it would have been nice to read newell turner's advice on building a house before we started designing this one however, many of the lessons he learned while designing & building his new home are certainly applicable to björn & my project.
 |
| Newell Turner's lot |
his first lesson is "plan, plan, plan," Turner states that one should work out as much as possible before turning over the first shovel of dirt. Well, we didn't do that, we were moving dirt, cutting down weeds & junk trees before we even had a design at all. we also haven't planned a lot of the interior details yet but i think we will be okay because this is a project of love & time. im sure good old newell had a crew of men in carhartts and boots running all over the place, & well we are basically going to be just us! in other words no trouble communicating the clients desires to the contractor, we are the client, & the designer & the contrator!
 |
| are we missing something with the closet space? |
another of Mr. Turner's valuable lessons was "Invest in Storage" We've botched this one as well, we have a lot of storage in the kitchen- check, we have coat storage in the foyer- check, we have a decent sized laundry room for supplies, etc- check. oh wait, only one of our three bedrooms has a closet!! and it is a small one at that. i think we have decided that closets for clothes are over rated, although i may regret this statement later, so we are thinking beautiful armoires & chests. i have a feeling Mr. Turner may win this round, & we will be designing some closet space in the two bedrooms that are currently without them.
 |
| Mr. Turner's splurge- a soapstone fireplace |
some of his other ideas such as keeping windows & door headers at the same height to create a visually pleasing line, and splurging on materials in the right areas are no brainers. i think his advice on not over lighting rooms with ceiling lights is a good one. and i am so glad he mentioned keeping the electrical outlets low & horizontal to look more discreet. i was seriously considering doing this in our house, & now i think i am convinced that it is the right idea.
 |
my favorite tip- well-designed small house can be more livable & enjoyable than McMansions!
well said Mr. Turner |
if you would like to see the full list of 30 tips & ideas you can see that
here at House Beautiful!
Hello Miss Whitney,
ReplyDeleteI know that you say you have enough storage in the Kitchen but I would like to challenge you a little more, really imagine you are cooking in this kitchen. Is there storage for the right things in the right places. For example is your spice storage close to the stove? I find drawers work much better for mixing bowls, pots and pans, storage containers....but make sure the location works as well with the over all layout of the kitchen.
good points kara...i agree drawers are easier for pots and pans, etc. i am going to work with the kitchen designer to get what we want because they are the experts with the knowledge of all of the available components! i hope you are planning on coming out here to durnago soon!
ReplyDelete