hours. Building materials: two kits of parts; one supplied by the department of architecture and containing things like boards and wire, the other containing "neighborhood elements" assembled by each team. Winners included the the following:

The team representing Chinatown created a dense mini-street under a canopy of Chinese take-out menus:

The team representing the Haight-Ashbury fashioned an evocative hilly landscape out of long-playing records melted in a microwave:

 

Both celebrated distinctive neighborhood qualities, features, or memories in vivid ways. In other words you can do and say a lot with just a few elements.

The strength of simplicity also became apparent in Atlanta where the Chrysalis Remodel Awards Jury reviewed more than 500 entries from across the country. Here's a photo of the entry binders burying Ken Canline, the organizer of the program:

Judges included yours truly (in the green sweater), Leslie Plummer Claggett (in white), Editor at Woman's Day Special Interest Publications; Oma Blaise Ford (in black), Senior Deputy Editor, Home Design, Better Homes & Gardens; and Louis Joyner, Photographer and former Home Editor, Southern Living:

Here the residential remodel projects that made it to the top of the heap often demonstrated an elegant simplicity: they didn't use too many different materials and they solved space problems in clear and uncluttered ways.

So how does all this relate to finding your perfect layout on Houseplans.com? By way of a little common sense advice: Stick to the basics: a well thought-out home plan should help you get the best out of where and how you want to live without adding extra complications. Simplify and savor!

EYE ON DESIGN: New Modern Plan

Modern Living for May Day

Modernity in home design is growing more popular as people look for simple, efficient layouts that still feel airy and bright. And with good reason: modern plans are all about creating a feeling of spaciousness by opening up rooms to the outdoors. For example, a good modern plan should have comfortable patios and terraces just steps away from the family room and kitchen. Here's one of Houseplans.com's newest modern designs that celebrates easy indoor-outdoor living.  (For more such plans click on Modern.)

Disappearing Walls

If I were building this house I would replace the wall of fixed glass in the living room facing the pool terrace with Nanawall folding doors in order to open up the room still more. Nanawall is an exceptionally well-engineered accordion window wall system that provides flexible openings up to 36 feet so you could easily turn a living room like this one into a summer lanai. Here's a Nanawall photo to demonstrate.

  If you visit the Nanawall website click on the Gallery tab and see the simple animations that illustrate standard folding configuations, they're addictive. Something to whet your appetite as the home building season gets under way.