Blog trouble and houses

I was beginning to panic. I tried to post my Friday afternoon article about 10 times on Friday, starting about 3:30 PM when I completed it, until about 10:00 PM that evening. I kept getting connection timeouts when trying to FTP to my website host. Who knows where the problem was, all I know is that it didn't work.

Truthfully, I completely forgot about the blog because I got completely engrossed in "decorating" my latest house design. I've taken the "Suburban Contemporary" template and made a 3 story "Prairie" style house with it. As it seems, just when you think you've taken a design idea as far as it can go, you find you can go (at least) one step further. Then again, I'm only talking about this design because I really, really like it. As a form and a structure it has great curb appeal. On the inside I've gone to a new level in interior decoration. There are more moldings, wainscoting, and detailed ceilings than I've done on any house design, so far. All my painstaking work on the Sears houses is paying off in a much improved technique. I feel much more comfortable in assembling a legitimate "turn-of-the-century" look and feel.

Speaking of the Sears Modern Homes, I found some (small) color palettes for Craftsman bungalows that date from the 1910's (or so). Very nice colors, and very authentic looking, as if I had been alive back then to even know what colors were in common usage. I'm "old", but I'm not that old. Not even close.

I have also visited my early childhood home (well, driven by, anyway). It was at least 40 years old when my parents moved into it back in 1956, or so. Maybe 1957 (I should ask them when it was, exactly). Suffice it to say, I can remember being inside that house in the upstairs hallway at a time when we didn't live there. How young can you remember things, coherently? My guess is I might have been just shy of two. But, I digress.

The house in Grandview, a suburb of Columbus, OH (in whose metro area I live), is no longer white. It's yellow, now. They also made the front porch into a sunroom and extended the porch upwards to the second floor where there is a second story porch. When I was a kid the front porch was just like what we see on all those Sears houses. Open, but covered by a roof. Oddly enough, the strange small detached garage is still there, and still strange, small and detached. It's just yellow now, like the house. Seems I also remember that the side porch has been changed. I don't remember if the roof was a shed or gable dormer, but it doesn't look familiar, anymore. Oh, and they put in a large window in the back of the dining room I'm sure wasn't there, before.

My point in all this rambling is that I'd like to model that house, and try to show it as it was back before all these changes were done to "ruin" it. Of course I can't be sure of the dimensions, but I do know how many rooms it had, and where the rooms were, too. My parents, as well, should be able to help me with the layout, but I sort of doubt the current owners would be willing to let me traipse through the house taking measurements. Doesn't seem likely. I may have to guess.

Admittedly the house isn't very unusual or unique, but it is 90 years old, so it easily fits in with all the Sears houses. Of course, it's not the only house of its kind in the neighborhood, either. There are examples of all the popular house styles (Craftsman bungalows being particularly popular in the area). I have photographs of many of the better ones. Yes, we took a walking tour of the neighborhood one warm, sunny afternoon, and I snapped pictures from the sidewalk.

On a final note, I remember mentioning Suburban Contemporary #13. It's finished, all but the renderings. But those ... those are taking forever. I'm trying to get the lighting and shadows to look right, but even then, it has taken almost 2 hours (and several attempts) to get a single rendering to look right. And even then, I was forced to turn shadowing off for a couple of the images. I just couldn't get the program to make them look good. I have about 10 images left to go, and then I can publish the results. There are a lot of images for this house because this design has a lot of things I want to show. There are 5 or 6 images in the master bath, alone, I think. Just wait, things are starting to get good!

That's all for tonight. I'm going off to bed. Tomorrow is a work day.