« January 2006 | Main | March 2006 »
February 23, 2006
Basics
While talking to people at our open house I was reminded of a few basic things that I learned while designing our house. Here they are.
- In Crestview, houses cost about $150 - $200/sqft, and you can build for about $100 - $175/sqft.
- A construction loan is based on the value of the property after work is done, not the current value.
- Pools and decks return about 40% of what they cost in resale.
- A small bedroom is 10 ft by 10 ft. You really shouldn't go smaller than that.
- 13x13 is nice but not a big bedroom. 14x14 is ok. 15x15 is great. 16x16 is crazy big.
- A shirt on a hanger is 2 feet wide. If you want to hang stuff up on both sides of a walk-in closet, that's 2 feet on each side, and 3 in the middle. 7 feet.
- A hallway is 3 ft minimum, and that's really small. 3.5 ft is ok. 4 ft is nice.
- Stairs take up about one full bedroom of space. Stairs in a straight line take up 60 sqft out of each floor, for a total of 120 sqft, but if you start to fall at the top, you're going all the way downstairs. Add a landing (is that why they call it a landing?) in the middle and it's 180 sqft.
- 8 ft ceiling is low, 9 is high, 10 is, well, just get out a ruler and see how high that really is before you spec it.
- Closets and bathrooms can have kludgy shapes, but bedrooms should be rectangles.
- Exterior lights look better if you can't see the light source.
- Every room should have windows on 2 walls.
- Sometimes a window has to be in an odd spot inside, to be in a good spot outside.
- It's not how many feet of pipe you have that drives cost, it's how many times it pops out of the wall. Sink? 1000 bucks. Tub? 1000 bucks. Another sink? 1000 bucks. It's enough to make you rethink those his-and-her toilets.
Posted by David at 11:45 PM | Comments (5)
DIY Solar Power
Speaking of reducing those energy bills...
David and I have tried hard to design the house for eco-friendliness. Although the house will be pretty conventional in form, we decided to:
- Angle the roof for the best access to capturing solar energy
- Reduce the amount of windows (and thereby heat) on the west-facing portion of the house
- Plan for as much rainwater capture as possible
- Reuse as many of the materials in the existing home as possible
- Create comfortable outdoor spaces instead of increasing indoor square footage
- Use environmentally-friendly materials whenever possible, like Marmoleum and IPE
The solar panel thing has had us stumped, it seems so expensive to break into this market when it seems like fuel cell technology is right around the corner, but it turns out that going solar little by little might not be as expensive as I had originally thought. The comments on that post are enlightening--just as many great ideas and experiences shared as in the post itself.
Posted by Christiane at 12:06 PM | Comments (0)
February 22, 2006
Crestview Station Web Site
I just stumbled upon www.crestviewstation.com.
Seems to be a quickie site. They just posted a pdf of a print brochure and translated it to Flash. Still, there are grainy maps and artists depictions. The PDF is 1,143 KB, and has the most detail. I'm sure there is a lot to learn, but for now it all looks like good news. I'm pretty happy that the view from our deck will be roof tops and not chemical plant pipes, or the ass-end of a movie theater.
Posted by David at 01:59 PM | Comments (0)
February 21, 2006
Zowie, Zillow
When I do information design, I usually look for data that tells a story so plainly, that it seems blunt, almost a little rude. This is where Zillow comes in. It has some really blunt data. How about the value of your home trended over the past 10 years, against average homes in your zip code, city, and the United States?
But here's what you really want to see. An aerial photo of your street, with the price of your neighbors home superimposed on their roofs. Now that's explicit.
If this was accurate, it would really be freaky. The value of our home at the time I bought it is off by about 15%.
Update: I found one that's accurate. The interface is not as good, and no maps. But the numbers are based on sales and city appraisals.
Posted by David at 10:24 PM | Comments (0)
February 20, 2006
Green Is Beautiful
When there is nothing going on at the house, I surf the midcenturymodern tag @ Flickr.
This is dangerous because I come up with ideas. Ideas can be very dangerous when one is in the middle of construction.
So, I distract myself with philosophical afterthought and questions such as...
- Is there a place for modernist design in a home with small children?
- Are credenzas proof of a higher power at work in the universe?
- What if I never want to leave my kitchen?
- Do these people own a cat?
Posted by Christiane at 06:29 PM | Comments (1)
February 18, 2006
Crestview Station
We got a notice in the mail alerting us to an application for site development at Crestview Station (where the old Huntsman chemical plant rests in peace).
The applicant is proposing to construct four multi-family buildings and four parking garages, with associated streets and utilities.
The applicant in question is Bury + Partners. I'm excited--these are the people that did the GSD&M building across from Whole Foods. When building, they were very careful to reduce impervious cover and the drainage impact on Shoal Creek, preserve existing natural resources on the banks of the creek, and promote water conservation through xeriscaping.
A quick look at the application website doesn't reveal much detail, so I googled it. The basics about the site development were reported in the Austin Biz Journal last July, including an overview:
- 150,000 square feet of retail and office space.
- Roughly 500 single-family lots.
- Up to 600 multifamily units.
- Upgrades to existing ball fields.
- Environmental cleanup with a price tag exceeding $3 million.
I'm particularly interested in the "cleanup." Every few weeks last fall, we would hear a strange noise coming from Huntsman, a loud hissing sound that permeated our home even with all the windows and doors closed. Usually the noise lasted less than 10 minutes, but one night it droned on for over an hour. We called the fire department, and they went to investigate, but we never found out what the source of the noise was. It sounded eerily like gas escaping from a pipe. It wasn't exactly comforting.
I heard some neighborhood buzz a while back about not wanting a direct thru-road to Crestview from this new neighborhood. I'm not sure I understood why. If I were a parent moving into one of those new homes or condos, my greatest concern would be the walkability of getting to and from the elementary school every day. I'd love to see more families move into the area, but I wouldn't blame anyone for being a little freaked out about their kiddos having to cross the lightrail tracks. The journal article mentions "narrow streets, alleys, ponds and community parks easily reachable from every home;" I hope they are thinking about pedestrian safety as they develop the plans.
Apparently there was also a Statesman article (cached but not up on the Statesman site) that noted:
- 550-600 apartments will be built in three and four story buildings at a density of 60 units per acre.
- 500 single family lots will only be 25-30 feet wide.
- 150,000 sf of retail and office space will be built into six two-story buildings with retail on ground floor and office above.
- 17 acre North Austin Optimists ball fields will be preserved as well as 4 more acres for open space.
Wahoo! They're keeping the ballparks.
As for the businesses... I have to admit that Burnet Road just keeps getting cooler. I remember that 12 years ago, when I used to take Cap Metro up to Northcross Mall from the campus area for a summer job, I thought that Burnet Road was a concrete jungle. Nowadays (and I am sure David will expound on this), it seems like it just keeps attracting and sustaining funky mom-and-pops. I rarely leave north-central Austin to do my shopping or go out to eat. I hope North Lamar starts catching up ;-)
Posted by Christiane at 10:36 PM | Comments (3)
February 16, 2006
Countertops
Since we're on a kitchen kick...
Here's the laminate I picked out for the countertops. I dig the cabinet faces too... but I'd rather have white than birch.
(Click it to see full-size)
Posted by Christiane at 08:42 PM | Comments (5)
February 15, 2006
Greeeen!
Yes, I am still geeking out on the landscaping theme.
I spent some time yesterday trying to figure out where to put the rainwater barrels. After surfing for a while, I realized that we may need more than one or two 75-gallon barrels. In fact, we may need a high-capacity cistern.
See, since our roof is a shed roof that drains on only the south side of the home, a lot of water will be dumped into one spot. I read that a 1-inch rain may produce around 500 gallons of runoff from our roof (it's a little less than 1000sf, and we're going with composite shingle tile, so there may be a 10% loss or more due to evaporation).
Now, I just don't see us getting a 500 gallon tank. I don't know where the heck we'd put it, and I bet that most of the year it would be pretty empty. After surfing, it seems like a 6ft tall green polyurethane tank that holds around 300 gallons should do us well. It would probably fit well between the windows on the south side, and it would provide a good frontyard/backyard access point for irrigation.
In a few weeks, when we go over the plumbing plan, we need to find out if recycling the greywater from the second floor is feasable also.
Speaking of green choices, I need to get my butt back down to Eco-Wise to pick up some samples of the yellow (or yellower) Marmoleum that we were hoping to use in the kitchen...
Beyond ecological benefits, I'm thinking about aesthetics, too. I noticed that one of the newer homes down the street has a flagstone skirt instead of concrete. Looks great, and it would help create more of the indoor/outdoor marriage that we've been looking for since one of the walls in the livingroom will be masonry.
I'm wondering if this would clash horribly with this fabulous black granite driveway I saw yesterday. We can't really afford to pave, but I did love the look of the dark, finely ground stone, and it seems like it would be okay for riding bikes and trikes.
Posted by Christiane at 08:25 AM | Comments (4)
February 14, 2006
Modern Austin
Some friends of ours live in a small section of town with a number of homes designed by A.G Stenger. They remind me a bit of some of the homes in our area that we're designed in the 60's. Just a hint of modern and very retro chic.
He signed their house, ya'll. Isn't that cool? (Yes, you may now label me as a geek in whatever fashion you like.)
From a Google search, I stumbled upon LiveModern.com, a clearinghouse of modernist architectural resources.
From there, I leapt to the drool-worthy Stenger photoalbum from west Austin.
Eventually, I surfed to the Austin Modernists blog.
I am a sated... for now ;-)
One of the things I love about the Stenger homes is the blend of harsh lines with organic matter. Usually the stark angular facade of the home includes a bit of stone siding which blends with the stone walkway, driveway, and/or landscaping. Given that the area is heavy with limestone, the homes almost seem to grow out from the ground. The lots seem to include at least 30% old-growth foliage, mostly natural to the greenbelt area. The colors of the homes are rich browns, ochres, coppers, and highlight the woody hills.
Given that I am also a big fan of earthships and eco-houses made from cob, adobe, strawbale and stone, I really like how Stenger's houses somehow strike a different but equally primal chord in me.
Now, someone get me away from the internets. They are hypnotizing me.
Posted by Christiane at 04:26 PM | Comments (2)
Come On In
Spring must be around the corner because I've caught the gardening bug.
I was driving around our neighborhood admiring some of the landscaping people have done. I started taking pictures, but when I got home I noticed that it isn't really the right time of year to do justice to their yards.
What I ended up with were some pictures of some really cool front entrances. David has always talked about entrances, how they should be a warm transition between the inside and outside worlds, not just "a door." We talk a lot about what the space should look and feel like just inside the front door, but we haven't talked much about the outside.
Today, I saw some doors that just said, "Come on in..." or don't! The porches, patios, or stoops were just as inviting. I only drove up and down three or four streets, so this cross-section certainly doesn't represent all of the really cool doors in the neighborhood, but it gives one a feel for the diversity of styles and messages.
Some things I noticed:
- There are a lot of red doors in our area.
- There is a lot of super-cool and funky ironwork at many of the entrances.
- I think it is really impressive when people have glass front doors. To me, it says a lot about feeling like you live in a safe place.
- The numbers and mailboxes are often as unique as the houses.
Our neighborhood was built using a lot of very generic floorplans and facades. Over the years, people have made amazing modifications. What shocks me is when two houses that started out looking pretty much the same evolve into two totally unique homes, one Spanish courtyard and the next French cottage. Some have had the siding redone in cob or adobe, others in metal siding. Reminds me of the Brentwood/Crestview bumper stickers that say "Close In But Far Out." Where can I get one of those?!
Posted by Christiane at 03:41 PM | Comments (0)
L.A. Obscura
I just stumbled upon this great mid-century modern exhibit site. Really, gorgeous architecture AND great photography? I just don't know if I could handle it all in one viewing.
*droooooooooool*
Posted by Christiane at 10:18 AM | Comments (1)
February 07, 2006
An Angled Setback
From the Austin Chronicle
"At last Thursday's City Council meeting it was McCracken vs. McMansions. A resolution initiating changes to city code to ensure that development is consistent with existing neighborhoods, sponsored by McCracken, passed unanimously. Council is set to vote on similar interim rules at tonight's meeting to quell a perceived influx of building permits before the so-called McMansion ordinance is finalized in March. Materials accompanying the proposed measure state that 'due to an increase in property values and the desire to live in Austin's central city area, many property owners are demolishing or moving smaller older homes and replacing them with larger homes known as McMansions.' The new ordinance would seek to regulate such constructions by employing any number of the following methods: changing the maximum allowed building height for single-family uses, creating a new floor-to-area ratio (meaning the ratio of building square footage to lot size), applying compatibility standards to new homes or remodeled homes with significant additions, revising building setbacks for homes exceeding a certain size, limiting home size based on the average size of nearby homes, or providing an angled stepback from the front property line of the lot so a new or remodeled home would not tower over the adjacent street. - D.M."
Seriously? They put the word "McMansion" in the official language? Can we replace "smaller older homes" with "Cracker Box Houses"?
I'm not against the City Council addressing this issue. I'm just against them being silly about it.
Posted by David at 08:37 AM | Comments (1)