Posts Tagged ‘dream home’
Pocket or Swinging Door for Bathroom?
The master bedroom suite usually includes a master bathroom area. It is likely that you will want to be able to close off the bathroom area for privacy at times. People often think that a pocket or sliding door would be the solution, since it can be open and not be intrusive, and closed when…
Read MoreDoor Dilemma
I recently received a question about how to decide the correct height for an interior door. The home has 9′ ceilings in most rooms, but the corridor connecting them are 8′. They were advised by the door supply company to consider a 7’2′ door to make the rooms appear higher. My response: In rooms/or corridors…
Read MoreSmall Kitchen Design is a Puzzle Waiting to Be Solved
A small kitchen design is a tough challenge. The kitchen is the most complicated room in any house. Small kitchens should still follow the planning principles of any good kitchen design. They must hold many different items, such as appliances, sinks, work surfaces, eating areas, and storage cabinets. They need to be workable and facilitate…
Read MoreWhen Do We Feel at Home in a Foreign Land?
I was asked recently to comment for an article about the point at which we feel at home when travelling to a foreign country. When have we acclimated to the culture, language and place enough so that we feel the place is now our home? Here are the comments I gave the reporter. I understand…
Read MoreWhat is Good Design?
I have been engaged in a discussion on an on-line forum of residential architects in which we are debating what good design is and what our profession should do about it. It has been my contention that we have negatively influenced public opinion about architects be creating an elitist image of ourselves. I would like…
Read MoreBuilt-In Refrigerators – Handles for Paneled Doors
Sub-Zero, Liebherr, GE Monogram, and other “cabinet depth,” built-in refrigerators are increasingly popular in the high-end market. These refrigerators provide a number of desirable features, such as humidity controlled compartments, specially controlled drawers for fine-tuning the temperature for delicate foods, snack drawers, and independent compressors for the freezer and the refrigerator so that there is no shared air…
Read MoreWood Floors Are Not Just Oak Anymore
When you mention wood floors to most people, they conjure up an image of a narrow board, red oak floor. But times have changed. Now there are many, many choices of board width and species. And many of these choices come at a modest cost increase. I’ve used white oak, antique chestnut oak, antique heart pine,…
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