19 Mar, 2011
Reno post #004 – admiring, er snooping around the neighborhood
Posted by andrea tomkins in: Home/reno
I’ve been walking around our neighborhood, taking iPhone photos of some of the houses I like. God I hope no one ever catches me doing this. And I hope the fact that Piper is with me makes me look like less like a stalker.
Here are a few pics. Note the carports! That’s where we’re heading too. Goodbye garage!
You may click to embiggen.
And this is an infill, not a reno:
And this is a custom build too:
I’ve seen the interior of the home pictured above (I wrote about it for publication here). It is gorgeous, but also way beyond our means. As for the others, I am really tempted to knock and ask for a tour. Or at least tossing a note in their mailboxes and asking them to drop me a line. If you live in one of these homes, or know the person who does, CALL ME.
There are a few reasons why I like them:
- they fit into the neighborhood
- a couple of them are inspired versions of our existing home (wartime/postwar homes)
- they are traditional design with a contemporary twist
During my nosy tours of the neighborhood I am noticing home exteriors more than I ever have before. Is it me or does the big trend seem to be about using multiple materials in tandem with one another? i.e. darker stucco with naturally stained bead-board, or wood & large-stone masonry. It’s not just about siding anymore baby!
There are some roughly finished stone tiled accent walls cropping up too… which is interesting and provides lovely texture, but I can’t help but wonder if it will get dated fairly quickly.
Why am I even thinking about this now? It is so premature. I need to think about the space first. THEN the finishing. *sigh*
The architect’s firm is drawing up “as is” plans for us this week. As soon as they are ready we’ll have something to work from as we move towards the next step… conveying our needs and wants to the architect in as much detail as humanly possible. Eep! I can’t think of how to convey our style. New Traditional? Comfortably Contemporary? Modern Retro? We’re going to have to dig deep in order to define ourselves clearly.
