Wanted! Design guidance for projects, inside and out!
dsimber
11 months ago
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Home Interiors With Ease
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landscape project in Mt. Airy, MD (pics inside)
Comments (8)Lots of good responses, thanks! aka_peggy: I will be doing most of the work myself, with other friends adding a bit of labor. Thanks for the plant ideas and the link to natives. I am big on natives, so will definitely use this! annabert: I'll send her to Thanksgiving Farms--do they have nice designs going all year 'round? Could she go in January? GardenGranma: Wow, so many shows and tours! If I could only choose 3 or 4 to attend (I have to fly up there and all, LOL), which would you recommend? creatrix: The CM will be any variety that gets about 10" high or so. Down here, we have a variety called Natchez that I love, but I'm not sure it is available in your area. The bed at the house is about 6' deep and, yes, I plan to put in a hedge row and then a smaller variety in front of that. I need to take a closer look at this though, once I have the measurements. The curves are supposed to be gentle and flowing, not scalloped. I guess my picture appears a bit busy, LOL, but that isn't my intention. Brent_in_NoVa: Thanks for reminding me about foot traffic. I think I will add a stone 'landing' so that people walking up the drive won't be crammed between a parked car and the bed. My parents have the same type of walk/drive and it is a pain for this very reason. For the retaining wall, I think this is probably as high as it will go. She really doesn't want it at all, but I think it is necessary for erosion control. Other homes have the same slope and very few have walls. One the right side of the property, I would like to pull the neighbor's yard into hers, hence the river birch. There is more room than it appears, and I wanted something that would get pretty dense. She has probably 15' of that part of the land, but I will need to measure again. I will be posting a 'real' landscape design once I have the measurements. I think this will help me (us!) to gain some perspective. Thanks again, keep your thoughts coming! Chris...See MoreDesign my first house, Need guidance
Comments (3)It would help to know the conditions and restrictions you will have to contend with like the location of the project and the applicable building codes. Building codes are not very restrictive but you need to be sure you don't accidentally violate a provision. If the most common code is used (the IRC), hallways and stairs must be at least 36" wide and habitable spaces (a habitable space is a space for living, sleeping, eating or cooking - bathrooms, toilet rooms, closets, halls, storage or utility spaces and similar areas are not considered habitable spaces) must have aggregate an glazing area of at least 8% of the room floor area being lighted and the minimum openable area to the outdoors must be 4% of the floor area being ventilated. However, artificial lighting and mechanical ventilation may be substituted if they meet the required standards. Every dwelling must have at least one habitable room that is 120 s.f. or larger. Other habitable rooms must be at least 70 s.f. in area or 7 ft in any horizontal direction. Habitable space, hallways, bathrooms, toilet rooms, laundry rooms and portions of basements containing these spaces must have a ceiling height of not less than 7 feet. Bathroom ceilings must be at least 6-8 at fixtures including the shower head. A toilet must have a clear width of 30" and a toilet and a lavatory must have at least 21" clearance in front. A minimum shower is 30 x 30 but in some states it is slightly larger. Basements, habitable attics, and sleeping room must have an "emergency escape and rescue opening" with a maximum sill height of 44" and a minimum clear opening of 5.7 s.f. (grade floor openings can be 5 s.f.) and a minimum width of 20" and a minimum height of 24". A basement can have a door with a bulkhead. Window catalogs will usually have a star or asterisk next to windows that meet these requirements. Some states have modified the IRC code to reduce the required opening size....See MoreStarting out, need some guidance with lamps and other stuff.
Comments (6)Hi, Below you can see my setup. I gave up the other lamps, I figured I'll take the tested(somehwat) route amd go with them T8 lamps, so the two lights you see(there's two lamps there) are....F36w 865 t8 by Sylvania LuxLine plus, new generation. The distance from the plants is on average 30cm. Plants heights is 55cm from the ground. The setup is incomplete, as I plan to have the shelves in a letter C formation, so I can have like 2 or 4 of these lamps lighting them all. Also, how important are, the back thingies which reflect light back? I attach pictures of their current state and how it all looks. Also I have some flowers out. I would appreciate info and advice....See MoreDesign steps - outside-in, or inside-out?
Comments (5)Adkbml wrote: - Is it acceptable to start to solidify design concepts with the physical floor plan? Given that I don't know what you mean by "solidify design concepts", starting with the floor plan is a common consumer approach and not one which many creative professionals use. Architects, for example, often tend to start the planning and design process by a site analysis and study, combined with a climatic study review, and a review of applicable codes and ordinances in order to identify opportunities and limitations for the subsequent design effort. While there are no "rules" as to how one must perform architectural design, not many creative architects start with floor plans. After obtaining a clear understanding of the opportunities and constraints for a given design, many creative architects begin their design search by looking for applicable "big idea" concepts--concepts with organize the design and give it meaning. This is another way of saying that many architects tend to look for and establish the big ideas before proceeding to the next level of thinking in greater detail. - If you start with the physical floor plan, what early consideration items are necessary to determine in order to assure any exterior design expectations/characteristics are accounted for within the physical floor planning process? (this would be focused on external design styles, not location influenced items like views, sun orientation, land/lot characteristics). Design styles are not where many creative architects begin their conceptual design, as I have indicated above (and has JDS), unless a particular architectural style is the single and most important ingredient, over-ruling all else. In such a case, one must clearly understand and be competent with the architectural knowledge of what distinguishes a true colonial from a true craftsman style, for example. This often takes years of study of architectural history. Even more important is the ability to see and visualize in 2-D and 3-D simultaneously. When designing any building the goal should always be to think and visualize in the other dimension. For example, when working on 2-D plans, one should be thinking in 3-D and the 3-D implications/opportunities for every 2-D idea. When working in 3-D, one should be considering the 2-D implications/opportunities. Using perspectives and models helps, but there is no shortcut for being able to do it mentally, and in quick simultaneous sketches, which as JDS says above, simply takes years of creative design experience. Hope this helps!...See Moredsimber
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