Monday, September 24, 2018

INTELLIGENT HOUSE HUNTING: Getting Past Location, Location, Location

›
You're better off with a small sunny house than a big one with lousy solar orientation. Everyone’s heard that old real estate saw a...
Monday, September 17, 2018

A FORGOTTEN SOLDIER: The Postwar Home Styles of the 1940s

›
In 1947, builder William Levitt got the postwar housing ball rolling with his first mass-produced tract at Levittown, New York. This is ...
Monday, September 10, 2018

METAPHORICAL TOUCHSTONES: Don't Design Without Them

›
Ray Lifchez When I was an architecture student at Berkeley, I had a professor named Raymond Lifchez (LIF-shay) who insisted that we ch...
Wednesday, September 5, 2018

THE VICTORIAN HOME: Big House, Big Bills

›
Victorian houses: Big, because they could be. This is the Boudrow House in Berkeley, California, c. 1889. (Photo: Daniella Thompson) ...
Monday, August 27, 2018

IF IT AIN'T BROKE, DON'T FIX IT: Needless Home "improvements"

›
This old shake roof may look ugly, but that doesn't mean that it leaks. “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” I don’t know who came u...
Tuesday, July 3, 2018

GETTING TO THE GARDEN

›
Is this what you look at on your way out to the back yard? No wonder you never go out there. Author's Note: I'll be at my second...
Tuesday, June 26, 2018

GETTING A HANDLE ON LOCKSETS

›
No "limp fish" handshake here. (Image courtesy of Old House Journal) An old teacher of mine always insisted that a firm han...