> When Cathy and myself moved to Perth Western Australia we ended
> up buying a 6 year old house on a much smaller block, I've missing
> our old home in Melbourne that was built in the late 1930's. New
> homes just miss that character you can build on. Tom won't know
> what to do with himself when he's finished.
We recently bought a house that has a distinct character with a
non-character. It's contemporary in design, but without the insane
bits of nonsense that architects like to put in contemporary homes
just to cause leaks. This one is near the edge, but wisely was
affected by committee to provide much needed sanity. One big advantage
to this design is that it doesn't dictate how it is to be utilized.
The wall space is free-form, allowing the placement of artwork and
pictures without the common constraints of having only one or two
places to put something. We can rearrange the wall hangings and swap
stuff out at will. That's nice.
But, here's the thing. As the space is a little bit more universal in
design, it doesn't force its character on the occupants, furniture
choices or even overall theme. It becomes whatever you want it to be.
This is good for us because we like modern, but do have a handful of
old items. We would not be able to survive well in Tina's kitchen
because the design affects the character too much and even though it
is very nice and fully functional, it just isn't us. My espresso
machine just wouldn't look good in there. I love the tin ceiling, but
it's just not me. That's fine, though. I can still appreciate it since
the entire package is complete and looks so good. It's a nice package
look and even the dishwasher fits in it nicely. That stove is wicked
awesome.
Speaking of the stove, my maternal grandmother never did upgrade from
her old wood burning kitchen stove. I grew up with the psychological
disorder where anything old was bad. This old stove and old methods of
things was way out of my comfort zone. She also had an outhouse and a
spring-fed cistern in the basement with a hand pump up in the kitchen.
That water did taste wonderful. Not sure if the outhouse and cistern
had anything in common. We used to have our family gatherings there at
her house every Thanksgiving until we moved it to my Uncle's house. My
mom used to hate that stove and I definitely did not have any
appreciation for it. But in the end, what was amazing was how good the
food tasted. Food cooked in that stove has never tasted the same
since. She moved to an old-folks home in 1978. The old recipes just
aren't the same. Especially the macaroni and colby cheese.
--
Ken Norton
ken@xxxxxxxxxxx
http://www.zone-10.com
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