Design problem

@OCCOM BILL,

Great job, Bill! Sozobe was looking for a cheap solution, but if your offering
your services for free, she'll probably go for it. Wink

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@OCCOM BILL,

I have, but kept quiet. : )

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@OCCOM BILL,

I consisdered that but kept quiet. : )

I'd also look at the wall with window from the outside, but never mind.

We are looking at cosmetic fix, are we not?

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@ossobuco,

Sorry, talking to myself again. Didn't mean to post twice.

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@ossobuco,

I'll guess I'll be blatant with a personal take - which is, thankfully, not always true - that recent house construction can sometimes be hilarious, very much a bunch of patchwork with no understanding of design elements and human needs, much less aesthetics of any sort - people picking from plans floating around and hoping for the best. Or plugging in what is on hand. This has happened with zillion dollar houses, don't get me started.

This sounds like I'm against building contractors and for architects, but I'm not that easy.

But, to get to the primary thing, why is that window there, that way? Why is that alcove there? How does the window relate to the rest of the house? Is there a way that can be utilized? Or, is it a strange window in a strange place? Should something else be there?

Aren't you sorry you asked?

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@ossobuco,

I'll move on to being brutalist - this is a sentiment solution, not a design solution:

http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d130/sozobe/mock-up2.jpg

I'm big on sentiment, but, re design, why are you asking if you are going to do this? This is a personal space, and reverable. As an alcove treatment, you're kidding...

So - given you have sentiments for the alcove - which I get - why are we talking?

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@ossobuco,

CalamityJane wrote:

Great job, Bill! Sozobe was looking for a cheap solution, but if your offering
your services for free, she'll probably go for it.

Hmmm. A trip to Ohio? It's not beyond the realm I could be talked into that...

ossobuco wrote:

I consisdered that but kept quiet. : )

I'd also look at the wall with window from the outside, but never mind.

We are looking at cosmetic fix, are we not?

Too tough to guess what the house looks like from outside... but the roof in the background leads me to guess that window is pretty central... maybe something like this?

http://img165.imageshack.us/img165/5516/sozoutsidely4.jpg

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@OCCOM BILL,

Sorry, (bitch/me) doesn't love that either. That might reinforce to me the reason for the vertical window.. thus why to keep that a clear factor.

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@ossobuco,

Don't mind me Osso... just trying (failing) to distract myself from something truly important.

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@OCCOM BILL,

Don't mind me either, especially Soz, and Bill - I love this kind of talk, want you to teach me do do that quick draw stuff.

I never could afford cad/cadd, and haven't played with the underbellies of that, mad drawer that I am.

On distraction, nods...

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@ossobuco,

Also, bark back at me, it's good.

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@ossobuco,

I see I'm mean on this but what the hell. I can see putting up eighty small framed photos (making up the number) that outline the alcove. The key being they are all interesting but fit a format.

If you are going to keep the chest, I wouldn't adulterate it, let it be. Maybe one pillow. I've a pulse towards centering, but in this case, I'd move it clearly to the left. There'll be some space left on the right side and you can figure out some vertical thing to tuck in there, if that needs to be done. I figure not. Space has its own form.

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@ossobuco,

ossobuco wrote:

Don't mind me either, especially Soz, and Bill - I love this kind of talk, want you to teach me do do that quick draw stuff.

I never could afford cad/cadd, and haven't played with the underbellies of that, mad drawer that I am.

On distraction, nods...

Program is Broderbund's Home Architect Deluxe. It's cheap and seemed intuitive when I first used it (roughly a century ago), but I have no idea how it stacks up against more recent programs... probably terribly. But it is quick on floor plans, and the 3D views are generated with a quick drag and click of the mouse... and allow you to fine tune (if you can use that term for sloppy stick drawings) from them. Regards.

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@OCCOM BILL,

Thnx, Bill.
Naturally, I should just get cad, but as usual I can't afford it.
I might do better by scanning drawings, which is another whole subject.

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@OCCOM BILL,

Very cool!

The window makes sense from the outside but not from the inside.

Our room is part of an extension to the original house. The original house had (again vocabulary fails me) a gable? in the back. A triangular cast to the roof, slightly in front of the rest of the house (can get a picture later). When they built the extension, they tried to repeat that idea. The window is right in the middle of the triangle, from the outside view.

I like the old part of the house much better than the new part, but the new part is useful.

And vocabulary evidently fails me re: the word "design," too. I have some money for this but really not a lot. If I spend $200 on this whole thing, that'd be a bit of a nail-biter -- $100-$150 is more like it. I like thinking about it and planning ahead so I use that money wisely -- what I DON'T want to have happen is spend the money and then three months later decide it was all wrong and change it. Three years, sure. Or five years, or whatever. I don't expect it to be permanent. But I just don't have the dough to toss around and see if I like it and then change it if not.

But above all, I'm talking about it because I'm enjoying the discussion. I'm not asking anyone for permission.

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@sozobe,

sozobe wrote:

So I was thinking more last night about the chest, window seat, etc. One thing I think could work would be to center the chest in the area (right now it's shoved over against the left wall), which would leave 3.5" inches all the way around. Then get a piece of good furniture foam (available at Joann Fabrics) cut to the size of the WHOLE nook. (As in, the chest is 21" by 48" and the nook is 28" by 55" -- so the foam would be 28" by 55" and extend over the edge of the chest by 3.5" on all sides, while filling the nook completely.)

I think 3.5" isn't enough to cause problems when sitting on it, in terms of falling through or whatever.

Then I'd do a bunch of throw pillows, just kind of scattered around the whole nook. (I especially like the idea of having some against the right side of the wall). I think I would use a dark third color for covering the foam (I was thinking a good saturated blue, maybe even denim -- I do want to de-frou-frou a bit) and then also for throw pillows, but do the throw pillows up in different kind of weird/ eclectic patterns. For example, rather than using the curtain fabric for a straightforward pillow, cut out a bunch of butterflies from it and applique them, plus using various fabrics I have (antique kimonos, saris, sari borders*.) Idea would be a colorful eclectic mishmash (sort of Anthropologie-ish) that relates to the curtains on the four-windows but doesn't echo them too literally.

I really do think that going window-seat-ish is the way to go for this nook. Do you know any carpenters? Because if you do it would be cool to do a sort of miniature Moroccan style seating there. You could build an L-shaped window seat that fills both walls and comes out a bit more to make room for back pillows. This would also conveniently allow you to sit on one side and prop your feet on the other. You could make a custom cushion (or two) with the same foam you get from the fabric store.

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oh, I kinda like what free duck said.

I was coming in to pipe in the opinion of building in a window seat. Just have a permenant seat and be done with it. The cost to build would be reasonable. Maybe a little more than you have to spend now.

Save the money on the big foam cushion til you build a seat.

There's my two cents.

Oh, and a blind, bamboo-y that stays in the inside of the window frame.

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I don't know how handy you are, Soz, but do you remember my kitchen project and the bench we made out of cabinets? You might think about making a window seat out of stock cabinets. You can get unfinished cabinets at any home center for pretty cheap. Top them with an upholstered board and Bob's yer uncle! You will still have storage but it will be more accessible than in the chest.

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I was in a tile shop yesterday and saw a "curtain" that really made me think of the jewelry you make, soz. I didn't have my camera so I couldn't take a photo -- I'll try to describe them:

The curtain was made out of 6" squares of frosted, pitted glass put together with wire that had been bent into simple decorative curves so that they linked together. Each tile was seperated from the next by about 1".

I bet you could mock up something like that using plexiglass squares and painting the back then wiring it together. Then you could attach it to the window proper so that it would open up with the window.

Another thought I had....

What about putting a mirror on the wall that corners up to your window. You could tilt it just a bit so that it captures the view of the yard that you really like. Then you could use the wall area part for your window seat with bolsters, etc and still get the great view.

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Hey, Moroccon style is very up and coming. I am dying to have one of those
beautiful lamps they've got. *sigh* Their seating groups are so colorful and
beautiful - Alberto Pinto (designer) has made a splendid room in Moroccon
style.

Here are plenty of ideas too, sozobe.
http://www.dominomag.com/search/query?keyword=seating&sort=score+desc

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