Comments on: Is your home an iPhone or a Model T Ford?

By: livingroomblog

livingroomblog — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 18:24:02 +0000

Thanks Lorna,

I’ve actually seen a few posts on forums by self-builders who say if they were doing it again they would build smaller, no more than 2000sqft., because a lot of it ends up as wasted space that has to be heated, cleaned, painted etc.

I think there’s a tendancy to build and buy bigger as a way of future-proofing the home with the result, as you pointed out with your friend’s house, that people end up with a lot of space but that doesn’t necessarily work the way they need it to work.

As for the storage in new housing issue, I’ve been advocating this for years in various architectural practices, to the bemusement of my (mostly male) colleagues who, I suspect, never did any of the tidying up at home..

By: lornagd

lornagd — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 22:39:16 +0000

A brilliant post Angela -really clear and well constructed.
There are so many huge houses here in Ireland recently, 5,000 sq feet etc, that i do wonder if bigger means better – fine if you have an army of cleaners.
I visited a friend’s house a couple of years ago and they had added an extension to the back of the house so that the kitchen now ran across the full rear of the house and the house was 3 rooms deep, if you know what I mean – which meant the middle rooms were dark and a ‘fancy corridor’ in my opinion, yet she seemed delighted with her much larger house.
Personally, I prefer old houses – Victorian red brick terraces being my favourite but I think that is compounded by the fact that I now live in a 1970s detached house. One of my main bugbears is the lack of ‘natural storage’ that so many of the old houses had (under stairs, alcoves. handy little corners etc) and I am continually trying to recreate them with huge larder type cupboards amongst other things.
I just called by to check your blog address for the article!!

By: livingroomblog

livingroomblog — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 12:05:25 +0000

Thanks prettyfarwest – an interesting point! I live in an older house myself and also enjoy having that connection with the past, along with the craftsmanship that went into building ordinary speculative houses back then, that seems to have been lost now. I’d like to see more new housing take on board the qualities in older houses that make them feel special – proportion, natural light & attention to detail – along with the needs of modern day living..

By: prettyfarwest

prettyfarwest — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 11:12:29 +0000

That’s very interesting and well presented. The more I try to make my house (old with new extension) suit my family’s needs, the more I realise that my best bet would be to start again with a new house design. In a way it’s a conflict between the wish for spaces that suit me and the settled feeling I get from somewhere that’s been here for much longer than I’ve lived.

By: livingroomblog

livingroomblog — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 18:39:54 +0000

Thanks, Paula – I’m working on it!

By: Paula Asple

Paula Asple — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 18:11:00 +0000

Great post but I’ve just realised that I want an iHome now as well as an iPhone!