The perfect house does not exist. No matter how great the architect, no matter how expensive it costs—invariably there is always something not quite right about it. This is especially evident if you’ve ever looked to purchase an older home.
That said, when choosing a pre-existing home, it’s important to find a place that's "good enough," one that can be your blank canvas to work from—something you can make "Uniquely You" using principles as your guide. This weekly column will explore that path towards remaking one house over with the 10 PrairieMod Principles in mind. Let’s start by taking a look at what we’re dealing with…
Here’s our PrairieMod project from the street. It’s a quaint 1950s Mid-Century modern ranch with some Eichler overtones. It sits on a large suburban lot with lots of mature trees. This is important, because the trees help shade the house from the heat of the sun, which helps keep energy bills lower.
You’ll also notice the whole front of the house is a wonderful geometric grid of insulated glass. Some of those windows are also ventilating clerestories. This allows for the rising hot air in the house to flow out when those windows are open. The window wall also lets natural light to flood in, reducing the need for electric lights. A deck comes off the front and there’s also a door for entry (one of 4 to the main living room! We’ll discuss that a little later.) With all that glass facing the street, a planter wall in front of the deck allows for some privacy. On the left is an enclosed carport that now acts as another entry point to the house and acts as a foyer/office/mudroom. Let’s go inside, shall we?
As you enter the enclosed carport door, you find yourself in…well, what amounts to an enclosed carport. The floor is on grade and the room is un-insulated. The walls and ceiling are painted and a large expanse of cabinets runs the length of the room. There’s also a desktop built in for office use. The back of the space has another door for entry (door #3). Immediately off to the right of where we entered is a sudden 2 large steps up into the great room. There’s no presentation or journey of discovery into the most important place in the home from your entry—you’re pretty much just thrown into it.
Once inside the great room, you experience why I bought the house. A combined living room/dining room/kitchen flows together under a post and beam, tented ceiling. There’s a fireplace and oak hardwood floors. It’s a roomy and inspiring space—not too big and empty feeling like in some of the newer vaulted ceiling McMansions being built today. The gradual pitch of the roof on our Mod house allows for height, dynamic sight lines and a cozy human scale throughout.
As many great things that we’re going on with this space, there are also some issues (nothing’s perfect, right?) The once beautiful wooden beams have been heavily painted over (sob!) The kitchen is cozy and open at the same time. However, the cabinets are poorly designed for storage (hence all the cabinets in the old carport); the appliances are a heavy black and out of proportion; the counters are cheaply made and (in the case of the island) badly designed; the over flooring creates a tripping hazard—and don’t get me started on the fruit themed border and valance. Lots of work here.
In the living room, the fireplace mantle has a nice craftsman look, however the front is a metal and glass door contraption meant to harness and blow heated air into the room. While a nice function in theory, the form leaves a lot to be desired. Plus it seems out of place for the overall fell of the house—almost like it was tacked on at the last minute. A little work here as well.
Finally, the dining room is sandwiched between 2 of the four entries into the house. The door off of the front porch throws you into the midst of the living space and being smack in the middle of the glass wall, breaks-up the unity of the glass and beam effect. The other door adjacent to the dining room leads to another side porch and has a large glass window next to it. Again the door is a heavy functional and visual disturbance to what could be a harmonious space. A particularly unattractive lighted ceiling fan hangs like a grotesque stalagtite from the ceiling and the dining room wall under the clerestory windows is painted paneling…enough said.
And that’s just the first two areas of the house! We’ll explore the rest of the home next week and figure out how to start formulating a plan to “PrairieMod-ify” this little red house. See you next week!
Photos copyright PrairieMod
Comments