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Editor's BLOG
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Dan Gregory
I've always been interested in houses, floor plans, the relationship between structure and site, and architectural diversity. A native Californian, I grew up in a simple gable-roofed adobe with many doors opening to long porches, like a small town train depot. I think it gave me a fixation on circulation and fresh air: there are no dead-end rooms, every in has an out, and every space connects to the outside.
I received a Ph. D. in Architectural History from U. C. Berkeley and was Sunset magazine's senior home editor before coming to Houseplans.com. My recent book about Cliff May, shown at right, tells the story of the influential designer who helped popularized the suburban ranch house.
I think of Houseplans.com as an expanding template for affordable quality in home design. Our Project Advisors, Design Department, and huge inventory of stock plans give you a head start in the complex process of creating a new home. With Eye on Design, Get Inspired, and Looking Around – not to mention our Customizer Tool, unique specially commissioned designs, and plan collections – we want to spark your architectural imagination so that your new home is the best it can be.
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EDITOR'S WEEKLY BLOG
Houseplans.com Hot Sheet: EYE ON DESIGN is a weekly blog about news and ideas in the world of home design. It includes recent additions to our plan inventory and round-ups of the latest products and concepts from expos like the International Builders Show, Pacific Coast Builders Conference, The Vine: A Conference on the Nature of Community, and West Coast Green. As a sort of online magazine, it aims to help customers explore our large inventory of plans, participate in the imaginative process of design, and ultimately achieve a better home.
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Get Inspired!Famous houses and house museums to jumpstart your design
What better time to explore some of the world's most famous houses than when you're in the middle of planning your own home. Here's a listing of favorite house museums open to the public, including each website, from the Gamble House in Pasadena, California (considered the ultimate Craftsman bungalow) to Thomas Jefferson's classical Monticello in Virginia; from Le Corbusier's modern Villa Savoye near Paris to the Mayan-inspired Hollyhock House by Frank Lloyd Wright in Los Angeles. Find the architectural style below that interests you and see what your future house has in common with some of the world's great works of residential architecture. A useful round-up of historic houses can also be found at http://www.oldhouses.com/historic-house-museums.htm.
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Looking Around
Building a new home suddenly makes you see everything in a new way or as if for the first time. You start wondering about the windows on your new house and that makes you look at the windows on other houses. This "looking around" phenomenon recalls a statement by the late great landscape San Francisco landscape architect Thomas Church, who said "Look to your trees for they may have unrevealed beauty in their branches." He meant that with a little pruning you can bring out a tree's structure and perhaps its beauty. Our new Looking Around feature does something similar by helping you look more closely at key architectural details like windows, doors, porches, rooflines, lighting, ornamental patterns, and more. Think of it as an ever expanding collection of design ideas.
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