"patrick conroy" wrote in message
...
|
| But I think your point about the consistency of a design
| - any theme - is the noteworthy point.

And I run the risk of being labeled a design snob. But I run the risk of
mixed design abominations myself, simply because I like so many different
things. My father, who used to teach architecture, and my sister, who is an
architect, agree that I missed my calling in life in becoming an engineer.
I think a designer of artistic things needs to have an appreciation for and
a skill in various idioms. Not so that he can mix them, but so that he can
execute any of those idioms with fidelity and skill, and with a proper
amount of satisfaction.

Let's face it, many people have to turn out pablum in order to pay the
bills. If a sturdy oak coffee table with simply routed edges and the
standard two coats of lacquer is what keeps the professionals in business,
then there will always be that. But I worry about the woodworker -- amateur
or professional -- who doesn't at least long to produce solitary masterworks
as a labor of love whether they're commercially viable or not.

| I live in a McMansion - it suits our family needs in this
| stage of our life.

Then you bought the right house. If its appearance pleases you and its
interior serves your needs and its quality is otherwise a good buy for what
you paid, then you have the right house regardless of what I or anyone else
might say.

My quibble with the McMansion concept is summed up as any combination of:

1. A house that's designed by the builder or the builder's architect with
more attention paid to cost-effective building than to utility. I.e., the
ideal size for a room is not necessarily harmonious with standard joist
lengths.

2. A house whose organization and ornament seems more driven by what was on
sale that month or in large lots than in executing favorably any of the
design philosophies to which it alludes. I.e., Victorian gingerbread only
works if it's used copiously, not just in the one dormer that fits the
standard mass-produced gingerbread piece.

3. A house in which design elements are included or scaled inappropriately.
I.e., if your life has never before required a living room that echos, why
the hell do you think it suddenly will?

| Interesting reflection - is that I wouldn't do this without an
| architect, but I'd likely not hire an interior designer. Hmmm. A
| little hypocrisy I guess.

Yes, and I think we're probably all a little hypocritical in this respect to
some extent.

--Jay