Architectural Details Make Your House a Home
Bland Interior Design Doesn't Impress Buyers Anymore
Dec 6, 2008
New homes built in the last 50 years have relied upon mass-produced materials, easy-to-install fixtures, neutral colors, and one-size-fits-all floor plans. Exterior elements in recent years tended to favor the "transitional" with numerous faux roof lines, non-functional porches, Palladian windows with pretty "mullions", or else were poor imitations of Arts & Crafts bungalows of the earlier part of the century.
Ticky-Tacky House Design Didn't End in the 1950s
What distinguishes this style of design in the minds of the buyers? Very little. Should you be so brave as to purchase one of these houses and wish to turn it into a more individualized home, you could do quite well to add your own architectural details that will set your residence apart from the rest. Architectural details include crown molding, baseboards, door frames, ceiling beams, ceiling medallions, fireplace surrounds and mantels, certain kinds of flooring, scrollwork, staircases and banisters, etc. They add interest, character, and visual variety to surfaces. At the same time they imply a feeling of history and place a building in its design period context. These design elements can make a small room seem bigger and a large empty space seem more intimate.
Many homes built since the 1960s have no crown molding which was so popular in the first half of the 20th century. In the interests of cost, cleanliness, and ease of installation, baseboards disappeared in favor of vinyl cove molding. Initially created to serve industrial applications, it moved first into kitchens and bathrooms, and eventually appeared throughout a house.
Window sills shrank from a nice size for a houseplant or two, to a narrow nonfunctional strip of wood. Door frames no longer boasted corner medallions, and ceilings which once featured beams, embossed tin, stylish papers or plaster filigree, instead turned into acoustic tile or "popcorn" sprayed-on finishes.
Discover Resources for Salvaged Architectural Elements
An afternoon spent rummaging around the yard of an architectural salvage firm or an evening online at websites such as Restoration.com can turn up fireplace surrounds and mantels, old doors, fixtures and hardware, claw-foot tubs and pedestal sinks, multi-paned windows, wrought iron gates and fencing, kitchen cabinets, lighting, stairway parts, plumbing parts, restorable stoves and iceboxes, bricks and pavers, ceramic tiles, and so on. Every era of American design, but most commonly the 19th century, will be represented. Keep in mind that reproductions are not necessarily cheaper than the real originals, although they might be more available or can be custom designed to your needs.
Do the Labor Yourself and Save Money
As an example, try adding do-it-yourself columns in the opening between a dining room and kitchen, or in the corner of a kitchen to visually set apart a smaller dining area. Attach crown molding at the top of 1"x8" planks to represent the column's capital, and baseboard molding at the bottom. Paint them to match the wall color, or white to contrast and stand out from the walls.
If your fireplace is a modern gas-or-electric box insert, it may not have a real mantel. You can build one: oak planks (1"x8"), with mitered joints at the corners. Attach a strip of wood molding in a dentil pattern, and stain the mantel to match the room's wood trim. This can wrap around the chimney box if there is one, fitting snugly and attached with L-shaped brackets. A "real" fireplace surround with mantel can be purchased with the insert, if you are not the do-it-yourself type.
Doing the work yourself will give you the satisfaction of saving money and personalizing your home to your own taste. Looking through design, architectural and decorating books and magazines will give you a host of ideas. You don't have to live inside a plain white box!
Reference:
HGTV.com Architectural Elements
