29 March - Cape Cod renovations - what not to do (part II)

Nice paint, but those fish-scale shingles don't belong.

This one isn't as bad as the previous one. In fact, with one or two exceptions, it's actually pretty nice. I like the color choice, and the windows have been upgraded without destroying the simple charm of the Cape Cod. The french doors in the basement are a nice touch. The landscaping is well done as well.

However, there are two problems with this house:

1. Although they come from the same geographic area, Cape Cod houses are not the same thing as colonial houses, so the very formal colonial touches like the trim above the windows and around the door doesn't really belong. But that's not the real problem here.

2. The real problem here is that the very formal trim around the entry door and above the first floor windows clashes quite badly with the very informal fish-scale shingles under the gable.They should have just left the clapboards in place above the window. That would have made the slightly out-of-character colonial trim (as well as that nice round attic vent) the emphasis of the house.

27 March - Cape Cod renovations: what not to do

What were they thinking? This looks like an episode of bad design 101. Take a nice simple Cape Cod and add a really ugly 1970's upper story. News flash: adding shutters to the upper story window doesn't make it tie in with the rest of the house. And that phony wrought iron railing isn't fooling anyone - there's no access to that potentially-nice little front deck. Now it just looks stupid. As, I'm sorry to say, does the whole house.

Cape Code renovations - a coat of paint

One simple update for a Cape Cod is with not much more than a coat of paint. I watched them replace the siding of the house above over the summer. When they were done, it looked just like it did before they started - classy.

As for the one below, it's an unusual color choice but it makes me smile every time we walk by.

20 March - the ubiquitous Cape Cod

The ubiquitous Cape Cod

This is the first in a series of comments about a house style that's pretty common in this section of West Seattle - the Cape Cod. I'd bet that most of them were built in the years following WWII, before ranch style houses became popular. Almost all of them were probably two bedroom, one bathroom, less than 1,000 square feet in size, and because of their simplicity, cheap to build.

What are the characteristics of the Cape Cod?

A Cape Cod is usually one-story. It has clapboard siding mostly (but not always). It has a low-pitched roof-line, with minimal fascia (roof overhang). The shape is usually square (but not always). The front door is usually in the center. There is seldom much in the way of ornamentation.

There are numerous examples of renovated Cape Cods around, and I'll be commenting on the good, the bad, and the ugly. Stay tuned - pictures (but not film) to follow.

15 March 2012

Why yes, my architect DID used to design double-wides. Why do you ask?

This house was apparently abandoned or foreclosed last fall. Aside from its resemblance to a double-wide, it isn't terrible.  For the most part, it looks well-kept. Nice paint, nice windows. But there are at least three serious issues:

1. What's with the highway construction blocks for landscaping? They look trashy. Either plant something to cover them, cover them with tile, or tear them out and put in a rockery.

2. Speaking of looking trashy, check out the guard rail in the picture below. Really? Do you expect this house to sell with crap like that?

3. You can't see it from the picture below, but the house numbers are actually written on the front door frame. How cheap can you get?

13 March - Christmas leftover

What a great idea for decorating your house for Christmas!

I like this craftsman style house a lot. The sage green is one of my favorite colors. My *only* complaint (and it's a tiny one) is that the lavender color is too light. A dark purple would look better, I think.

9 March 2012

Taken March 8. I guess Spring is getting close. I hope Spring is getting close.

8 March 2012

All that's missing is a dead refrigerator on the lawn

All together now:

I scream
You scream
We all scream
"Eyesore"!

The paint's shot

There's some kind of ratty, torn, plastic film inside the windows.

No glass in the boarded-up basement windows