Say Goodbye to McMansions

I regularly read news on the internet, and an article on the WSJ's MarketWatch caught my eye this morning. It is about the trend to smaller homes in America!

As a self-proclaimed 'Not So Big' architect, I have seen this trend coming over the past 3-5 years. My clients tend to delight in the small, cozy nooks that I design for them, while foregoing some rooms that used to be standard in a home (such as the formal dining room).

The Armstrongs, a couple nearing retirement, hired me to help them make the home they built over 40 years ago work better for their Golden Years. One of the changes we made was a tiny addition to Margaret's sewing room - which doubles as a playroom for grandchildren - and triples as a dining room extension for holiday parties. In order to make it work well for these uses, and to make it feel more inviting, we basically pushed out one exterior wall 2'-6" under the eave. We added a row of windows and a window seat with storage underneath. By improving the functionality of this room, with just a small addition, we greatly increased the amount of activities that could happen there!

The Importance of an Entry Place

Here's my new basement office entry! My husband, Thomas, and I started moving back into the house just as the heavy snow started to fall in December. Right away, we appreciated the generous entry that we had created to the basement. If you read my Lwebuga House blog, you'll see that excavating for the new entry was not a small task, but it made the basement a comfortable place to be throughout the snowstorm.

If you hope to build a home office space that will welcome customers, a proper entry is perhaps the most important aspect of your project. It is important to recognize that the entry doesn't start at the door! When designing any entry space, I start by thinking about the entire process of entering a space, from the sidewalk on. What impression do you want to give?

In my own home office, I designed the entry to feel more business-like than a home entry... thus the wide walkway, heavy concrete retaining walls with planters, a commercial-type trough drain in the concrete sidewalk leading down to the door, and a door that looks a little more commercial than residential.