Homes with soul
Older homes have 'soul'.
New homes are "products" mass produced by non architects.
What does this mean?
The builder has in house designers, they work for him.
He wants to keep his costs down, and thus his profits high.
Every little thing to keep his costs down is put into the home and by its very nature, is expressed in its physical expression. Mass production.
It's also focused on 'selling'. "How do I get someone to buy this thing? Well Fred developer down the street has a huge two story front entry. His houses sell. Folks like that, we'll do it too!" (the psychology is, the home owner wants to 'impress' their friends when they visit. A big entry does this. It's superficial and of course the rest of the house suffers. If 'x' amount of dollars is needed to make a big entry splash, guess where that money isn't spent? On the soul...)
Shopping centers are designed to get you in and out as quickly as possible. They have to "read" from the street as you pass by. So refinement is not a consideration. "Peacock" is more the thinking.
Old houses were designed by architects. Now a days, the average home owner, wants a Wal mart house. 'Give it to me cheep! I like cheep!, cuz I'm...... ', fill in the blank.
The reality is, one can design and build a nice house, with soul, for a reasonable price. Value. The trade off is *size* for *quality*.
Limited budget, you can build it BIG, and "impress" your friends. Make it smaller, and you can take that same money, and add built ins, window seats, 'soul'. You can impress yourself! And your energy bill, over the life you own it, will be smaller as well. Good design SAVES you money.
The current trend is BIG BOX homes. 3,000 plus square feet. Try to picture 3,000 s.f. That's 50 by 60. We SHOP in BIG BOX, why not LIVE in BIG BOX? Those warehouses are so cumfy! Not.
Next you have to buy new furnature to FILL that BIG BOX. And what do you do with it when the kids are gone? I saw a brand new 3,000 s.f. home and the home owner ALREADY had the garage full of junk! Couldn't even get the car in!
Cat graced my carpet, why ALWAYS the carpet, with "I'm not feeling well today". Why? I can't do anything about your not feeling well kitty, you've already done it. My house STINKS!!!
Where o where did I miss your pressent..?
Gotta go track it down...
New homes are "products" mass produced by non architects.
What does this mean?
The builder has in house designers, they work for him.
He wants to keep his costs down, and thus his profits high.
Every little thing to keep his costs down is put into the home and by its very nature, is expressed in its physical expression. Mass production.
It's also focused on 'selling'. "How do I get someone to buy this thing? Well Fred developer down the street has a huge two story front entry. His houses sell. Folks like that, we'll do it too!" (the psychology is, the home owner wants to 'impress' their friends when they visit. A big entry does this. It's superficial and of course the rest of the house suffers. If 'x' amount of dollars is needed to make a big entry splash, guess where that money isn't spent? On the soul...)
Shopping centers are designed to get you in and out as quickly as possible. They have to "read" from the street as you pass by. So refinement is not a consideration. "Peacock" is more the thinking.
Old houses were designed by architects. Now a days, the average home owner, wants a Wal mart house. 'Give it to me cheep! I like cheep!, cuz I'm...... ', fill in the blank.
The reality is, one can design and build a nice house, with soul, for a reasonable price. Value. The trade off is *size* for *quality*.
Limited budget, you can build it BIG, and "impress" your friends. Make it smaller, and you can take that same money, and add built ins, window seats, 'soul'. You can impress yourself! And your energy bill, over the life you own it, will be smaller as well. Good design SAVES you money.
The current trend is BIG BOX homes. 3,000 plus square feet. Try to picture 3,000 s.f. That's 50 by 60. We SHOP in BIG BOX, why not LIVE in BIG BOX? Those warehouses are so cumfy! Not.
Next you have to buy new furnature to FILL that BIG BOX. And what do you do with it when the kids are gone? I saw a brand new 3,000 s.f. home and the home owner ALREADY had the garage full of junk! Couldn't even get the car in!
Cat graced my carpet, why ALWAYS the carpet, with "I'm not feeling well today". Why? I can't do anything about your not feeling well kitty, you've already done it. My house STINKS!!!
Where o where did I miss your pressent..?
Gotta go track it down...
posted by karlthebunny at 9:59 PM
1 Comments:
i completely agree with you. there is something to be said for living in a house that has soul (or character). there is a romance that new construction doesn't provide.
case in point-
a 25 yr old acquaintance of mine bought a 3000 sq ft, nearly $200,000 house a year ago. did i mention she is single? she wanted everything "new." now, the vinyl in the kitchen & baths is peeling up, the heating bill is tremendous and she has found out the walls are paper thin.
i will never understand!
zelda
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