Revitalizing Urban Living, New Town Concepts & Suburban Planning.

With this buzz about millennial populations driving the planning of housing design,  last week’s  blog introduced the concept of common denominators between the young and the aging. Much focus continues to be on valuable revitalization of urban centers – utilizing the density and existing structures to re-purpose for cost-effective housing in a convenient environment. New construction then inserts itself for in-fill and stimulating design opportunities and contrasts.

Other life-style communities include the experimental and often very successful “new towns” beginning with Reston, in Fairfax, Virginia. It was, writes Tom Grubisich, “conceived as an alternative to ailing cities and sprawling suburbs.”  It was not intended to revitalize urban centers but to create idealized versions of the complete township out in the suburbs.

To breathe life back into our cities we strive to resurrect the bones of the old buildings salvaging the character, texture and history – while adding new construction to mix contemporary architectural style and bringing modern features and efficiencies.  The results are exciting and stimulating. 

Pairing the concepts of both “new town” planning with revitalization of our urban centers speaks to the next phase in revitalizing our urban centers. Clustering people for convenience and cost-savings, might now focus on how to best bring families into this equation. How to provide more green spaces, multi-generational activities, schools, grocery markets and other shopping boutiques to the inner-cities. This is not new – but increasingly attractive to planners and designers.   Portland

This swing to the city-centers will not devalue the suburban experience but is certainly causing a re-direction of planning for more clustered conveniences in those outer environs. Sharing the more attractive features of both will better meld and improve the lifestyle preferences for all locations.

 

Suburban planning where people find larger yards and detached living quarters, then mixed with condos and apartments results in the added attractions of township design becoming increasingly appealing.  Here is Mosaic in Fairfax, Virginia – like other blooming pockets encircling our larger cities, this offers convenience with a new planned density located within the suburban surrounds.  

Looking at all angles of lifestyle, quality of life and location, location, location…it is a fascinating study and the fast pace and accessibility of the internet is bringing the information to the investors at a blindingly rapid pace. Whether you are an investor in your own lifestyle desires and needs, a planner investing your career recognition and intending to design the right things, or a developer investing to make a smart, successful mark and  personal gain – the answers are in the dialogue – if everyone is listening.

Happy Easter Weekend 

 

 

National Poinsettia Day and Cuttings to Carry into the Future

Thank you Joel Roberts Poinsett for bringing this brilliant red and green explosion of color and such a perfect plant to represent the colors of the Christmas season to our northern climes! Upon learning that today was National Poinsettia Day, I set forth to learn a bit about why…

You too can Google it, but in a nutshell, back in the early 1800s, this observant amateur botanist was our first Ambassador to the new Republic of Mexico! Not to mention, his day job was that of a doctor and a soldier! Busy well-rounded guy it seems!

Poinsett sent cuttings of this spectacular and exotic flowering plant from where he was visiting in the Taxco region of Mexico, to his home in Charleston, South Carolina. Once he returned to Charleston, he spread the joy and sent other clippings of his magnificent discovery to friends including a Mr. Buist in Philadelphia who gave a piece to Mr. James McNab who took it to the Botanical Garden of Edinburgh, Scotland founded in 1670. (From “Paxton’s Magazine of Botany” 1837)

The initial botanical name Euphorbia pulcherrima was actually assigned by a German botanist, Wilenow, in 1833, but within 4 years it was renamed Poinsettia Pucherrima by William Hickling Prescott a historian and gardener who had been asked, by someone in authority, to rename it. He did so by selecting to honor Joel Poinsett for his numerous achievements in both government and horticulture.

This dramatic flowering plant comes in many colors – the familiar and original red to creamy off-whites, chartreuse, pinks and various variegated versions such as this fabulous marbled specimen called strawberries and cream.

Poinsett retired from his career in public service as Secretary of War in 1841. He became one of the founders of the National Institute for the Promotion of Science and the Useful – which later became the Smithsonian Institute. I was born in D.C. and raised inside the Beltway and never knew that the Smithsonian which was a memorably mandatory field trip nearly every year of my childhood, was originally named the wordy National Institute for the Promotion of Science and the Useful – but it certainly describes it all in one fell swoop!!

There are many legends and folk stories centering around this “flor de Nochebuena” in Mexico but the thread of this story that has personal interest to me is that the same poinsettia cutting taken to Edinburgh by James McNab is still producing and flowering annually in the Royal Botanical Garden in Scotland to this day.

As I read this history, I was excited about this remarkable tracing of the original cuttings.  In our family we have what my grandmother , Dee Dee, always referred to as “the family cactus.” This rounded, smooth leafed variation (some have pointy, spiked leaves)with its hot pink blooms is our cactus.

Dee Dee, Anna Ives Wagner, was born in 1892 in Youngstown, New York.  She arrived at our house to live with us in the late 1950s. She brought with her a very special plant. It was a cutting off of the original plant that was in her ancestral home – the Root Home, Twin Pines – 830 River Road – then Main Street, Youngstown.

Dee Dee remembered that plant from her childhood and had heard from her mother and aunts that it was there in theirs as well – which without complicated math puts it in the house since the mid 1800s. Unfortunately we don’t know when it started…but the house dates back to our great, great, great grandfather, Dr. Benjamin Root c.1840. The house stayed in our family, passing finally to my  grandmother’s aunt Helen Root who lived there with an original cutting of the plant until the 1950s when she moved to Elmira with her niece and her husband, Edith and Ray Hulbert.

We grew-up with the family cactus bursting forth with wild fuscia blooms every fall into winter. It was always an exciting and exotic flowering extravaganza in the colder dark months of the season. It brought a sense of life, growth, and color that was a spectacular contrast to the otherwise drab, dull, dormancy of winter.

I guard my plants, given to me as a cutting by Dee Dee when I first moved to New Mexico, with great responsibility and appreciation.

Last year my Mother’s large family cactus withered before our very eyes…she was so protective of it that she perhaps neglected to give it new soil and nutrients instead favoring watering a bit too much which  resulted in its demise. As she witnessed and worried about the failing plant, we carefully cultivated clippings and as weak and depleted as they were – nurtured them in water losing a couple but saving a few so that they now are flourishing in a clay pot in a window with the soft daylight of  northern exposure displaying a resiliency, hope, and celebration of life that continues to greet each day. Perhaps  metaphors for procreation, family traditions, aging in place…

My mother is 93 and her mother, Dee Dee, lived to be three weeks shy of her 101st birthday.

Joel Poinsett died on December 12, 1851 at the age of 72 – one hundred and sixty four years ago today! Happy Poinsettia Day!! Merry Christmas Joel Poinsett!

 

 

Planning an Intelligent Home.

Baby Boomers – 1946-1964 Do YOU have an Intelligent Home? Do you want to be there for a while? Do you want to age in place without having to move as your needs change?

Life’s fast pace. So much to do, so little time…we are working hard and playing hard – harder than ever before in the history of our world. Fifty is the new forty and so on…With that lifestyle and attitude come new scenarios for living.

And if you are retired or even semi-retired, you want to get away, lock up the house with the peace of mind that your home is secure and maintenance free. How do you achieve this place?

This new age is one of redefining lifestyles, living arrangements and home design. People are renting rooms to strangers – how can you do that and maintain security for them and your personal living space? The same can be true of children returning home – how can you maintain your privacy and offer them theirs as well?

Families are being redefined as the “boomerangs” are not out of the house after college – not setting forth into the world, but rather, returning home to find their jobs and save some money before they take that next leap.

On the other end of life’s spectrum, their grandparents – YOUR parents are not necessarily going to “the home” but rather YOUR home as your house becomes a dormitory for three generations or more! These many life changing circumstances result in challenging scenarios for you and your family.

Kids, pets, grandparents, grandchildren…multiple interests, multiple activities – all taken into consideration as you make your plans and modify your life to accommodate these changes. Whether your home is larger than you need and you wish to downsize or your home is experiencing the addition of more people and their various needs and activities, intelligent design will insure making the best of what you have.

Your desire to downsize brings issues of what to take and what to discard, how to plan the new space and utilize it to the best purposes, designing it to be free of maintenance so that life is easier.

Intelligent Design is just that – good ideas to bring value, safety and enjoyment to your home. We can assist you in solving these issues and making everyone’s life better.

My own mother is experiencing these very real situations that come with aging in place. Twenty years ago we began planning the design of her retirement home. Two years later she was comfortably settled with all of her possessions perfectly situated. Having plotted each piece of furniture on the plan prior to construction, there was truly a place for everything and everything in its place. We discussed as many “what ifs” that we could imagine and designed accordingly. This one story floorplan wraps inside like a circle and at the time we tried to anticipate her every need as her requirements, desires and abilities would change. Now at 91 we continue to see the benefit of the foresight that we planned.

You want to feel great about coming home. It is your private space, it is your retreat. It is where you relax and restore and it is where you entertain and recreate. Indoor exercise space, home offices, functional kitchens, efficient space utilization, creative storage solutions, provisions for privacy, safety and security are all paramount to good intelligent design.

Aging in place…thinking about limited mobility seems an unrealistic concern…until a minor accident puts you in a temporary leg brace, crutches or wheel chair – is you home equipped to assist you to deal with this change in plans? If you never intend to move, can you really envision how you might need certain modifications to enjoy your home throughout the years?

We can come into your home and assist you in evaluating safety and accessibility issues for present and future consideration. There are helpful guidelines to make modifications to achieve maximum utilization and enjoyment of your home for many years to come.

Exterior design is equally as important – ease of maintenance, enjoyment , expansion of your living spaces, pet habitats, hobbies, etc…we can plan your landscape design, outdoor kitchens, sunrooms, covered patios, gardens, and anything that you can imagine to maximize the utilization and pleasure of your exterior spaces

Let us sit down with you to discuss your needs…your dreams. We will help you plan and achieve the maximum value for your budget. We can provide recommendations for an existing floor plan as well as assist in the evaluation of a prospective home purchase – all the way to helping you plan and design a new home with the experience and foresight of life’s changing needs.

We bring experience with a professional eye to critique, recommend, design and bring to reality your goals and dreams for a comfortable and secure life in your intelligent home.

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Take time to Pause

Knowing when it’s your time to grow up and have an adult interior…I’ve asked myself that and have had many clients voice that same desire. We get so caught-up with life and its daily priorities that designing a personal, comfortable interior takes a back seat.
What defines you as an image (that maybe not many outside your inner circle will ever see) and at the same time makes you feel connected and comfortable? Looking at what you have and deciding what actually pleases you is a focused effort.
To be able to get rid of things that are either extraneous or bothersome, unpleasant or annoying will take time to pause…time to pause and study your environment…time to pause and evaluate your things…take time to pause and think about how you live or want to live…time to pause and make the conscious decision to change things.
Start with stepping back and looking at your interior world. Have you accumulated things that do not mean much if anything to you? “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure”. DONATE!! Truly, if you have spent any time in Goodwill, consignment shops or thrift stores you will acknowledge that you can find treasures that to your way of thinking are just that and to the one who sent them there only see disposable items. But for the good of the re-cycling cycle – it’s quite good.
So take a moment to evaluate your space…see what makes you happy and what might be dragging you down. Cull…weed out that which is not important, or worse – that which makes you unhappy. It will be a revealing if not exhilarating experience. Try it. Happy Holiday season – give to those places that know best how to re-cycle your less important accessories for the good of you and the whole.

Visiting the Rest of the Planet, Upon Occasion

Back after a week of visiting family and friends in my hometown of Washington DC and the surrounding Virginia suburbs, we find that we have compiled myriad observations about the contrasts between our two worlds. The sensory overload and ideas galore give us energy, if not exhaustion.
Lights, graphic designs, shopping extravaganzas, all the chain restaurants and those individually owned – those mega enterprises and the more personal entrepreneurial endeavors. So much design is universal and obviously certain cultures have their own. Multi-cultures within one complex setting is startling, fascinating and worth consideration.
I met with a new client. His needs were like others, to create a homey environment where there once was more activity – to re-invent a new version of life in the same environment. Starting with the basics that he already owned, some from long ago and others recently purchased, we set forth to design his interior.
Listening to what he liked and enjoyed and what he hoped to achieve, we began the process. To hear what a client is saying and to discern what they mean differently from what they actually speak is a fine line. We weaved through the discourse and moved between statements of seeming fact only to be dispelled in the next few minutes by new considerations after careful and thoughtful exchanges of ideas took place. His life was comfortable, in a beautifully intimate setting, fairly insulated in a pleasant pocket, paced well and not too different from ours far from the bustling city. More on this in a later blog.
But comparing our relaxed, fairly even pulse and predictably manageable pace to the frantic, blitz of traffic and graphic overload that we’ve seen – we are reminded that people do live in “pockets” of larger environs. They shop close to home and work if possible within a reasonable radius. Less fortunate have lengthy tiresome and tension-filled commutes and interact with a broader, more complex set of people and places. It’s a mix.
Yet, in summary we find that, well, we love our life here in the Land of Enchantment and very much enjoy visiting the rest of the planet upon occasion!