I suppose our house we just bought does have a style but I’m just not sure what it is. We plan on remodeling the kitchen /dinning room and since it will be pretty extensive we would like to get some idea of what style to keep or start building into it.
I asked my wife and she said rustic. I asked her to clarify what that meant and she came up earthy. So pressing her further she said the style is neutral. The word contemporary came up. But isn’t contemporary just word for building something with the style that everyone else is using right now? So much for getting a definitive answer.
I have had the word eclectic bouncing around in my head. A mix of styles that really borrow from a bunch styles. It could look like a mess though.
From what little I understand you can have a style of architecture but use different materials than what was traditionally used. Just as long as the weight and proportions fit. So you pay homage to a style but use materials in a creative way that gives it interest.
Since the interior is much more easily changed than the exterior the style should be set by the outside? Does that make sense?
Here are some shots of the house from the street. Looking at the house form the street the hip on the left is where we want to have french doors onening out onto a patio with a low wall around it with something above it for shade and shelter. I’ve been thinking a gable end would work better but am not set on it. Behind that brick wall is a small dinning room and then behind that is a small kitchen.
What atyle does this house have? What style would work with the shape and materials there? We are planning on getting an architect/designer to draw up some elevations and other plans but I need to do some homework before that. Right?
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Looks like a bricked ranch to me.
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O.K. Sounds right to me. So a ranch came into style because of larger lots where they could spread out the house a bit under a larger (relatively) roof? The old way of stacking a house around a source of heat was done away with because of the way central heating distributed it? Families got smaller and the car allowed people to live further away from the market/work, ect?
So the design followed function? I guess that is what I'm grappling with. If design follows function I just build boxes that are for certain functions and unify it with siding and a roof. It seems like a lot of design is done that way. You take rooms and shuffle them around to fit next to each other. You site the house to the lot, unify it with siding and a roof. But what style is it? Contemporary ranch? It seems like the whole thing is built around how many carports, ect, you want. I have a two carports. Well I have three so there.
O.K. It's a ranch. I'm off my stump. What can I do with a ranch? How far can it be stretched? Can a ranch be modern? Contemporary? Eclectic?
I know what I want the spaces to do. That's easy for me because of the way I think as a "builder". Most people can do that. But the style, it's limitations, and potentials is outside of my knowledge. I'd like our ranch to have something going for it besides a ranch. But not look like a Frankenstein creation. For me it gets tricky.
Edited 3/23/2008 10:41 am ET by popawheelie
I'll go out an a limb here and say it's a brick ranch ;-)The depth of the overhang and the horizontal feel are slightly prairie-school influenced, but nothing else about it has any particular style. I've seen unassuming ranches totally transformed into something Frank Lloyd Wright could have done, but not without radical changes in the windows and materials and rooflines. Still one story, but you would never know it was a generic ranch to start with. But they were definately architect-designed projects that took a lot of money to accomplish.Barring a radical re-do, which seems to be all the rage for ranch-house remodels, there's not much to do when you add on to the exterior except keep anything you add on from getting out of proportion with the rest of it. If you opt to go up rather than out, than you might as well transform it completely, since by definition, it would no longer be a ranch.If you want to keep it one-story, and add on in keeping with what's there, then I would basically just follow the cues of what's already there. Keep any new rooflines that intersect with the eave sides of the house as hipped, like the two legs on the front of the house. Rooflines off the gable ends might work as a shed, if they stay under the gable-end roof soffit, but would probably look better hipped as well. Match depths on the soffits and fascia.As to materials, you could go with more brick, but it would probably look good to mix some siding in there instead, picking up on what's on the house around the front door. Probably should stick with casement windows, though you could certainly get more generous in the amount of glass in whatever you add on.Interior is totally up for grabs. What's there now? Unfortunately most trim from that era is pretty uninspired. Probably just clamshell on everything. Unless it's all original and pleasantly done, I would be tempted to come up with something a little more interesting, but not outlandish.Steve
it would lend itself to "bungalow style".... see " craftsman"or " greene & greene"i see a low pitched covered entry and reorient the front walk to approach from the front istead of being an adjunct of the garageMike Smith Rhode Island : Design / Build / Repair / Restore
"Can a ranch be modern? Contemporary? Eclectic?"I've seen them stretched out over 120' longModern? That word just means lack of style to me. I do classical.Contemporary? With what? Adams and Washington and Jefferson were contemporaries with one another. The word contemporary means nothing without context and comparison. Yours is contemporary with all other brick ranch homes.Eclectic? That means a random ix of whatever things appeal to you without any adherence to style. Relax and quit worrying about rules and words. all sorts of things get done with ranches and most of them work. Patio doors especially common. Make the home work for you.And enjoy it.
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I'm looking at the photos thinking brick ranch.
Then I scolled to Piffin's reply.................
circa mid to late 50's early 60's my guess.
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Looks like a u shaped suburban ranch with a hip roof. :)
Probably need some pics of the interior to get a sense of the style. I'm thinking though, you can go about any way you want
I'll take some pics of some details after church. It's Easter!
Brick, modified hip roofed "U" ranch snout house. Pretty much what my parents own, circa 1961.
It's a nicely proportioned ranch. Good roof lines, quality brick work. Other than the fake wharf/seaside feature, it all fits together fine.
There's beauty in function ya know. As long as the aesthetic side of the human experience is given equal attention, designing for function in proper scale makes living in a home easier and more pleasant.
I agree HVC. I'm the type who is always trying to improve stuff but there is a point of diminishing returns. Right now I'm exploring all the possibilities so I can make an informed decision. If I'm going to remodel the left side of it I want to maximize whatever I do. Sometimes I get in trouble for it but having a designer/ architect will keep my out of hot water. One thing I've noticed is that newer homes have a grander look to them from the curb. With the two low hips and the shed in the middle it really doesn't have that going on. I think the style was more conservative/low key.
The wharf thing is going away soon. We had a landscape designer do a plan for us. If you want me re-size it i can. I just wanted to show some of the detail. You can see the patio in stone with a wall in the front and sides. There is no overhang or anything architectural over it. I need some way to shade that area and tie it into the house. Pergola?I could do a smaller one where the designer drew in an arbor in the upper left corner. It might help tie it in so it doesn't look out of place.
Edited 3/23/2008 3:33 pm ET by popawheelie
I did a remodel (architect designed) where we put a modern style addition in the courtyard of a larger ranch house. Not to my taste, but it was effective. Can't find my exterior pictures, but here is one of the interior.
John
That's definitely modern. not to my taste either. To open. Especially with the kitchen on the right. Just not cozy enough for me. Besides we don't have a view like theirs.
Yeow. That's a view. I happen to like New England antiques but I'd be willing to live in a cardboard box on that site.
This is an interesting article, it's a big file. from http://www.scottsdaleaz.gov/historiczoning/historicresources.asp
http://www.scottsdaleaz.gov/Assets/documents/historiczoning/IntroPostwarHousingStyle.pdf
I'll look at it later. thanks!
Ranch burger. You're correct in your analysis that contemporary is ahead of what is current. Back in the days when ranches were invented (by Frank Lloyd Wright) they were considered contemporary.
Take a look at one of the early precursors of your house:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robie_House
And then do a little googling to see what the typical building style was like at the time.
popawheelie,
You are right on the cusp of a house like that ranch starting to regain favor..
Don't muck it up..
the advantage of a ranch is as the baby booomer generation ages getting around will be eaier in a ranch than other styles like split levles and two stories.
Paint wallpaper treat your walls however (which is all women typically want in a remodel) but stay true to your basic style..
I little note Bumbouts and room additions seem like nice features now but when your children go away as they will soon enough the house will suddenly get too large and you'll be making payments on the cost of the remodel. That will encourage you to buy a................ small ranch,, hmmmm.
"mid century" or "post-war" ranch
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On the inside is some stone work that comes from a local quarry. I plan on facing the patio wall inside and out in this stone and pattern. It does kind of have an art deco feel to it. Is art deco an older style that came up in post modern ranches? We could do some details like that.
One thing that is prevalent here is coffee houses. A lot of them have the art deco look to them. Kind of some modern colors and textures with light fixtures that look like they were from that era.
Maybe coffee house is the interior style we will have. And if anyone questions it we will hand them a cup. That should shut them up. I do drink a lot of the stuff.
Pop
That interior is more Midcentury style then Art Deco, and the house would fall into that catagory as well.
Art Deco is a style from the earlier 1900's think 19teens and into the 20's.
Doug
Edited 3/23/2008 8:40 pm ET by DougU
The stone work I like and will obviously keep. But the woodwork is in a wall I'm going to demo so I guess the place to start is the stonework. I don't know the difference between mid-century and deco. Is the mid-century a repeat of deco but less pronounced. toned down a bit? Here is what I think is an original fixture.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_Deco
Definately some nice mid-century modern going on there. More than your run of the mill clamshell. I like the original treatments. I would imitate that in whatever you build.Steve
allright! Now were getting somewhere. I'll study up on mid century modern.
Is the mid-century a repeat of deco but less pronounced
I don't see it that way, I think mid-century as more of a 1950's modern.
You should be able to Google and find some examples of the look. It's definitely distinguished itself from deco, prairie, craftsman..........or any of the others.
Doug
I guess I've kind of stuck modern styles all togehter in the past. I will bone up on mid-century. I'm kind of getting excited now. Knowing the name helps me narrow it down.
Pop,
That lighting fixture was one seen in many, many inexpensive apartment buildings and homes built in the L.A. area during the "mid-century".
So it's not going to be a quaint reminder of the period for most people, more of an "el cheapo" that survived only because your new place hasn't been remodled since it was built.
BTW, that landscaper's drawing looks like a winner to me. Please post some photos of the work as it progresses.
I haven't looked at the fixture yet. I was just looking for original details that gave clues to the style of the house. Sometimes I save cheaper stuff from the past just because it has made it this far. It's way ahead of the cheap stuff made now. It depends on if I find something better to replace it with that doesn't cost me an arm and a leg. It does work where it is. Not to big and not to small.
I just wanted to throw out a couple of suggestions, if you ever add on to your house.I've seen people take the existing bedroom in the back of the home and add on to it to make a "master suite" with a bathroom, walk in closet, and a doorway to the patio which has a hot tub. This adds a lot of value to the home.Another addition to think about is to add a two car garage onto the front of your existing garage. Then the old garage becomes a family room.Good luck!
Thank you. Those are both excelent ideas. I have discussed a master suite with my wife but am not sure if she will go for it. There is a large master bedroom but the bathroom is really small. There is space to build out where the bathroom would have to go. It would be outside of the envelope though so the cost would be high compared to the kitchen/dinning room remodel she wants.
I've never thought of building on front of the existing garage. It's good idea really. We don't need the space in front of the existing garage. I'd most likel have to talk to the building dept about setback from the street but I bet they wouldn't have a problem with it. I'd have to ask. thanks again!
May I suggest you have several interior designers come by and offer suggestions on what they would do to spruce up what you already have. Some nice drapes, wallpaper, maybe crown could make big differences at a lower cost.
Edited 3/24/2008 11:06 am ET by peteshlagor
That's a good suggestion but I'm curious why you suggest that. There are so many reasons why or why not to fix up a house. I'm just not sure why you think it would be a good idea to just put some paint and curtains in it?
I've had several int. designer experiences. Some are like the rep - really goofy. The flambouyant ones get me. But some have their stuff together. This house was quite naked when we bought it. The Queen got a dekkerator in and they did some remarkable things with drapes and colors. The last house, after two goofy ones, the Queen found an country girl that shoulda been a GC. She really knew her dekkerateing as well as she had naked pictures or something on a number of subs. When something or somebody flaked (as is usual in Callyfornia), she would have another on the job within hours.
I bring this up because I see no drapes in the living room. And I've had good luck with some people's input.
If you look around you will find someone who has already done either one of those additions and it helps to walk through the other house and see what it looks like in person.
I'm not sure but are you saying we can find a house like ours in the area? Because I don't think there are any.
I'll have to look around more when I am out in the neighborhood. Most people in our neighborhood haven't remodeled their houses. I think it is because it is to expensive. But the property values are going to increase to the point where it is a good idea to improve it.
Edited 3/24/2008 1:22 pm ET by popawheelie
I'm just guessing that someone has done an addition like you're thinking about and if you could identify some of these houses and look at them from the outside it will help give you a better idea.To take it a step further, you could ask the homeowner if you could walk through their house to see the addition and what it's like.Or, If you know a realtor they might be able to help you and tell you about about some houses with types of additions and maybe they could help you walk through one of these houses that's on the market or even one that's not.Good luck!
That is a great idea and I didn't mean to dicount it. I will try those ideas out.
I rebuilt my summer house that was a pretty bland ranch into a fairly eclectic modernist style. I would not term it craftsman, but others have. There was a thread under the photo section that documented it a year or so ago.
Yours does have a Craftsman flavor to it. Clean modern lines with some Craftsman feel to savour
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Be on the lookout for aluminum wiring. If it's from the early 60's, as I suspect, you may want to have an electrician check it out.
I'd agree with ranch, tho this one seems to be trying for "cottage" in some ways.
I like your wife's idea of earthy...the low pitch on the roof and low foundation seem suited to an exterior that ties in strongly with the landscaping (I know you're going to lose that funky wood "fence"). I'm thinking you might look at some of the prairie style houses for some details that you can give a modern spin.
Also, the more recent episodes of Curb Appeal on HGTV have shown some 60's and 70's houses that were redone along those lines.
Keep posting those pics...I think this house has potential!