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The exception is if it's a historic area/themed area, that I consider a bad thing.
I think it's so cool when you're driving around a plain jane area and then this gigantic flashy fancy suburban house pops out of knowhere and makes you look at it. I think it's amazing when you as one homeowner can add so much niceness to a block.
If I become rich one day then I want to one day live in a McMansion in an average area. Most wealthy [suburban] areas have huge lots with very little tight-knitness&interaction; those type of areas are not my cup of tea.
[Don't know if this is the right forum but whatever..]
Home design has been gaudy ever since people started building homes. We just aren't in context to recognize the remarkable gaudiness. So for me exterior design isn't the big issue when I think of the pejorative "McMansion" term. It's what people have convinced themselves to expect of the interior space planning that's imbalanced.
Why do you need several massive walk-in closets? I mean, nice to have, sure, but to make one a requirement should get the average breadwinner reflecting on priorities. All this closet space for what?
Why do you need a 400sf spa-like bedroom suite to escape from your family--in your own home? Good grief, it's your home and family. High ceilings are great. Vaulted ceilings are a waste of real estate.
How can you say something like vaulted ceilings are a waste of real estate? Architectural design evokes emotional response, who are you to say which emotions are not valuable in a home?
You should stop making sense. Most people don't evaluate priorities, they quick-draw their credit card for valuted ceilings so people will be impressed when they visit.
Their priorities or your priorities? Keep in mind that this is their personal space, their home, not sure why you even feel the need to critique it.
How can you say something like vaulted ceilings are a waste of real estate? Architectural design evokes emotional response, who are you to say which emotions are not valuable in a home?
You can build with 9'-10' ceilings on the first floor (high enough for expansiveness) and have more actual living space upstairs.
I love big, newly built houses over historic homes. I'm not a fan of gaudy details but I prefer buildings that were built within the last 5 or 10 years.
You can build with 9'-10' ceilings on the first floor (high enough for expansiveness) and have more actual living space upstairs.
I don't follow you. How would upstairs space be lost by vaulting (or cathedral(ing)) a ceiling?
Maybe you mean when a second floor looks down over an open great room or something? In that case you are only building a second floor over a portion of the house instead of over the whole thing, its no more a waste of realestate than 'not building a 3rd floor' is a waste of realestate or 'not building a 4 season porch in the back' is a waste of realestate.
The standard for a quality home used to be 11-12 foot ceilings on the first floor, at least 9 on the second, 7 or 8 on the third. That shrunk down to 7 foot standard in the midcentury then grew up to 8 foot, recently it has grown to 9 foot. Expensive moldings and paneling used to be standard on the first floor and decent moldings on the second, those disappeared completely, first from the outside of buildings then from the inside. Now you are lucky if there is a single rounded bead molding in the house. Windows used to to a mix of rectangled arched or portholed and with complex moldings, now they are all simply rectangles. A beautiful mantel used to be the centerpeice of a room underneith vaulted and coffered ceilings with a plaster pendant in the center, now no interesting architectural detail exists in a room and its simply plane walls with a plane ceiling. Any return to architectural detail in homes is a step in the right direction, a return to sanity really. These are our homes, where we live out much of our lives, they should be the most significant thing we build/buy/develope in our lives and should be a fitting backdrop, not simply something to most efficiently and cheaply keep away the elements.
Their priorities or your priorities? Keep in mind that this is their personal space, their home, not sure why you even feel the need to critique it.
Uh, no. I didn't say my priorities should be everyone else's priorities, I was pointing to the fact that most people get dazzled by what's big and pretty and that there's a lack of deliberation in many cases. Lots of subdivision developers build to dazzle potential homebuyers, they don't often create spaces and design that are modest and functional through and through.
Also, McMansions are cheaper than the traditional mansion because shortcuts and cheaper materials are used. American consumers trend toward something bigger in many cases, instead of focusing on high-quality in more modest space.
Uh, no. I didn't say my priorities should be everyone else's priorities, I was pointing to the fact that most people get dazzled by what's big and pretty and that there's a lack of deliberation in many cases. Lots of subdivision developers build to dazzle potential homebuyers, they don't often create spaces and design that are modest and functional through and through.
Also, McMansions are cheaper than the traditional mansion because shortcuts and cheaper materials are used. American consumers trend toward something bigger in many cases, instead of focusing on high-quality in more modest space.
Why do you think a home dazzles people? It must trigger an emotional response in them, they must feel something towards it, find it beautiful, awe inspiring, comforting. Well, sounds like a good place to buy. I mean your only going to be living your life in it. You don't judge a home simply on utility and efficiency. It's not a tool to keep out the elements.
Why do you think a home dazzles people? It must trigger an emotional response in them, they must feel something towards it, find it beautiful, awe inspiring, comforting. Well, sounds like a good place to buy. I mean your only going to be living your life in it. You don't judge a home simply on utility and efficiency. It's not a tool to keep out the elements.
So would you rather be dazzled by a superficial feature or would you rather purchase something that meets a more functional need for you and your family?
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