Kathy Price-Robinson of LA Times' Pardon My Dust has a great post on Photographing your remodel: It's for your own good.
Photography shouldn't just be utilized for Before and After pictures, but also for "During" pictures.
You should do shots of your project every day; documenting the entire remodeling process and progression of events.
You will find the images handy down the road when you need to remember where that plumbing pipe runs.
You will also thank your prescience should you have a disagreement with your contractor.
Either way, take the pictures and file them away.
You might even include them in the document package you pass on to a new owner.
Peggy
Thursday, September 27, 2007
Can a Kitchen be Big AND Green?
There's a post over at K+BB Green Are Big, Open Kitchens Green? that merits further comment:
Ellen Sturm Niz, K+BB editor, asks:
...Are big, open kitchen layouts environmentally friendly, and how so or how not?
I think the relative "greenness" of a kitchen has more to do with the products chosen and the people using the space than the size of the space...To a point: 500 sq. ft. kitchens are NEVER green, just ostentatious.
These are not times for conspicuous consumption, but instead for careful contemplation of our impact upon the earth.
Homeowners who employ green recycling can do so in any size kitchen.
Those who purchase Energy Star appliances may pay more at the outset, but the products will pay for themselves in energy savings over their lifetimes.
Here's hoping we can get back to appliance repair and renewal as a concept so that appliances can last for several lifetimes as they once did.
There was a time when everyone "made do" and repaired items in their households, and the Fixit Man's shop on Main Street was an integral part of every community.
I still see people happily using old Chambers ranges. Some products stand the test of time well.
The concept of throwaway appliances, computers, everything, is actually a fairly recent phenomenon. It is entirely possible to design and build such products that will last indefintely if repair parts are available and they still function well.
Aside from self-cleaning ovens and electronic ignition (which have been around for years now), what really sets apart a Chambers range from a Viking? Not much at all. Both are well made products that could conceivably last forever with good care and timely repair.
Peggy
Ellen Sturm Niz, K+BB editor, asks:
...Are big, open kitchen layouts environmentally friendly, and how so or how not?
I think the relative "greenness" of a kitchen has more to do with the products chosen and the people using the space than the size of the space...To a point: 500 sq. ft. kitchens are NEVER green, just ostentatious.
These are not times for conspicuous consumption, but instead for careful contemplation of our impact upon the earth.
Homeowners who employ green recycling can do so in any size kitchen.
Those who purchase Energy Star appliances may pay more at the outset, but the products will pay for themselves in energy savings over their lifetimes.
Here's hoping we can get back to appliance repair and renewal as a concept so that appliances can last for several lifetimes as they once did.
There was a time when everyone "made do" and repaired items in their households, and the Fixit Man's shop on Main Street was an integral part of every community.
I still see people happily using old Chambers ranges. Some products stand the test of time well.
The concept of throwaway appliances, computers, everything, is actually a fairly recent phenomenon. It is entirely possible to design and build such products that will last indefintely if repair parts are available and they still function well.
Aside from self-cleaning ovens and electronic ignition (which have been around for years now), what really sets apart a Chambers range from a Viking? Not much at all. Both are well made products that could conceivably last forever with good care and timely repair.
Peggy
Why Is My Kitchen So Small and Cut Off?
Ellen Sturm Niz, K+BB editor, asks in her post Are Big, Open Kitchens Green?
While recently lamenting the cramped cooking quarters in my 1950’s New York City apartment, I wondered why designers in that post-war period wanted to close off the kitchen?
Early American kitchens were at the center of living in much smaller homes.
In homes of the wealthy, kitchens were the province of servants. As such they were built modestly, with pine and fir trim and beadboard walls.
In those days, it was the servants themselves who had the open kitchens in their own small homes or quarters.
Later, as the middle class rose in the Industrial Revolution and servants were no longer employed in most gracious homes, the woman of the house moved into the same kitchen her servants had occupied.
The Great Depression simply reinforced such customs.
The kitchen didn't change with the loss of servants, just the cook changed. And she served her family just as the servants had done before.
Post WWII saw a huge home building boom as soldiers returned from the war, married, and started families.
Builders continued building kitchens as they had for several generations, and women who had worked in the factories returned to their previous habits, albeit a little wiser.
The woman of the house was the only one who usually cooked, and the kitchen was still not considered a "public space", where entertaining took place. That designation was reserved for the living room and dining room. The kitchen, at most, hosted family breakfasts and children, or close friends and relatives.
There were some exceptions, like Frank Lloyd Wright and Joseph Eichler, who designed and built open kitchens. But for the masses the closed kitchen habit was hard to break. I wonder myself if it might have had to do with women wanting a "place of their own" in small houses.
As houses have grown in the last 15-20 years we have undergone a revolution in our thinking about kitchens and their place in our homes. The walls have come tumbling down, family rooms have been built, islands reign, and the kitchen has come out of the shadows.
We have come full-circle and the kitchen has been opened up and re-integrated into family living space.
Peggy
While recently lamenting the cramped cooking quarters in my 1950’s New York City apartment, I wondered why designers in that post-war period wanted to close off the kitchen?
Early American kitchens were at the center of living in much smaller homes.
In homes of the wealthy, kitchens were the province of servants. As such they were built modestly, with pine and fir trim and beadboard walls.
In those days, it was the servants themselves who had the open kitchens in their own small homes or quarters.
Later, as the middle class rose in the Industrial Revolution and servants were no longer employed in most gracious homes, the woman of the house moved into the same kitchen her servants had occupied.
The Great Depression simply reinforced such customs.
The kitchen didn't change with the loss of servants, just the cook changed. And she served her family just as the servants had done before.
Post WWII saw a huge home building boom as soldiers returned from the war, married, and started families.
Builders continued building kitchens as they had for several generations, and women who had worked in the factories returned to their previous habits, albeit a little wiser.
The woman of the house was the only one who usually cooked, and the kitchen was still not considered a "public space", where entertaining took place. That designation was reserved for the living room and dining room. The kitchen, at most, hosted family breakfasts and children, or close friends and relatives.
There were some exceptions, like Frank Lloyd Wright and Joseph Eichler, who designed and built open kitchens. But for the masses the closed kitchen habit was hard to break. I wonder myself if it might have had to do with women wanting a "place of their own" in small houses.
As houses have grown in the last 15-20 years we have undergone a revolution in our thinking about kitchens and their place in our homes. The walls have come tumbling down, family rooms have been built, islands reign, and the kitchen has come out of the shadows.
We have come full-circle and the kitchen has been opened up and re-integrated into family living space.
Peggy
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