Big Brand New Teardown Bedrooms Ought to be a lot Better

It seems "wow" at first but I don't feel so good in there.

If you build 4,500 square feet spec houses, you can afford a day with an architect to design the master suite.

Or you can buy A Pattern Language and skim patterns 127, 136, 144, 187, 188, 189, 190, and 196. (I'll get to A Pattern Language in a minute.)


Or you can build this: A 4-door, 10' double tray ceiling, "shock and awe" master. On a checklist, it's pretty darn good. And it's BIG!

I see these over and over again. I presume builders, investors, bankers, and brokers follow the herd for safety.

A running conversation with Holly at Things That Inspire focused me two ideas:

1. Can you bathe and dress without disturbing the loved one sleeping or ill in bed?
2. What makes a bedchamber, particularly a marriage bed, feel private and cozy?

Then Brad Heppner gave Holly, Claire and I a tour of one of his 4,500 square foot designs. The bed chamber itself was small, plain, peaceful and private. After four years THIS is the bedroom I remember most.

It's not about style, fixtures, or finishes. I've seen it done very well in houses by Brad, Joel Kelly, Rodolfo Castro, Stan Dixon, Brian Ahern, Cara Cummins and Jose Tavel, Spitzmiller and Norris, Bobby McAlpine, Dencity Design, and more. Big and small, modernist and traditional.

A few quotes from A Pattern Language:

136. COUPLE'S REALM "...it needs some kind of a double door, an ante-room, to protect its privacy."

144. BATHING ROOM "...they must be able to have a shower, or use the toilet, unseen, when they want to."

187. MARRIAGE BED "...an intimate anchor point for their lives; slightly enclosed, with a low ceiling or a canopy, with the room shaped to it; perhaps a tiny room built around the bed with many windows."

188. BED ALCOVE "The valuable space around the bed is good for nothing except access to the bed ... dressing, working, and storage of personal belongings which people stuff uncomfortably into the corners of their bedrooms - in fact, need their own space, and are not at all well met by the left over areas around a bed."

189. DRESSING ROOM "Dressing and undressing, storing clothes, having clothes lying around, have no reason to be part of any larger complex of activities. Indeed they disturb other activities."

190. CEILING HEIGHT VARIETY :...in an intimate nook, or over a double bed, where the social distance is no more than five or six feet, the ceiling has to be very low."

196. CORNER DOORS "The success of a room depends to a great extent on the position of the doors. If the doors create a pattern of movement which destroys the places in the room, the room will never allow people to be comfortable."

note: floorplan floorplan master bedroom closets doors

Bonding with a mansion: "The kids were riding cardboard down the stairs"

It wasn't staged for sale or precious like a show house. The mom, dad, children, and dogs were at home, the architect, the builder, the artist, and the craftsmen were visiting, plus guests. Overheard: "They are really living in here."

On Saturday Corrina Sephora Mensoff showed her work in a private home. The owners invited Corrina to feature her sculptures, paintings and her commissions for the house most notably the grand stair and the fireplaces. Lucky me: Architecture, design, art, sculpture, and Corrina all in one place for a little while.

And there was something I didn't expect, an emotional resonance. (Hat tip to Ryan Gravel, he'll know what I mean.)

Brad Heppner and Vern Vanderkleed of Benecki Fine Homes, the architect and the builder, saw how the family lived the house. They'd worked here more the two years.The owners had been in for a year. Was it working?

 
It's a big private home more the 10,000 square feet. I took these two grainy pictures so you can get a sense of the most formal area.

I found Brad and Vern chatting in the bedroom hall. They glanced around remembering challenges, solutions and dozens of craftsmen and artisans who made it happen.

Brad asked Vern if there'd been any changes. Vern said they'd put another door in the library and added a few can lights in the basement. The owner moved his office up to the "attic" where it was a little quieter.

"But you know, they really live here."


See Corrina's stair rail?

A bit about Corrina: She's the blacksmith / metal worker / artist / teacher with studios at the Goat Farm. She has more talent, energy, heart, and good humor than most of us. You should meet her because all that good stuff will rub off on you. You've no doubt seen her whimsical "Sun Moon Nautilus Passage" gate at the Atlanta Botanical Gardens.


Corrina and friends with her 2013 Art Papers Auction work.

Thanks so much.