Building a new home
Improve your living space. This passageway between the dining room and the living room (to the right of the bookcase) is a typical framed opening, but its depth allows for bookcases on the living room side. Even if you aren’t building a new home, you can build out your walls and drastically change the atmosphere of a space and how you use it, just as these bookcases turn a plain living room wall into an elegant library.
Don’t miss even a thin opportunity. Sometimes walls are thicker between rooms to allow for heating, cooling or plumbing elements — but not by much. Carve out some of that dead space that isn’t deep enough for a full closet and use the inside for open shelves. The added visual depth will turn a plain wall into something more eye catching. Make it as functional as needed with baskets, books, a charging station and hooks for keys. Just make sure the opening is at least 12 inches wide, so something actually fits in the space and dusting is easier. A good depth for the open space is about 10 to 12 inches.
A durable, natural woven floor covering blends well with the neutral tone of this sitting room, drawing the eye to an artfully scattered picture wall. Holloway created a darling little sitting area with a Ballard Designs daybed, a chandelier from Progressive Lighting, and a driftwood table from Anthropologie.
This closet shows an excellent use of the space, especially at the far end. A shallow shelf with drawers provides places for socks, shoes, belts and other small items. The depth of this fixture does not interfere with the ends of the rods on the back walls, and allows plenty of room to comfortably reach the back corners of the closet. An arrangement like this also helps to define individual spaces for those sharing a closet. Layout tip: If your walk-in is less than 6½ feet wide, place hanging rods on one side and shelving and shoe racks on the other for good flow and accessibility.
If you’re not sold yet, consider a “nearly rug.” If you still long for wood in your home but want some of the benefits of carpeting, try a “nearly rug”: Pick out an off-the-roll carpet, have it bound and voilà, you have an almost full-size rug. It will leave a border of hard flooring — hardwood, stone, ceramic. For this look I like to leave 12 to 18 inches of hard surface showing around the perimeter.
By setting up systems, you’ll ensure that things get done seamlessly and quickly — but also correctly. If your daughter’s soccer uniform is never clean on game day, a laundry schedule is a system you could use. As long as you’re implementing systems, go for the gold! Document how to do your laundry in a binder or even just on a small sign in the laundry room. Your kids or spouse can be reminded which items require special care and which are OK to toss in with the beach towels. Documenting laundry procedures might seem like something only the Stepford Wives would do, but it could also save your favorite sweater from an untimely demise, or be the difference between a pregame car ride spent in irritated silence and one of laughter, connection and encouragement.
What systems support your lifestyle and that of your family? Families with kids might benefit from a big schedule on the wall. Saturday is cleaning day. Or Tuesday is trash day, and it’s established that everyone will empty the wastebaskets in their rooms and take the trash out to the bins on the way out the door. Systems are great for maintaining harmony in a home. Instead of being aggravated that the garbage is overflowing, you will have set up a plan that makes your expectations clear.
This room looks great, clean, well organized etc................ 6. Have the mechanical equipment cleaned and serviced. Do this as soon as you buy the house. Getting the heating and cooling systems cleaned and other routine tasks done is important — as is getting a service contract so if the system stops working in the depths of winter, you'll not have to overpay to get a technician to come to your home. We've always had good luck asking our new neighbors which company they have found to be reputable and attentive for this work. It's also a great way to meet the neighbors.
6. Accept the inevitable. You've made the plans, gotten the permits and secured the money; now the only thing left to do is build your house. You've accounted for everything, so it should all come together as smooth as silk. Easy, right? Oddly enough, stuff happens. That's a given. How you and your team react to these hiccups will be important. My advice is to stay calm, keep your sense of humor and work with your team to address the issue. This is where having the right team in place can pay dividends. An architect, a builder and others who can work together and share ideas without criticizing one another will go a long way to helping you keep your sanity. Some tips for staying sane during construction:•Don't change your mind. Early on make all of the decisions you have to, select all of your finishes and don't change your mind. Yes, you'll be enticed by that new thing that comes along. Just remember that once construction starts, it'll cost you time, money and perhaps a trip or two to a therapist if you change your mind.•Turn a deaf ear to the goings-on. Every construction site is filled with workers complaining. After all, who doesn't complain about his or her job? Who has...
4. Assemble a team. While you might think you can go it alone, assembling a team of tried and true professionals is the better approach. After all, you wouldn't represent yourself in court. So why wouldn't you entrust your single largest investment to an experienced team that won't be learning on your dime? An architect and a builder (if not one and the same) are going to be your most important team members. These people will act as guide, therapist, advocate and counselor throughout the journey that creating your home is. And, as with all good professionals, the right guide can ensure that the journey is all the more enjoyable. As you embark on this journey, you will likely want to add team members. A kitchen and bath designer, perhaps; maybe an interior designer, too. Certainly a landscape architect, who shouldn't be the last person hired when all the money is gone; you want to create a beautiful yard that will complement the house.
2. Establish a budget. While a budget should be in any goal statement, it's such an important piece that it's included here as a separate task. When making your budget, of course you'll begin with what you can afford, and how the cost of your house fits in with your overall plans for the future. When you're ready to get down to details, include everything that will go into the project: the cost of the land, local fees and taxes, design and engineering fees, construction of not just the home but the landscape, plus furniture and decorating. And don't forget a healthy contingency. As with any complex project, things will happen, and the road from point A to point B will have a detour or two. Make sure that these little side trips won't send you over the edge. A spreadsheet program such as Excel is a good tool to use for developing a budget, as you can continuously update and modify it as you work your way through the project.
Questions to ask: • What do you want to achieve? • Where do you want to be? • What will this cost? • Can it really be achieved? • Does plan A make sense? • What's plan B? By the way, a goals statement is what architects refer to as a program. So when your architect says "program," just think "goals."
All together now. A well-trimmed room is something special. Its baseboard, casings and crown all relate to each other in their style, proportions, sizing and finish. In this example, the baseboard appears to follow the 7 percent guideline: The casings are about half the size of the baseboard, and the crown looks to be just slightly smaller than the baseboard. There's no doubt that the trim for this room was conceived as part of the overall design.
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