outside the box 5 by Moneca Kaiser , October, 10 2010
When I was apprenticing as a carpenter, I got to work on some really great additions. New family friendly kitchens with tons of counter space, a place for the kids to do their homework, with casually elegant family rooms off of them. Usually they had two story banks of windows, maybe a fireplace, ambient and task lighting, clear maple flooring… welcoming wonderful spaces. They were grand. The kind of space we all seem to want to live in these days.
We’ve been seduced by all those glossy magazines. I’m sure if the people who live in those pages have problems, they’re the elegant kind. Like having been invited to two dinner parties with fascinating guests on the same night, and having to decide if their son should pursue his passion for tennis or gymnastics cause he’s so gifted at both his respective coaches are vying for all his attention.
Ah but I digress, the point is we get to thinking I need more space.
So there’s a place for everything. Then it won’t be so cluttered and our mornings will be calm, the kids won’t fight about who’s got who’s mittens cause they’ll each have one of those Martha Stewart style wicker baskets and they’ll always put there stuff there as soon as they come home. I’ll be able to enjoy that second cup of coffee in the morning maybe even glace at the paper instead of playing referee. See this is how we get seduced.
The problem is from here we leap to believing we have to add on.
Before Rarely is an addition the most elegant solution to the challenges of our house. Often what we need to do is renegotiate our existing space or maybe think about moving. The problem with adding on the aint it grand room is that it can wreck a house. The rest of the house is demoted because it’s dwarfed by the grandeur of the addition. Ever since I had my first crush folks have been telling me to just be myself, I promised myself I would never do that to an adolescent but with houses it’s different. There’s an innate wisdom in them, they’re like seeds with all this embodied potential just waiting for us to tap into. Sometimes an addition is in harmony with their potential, then I say let the excavators roll… too often it can be like too much water and you end up with a soggy mess.
Now the old part of the house looks just that way, rooms that were a decent size seem stingy in relation to the aint it grand room and they become lonely forgotten spaces.
It’s not good feng shei, I hate to use the word cause it feels so misunderstood and I don’t know another word for it so I’m stuck. In another article I will explain how I relate to this eastern concept of harmony. For now let it suffice, it’s not good to have lonely empty rooms, or ones that are crammed with stuff and don’t really work, or dead spaces. And it’s wasteful, we’ve reached peak oil, were not going to be able to afford to heat these spaces. Small will be appreciated more and more as beautiful; the magic lies in letting it breathe and feel spacious. More importantly, none of this is homey and we need homes to nourish us and as refuge so we have more to share more with the world.
So you think you need more space. Could be. The next step isn’t to start planning an addition. If you work with anyone who is going to do that for you I am pretty sure they’ve been seduced by the glossy magazines with the kids who play pro tennis too. The next step;
Is to make a list of everything you need and want, not even thinking about how to achieve it, a wish list.
Then its time to get an as is picture of your house and lot. The whole thing.
Then it’s time to play! I love this part.
Most of the time we discover that if we rework the existing space we need much less addition if any to satisfy our wish list and maintain the integrity of the house.
After Compromise is the magic element, and I will save that for another article, there’s an art that opens up a freedom with this and it’s so hard to do with visions of dreams homes dancing in our heads.
The drawings show what this 1000 word story is all about. My friends came to me thinking they needed to add on at least a 400 sq. ft. great room because they love to have family gatherings it just wasn’t working and they wanted a space for their grandchildren to stay over. They had a lot that could easily accommodate this size of an addition and it almost made sense if we didn’t really look at the existing space. As you can see from the after plans we were able to add just a small foyer well under 100 sq. ft. and renovate their existing spaces to accommodate everything on their wish list that really mattered by eliminating all the dead space. Usually the problems originate in previous additions that don’t live up to their promise. If your home has ever been added on to this article will be especially poignant.
I invite you to think outside the house! There are so many delightful sustainable ways of transforming a house into your home. I believe if you listen very carefully your house will even tell you how.
Greenspeed, Home Design, Raising Value, Sustainability
3 Ways to Add Value to Your Home
by Moneca Kaiser, October, 10 2015
Building, Design, Home, Kitchen
Little Black Dress for a Kitchen: Trends vs. Timeless Design
by Alëna Iouguina, November, 11 2013
Sustainability
Daylight Savings and Patterns of Nature in Your Home
by Alëna Iouguina, November, 11 2013
2 Comments
tim traversays:
November 8, 2010 at 7:04 pmI enjoyed your posts Monica. The place looks like Burlington? We’ve thought of moving there into one of those rabbit warren neighborhoods in the North End where so much is so close, and there’s the old and new side by side. You’ve given me some great ideas for home and also for the blogger in me. Thanks for sharing your vision and work.
Moneca Kaisersays:
November 9, 2010 at 1:50 amI am passionate about this amazing medium, leveling the playing field doesn’t begin to do justice to what blogging affords in terms of our shared vision of affecting social change and healing the planet. I encourage you to explore it and feel free to call on me to hold your hand cause I have been learning so much and feel so passionate about it. It’s easy with a little bit of guidance.
Leave a Reply