When Does the Fun Part Start?

OK, so we have carefully considered the financial aspects in light of future probabilities. Now we can move on to the fun stuff.

The first thing we need is inspiration. We are just about neck deep in mediocrity within most of our housing stock nationally, although I would have to say that the B/CS area is a bit better than average because of good affordability. We need to somehow filter out all the junk food designs and achieve something that has lasting quality.

I think a good way to do that is to look at old houses and not new houses. Youth tends to make us all look better but when you find a house that has aged well than you know you have found something worth emulating. Fashions come and go fairly quickly, what we see in all the magazines this year is often different than what we will see next year.

Sometimes we favor a particular style and we can find archetypes to emulate. The popular style of the day tends to be somewhat eclectic but we often hear words like, old world, Tuscan, Mediterranean, etc.. No matter which aesthetic turns you on try to find a variety of classic examples that are similar in size to serve as your inspiration.

Make sure that your children will also be inspired. Green is not just a fad to the youth in America. The message on all fronts is that we need to do better and I think the youth are adapting to this idea quickly.

Quality

As we consider what kind of home we want to create, quality also needs to be at the beginning of the process. When times are good it seems like just about anything will sell but when things are slow it is a different matter entirely.

At this point, we all know that what happened in the past 30 years can't be continued. We are in fact heavily dependent on oil which we do not have. Taxes will have to go up to pay for the baby boomers retirement, this huge deficit, an aging infrastructure, etc.. and at the same time we have continuing pressure from foreign competition which will continue to decrease or average standard of living.

I don't want to come across as a doomsayer here. These are just the realities which we need to address as we plan our new homes. Regardless of these things we can make the next 25 years the best years ever by careful planning. Basically all these things point toward higher property taxes and energy cost which will rise much faster than inflation.

We are only at the 50% mark in oil supply and we are already seeing some evidence of the market volatility when the supply does not keep up with demand. Fortunately here in Texas we have good supplies of natural gas which will help to insulate us some but if this is a house you plan on being in twenty years from now, you need to be concerned about efficiency and maintenance cost.

On the high end, say 3000 sq. ft. and greater, quality of design becomes very important. The McMansion days are over. Home buyers 10 years from now are going to be more discriminating than they have in the past.

On the low end, economy is going to be very important. A house that has simple elegance and is very efficient is going to be valued.

Howdy

I thought I might try my hand at blogging since everyone else seems to be also.


I am a residential and light commercial building designer here in Bryan / College Station, Texas. Before I started designing I built houses and before that I started out in the housing industry as a trim and cabinet carpenter. I am one of the few people around who where actually born here and graduated from Consol. in 1980.

I suppose my goal is to promote my business (of coarse) but I also want to promote good design. I want to accomplish this goal by focusing on how you the home owner go about the process of creating a home and also I hope to use photos to show good examples in our area.

Well, I guess that is enough of an opening statement.

I guess I need to get busy taking pictures and such-
More to follow...