Its In The Details

My name is Wanderluster and I’m an HGTV addict. There I said it. Most any night, you can find me watching any number of home decorating shows. Divine Design, Sarah’s House, Home To Stay, and my new favourite Property Virgins… if there is a reno show on, I will find it. And I don’t think I’m the only one. It seems that each one of my friend’s and family’s homes has had at least a little bit of “design TV” influence. Neutral walls, good space planning, wood floors throughout… I don’t think we all came about having this ‘good taste’ in design naturally. Which leads to an entirely new problem… when everybody is playing by the same design rules, how do you make your place stand out?

This weekend, HandyMan and I had the chance to walk through the Royal Ontario Museum. It is simply a stunning place, inside and out. And since we were fortunate enough to actually tour it mid-construction (as part of our book research), we got to see the Before & After. The Before was a study in chaos… angled walls, precarious catwalks, 19 massive steel beams joined in one connection. The After is much more polished but just as much an assault on your senses – which is surprising if you consider that everything is painted the same shade of white. What makes this place GREAT and not just GOOD was Libeskind’s attention to detail. If you look closely, you’ll notice the one-inch reveal around the perimeter of the floor, a small gap where floor meets wall… you ask the question “why did he do this”? You’ll notice the cut-out windows, some high up on the wall, others just rising above the floor level, small enough for young kids to crawl into (which many were doing, by the way). And though you may not see it you’ll definitely notice the gentle upward slope from the front entry to the Crystal Court. It leaves you uneasy and off-balance. All these things combine to make a very unique and memorable space. Like all great spaces, I can’t exactly remember the ‘place’, but I do remember the experience of being there. What will our new place make you feel when you step inside? I’m not sure, but I hope it’s a place you’ll want to come back to.

A Reveal Does Not An Architect Make

HandyMan and I know this person Tomcat who fancies himself quite the architect. In his own home, he's done a total reno top to bottom. This involved ripping out walls, floors, and ceilings. Now normally I would applaud anyone who voluntarily takes on such an undertaking... living in a constant state of dust and construction is tough on the pocketbook and relationships with your co-habitants. But when the end result is just "wrong, wrong, wrong", all I can think is "what a colossal waste of money."

I've found that you can spot a 'good' architect's house by its presence on a street, by the way it stands out from all the others. Unfortunately, you can just as easily spot a 'bad' architect's house. Architect's tend to bring their work home with them, and try and incorporate all the fancy-schmancy things they learn at work into their own homes. Sometimes it works, other times - not so much. Tomcat's house is an example of poor space planning, unnecessary details, and just overall bad design. I think its a result of Tomcat's inexperience. He's probably worked on a few retail or residential spaces in his day job. But while things like a corner reveal or dropped ceiling work well in the latest hip nightclub, in your own home, they just seem out of place.

The space, too, shows the difference between an 'architect' and a 'designer'. An architect (especially an inexperienced one), would spend the money to install cool pocket doors. A designer would realize that behind those pocket doors is a crappy old bathroom with dated looking tiles and old hardware. An architect would use 'in' materials like brazilian cherrywood, grey-tone slate and clean white subway tiles... a designer would realize that its probably not wise to use them all in the same room. Funny, even with HandyMan, he is fantastic at drawing plans, making efficient use of space, but ask him to pick tiles that go together on a fireplace and he's at a loss.

In the end, when you go too far on either spectrum, too architect-y or too designery-y, you're left with an end product that very few 'normal' people can appreciate. HandyMan's and my house will be somewhere in the middle... simple bones with great finishing details. That's really all you need.