a split-level fixer-upper: now we know what we are not missing, at all

Tuesday, November 27, 2007

now we know what we are not missing, at all

i just found some old images of our house from the time we moved in with yellow windows, and shiny gold patterned wallpaper.

soon after the wallpaper was removed, the place became the "house of tools and mess". this is an image of the entrance area (door is to the right, not visible). i hope not too many people came over or stopped by, ... or if they did, they could forgive this unsightly "welcome".

the walls were so dirty, at places the white washed wood appeared to be greasy and wet. the color of the original carpet is a mystery we never could solve. it didn't matter after all, for we only had to look at it before we actually moved in.

Welcome

“There was a time in my life where I remember thinking to myself hey, you know, you're doing OK. You're not even 30 and you're married, you own a home and you have this career. And you really have your ($&*#) together and you've really sorted some things out, and you should be really proud of yourself.
And then I remember thinking that a house does not make you a better person, or a more complete person. It's just a house. And it's the things that you do in that home, and who you do it with and all that stuff, that's far, far more important.”
(Kathleen Edwards,
NPR Interview, Jan 2012)

A cookie-cutter split-level

"the split-level is an original type that represents a significant time in the history of North American housing, the postwar building boom (and it) has a cultural value worth preserving.
(…) this is unlikely to occur until the split-level acquires widespread cachet, which it currently lacks, or the stock becomes endangered.
Right now there is a surplus of cookie-cutter split-levels strewn across the continent. These buildings will continue to come down – which is wasteful, because many of them are structurally sound. When people talk about sustainability, they are usually referring to new architecture (...) but when you figure that most of the energy that goes into a building comes from the one-time act of construction, you are already ahead when you can keep a building rather than demolish it."
(Dwell magazine, Dec/Jan 2008)