Do great houses like fine wine get better with age?

Posted on March 7, 2011 by Space & Style

Old money patina

A well built house can with the passing of time take on a character, aesthetic appeal and patina that simply can’t be faked.  Period properties that have been scorched by the Sun, soaked by the rain, frozen by snow and ice and buffeted by winds through countless cycles of British weather, have the battle scars to prove it and wear them with pride. The weathering of the materials used in the construction of period homes display the houses history.

Period property

Character

The character of traditional materials improve with age

Traditional materials used on period properties age very nicely just like those fine wines. Stone in particular looks better and improves with age. The aging or weathering process on stone, which traps dirt in recesses and crevices whilst battering the more exposed faces to remove signs of newness, provides an understanding of time passing and history.

Lichen or moss growth on stone, slate, or clay brickwork or tiles on mature buildings provide a sense that the home has been and still is struggling with the elements. It is though nature is trying to claim the building back, but for the moment is defeated. The same happens to timber, flaking windows and aged wood can take on a look that nature is simply claiming it back. “Nature-ised” was term used by my joiner when scarfing new timber into the 100 old wooden cills that had come to resemble the bark on a tree on my last house.

Choose your materials carefully

For a building to age this way and to blend with the environment, the choice of materials is crucial. No matter how long you wait, plastic fascias and modern facing bricks will never develop the rich patina found on traditional materials. Inevitably, traditional materials will cost more; handmade bricks could add over 4% to a build cost, clay roof tiles will also cost more than their concrete imitators, whereas wooden windows will not only add to the cost but will require regular maintenance. Finding a balance you are happy with, is more often than not, determined by the size of your budget and just like fine wine, the more you pay the more you appreciate it.

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Bathroom Bliss

Posted on February 20, 2011 by Space & Style

Bathrooms are the one area in the house where good design really matters. Relaxing, bathing, brushing teeth, and storage all need to be accommodated in an area that is warm, easily cleaned and above all private. Bathrooms work best as private havens when planned in a way that will result in a calming and practical layout that reflects your style. Consideration needs to be given at an early stage to pipe runs, ventilation, lighting, ergonomics and personal taste.

Original bathroom plan

When refitting a bathroom, the easiest and cheapest solution is simply to locate the new suite in the same location as the old one. However, this approach whilst providing a budget makeover may well miss an opportunity for a clever bit of creative planning.  When considering the costs involved for a new suite, the bill for a plumber to install it and the outlay on new tiling and fittings etc. the added cost of say moving some pipes or relocating a door may result in a higher build cost, but the results could be well worth it.bathroom redesigned

In compact square or rectangular bathrooms, common ways of achieving a better layout can be achieved by placing the bath across the room as opposed to one side. Opening up an older bathroom to an adjacent separate WC is also a sensible move.  Whilst converting an unused bedroom into a bathroom or knocking an unused bedroom into a small bathroom is another inspired solution. The range of bathroom suites, fixtures and fittings available today, means that with a little creative input, it is possible to achieve bathroom bliss out of even the most uninspiring and uninviting spaces.

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Extra space without extra rooms

Posted on February 5, 2011 by Space & Style

Do small rooms mean more money?

How many times have you switched on the television to catch an estate agent in one of the home shows proclaiming the golden estate agents rule of “more rooms equals more money”? In pursuit of this rule, properties are built with rooms crammed in to as small as space as possible.  Typically new homes have a small bedroom barely large enough for a single bed let alone a wardrobe, all in the quest of more profit for the seller. This rule means that small to medium sized properties In the UK housing market, are sold on the basis of what is convenient for developers and estate agents, as opposed to what is good for the home buyer.   This approach has resulted in large numbers of homes being totally inadequate in terms of space for socialising, playing, doing school homework or simply functioning as homes should do, which is all about living.

Extension fareham

How big is your home?

The policy of selling homes by number of rooms, keeps homebuyers in the dark as to how big or small their home actually is and results in unusable spaces in homes. How often have you complained that the sofa won’t fit against that wall, or we have no space to entertain when our friends come around?

This is not the case in other countries, elsewhere the basis for buying or building homes is on the amount of floor area and not on the number of bedrooms.  No wonder why surveys have found that the UK is the bottom of the polls when it comes to the smallest room size and that space needed by homeowners for everyday activities does not match the space provided by the market. The average size of a new home in the UK is less than ¾ the size of a typical Spanish or French new build and only about a 1/3 the size of an Australian or United States new home. Ladies, this is one area where bigger does mean better.

Extend your home to suit your lifestyle

Increasingly UK homeowners are demanding extra living space, but not necessary extra rooms.  These people have a desire for living in a way that challenges Britain’s house price obsession, as well as the estate agents golden rule.  Are these people risking their investment by going against the advice of the estate agent, or are they simply asking for a property that best suits their needs and lifestyle?

The Cedars in Fareham is a typical case in point. The owners are part of a growing trend of people who share the view of wanting to extend their home to create more space, but not wanting more rooms. The original house at 207m2 (2,228 square foot) which is smaller than an average new build in the States, is being extended to the rear by the addition of a single and 2 storey extension that will add a further 50m2 (538 square foot) of living space. The extension remodels the existing bland rear elevation adding space to existing rooms. As a result of the work, the kitchen, living room, guest bedroom and 2 bathrooms will all grow in size, at the same time the dining room is relocated to the front of the house in a larger area, all without adding a single extra room.

Whilst estate agents up and down the country might shudder at the thought of not adding rooms and will probably wince at the idea of having to use a calculator to work out floor areas rather than just counting the number of bedrooms, the owner of the Cedars is one savvy homeowner who knows his mind when it comes to how his family want to live.

Challenge your estate agent

Next time you decide to view a house for sale, ask the estate agent how big the house is, not how many bedrooms it has?

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