Goodbye to the 2 Story Foyer by Hobbs’ Ink Custom Home Design
A year ago, Builder Magazine Online published the 50 Ways for Home Builders to Waste Money. I echo the sentiment of Builder mistake number 12 on their list of 50 and believe that it is even truer now in today’s economy than ever before.
“Rely on volume spaces for ‘Wow’ factor. Those double-height foyers may have dazzled prospective buyers five years ago, but today they are often seen as the building-equivalent of the Hummer. These non-functional voids are expensive to frame, insulate, drywall, and paint (the minute the ladder goes up, so do your labor costs) and more expensive for the homeowner to heat and cool.—J.S.” Builder Magazine Online, Aug 10, 2010.
One of my clients, building a very large home, was opposed, almost to the point of it being a moral issue, to having any two story spaces in their home. And, they are not alone. From the most modest home we have on the boards to the largest, I can’t think of a single homeowner who wants a two story foyer.
Remember the many two story entry halls with curving staircases and round-top windows that builders were building and homeowners were buying willy-nilly in the eighties? Now my clients are coming through the doors with that in mind as what NOT to do.
One hears a lot of bashing of American tastes and American wastefulness. There’s the famous old quote about how no one ever went broke under estimating the taste of the American public. I have to say that at this point in time, I think someone actually could go broke doing that in this market. The public has spoken. And, what we have heard is that they like warm, cozy, friendly spaces, not grandiose statements of perceived style.
Mid-century modern, Prairie, Craftsman are all popular with the homeowners we design for. A home we called Hill Country Fusion won a national design award and has gotten national media recognition and lots of kudos in the last year. It has low pitched roofs, sturdy timbers, natural stone, and a modest entry. It follows the principles we have learned from our clients. They want beauty, function and grace, but they do NOT want ostentation. They want a comfortable home but they want to minimize their carbon footprint where possible and they want efficiency for their household budgets.
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