For two decades, buyers clamored for homes with dramatic two-story great rooms with cathedral ceilings. Now, those are becoming passé, as many home shoppers see them as wasted space too costly to heat and cool, not to mention the challenge of cobweb removal at 18 feet.
As the housing market takes a breather, it’s time to reconsider the places we live in, says New York architectural design expert Marianne Cusato. She’s the fourth-most influential person in the U.S. homebuilding industry, according to Builder magazine. We asked Cusato, author of a new book on The Value of Design, to identify the 10 biggest home design mistakes today.
(1) The snout house.
The house that’s almost invisible behind the garage. From the street, “the garage is everything. It’s not inviting and approachable,” says Cusato. Turn it sideways or push it to the back, making sure it’s not the prominent feature, she advises. Many communities drafted building codes to effectively ban snout houses, but they “coded in the McMansion” instead, she says, and with it, more mistakes. Such as?
The house that’s almost invisible behind the garage. From the street, “the garage is everything. It’s not inviting and approachable,” says Cusato. Turn it sideways or push it to the back, making sure it’s not the prominent feature, she advises. Many communities drafted building codes to effectively ban snout houses, but they “coded in the McMansion” instead, she says, and with it, more mistakes. Such as?
(2) Endlessly stepped gables. “Everyone tries to put everything into a house, and you end up with houses with 30 gables.”
(3) Sprawling, massive roofs.“McMansion owners wanted all the bells and whistles, so you had these sprawling homes where putting a roof on it was next to impossible. That’s why you get all these giant roof masses. They’re not built on a human scale and now, they’re the hardest houses to sell.” Meanwhile, 1920s bungalows in first-ring suburbs are still selling. Though these had little variety, with their different colors, textures and a constant shape and size, the effect is more aesthetically pleasing and human-scaled, especially when combined with walkable, tree-lined streets.
(4) Inconsistent design. Too many homes pile up gratuitous design elements, resulting in busy, overly detailed facades in contrast to spartan sides, because the budget runs out. “You don’t need a bay window and a Palladian window and everything else all on the front.”
(5) Double-height entrances. Entrances to homes once were simple ground-floor affairs, but now they are fussed up with columns and the like carrying the effect up two floors. “We have homes scaled to cars driving by at 50 miles per hour, not people.”
(6) Dull colors.Color and texture add crucial interest to a neighborhood, but since the 1980s, developers have erred on the safe side with pale neutrals. “There’s a real confidence issue in the building field, yet there’s considerable evidence there are greater resale values when the outsides and interiors aren’t all gray and beige.”
(7) No outside space. Huge homes shoehorned into lots mean all the family’s needs have to be met inside. Add even an 8-by-12-foot porch or a private garden and it makes the home much more livable.
(8) Vertical stripes.“People are more comfortable when the windows are vertically proportioned.” But don’t make everything vertical: If you’re adding interest by changing colors and materials on a house, do it in horizontal bands, which strengthen a home’s appearance.
(9) Faux design.
Elements that depart from common sense – like faux shutters too small to cover the window they adorn and simulated stone floating on a wall unsupported by more stone – weaken a home’s design.
(10) Lack of cross-ventilation.Sprawling floor plans ruin cross-ventilation in big homes; scrimping builders who eliminate side windows sacrifice it in modest ones. Result: Your quality of life suffers.
Cusato blames well-intentioned but misguided public policy for most of these blunders. In Katrina-ravaged New Orleans, she notes, “it was illegal to rebuild the city’s most successful neighborhoods,” because building codes required new construction to have wider roads and deeper setbacks that made most lots unbuildable.
Popular corner stores were outlawed by ordinances permitting only single-use developments.
Popular corner stores were outlawed by ordinances permitting only single-use developments.
“Those are crazy requirements. But they exist all over the country. It’s time to step back and consider what really works.”
