I came across an article the other day which literally jumped off the page at me. It was describing features of a house that are so classic, they should never have gone out of style. The more I read it, the more I identified with it AND the more I saw that I had some of these features in my own home.
These are the features that should never go out of style:
Shutters - this is like putting frosting on your cake, every home needs these
Glass door knobs - lets face it, who DOESN'T like these. Whether they are on doors or on furniture....so classy
Telephone nooks - I must admit, I have never had one of these in any home I have lived in...so I guess this one is on my bucket list
Butlers pantry - I was so excited when I saw this on the list. I HAVE ONE! YAY! I call mine a prep room...where I prep food then I can shut the door and hide away all the mess. This is mine -
Transoms - these are windows that are above internal doors that open to circulate air. I am originally from the UK and older houses used to have these. Unfortunately I didn't :(
Dutch doors - I love these half doors. The work beautifully if you have a house in the country
Sleeping porches - I believe these were popular in the South when the weather was hot so people slept in a covered porch
Windows with divided lights - these are usually on exterior doors that have a window above and down the side of each door. I used to have one of these on a house I lived in- but alas, not any more
True craftsmanship - this is beams, thick window sills, handcrafted from local trees and hand forged nails. This would be beautiful....if we could all afford it
Garages behind houses - these were added before everyone could afford a car so the only space available was behind the house. Thinking about this makes sense...who really wants a garage door ruining the front view of a beautiful house?
Decorative floor and ceilings - tiles, woods beautiful to look at but hard to replace when you are fed up with the design. I guess that is why the floors in a lot of older houses got covered over with carpet!
Rooms that aren't square - I never really thought about it, but any room that had curves or angled walls has a depth of interest to it that I get drawn into. Hard to decorate and furnish, they can sooth the inner designer in all of us.
Clotheslines - YAY! Another one from my past. Everyone in the UK and Europe...and I mean everyone had a clothesline in the back garden. No need to run up the gas or electric bills trying to run a dryer when you can get your laundry dried for free and smell a whole lot fresher. Oh I miss those days.
Built-ins - I don't have any of these,but I would love them. Its a part of the house and something that although can't be moved, can be really finished off with varnishes or paints
Separate rooms - the last house we lived in before we emigrated to Canada had separate rooms. It was what I wanted when we had the house built. I loved the cosiness of it and you can close off any mess you had. Plus it was way easier to heat and keep cool when it was only one room
Pocket doors - I didn't really understand the aspect of this until we moved into a house that had them. Space saving and really beautiful, I think these are a must in each house. I have one on my butlers pantry (prep room) and one on my en suite bathroom. Check mine out:
Building property for the correct climate - my house has 14 windows around the main floor. Each window has reflective glass to reduce the amount of heat transferred into the house and the amount of cold coming through too. Each window has a blind (I want to replace these at some point with new ones) and is framed by pillars and wood trim all around the edge of the ceiling. This fine detail was one of the reasons we moved into this place 10 years ago. The owner was a finish carpenter and he really went to town on some parts of the house.
So next time you are looking for a new home (or building one or renovating one) consider adding one, two or more of these features and lets keep them alive.
Hopefully I can share more of my house features with you another time!
Hugs!