Our Story #9
You know when you walk into a house, and it just feels right? The ceilings are the perfect height. The natural light streams through the windows but isn’t too bright. The house pulls you in as you naturally move from room to room without having to think about it, until you find that chair or sofa and must sit down to enjoy it.
Well, friends, that isn’t a coincidence. Sometimes builders get lucky with one or two rooms, but you can always tell when a house was thoughtfully planned. There is intention based on precedence. And when a house plan works, you will see it repeated over and over in variations in every new suburb popping up.
In Get Your House Right, by Marianne Cusato, she talks about the language of architecture, describing the windows, doors and eaves as vocabulary and the rules that we use to put the elements together as grammar. There are numerous examples in her book of what to use and what to avoid.
One piece of information made such an impact on me, and I have often used it to explain to clients why something doesn’t feel right about their house. It has to do with traditional construction methods and gravity.
Before the development of steel, builders used wood beams, brick arches, or stone lintels. We inherently knew the strength of these materials and so openings could only be so long. This knowledge is ingrained in us from the moment we learn to walk and test our balance. We have learned there are limits to how far we can lean over because of gravity.
Enter modern construction methods and poof!- we have the ability to cantilever large platforms or span long distances. These techniques can be beautiful and awe-inspiring in the right setting, but they go against our innate understanding of the laws of nature. If we have a door opening that spans 30’ (in a McMansion for instance), we may find it impressive, but we don’t find it very comforting or livable. Our subconscious knows something isn’t quite authentic.
When polled, people by far find a traditional home more desirable than a modern house. Think about the Father of the Bride house or anything from a Nancy Myers’ movie. Authentic and classic never go out of style.
Pics of Oxford House, Father of the Bride house, Nancy Myers movie sets, stone and brick bridges in France & Stone’s Throw.
51 Ridgeline Rd Carlton Landing, OK
