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James Crisp - EzineArticles.com Expert Author
James Crisp is an architect working primarily in the North East for over 20 years. He is the co-author of ‘On the Porch’ by Taunton Press with Sandee Mahoney. His architectural firm, Crisp Architects has been published in magazines from ‘O’ Magazine to House Beautiful and has won numerous awards.
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- Contractors and Construction Managers
[Home-Improvement:New-Construction] I love visiting job sites. The structured chaos of running bulldozers, swinging boards and dripping mortar is invigorating. Each crafts person is working toward their own ends yet participating in a collective goal, not unlike the master builders of medieval cathedrals. Although our drawings guide the final outcome, the contractor choreographs the work being done on the project. Nothing lets me sleep easier than talented, experienced, professional contractors running my jobs.
- Laundry Rooms
[Home-Improvement] It is often true that the simple things in life are the ones that make us the most happy. In our homes the unsung and hardly glamorous laundry room serves to keep the engine of our lives running smoothly. Though clean socks may not guarantee happiness, it is a start.
- Carpenter Architects
[Home-Improvement] Two hundred years ago there were few architects to direct carpenters in the way to build a proper home. That was just fine. Homes in general were simple and carpenter architects paid a lot of attention to detail and proportion.
- The Garden and the Home
[Home-Improvement:Landscaping-Outdoor-Decorating] A beautiful landscape can enhance any architectural project. A talented landscape architect, landscape designer or homeowner with a green thumb makes any project we design more beautiful. That partnership works even better when it begins early in the design process.
- Great Stairs
[Home-Improvement:Remodeling] The creation of a beautiful stair requires an eye for design and the discipline to maintain strict compliance with building codes. There are an infinite number of ways to design a successful stair, but you can find just as many ways to miss the mark.
- Pool Houses
[Home-Improvement:Storage-Garage] Nothing says summer like kids splashing around in a pool, except perhaps an adult party centered around a pool on a balmy summer evening. In either case, a pool house makes everything easier. Whether the pool house is small and simple, or includes a full kitchen and guest quarters, having a place to store cold drinks towels and refreshments makes summer entertaining a lot more fun.
- Weekend Home to Full Time Home
[Home-Improvement:Remodeling] Many of our clients decide to make the transition from weekenders to full time rural citizens because they love the lifestyle and can work remotely. Others retire to the country yet decide to bring their part time office with them. In those cases, a home office can solve the problem of needing a quiet place to work.
- Screened Porches
[Home-Improvement] Owning a screened porch on a buggy summer evening is like owning the only castle with a mote when the barbarians attack. The screened porch provides a place to relax outdoors without having to pay attention to the bug population.
- Children's Rooms
[Home-Improvement:Remodeling] When our third child was on the way, we decided to add a bedroom to our home. The room we were planning for our new born son was immediately claimed by his oldest sister. We realized that in fairness our first born deserved first choice of rooms, at that point we began to reevaluate the design of the new room.
- Modern Farmhouse Design
[Real-Estate:Homes] There is no absolute prototype for a farmhouse, but most of us can recognize one when we see it. By definition the originals were located on farms and were integral to the life and work of those farm families who lived there.
- Staying Put - Making a House Into the Home We Love
[Home-Improvement:Remodeling] In the past few decades we have been a society on the move. It was not uncommon for families to relocate a number of times within the country or a region because of work or more often just to find a better home. It seems that that trend is slowing due to the economy but also a reevaluation of those ways of thinking. The relationships to community and friends that evolve because of where we live are increasing in value.
- Cutting Costs on Construction Projects -5 Ways to Stretch Your Construction Dollars
[Home-Improvement:New-Construction] When designing a home or addition, part of the fun for the owner is imagining the project finished without any compromises. When bids come in from the contractors, many home owners are eager look at ways to reduce the price without loosing space or the character of the project. As the architects, our job is to help bring the price down as far as possible without loosing the qualities that the owners loved in the first place.
- A Home is Not a Stock Portfolio - Thank Goodness
[Investing] I don't look at my home the way I look at my 401K. I'm pretty sure I'll make money when I sell it one day, but if I don't that is all right. I have lived in my home for 12 wonderful years and hope to live there decades more. While I would never encourage anyone to spend thoughtlessly on their home, I have known people who live for 30 years annoyed by some issue that they only resolve just before they put the house on the market.
- Buy, Build, Renovate - Why Now is the Time
[Home-Improvement:Remodeling] All of us know of the weakness in the global economy. For that reason I will not address those issues in this article. At the same time most people are cutting back on real-estate investment and construction projects, many of my clients are enjoying the availability of top notch contractors, the relative bargains for the homes they bought, and the over-all reduction in the finished price of their project.
- Small Towns
[Home-and-Family] Those of us who live and work in and around small towns are lucky. A trip to the post office allows us to reconnect with friends and colleagues, taking time to chat and be diverted from our task. The architecture of a small town sets the stage for our daily visits and the people we meet add joy and complexity to our lives. Each shop, each business has it own personality and its own cast of interesting people within. When I hear of a business closing or leaving town I am shocked and then saddened much like hearing of a friend passing. I always wish I had been a better friend or, in this case, patron. When I heard Millbrook was losing the department store I felt that same remorse. The building stayed but we lost an institution and the people who worked there.
- Porches Rediscovered
[Home-Improvement:Patio-Deck] Dutchess county has had a love affair with porches that goes back centuries. Although few of the earliest Dutch and English colonial homes had porches, it wasn't long until they were added to the beautiful stone and wood houses.
- Historic American Buildings Survey
[Home-Improvement:House-Plans] Started during the Great Depression, The Historic American Buildings Survey(HABS) was the nations' first extensive documentation of our architectural heritage. When I go the HABS web site, I become a kid in a candy store. It is like going on an archaeological dig through our mostly forgotten architectural history. With every click I am transported to another ghost of our collective past (and a few that are still around). You can search by building types, location or key words like: Cupola or porch.
- Garden Structures
[Home-Improvement:Landscaping-Outdoor-Decorating] A few years back I had a most unusual request come across my table. A husband and wife who are friends of mine had 2 different needs. She wanted a potting shed. He wanted a wood shed. Neither of them wanted to clutter their bucolic setting with too many little outbuildings. Our solution was to combine the two functions. I think many of us have forgotten how powerful a modest structure can be in the landscape. Eighteenth and nineteenth century southern plantations almost always kept their pigeons or doves in pigeonniers or dovecotes.
- The Beauty of a Construction Site
[Real-Estate:Building-a-Home] Something that architects and contractors take for granted but that homeowners rarely experience, is the construction site. When it is your house being built or added onto, I recommend that you spend as much time as possible with the "insides" of the place where you will be living.
- Cupola Design
[Home-Improvement:New-Construction] As I drive along country roads it is the cupolas I see first in the distance as they create a jagged skyline above the barns. These are small buildings in their own right perched atop of the roofs of larger buildings.The role of the cupola on the roof of the American homes is long and varied. Some of my favorite lanterns(cupolas that bring light into the interior) are on Greek Revival and Victorian homes in the Hudson Valley.
- Wing's Castle
[Travel-and-Leisure:Destination-Tips] One overcast and blustery day a few weeks ago, the kids and I were looking for something to do. We had exhausted all of the usual diversions and didn't want to travel too far in the rain. Like the proverbial New Yorkers who have never visited the Statue of Liberty, we had never visited Wings Castle even though the idea had come up many times. I returned to visit the Castle and found Peter continuing his work on the groin vault above the passageway to the soon to be completed bed and breakfast annex. In the upcoming year we will be celebrating the quad centennial of Henry Hudson's voyage to our neighborhood. In our back yard we have one of the best examples of the early settlers' tradition of owner built homes: Wing's Castle.
- Let the Sun Shine In
[Home-Improvement:Windows] While most rooms in the homes we design are sunny, there are those special rooms whose purpose is to let the sun shine in. Weather the room is for keeping exotic plants happy in winter or just the spot to take in the light and view; sun rooms draw us to them. Although a sun room is not a required part of every home, they soon become a favorite spot to while away those winter blues.
- Adding On
[Home-Improvement:Remodeling] The most important single element in an addition/renovation is the existing building. Sometimes the portion you save and restore is key to the rest of the project. Although it is almost impossible to perfectly match the 200 year old materials which have aged in place, flooring recycled from salvaged barn beams comes pretty close. In the northeast we are particularly lucky to be working with craftsmen who take their work as seriously as the people who built the original homes
- Universal Design
[Home-Improvement:Remodeling] Universal design is the future of residential architecture. Baby boomers want to grey in place and architects can make this process easier.
- The Architect in the Kitchen
[Home-Improvement:Kitchen-Improvements] One of my favorite times in the kitchen is Saturday afternoon, all by myself, making a big mess preparing Creole and Cajun dishes. When designing a kitchen, it is important to remember the chicken/broccoli rules. That is, those two items generally come out of the refrigerator, are washed in a sink, will be cut up, and seasoned on a countertop cutting board, and will then probably end up either on the stove or in the oven(this pattern is also known as the work triangle).
- Fireplaces We Love
[Home-Improvement:Heating-and-Air-Conditioning] There are many alternatives to a traditional fireplace such as wood stoves, gas inserts and even LCD screens that show a crackling fire. While being very convenient, those alternatives will never compare to the first fire I start in my fireplace each fall.
- More Than a Garage
[Home-Improvement:Storage-Garage] Today's garage, in some ways, is simply an update of the nineteenth century carriage house. Compared to today, those structures seemed more important and therefore more time was taken for planning both the look of the buildings and their relationship to the home. Often the carriage house was part of a barn or stable and occasionally included living quarters above.
- Geothermal Heating and Cooling
[Home-Improvement:Energy-Efficiency] Earth moving is always interesting but is especially dramatic when it involves the installation of a geothermal heating and cooling system. Almost all of our designs include energy saving elements but few have the impact of an energy efficient mechanical system.
- Keeping in the Heat
[Home-Improvement:Energy-Efficiency] With oil prices at record levels and winter just around the corner the topic at home and in the office is how we are going to keep our heating bills down. If you are building new or completely remodeling, there are many great options from state of the art heating systems to the best insulation and energy conserving design. Most of us need to make the best of what we have, especially owners of historic(old) homes like myself.
- God is in the Details
[Home-Improvement:Remodeling] My college architectural history professor would repeat this phrase as if it were the key to architecture itself. This quote is attributed to renowned modernist architect, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. I believe he meant that the true beauty of a structure can be found in the details of that structure.
- Shades of Green
[Home-Improvement:Energy-Efficiency] Whether we like it or not, we have entered a period of climate change which combined with global market forces has made the need to conserve energy and natural resources a high priority. In some ways, rising energy bills and escalating material costs make that goal easier since the alternative will adversely impact our wallet as well as the environment.
- A Hays Town
[Home-Improvement:New-Construction] The master architect, A. Hays Town was a friend of mine. He passed away last year at the age of 101.
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