The Millon$$$$ House for Dstark :)

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<p>I hate the house in #20, except for the great views. Every single thing about it and in it looks cheap or pretentious, and frequently both at the same time.</p>

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<p>:D</p>

<p>That is why so interesting as a realtor. Between the love and hate, you sell houses.</p>

<p>After we bought our house, we went to visit some neighbors. It turned out that one of the neighbor’s daughter had an eye on the house we currently own. She toured the house and thought it was ugly, so she walked away.</p>

<p>I have no idea why we could have bought this as there were 16 bidders.</p>

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<p>Well…artloversPlus…I guess you weren’t the only one who liked your place. :)</p>

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<p>Sorry you don’t like it. But all the modern contemporary California homes built after 1990’s are like that. It is rare to find a center hall colonial or even cap cod in California.</p>

<p>btw, if you don’t like the decoration, don’t blame on the stager, it is the owner living there, not staged.</p>

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<p>^I love Spanish Colonial revival architecture, that’s not the issue. It’s the way everything looks like it’s made out of cardboard because the proportions are all off. Things are out of scale too big (looks pretentious) or out of scale to small (wall thickness, space above the arches for example (looks cheap). If you look at houses from the 1920s in California where both Bungalows (big Greene and Greene type ones for example) or Mediterranean influenced houses, there are plenty of examples of large rooms, double height spaces etc. There’s no need to build center hall colonials or Cape Cods in California, I think they both look out of place. If you want modern - California was home to some of the best modernist designers in architecture - look at Neutra <a href=“http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0c/Kaufman_House_Palm_Springs.jpg[/url]”>http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0c/Kaufman_House_Palm_Springs.jpg&lt;/a&gt; or Schindler [File:Lovell</a> Beach House 02.jpg - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Lovell_Beach_House_02.jpg]File:Lovell”>File:Lovell Beach House 02.jpg - Wikipedia) or Irving Gill <a href=“http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/9b/Irving_Gill.jpg[/url]”>http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/9b/Irving_Gill.jpg&lt;/a&gt; .</p>

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<p>It’s not the fact that the house is Spanish colonial revival that bothers me. It is the fact that it is ill-proportioned, as mathmom says, and lacking in graciousness. Many of the pictures remind me of a hotel or airport lounge.</p>

<p>But hey, we all have different tastes. I’m sure the owners of that one would hate the old houses I love. Like the house inspector who earnestly told me that we should rip up the original floorboards in our unusually pristine circa-1790 post and beam colonial–they were up to three feet wide, bowed, and dark with age–and replace them with something nice and flat with no cracks. (He didn’t know how close he came to death that day. :D)</p>

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<p>But hey, we all have different tastes.</p>

<p>And different parts of the country have different house styles and floor plans.</p>

<p>When we were first “house-hunting” in the South (several years ago), I was annoyed that during that time, most of the kitchens were pretty much “closed off” to the family room. I was more used to what we had in Southern Calif, where the kitchen opened to the family room so you could do dishes, cook, or whatever and still see into the family room (and spy on the kids or see the TV). Because of this, we decided to custom build so we could have the open style that we wanted. Since then, enough transplants have moved here that the open style has become more popular.</p>

<p>One good thing…we had been used to having the Master Bedroom upstairs in Calif. In the south, it is frequently downstairs which was a convention that we went along with. Now that we’re getting older we see the advantage…no stairs to climb to go to bed as we get old. :slight_smile: This was a blessing when H had hip replacement surgery a couple of years ago.</p>

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<p>artloversplus—I have to differ with the opinion that ALL modern homes built after the 1990’s are built like that. Not where I live in So Cal! <a href=“http://photos1.zillow.com/p_d/IS1ow1fe9zhjfkz.jpg[/url]”>http://photos1.zillow.com/p_d/IS1ow1fe9zhjfkz.jpg&lt;/a&gt; We have a lot of lovely new modern homes in the hills near Pasadena.</p>

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<p>shame on me! I know I should never say ALL, slash three times///</p>

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<p>If you want traditional style houses in California as opposed to in your face modern - how about something like this? [Felhandler/</a> Steeneken - French Manor House Architects - Stone and stucco home with a slate mansard roof - Glendora CA](<a href=“Felhandler/ Steeneken - French Manor House Architects - Stone and stucco home with a slate mansard roof - Glendora CA”>Felhandler/ Steeneken - French Manor House Architects - Stone and stucco home with a slate mansard roof - Glendora CA)</p>

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<p>I gotta say I like this house ( & the island lot)
[Pacific</a> NW | Gordon Walker designs a house for the future | Seattle Times Newspaper](<a href=“http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/pacificnw/2016348598_pacificpwalker09.html]Pacific”>http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/pacificnw/2016348598_pacificpwalker09.html)</p>

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<p>I like that house too emeraldkity. :slight_smile: The grandkids are going to have to sleep in tents though!</p>

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<p>Interesting house in #71 but I’m not sure I’d like actually living in a 75x16 house. It reminds me of those houses made from old cargo containers—very practical but a little weirdly constrained by shipping requirements.</p>

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<p>Yeah, I was just wondering where my boot or my book storage would be.</p>

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<p>Consolation, I have never heard of the American Range. Thank you! I am intrigued. The colors are fun, too.</p>

<p>Had been leaning toward Thermador.</p>

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<p>I would advise against Thermador. They are notoriously expensive and difficult when it comes to service, parts, repair, etc. Our current kitchen had a suite of Thermador appliances when we bought it. The appliance guy was just here this morning–dishwasher has definitively died, not the Thermador but its replacement–and we were talking about parts for my Thermador cooktop. I priced them on the internet, and my conclusion was that I should just buy a new cooktop. (We’re talking $700 for drip pans and burner rings on all four burners!) He said that not only are they extremely expensive, but the sizes are such that one cannot use any standard replacement parts. And this is not the first time I’ve heard this.</p>

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<p>I hope #20 doesn’t belong to someone on this board.</p>

<p>I think difference of opinion makes the world interesting … but … I feel like mathmom (architects are SO important) and consolation. I couldn’t live there. I like all styles but I really need them to be a style. Edith Wharton, The Decoration of Houses might be an interesting read for those who can’t put their finger on what upsets them about that house. If you haven’t already read it. There is a really interesting decorating blog called little augury.</p>

<p>Shout out to consolation and 18th c living! I need old floors. I need patina. I adore original sash. I am willing to live with drafts, mice, and no closet space. With my “new” house I’ve graduated to mid 19th c but still have plenty of oldness all around me as well as plenty of mice and no closets to speak of. I did get to build a dream kitchen but it wouldn’t be anyone else’s dream as it was planned around several antique kitchen pieces I already owned.</p>

<p>I also love most architect designed mid-century modern homes in the US and most art nouveau in Europe. Mainly I just love houses.</p>

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<p>Does anyone figure in the costs of routine cleaning when considering house size? I’ve cleaned my own since we built- didn’t want the local cleaning services we had used ruining it… That large house in post #20 everyone is commenting on would take forever to clean or does undocumented labor…</p>

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<p>I look at all the costs…including house size…which is a cost…</p>

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<p>wis, one definitely needs to consider the cost of heating/cooling a space, plus painting the house and other maintenance. The time and equipment and/or cost of mowing and snow plowing is another concern. Cleaning is not something I have ever contracted for. Would that I could. :)</p>