My vision for a new house is to provide a comfortable, tasteful, and memorable space for country living. A house that looks and feels old could accomplish this. More specifically, it would look like an old house that has had high quality renovations and updating over the years.
Why would I want this?
I did not have this in mind prior to living in my current old house so much credit goes there. We have heard many of our visitors ooh and aah over the old house style, and we too enjoy it. But still, I think there has always been some love for the past styles in myself and even in most people. One does not walk through a 1990s neighborhood of well-built houses and soak in the vibes, but a 1900-decade neighborhood easily delivers. I'm sure in 70 years that 1990s neighborhood will too, but why not shortcut that waiting process?
An old-vibe house could be better for the occupants. It would force some design necessities inside and out that I think are missing from 99% of modern construction and adding them back can have subtle but significant effects. Right-sized rooms encourage thoughtful furnishing and lead to creative storage solutions that create a certain type of coziness. Partitioned spaces (not open-concept) provide separation of activities which reduces distractions. Clean exterior lines reduce construction and maintenance complexity. Non-typical quality finish details create something unique and with a great story which builds attachment and love for the place.
And lastly, part of it is just show-boating in the finest sense. It is like a curved porch or cedar fence. It makes people shake their head at the time and expense "wasted" yet evokes a sense of marvel.
What exactly am I thinking?
An 1890s vernacular American farmhouse. The timeframe is when a lot of the earliest wood-frame buildings were being built in this state. Vernacular means in-keeping with local styles, using materials available, and with no academic tradition (not drawing much influence from classical Greek, Roman, Colonial, etc.).
Most examples of this style of house are modest in size. We want something larger and with garage built-in--quite a challenge. The necessary square-footage could possibly be attained in a still proportionally good package by utilizing an L or T shape (traditionally this would be considered as a main house with one or two wings, but I am going to refer to it as two or three wings around a center square). Full cross shape maybe...that would be four wings.
Examples of old houses ~25 feet wide are common. So I think the width of the pieces of the floorplan could feasibly be about that big. Conveniently, this is also a good depth for a garage. Each of the wings would have the same width to keep the roof simple. The garage wing would have to be about 35 feet long to fit three cars. 15-20 feet may be reasonable for the other two wings.
A second floor would contain most of the bedrooms, and some other bonus room type spaces. This would be a very spacious floor and care must be taken to keep it feeling cozy.
An attic would provide a bounty of storage space and free-form open areas (wild kid play area maybe). Many HVAC systems would go in the attic as well. At times I envision my office/man cave being up here but as the barn and other outbuildings evolve I may find that those meet my needs. The attic would absolutely not have any sort of dormers. Generous windows would be fitted at each of the gable ends. One less visible gable--probably the south one--would have a 15 foot section open as a deck with a view. The floor would be wood--small piece maple comes to mind.
A stairway at the front entrance is an important characteristic. Something similar to Eliot and Caroline's would be fitting, but with a second staircase to the attic stacked on top. Some thought would be given to preventing too much heat movement through the stairwell. Modern air circulation systems and better insulation may make this a non-issue.
Main living spaces would be lightly partitioned with large openings and some pocket doors. A large brick "masonry heater" in the middle of the house would be cool if it works. No crappy closets, only small walk-in closets or no closet at all.
Style details
- Queen Anne Victorians can serve (to some extent) as examples of houses with very large mass that remain tasteful. And maybe similar techniques to hide scale/mass can be used.
- Large woodwork like current house
- more...
Why not to do it?
- Unable to package desired features in a house of this style.
- Introspection may reveal that I am just chasing nostalgia.
- Unable to commit time or money to doing it right.
- In some sense it would be a relief to be talked out of it.