Property Daydreams

Summer rolls around and all kinds of out-of-character ideas pop up. I often dream of a little vacation house like this little cabin-in-a-kit. Get-a-way houses are generally in the mountains, near a lake or by the sea shore! This year I'm dreaming of ways to make my own property feel like a vacation spot and it's kind of funny. After all when you are really on vacation you don't have to clean or change the bedding or cook or load and unload the dishwasher. Yikes! I'm not sure how I'm going to pull this off. One idea might be to develop amnesia about household chores. I like that one. Another might be to turn a blind eye to the piles of doggy hair that the dogs are shedding at lightning speed now that the days are turning warmer.

If I had a little cabin like this one down the canyon in our yard I could hide from everyone and maybe then I would feel like I am on holiday. Hmmmmm. We really do have room on our property and I'm thinking that this could be a good idea. I'll need electricity, but we have that already running down there. I want air conditioning, because I'm spoiled by that in the main house. A fountain outside the door could drown out the hum of the traffic below running through Rose Canyon. Nothing will silence the sirens or the groups of motorcycles periodically rumbling down the road, but I can live with that inconvenience.

This idea has legs. We've always wanted to put the land to better use, but as it happens the wind blasts through the canyon and up across our yard. That's why the idea of a pool never quit took hold. I once thought that our neighbors and we could build a huge common pool, but it is just too cold on top of the bluff for a swim most of the time. Besides we live right above an honest-to-God earthquake fault (the Rose Canyon Fault) and I always imagined the pool cracking and the water seeping down onto the broad boulevard below. So the idea of a little hideout is better. Got to get serious about this plan.

In the mean time we are running away for a couple of days this week. We are going to pretend and go to Las Vegas where we can visit Venice, New York and Paris in just 3 days! Quite a bizarre concept, but definitely an affordable break. Then I'll come back and straighten up my office and maybe get moving on my disastrous garage! That will require a pitcher of chilled margaritas I think and several long afternoons.

Summer Projects

When you are a kid the prospect of summer arriving is sort of like waiting for Santa Claus on Christmas Eve or the expectation of getting some great present for your birthday. But when you are the mother of three little kids and you are trying to figure out what to do with them during a summer break, well that is not fun. Nor is the reality of facing a summer without the resources to entertain or educate your kids. If you aren't able to take the traditional summer vacation this year either I can understand feeling kind of grumpy about the summer solstice rolling around and that goes for all ages. I'm irritated because I'd love to be headed for an exotic vacation too.

Instead this year I'm thinking of really tiny goals that don't cost much money. These are mostly items that involve my home and are activities instead of relaxation. First, I would love to re-landscape the back yard but I'm pretty sure that it could eat up $100,000 because it is very large. So instead, I am going to dig up a part of my front yard and plant drought resistant shrubs that bloom. What does that have to do with the backyard you might ask? Absolutely nothing, but if I can coax the front into being as attractive as I can make it by myself then I won't be so discouraged about the wild state of my back lot. I can't do it all at once because of physical issues, but I began tonight by soaking the spot that I have in mind. I want a kind of wild South of France garden and fortunately we share similar climates where native plants of delicious varieties thrive.

Next, I have a garage that is literally dangerous to enter. It holds the remnants of my office and for months I could hardly even look at it. I began to simply toss things on the pile instead of putting items where they belong. Now I have a garage that resembles the people I make fun of on those programs about hoarders. Organizing that disaster is my next goal. I will not be able to clear it out, but I can make an improvement in how it functions. That little bit of progress will be enough for me.

Finally, I need to paint the entrance to our home and dining room of the house. The baseboards are scratched and the paint is worn off thanks to my enormous Labrador Retrievers. This task I think I will leave to the professionals and I will at least begin by getting a quote. Many painters are surviving in these times by accepting smaller projects so I know that they will be grateful for this small project.

Just to prove that I'm not all work oriented another goal for the summer is to get a tan! It's been forever since I've even had the time to sit out in the sun and generally I find it a waste of good time. However this year I'm gifting myself the idea of just sitting outside in my completely destroyed back yard for about 20 minutes an afternoon. It doesn't cost a dime!

Hang Home Office on Wall

Sometimes it's fun to see how little money you can spend in a day or how small a suitcase you can get away with on a trip. Nowadays the suitcase trick is not so much of a lark: You almost have to squeeze everything into a small bag if you want to avoid long lines at the baggage carousel and the prospect of lost luggage. Whether or not minimizing your home office is possible, it sure is appealing to imagine that you could function with this little office!

This particular product - made by a company called Anthro - is called the E-nook Standard. It offers a place to charge your phone too and a small spot for stamps, pencils,or a little calendar. The entire storage assembly closes up like an old-fashioned drop-leaf desk. But this is not your grandmother's desk.

Stand-up computer use likely appeals to a young audience, but older users can charge the laptop before plopping down on the sofa to work it. The idea of hanging your computer station on the wall just like a small piece of art is rather cool. Sadly with the amount of business shrinkage we've all suffered in the past two years the size of this specific home office might be absolutely adequate for far too many people. Entire positions, industries and functions are simply crumbling up and blowing away in a dramatic way. It makes you think of the plaintive images taken by Dorothea Lang during the last Great Depression and Dust Bowl in the middle of America. Our dust is made of the crushed hopes and dreams of millions. We may not be breathing in the grit, but it is affecting our mental and physical health in very serious ways.

We have morphed into a position where many finally have achieved the "paper-less" office that was so talked about in the early 1960s by Herman Miller iconic designers. Offices without walls were the cat's meow and open office planning broke down old stereotypes of how people work together. These days all some high power executives need is a remarkably thin laptop and connection to the Internet. Truly amazing progress unless your office is paper less because your job doesn't exist anymore. Sigh and keep moving ahead.

Give Up Chocolate?

OMG! I just heard a report that indicates that those who eat a lot of chocolate might be depressed, but they don't know if the chocolate causes the depression or if depressed people crave chocolate. This is terrible, terrible news. I can take making $60,000 a year less. I can deal with not having taken an fun vacation in over 4 years. Even the idea of cutting out pedicures. But give up chocolate? No way is that ever happening. Don't these scientists know that we women depend on chocolate to breathe?

Everyone seems so darn mad these days: White middle aged men are pissed about losing their jobs. Women are crushed that they have to give up their dream house because their husband lost his job. Kids are bitching about not having the latest electronic do-dad that costs 500 bucks or the latest digital camera.(I offered a used laptop to a young friend and before she would even consider it she wanted to know "what it looked like....") Holy Moses! I actually have three cameras in the garage that no one will take because they are out-of-date. Why the revolutionary Kindle might be obsolete now because of that newest device. The eco-friendly cars are killing people and they want to charge us for taking our purses onto the plane.I can't keep up.

Actually all I want is my chocolate! I am over optimum weight and I know it, but if the big one (I live in earthquake country right over a small fault known as the Rose Canyon Fault) hits I want to have a mouthful of chocolate to ease the horror. I've had cancer twice and for years worried frantically about what I ate. I got cancer anyway. I worried about taking artificial hormones and getting breast cancer, so I cold-turkey stopped hormones and suffered through a nutty menopause. I got the breast cancer anyway. So what is my lifestyle point?

Enjoy your day. Buy fresh flowers. Go out for coffee even though it is cheaper to make it at home. Smile and stay up as late as you want. Pet your dogs and let them sleep with you if you want to. Kiss your significant other with a long, wet smoldering kiss. Listen to the music that your kids think is corny. Life is unpredictable and we can't waste any more time. And buy some chocolate.

What Does Your House Need to Stay Organized?

So much of how we live depends on what stage we are in at the moment. For instance if you have three little kids under the age of 5 you live in a certain manner, accepting the fact that the house might be a little less picture perfect than you might like. If you are empty nesters perhaps everything stays in place and you only have to clean once every two weeks. Good for you! Young couples on the go live life mostly out of their nest - taking advantage of local coffee houses, clubs, social networking and bars - and basically just sleeping at home!
Lately I've been watching that program on TV about hoarders and while only the most excessive cases are revealed, the idea of keeping too much "stuff" kind of touches all of us in some way. Lots of people have corners where they stack up little used things. Maybe it is simply a cupboard in the kitchen where we keep stuffing plastic and paper bags. It could be a junk drawer where we cram restaurant menus, sticky notes, rubber bands and pens. We all have some secret mess that needs to be cleaned up.
Spring is the perfect time to get into gear and even if your mood is sluggish still from a long winter - or maybe you have the blues from the economic woes - these are the days when organizing can really make a difference. Your mood might be improved by simply attacking one of these disorganized areas. I unfortunately have several spots that need attention: Looking around my home office I can see three boxes that need emptying. In my bedroom I have a huge pile of clothes that needs to be sorted in order to give away to charity. The garage is a horror movie stacked up to the rafters with the contents of my office that I recently moved home. Frankly I haven't been in the mood to even walk out there except that I have to pass the disaster every time I go out there to do the laundry.
If your crisis area is something that you too have to face several times a day may I softly suggest that maybe you would feel better by addressing the need. A shallow bookshelf such at the one shown can hold a myriad of things if they are stuffed into baskets or canvass bags like the ones shown here. You could use almost any type of shelving that is at least 12" deep and the storage devices can be separately bought. Items from small toys to hobby supplies to photographs might be contained in a neat manner. Sometimes it helps just to have a container where you can organize a task on a temporary basis. Then while sitting and watching TV you might take the basket and slowly work on the task at hand.
Bill paying could even be organized in this way. Reading material or mail can be stuffed inside a compartment on a daily basis until you can get enough time to focus on the job to be done. The funny part is that once much time passes - a week or two -lots of the mail is no longer pertinent. Real hoarders have an illness that doesn't allow them to throw anything away and items that most of us consider as trash have a strange meaning to them. For healthy folks the secret to keeping your home livable IS to regularly rid yourself of obsolete items and trash. Especially if you have a tiny house, the idea of keeping the areas tidy and clean is critical. Small spaces do not allow you to clutter the area up with junk.

BABIES EVERYWHERE

All you have to do to verify that we are experiencing a big baby boom is to sit down at a mall and watch what passes you by. I've never seen such a wide variety of carriages, running strollers and other futuristic looking devices obviously created by clever industrial designers to provide parents with ergonomically positive transportation. It is amazing! Management at shopping centers have already figured out that if they offer whimsical push carts (in the form of mini fire engines or horses) that parents will want to linger with the kids. Wonderful fountains and jungle-gym play equipment also serve as a draw for house-bound parents anxious for an outing.

Once at home the variety of cradles and swings that slowly rock your little one to sleep to various environmental sounds is amazing as well. Baby products are more complex these days and appropriately expensive. Where we just rapidly rocked an infant new parents can set a dial and free themselves from having to hold the kid. Warming a bottle also requires a special device that shortens the process of heating up a mid-night meal. Pour water in the well and in about 1 minute the bottle is warm! Magnifique!

The rules for being a foster parent in my community allow for up to two children under the age of two to share a bedroom with an adult. Kids older than two need to have their own bedroom available. So this public policy makes a case for how new parents with tiny homes can make room for a new family member. A corner of mom and dad's bedroom might become baby's area if the room is large enough. You could screen it off or perhaps install the equivalent of a hospital cubicle curtain to divide the space. Even if a baby is across the hallway from mommy and daddy the cries are going to wake them up so sharing a room may not be so outlandish.

Even a home office could share space with the new nursery if necessary. Some color schemes are appropriately gender neutral and still fun enough for a baby. Try apple green, aqua and warm brown. Look at white, orange and sunflower yellow. Denim blue and red is another classic combo that will satisfy an adult usage and an infant's theme. There are no hard and fast rules against using blue for girls, but I don't think too many folks would put their little guy in a pink room. Other than that color there are hundreds of other color family options.

The bottom line is that babies come along and there is no "perfect" time to become a parent. You have to make babies when it is physically appropriate or more accurately stated: Women must abide by their biological time clock. Despite the lousy economy and uncertain future, we are smack in the middle of a wonderful birth explosion! No more wonderful event can ever take place in your life

Gone to the Dogs

There they are just exploding to get inside: Dundee, Kai and Siggy: Our extended four-legged family. The ones who teach us how to love unconditionally. Life changed in my house when we acquired these two large Labrador brothers about 4 1/2 years ago.(The small one belongs to our son and Dundee was just visiting when the photo was taken.) You wonder what dogs have to do with interior design? Quite a lot it turns out.

I used to be one anal housekeeper and totally fixated on keeping things looking in new condition. Any new piece of dirt caught my eye instantly and nothing was ever out of place for long. I love my "things" as most interior designer will admit. We are all possession junkies! Cannot resist a beautiful vase, a great woven basket or a piece of art. When I was young I didn't understand how or why my older designer friends would spend all their money on objects that they fell in love with...it seemed so unwise. But slowly the deep appreciation for the decorative arts got into my blood too and I began to keep some of the items that I supposedly bought for clients!

But then the boys came to live with us and all hell broke loose with regard to the condition of my house and yard. The baseboards are scraped and dirty, the walls are splattered with crud that comes out of their mouths when they shake, and the once off-white grout is a lovely chocolate brown now. (Well at least it matches Siggy's warm coat color.) Now we are into full blown shedding season so the vacuum cleaner just stays out all the time. I've given up! I literally have two huge black crates right in the dining room because it is one of the largest rooms in the house. My adult son felt the need to point that out to me recently. "Do you realize that you have dog crates in the dining room?" he passionately pointed out. Yup! I sure do.

What my good-looking boys have taught me is that while my environment is important to me and I still absolutely enjoy the visual treats all over my home, I value the warmth brought into our home by these nutty labs much more than I can imagine. I am willing to ignore the hair, the goop, the constant cleaning and the barking all because they just love us. Our yard is an entirely different issue: Nothing is left of my gorgeous garden or lawn. It is hideous looking at the moment.

Which makes me think of young families with little kids. You've just got to decorate in a kid-friendly way. Choose fabrics with texture and pattern so that you are not overly worried about spills. Check out some of the newer Green textiles that can be literally scrubbed. Select softer lines: A round coffee table vs. a sharp glass-top version. Avoid breakable accessories or put the delicate treasures up high or behind a locked glass door for safety. Favor flooring that will conceal dirt and traffic patterns. Bend. Flex. Be reasonable. Your little ones won't be tiny forever and there is plenty of time for a whole new look later on. There are safety issues to be sensitive to such as avoiding cords for window treatments or heavy lamps that might be pulled over onto a toddler.

But in the end your home already has the most gorgeous element possible: A precious young life! Relax and enjoy this time as a family. Life in the colored pages of decorating magazines is not real. We stage rooms for photography so remember as you lust after some specific "look" that it has been prepped for the camera. Real life is more sloppy for most people. Somewhere between being one of those embarrassed TV hoarders and a neat-freak you will find domestic happiness. May you eventually achieve your easy and balanced pace!

Picking Olives

I was appropriately born in olive oil country - Burbank, California. The sleepy little San Fernando Valley town sits in a fertile area where ocean breezes occasionally meet with near-desert climate. The civilized region began as a couple of large ranchos where for 6,000 years before Indians continously lived. In September of 1797 San Fernando mission was founded on the site of one of these prominent ranches and joined the other 21 missions established by the Franciscan order in California. It wasn't long before San Fernando became especially rich in crops, cattle, sheep, groves of citrus and olive trees. It was the Spanish missionaries who first brought olive tree cuttings from San Blas, Mexico to San Diego in 1769 and hand carried cuttings up the state. So began the long history of olive oil production in California, the ingredient that Homer called "liquid gold".

Long after the mission era ended Italian Americans continued the production of olive oil in the San Fernando area. The hospitable climate of Southern California, so like Italy, drew many Italian immigrants to the area. My own grandparents made their way from New York harbor across the country to settle in a place so like their old home. My great uncle maintained a plot of land just over the Hollywood hills from his home in Los Angeles where he grew his own vegetables and citrus crops. It was obvious that the valley produced better results. Not only famous for being hospitable to farmers, the area drew those seeking better health. People emigrated from the east coast to soak up the reliable warmth of a sun that appeared most of the year in Southern California towns like Santa Barbara, San Fernando, Burbank, Riverside, Rancho Cucomonga, Murietta, Palm Springs and Warner Hot Springs. It was the frightening era of tuberculosis and the cure involved warm weather.

In the 1880s Mother Frances X.Cabrini-the woman who worked among the Italian American community cultivating orphanages, schools and hospitals in the United States - came to California to work among the poor. She ultimately founded an order of nuns who built a facility known as a Preventatorium high in the Verdugo Hills above present day Burbank. Here young women could live and ultimately study in the clean and healthful air of the southland without danger of catching tuberculosis. The health facility eventually became Villa Cabrini Academy on land that crept up a hillside. High above the valley floor a small chapel was erected that was said to protect the community against raging fires common in parched Southern California, and where prayer was offered for the success of the crops planted below. Young girls attended the Academy founded in 1906 as late as the 1970s and used to pick the olive in their slips so as not to soil their uniforms!

Burbank and me and olives go way back. Thinking about those days in Burbank makes me consider having a garden again and raising some of what my family needs to eat myself. I haven't done this for years partly due to being so busy with working outside of my home. The daily race home - sometimes not until 7:00 PM - often meant throwing together some sort of meal based on speed, not freshness of ingredients or visual appeal. But this tradition of raising vegetables is deeply rooted in my mother's peasant family history. These people came from a hilly, infertile part of the South in Calabria. They forced the land to yield wheat, citrus, tomatoes, artichokes, onions, broccoli, zuccini and eggplant. We grew up eating fabulous vegetables cooked in deliciously simple ways.

I smile to imagine the girls in their slips! Having attended Catholic school I totally get the experience. There's not much difference between that scene and me going out into the yard in my nightgown to pick flowers or pull a weed. I love the early morning in the yard especially now that it is spring again. One good way to enjoy the enforced free time that I now have might just be to create a vegetable garden again. There is no greater pleasure than to watch things we nurture grow and flourish. Remember the Victory gardens of WWII? Well maybe Mrs. Obama is on to a wonderful idea with her White House kitchen garden. Perhaps this is a way to fight back during these grim times. Maybe she has inspired me to find a way around my big labrador retrievers to pick a spot in the yard for a vegetable garden. A good thing for this lovely spring day!

New Beginnings This Spring!

I'm looking at rain drops hugging the window screen while several brand new tulips peek up above the sill. As I think about the promise of spring, still so much is fractured around us which doesn't seem quite right in this potentially cleansing time of year. It is quite aggravating that tax time coincides with one of the most lovely of seasons, don't you think? Plus it always seems that several insurances are also due right at this time of year. Then if you are self-employed you cannot ever forget the estimated taxes that seem to add insult to injury and that demand another good-sized check to write.

It can be easy to get stressed as we impatiently wait for better weather to become typical. Today in Seattle there is a blustering storm that usually calls in October or November, not in this supposedly bright and sunny month. It can easily be just as frustrating to look around your home and see all sorts of improvements that are needed and not have any funds with which to make changes. I'm going to give you one of the first lessons that I ever learned about design and it remains a marvelous tip: No one will notice what is in your room if you have it clean and filled with some fresh flowers! I might add that if you are entertaining after dark add in the romantic light of candles or soft twinkle lights and you cannot miss.

I need to have my entry and dining room painted in the worst way at home. So I do understand what it is like to function in a room or a house that looks a bit dingy. However, there is genuine uplifting benefit to cleaning and it only takes elbow grease and energy. Adding in flowers is extremely affordable. I suggest that you avoid those pre-made bouquets at the market because the combinations are not always the most attractive. You are better off to purchase a bunch of one type of blossom. For instance I just picked up a bundle of yellow tulips for the dining table tomorrow evening and spent just under $6.00 at a local Trader Joe's. Flowers can be bought at street corner floral stands, floral shops, drug stores, grocery stores and at home improvement stores so there are no excuses!

Always undo the bundle and cut off about 1" of the stem. This allows the cellular structure of the stem to operate again and begin to soak up fresh water. Strip off unnecessary greens on the stem part that will stay in the water and avoid slim accumulating in the water as days pass. Some blossoms last longer than others if you wish to extend the visual treat. Gerber daisies are long lasting as are other types of daisies. Carnations tend to last well as do some rose varieties. My all time favorite aroma comes from the delicate Fresia that sadly doesn't seem to stay for very long. You can also get long life from a blooming plant such as an azalea, gardenia or mums.
The classic Easter lilies that you buy in the grocery store might already be in bloom by the time it reaches the retail market and therefore have a relatively short life left.

Whatever you favor, remember that a room can indeed be brightened simply by one of nature's most generous gifts to us: Fresh flowers!

Wallmart or Dubai?

Does it feel like we are living in the Twighlight Zone these days? Things couldn't be any stranger. I picked up a trade magazine and read about the world's tallest building - Burj Khalifa in Dubai - that stands close to a mile in height at 828 m. Named after the United Arab Emirates president Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan the building is home to the world's first Armani Hotel, designed by Giorgio Armani. Oh, I get it! This is definitely what the world needs now: 160 guestrooms and suites on the 38th and 39th floors along with 144 luxury Armani residences, and 37 office floors. The same day I picked up another magazine in my doctor's waiting room and read about affordable bedding from Walmart and was struck by the irony of these two images in my mind! The ad says Save money. Live better and hints that I can experience luxury at Walmart prices. I don't think that Wallmart would do well in Dubai.

I have always worked in a profession that sells dreams to people. Illusion is a big part of the world of interior design where we blend knowledge with magic and talent with practical skills. Of course I have grown used to very expensive products and to folks who can easily afford a luxury lifestyle. The disconnect for me occurs when one steps out of the rare environment of the wealthy and onto the main street of America. To a certain extent I have become jaded about costs over many years of dealing with high end clients, but if ever there was a quick remedy to forgetting about basics it has been the recent economic slide.

So now the former middle class is looking at Walmart with less disdain. In some parts of our country Walmart is the only place to shop, but I live in Southern California where we have always had a huge variety of regional shopping centers, small chic boutiques and neighborhood shopping areas. Choice abounds out here and admittedly I have never shopped at Walmart. But as we watch all the cool little shops close and the charming restaurants quit and the sales tax shrivel up for the State of California due to radically declining sales of all sorts you've got to wonder: What exactly is going to happen in the future to the resources we have grown used to?

My guess is that there are a lot of Americans trying to get used to the idea that their future is not going to be what they imagined. Therefore it is also logical to assume that the products we buy - everything from sheets and towels to underwear and sports clothes - will have to cost less or no one will be able to afford them. I have long been a kind of thrill shopper at discount stores like T.J. Maxx or Marshall's where I challenge myself to find the best quality item for the least amount of money. I shamelessly only look at the sale rack in these stores! Last week I bought a gorgeous gray sweater that had been tagged by the manufacturer at $160 and I bought it for $23. What started out for me as a kind of hobby game has become standard practice. The fact that I don't walk into Nordstrom's any longer is bad for that major retailer and great for my pocket book.

But I don't want cheaply made items that don't look like quality. I want quality for less.That's the hitch and that is exactly what Better Homes and Gardens is selling in their Walmart ads for The Better Homes and Gardens Collection. My suspicion is that a lot of folks feel the same way about household goods, clothes, cars, and furnishings. The fantasy of Dubai's opulence and the lifestyle of the "rich and famous' that has been served up for generations to the American TV watching public now has to square with Wallmart, Penny's, and Home Depot prices. The truth is that the twain doesn't meet. We need to get real in this country and realize that living within one's means is an honorable thing to do. In many ways a lot of the American population has been pretending - flirting with the ideal of riches and fame - that they are entitled to live a luxury lifestyle. No one is entitled to anything except the right to work for the things we need.

A more realistic and mature view of life might be the unexpected result of our economic difficulties. Wouldn't that be refreshing? As we return to a "smaller" lifestyle perhaps we can look at the tallest building in the world and recognize it for what it is: Fantasy.

Recession Babies

By 1929 my immigrant grandmother had two babies. She recalled that she and my grandfather were extremely careful not to become pregnant again. They couldn't afford it. Times were tough and my grandfather, who was a welder, could not find steady work in Los Angeles during the Depression. Building and construction was down just as it is now so people in the trades had very little business even in sunny California. It might not have helped that he was Italian given the politics of the era. By 1933 her little girls were 5 and 3 years old and her mother - my great-grandmother - came over from Italy to watch them while Grandma got a job in a factory. Our grandfather worked 2 days a week cutting brush for the WPA in famous Griffith Park in LA and randomly would get day work installing pipes around the county. It was an insecure existence.

People were losing their homes left and right, but for some reason my grandparents were able to continue making their $35 a month loan payment to Uncle Pasquale. They managed to never miss a payment during the Depression, which is pretty impressive! Their home cost $4,000 and they paid 7% interest on the loan which they paid off in full. Then when WWII loomed (1939, 1940, 1941) steady work in the Todd Shipyard began for Grandpa. These people got through the depression and came out the other side with no debts. The problem was that in order to do that they lived a joyless life and a life filled with fear. With the girls 13 and 14, my grandparents tried for another baby with the hope of having a boy. My grandmother was nearly 40 years old at the time.
I do not expect that this generation of 20 to 35 year old prospective parents will wait to have children because they have not had to wait for anything in their protected lives. Naturally the way that these young Americans look at life is far different and I have to admit they inherited their unique focus from my generation. We who survived the drug, peace and love, do-what-feels-good way of thinking were more into enjoying life when compared to our parents. We women accepted that we would have to work and actually fought for the right to have a life outside of the home. Women pushed the envelope and banged up against that glass ceiling; protesting for the right to work in whatever profession they chose. Women broke barriers as stock brokers, airline pilots, doctors, business executives and military personnel. Sexual mores were shattered. WWII-era parents were are odds with their Hippie kids and veterans rarely connected with their Vietnam-war-protesting kids. No one understood one another and society was in upheaval. We had race riots, public marches, integration and assassinations. We had the frightening Cold War and the threat of the atomic bomb.

Today's young parents were raised as adored, praised and over-indulged progeny without the threat of a kind of warfare that could touch their lives. We who were never asked how we felt spent time coaxing our kids to express themselves. They were taken to psychologists, tutors, dance lessons, soccer, singing, tap, ballet, swimming and mountain climbing. You name it and we delivered it to them. Much has been written about the self-absorbed generation that we raised. They want it all and don't want to sacrifice. Why should they? We gave them everything so that there was nothing more to crave.

So when the weird sub-prime loans were paraded out the temptation was too great. Why wait when you could have it now? So many young people think that they will become rich and famous that it is shocking. They all expect to go to college and to experience wild financial success, but they skip over the part where one has to pay years and years of dues. Every bride expects a karet diamond and the honeymoon must be exotic or it doesn't count.

I have no particular insight into how this will play out,but I do know that having a baby is a lifetime commitment. Raising a child is a privilege and a serious undertaking if you want to end up with an emotionally healthy person. The reality of raising children in a sour economy means that choices will have to be made about what to give one's children. This crop of parents may become a group who cannot afford to replicate their own childhood experiences. Assuredly their will be disappointment at not being able to give the kids everything that they had, but this odd see-sawing of generations is what has always been in place. There had been years of unusual prosperity post WWII that kind of tweeked reality. Our large middle class fed by that prosperity is threatened today and the rich promise of America evaporating as I write. Surely this generation of hopeful and excited new parents will carve a new path forward. This should be interesting to watch!

Past Hold Answers To Future

A Shotgun house for those of us not from the South is a long,

narrow house usually no more than 12 feet wide with doors at

either end. Very popular in New Orleans, the style can be found

all over the South and as far away as Chicago, Key West and

California. The houses were originally built by middle class folks,

but eventually became a symbol of poverty by the middle

of the 20th century.

There is a theory that the style can be traced from Africa to Haiti and then to the United States. It has a strong connection to the folklore of the South. Superstition says that ghosts and spirits are attracted to these box-like homes because they can pass directly through them. Some people purposely placed doors out of alignment to discourage spirits from passing through! The Shotgun gets its name from the idea that a shotgun blast could shoot straight through the house.The size and simplicity is attractive. From the porch you pass into the living room and then to the bedroom and then to the kitchen and bathroom at the back. Typically there is a back porch as well.

These houses are generally one story and raised above the ground 2 to 8 feet. There is also a Double-barrel Shotgun, which is basically a duplex or two separate Shotgun houses sharing a single common wall. The Camelback is a Shotgun with a second story built above the rear rooms of the structure. Both the front and back porches as sheltered under a roof.

Far away in Sydney, Australia architect James

Fitzpatrick built his version of a Shotgun house on a narrow lot that allowed him just a little over 12 feet fence to fence. With a little more than 893 square feet to work with he had the added challenge of living on a busy street. He basically flipped the house around 180 degrees and accepted the fact that he'd enter his home from the carport instead of a gracious old fashioned porch. By doing this he blocked out the noise of the street.

The view I'm showing you is looking into the length of the unit from the entry side of the house towards the dining and kitchen space. Behind the kitchen wall is one of the bedrooms.

James uses state-of-the art equipment to coax his little space into offering sophisticated amenities. Notice his pioneer plasma TV and the fireplace created by using one of the burner units sold by EcoSmart fireplace. It is a compact burner that uses Denatured Ethanol, an environmentally friendly and renewable fuel. "Storage is a huge priority and you've just got to use every square millimeter of space."

The entry into the master bedroom is a bit unusual and required a walk through the bathroom that also doubles as a laundry. An under-counter type washing machine and clothes dryer combo is hidden under the lavatory counter. In the traditional Shotgun, you have to walk through the bedroom to reach the kitchen and bathroom. In both styles of the end user simply has to accept a couple of unorthodox traffic patterns.

When we look to our past there are hundreds of ideas about our built environment that worked once and can work again. The idea of a narrow little house is not new. Some architects working on the renewal of New Orleans have re-visited this style of house as an affordable replacement for destroyed homes. The model is still viable and attractive whether done in traditional style or ultra modern as shown here. There is new life ahead for the under-1,200-square-foot home both here in the U.S. and abroad. One of my readers actually took the trouble to look James Fitzpatrick up when they were traveling in Australia! James e-mailed me to let me know about his visitors from California! We are one small world, aren't we?

The Circle of Simplicity

Sooner or later each of us must confront exactly what the financial losses brought about during this depressing Recession mean in our lives. It is unpleasant and there is nothing that I would rather ignore more than facing reality at the moment. My beloved husband forced me to sit down and write down every penny that we owe. Like swallowing Castor oil or eating spoiled cheese. But it was the first step in banging out a long-range plan. Now that our old plan doesn't work - because we've lost about two-thirds of our nest egg - we need a completely fresh goal.

One of the good things that can result from this uncomfortable time is a simplification of our life. Author Cecile Andrews wrote a book called The Circle of Simplicity wherein she shares that what she wants to feel more than anything else is gratitude. With the "good life" slipping away, how do you keep a sense of gratitude going? Maybe the secret, as Andrews hints, is in appreciating what you have at the moment. " To feel gratitude is to look at everything in your life and appreciate it, be aware of it, pay attention to it. Our lifestyle, of course, engenders discontent and resentment. Because more is always better you can never be satisfied with what you have. Because commercials are constantly showing up ecstatically happy people with lots of stuff, we always feel that we're just not quite making it. Then, when we see how much money rich people have, we feel envious. All of these feelings make you discontent with your life, causing you to fail to be grateful for what you do have."

And if we were a nation of whiners before, what will we become as more and more challenge is hurled at the middle class resulting in additional losses? The only way to avoid misery is to grasp onto one or two positives in your life. It may just get down to a handful of fresh flowers. It may be the fact that you actually like your husband or wife that keeps you afloat. It could be that you are blessed with healthy children. One thing I know for sure: Your contentment definitely will not be related to how much you own. In the days of our grand-parents and great-grandparents immigrants came to America with the desire to labor hard. It was generally the result of unrelenting work on the part of the entire family that earned them a home. Somewhere along the line, as the New Urbanist James Howard Kunstler writes, we shifted from thinking of home ownership as something we should work very hard for to something we are entitled to as Americans.

Those devoted to the simple lifestyle carefully rearrange their lives to reduce their dependence on "stuff" and thereby change how much money they must have to remain comfortable. One car instead of two. Mommy stays home and saves the cost of child care or a housekeeper. She prepares fresh and healthy food for her family at a fraction of the cost of fast restaurant food. Use of re-purposed furnishings saves money as does growing some of your own food. Simplicity demands that you wear things out and only replace when you cannot repair. We cannot have everything and still remain balanced, healthy and happy. The only way to live within your means is to create a new plan. It has taken me a long, long time to realize this. Read. Study. Count. Plan. Change. Sell. Conserve. Look for a simpler way to live in this complicated time.

Smart Mid-Century Houses

Optimism and hope were dominant features of Post WWII America. There were GI benefits to be had and the country welcomed veterans back to work with extended arms. Industrious developers set about satisfying the huge demand for housing as millions of young people busily started families of four, five and six kids. Women went back to staying at home after spending their war years substituting for men in factories and plants, trying to like being June Cleavor. Some social scientists even propose that the little-woman-staying-at-home syndrome was in part popularized by American culture as a response to men actually feeling threatened by the short-term independence that women experienced while the men folk were away at war. Guys wanted their wives pregnant and safely tucked away at home during the 1950s.

The homes that were prepared for these families were designed to be an affordable reward for service to one's country. You could afford one of the 900 to 1,000 square foot houses on a school teacher's or milkman's salary. Houses built in 1947 in Levittown, New York originally sold for under $8,000 and were designed based on extreme economy. In part this was achieved by eliminating basements and garages and for the first time, laying plumbing pipes right into the cement slab foundations. This concept spread across the country. Arapahoe Acres in Englewoood, Colorado, south of Denver, was the brain child of a Czech emigre Eugene Sternberg who intended to sell his little homes for $10,000 in 1949. His designs were clever and he outfitted them with sliding walls and lots of built-in storage to maximize efficiency of limited space. Los Angeles's Mar Vista Tract, a shady enclave of 52 little homes was designed by architect Gregory Ain and landscape designer Garrett Eckbo. The houses were 1,060 square foot flat roofed structures that used accordion folding walls to encourage homeowners to re-configure space according to needs. Phoenix, Arizona reflects even more innovation postwar planning because of the mostly flat desert terrain. Builders had few obstacles and could build forever. Now on the Neighborhood Historic District lists is Village Grove, a ranch style subdivision built in the late 1950s and Town and Country that featured something called a "car-patio". The ideas was for the carport and patio to be combined.

The houses were modest and not grand palaces. They were adequate and not outrageous, yet new concepts were introduced like the idea of a kitchen opening right into the living room and flexible accordion-like walls. Truth is: We cannot afford the McMansions of the last twenty years. We need our own version of the small, smart houses of the 1950s.

Lessmore

One of my friends bought a tiny house that sits feet away from a soft sandy stretch of Pacific Ocean in Oceanside, California. It serves as her weekend get-a-way. This place, built around 1927, is a simple Spanish Revival style that holds just one bedroom and bathroom, a tiny porch area, the narrow kitchen and a compact living room/dining area at the front of the structure. The precious fireplace in the main room, no longer working, is flanked by two small crank out windows.

The original owner lived here full time for all those years confined to about 880 square feet. Granted she had the amazing Pacific as her front yard, but still there was virtually no storage space in a home with just one bedroom closet and limited cupboard space. Perhaps she had a garage out back or a storage shed, but it couldn't have been much. Surely not like the use of a basement or attic space. It gets me wondering about this lady who moved in this place during the depressing Depression era. Was this a down-sizing move for her at the time? Was she experiencing the same shrinking up of a household that lots of people are encountering today? Often the real estate on the shore costs so much more than inland and what gets built typically is a much smaller sized home for more money.

During those years in the late 1920s and 1930s thousands of Spanish Revival bungalows were built that offered two and three bedroom homes with garages. While larger than this place, they still were relatively tiny homes by any standard. Folks thought nothing of having just one bathroom at that time. But then, there were owners alive at that time that very easily might have been raised using out-houses to go to the bathroom. My own grandparents, immigrants from the impoverished South of Italy, grew up in homes that shared the downstairs with animals and they used outdoor facilities for human needs. They were elated to just be here in America, so the idea of just one bathroom was of absolutely no concern to them. They were grateful for everything here in this country, especially their Spanish Revival home at 1818 W. 70th Street in Los Angeles with two bedrooms and one bathroom for everyone.

What changed during the last 80 years or so that makes young people feel that they are entitled to their own bedroom and bathroom? What makes perfectly successful Boomers feel apologetic and not eager to entertain friends in their own home just because they live in a condo and not a larger home? Where does the idea of proving one's worth with the size of a home come from anyway? Wealth can be defined in many ways. Worldly possessions come and go and can be lost at any time. We have attached significance to the size of one's house and the amount of influence or wealth that accompanies the larger homestead. We assume that the people who live in larger places are richer and happier. Not only is this not true, but this path of thinking can interfere needlessly with finding contentment in a much smaller home.

Oh to have lived in this place - on this blue ocean - and drink in all those dreamy sunsets, fresh sunrises and balmy breezes. On this lonely beach with few houses in those days and little noise other than the pounding rhythm of waves. That woman, whoever she was, she was a rich lady!

Frugalista Fad

For a kid who grew up in an extremely frugal household - the grandchild of thrifty Italian immigrants who had no use for frivolity - the ad on the TV the other night just blew my mind! There it was, looking sleek and attractive and packaged for a youthful audience: Frugalista. I'm laughing partly because the suffix 'ista' seems to be an endearing label of our unusual times. Why even the former Elderhostel has claimed the new name of Exploristas and ditched the elder thing. But to pair being frugal with being cool is absolutely amazing. Do not misunderstand me. I think that this is the best message to come from American business in a long time. I wish that the world of interior furnishings would hear this advertisement from the smart retailer Target loud and clear and follow their lead.

Professional designers and architects have suffered immensely during the great recession for rather obvious reasons; there is very little business for people in the residential interior design trade and one has to fight hard for what is out there these days. In the most difficult economy since the Great Depression there are few discretionary funds for buying new fabrics, sofas or dining chairs; draperies, bedding, or lamps. The past two years have been like a great draught with some very famous and large companies failing, extremely popular magazines - such as Metropolitan Home and Southern Accents - suddenly disappearing and availability of goods hampered by cut-backs and slow downs. No construction loans mean no new building starts and the real estate market is self-explanitory. Many architects have not seen a new project on their boards for several years now.

We designers sell merchandise and are essentially the dream maker "middle-men" when it comes to home interiors. The issue has been that the products available in multi-line showrooms and direct from manufacturers are expensive. And I am quite sure that most people think that the designer is an elitist based solely on the fact that fine furnishings are so costly that the American public no longer is interested primarily in quality. They cannot afford to care. Only the very, very wealthy can contemplate a $7,000 arm chair and quite frankly, most people would be embarrassed to purchase such an item in this new world economy.Think Haiti. Think total disaster in New Orleans. Think tent cities in these United States. Think $300 a yard fabric. It doesn't compute.

So I'm hoping that the producers of plumbing fixtures, lighting, furniture, carpet, fabric, tile, wood pieces, etc. will take a look at Target's simple and smart formula! Give us good design for a reasonable cost. Give regular middle class Americans some real choice. Otherwise the only thing for a cost constrained person to do when trying to spiff up the house is to seek out re-purposed furnishings and live the life of a frugalista. Perhaps considering new options at more affordable prices can help all of us.

Expect More!

What do Echo Boomers think when they look ahead towards the future? If I were 25 right now I'd be kind of over whelmed at the wicked negative vibes about job prospects. Lots of new grads are landing $8.00 per hour jobs while carrying $40,000 to $50,000 in student loans. They don't particularly want to slave away as their Boomer parents did because they are noticing that what their parents worked for has been shaved in two. We were the generation of working moms who thought they could have it all; marriage, kids and a fabulous career. A lot of our kids didn't like having a working mom. I put off having children at first because I loved being a Yuppy - young upwardly mobile professional - and I did expect more! I wanted a house and a neat car. I wanted to travel and buy lots of clothes. I wanted to have fun and I wanted to keep on making more money. By the time I thought about babies, it just didn't happen for me. The most memorable quote from Barbara Walters goes something like this: You can have a great marriage and a great kid. A great kid and a great career. A great career and a great marriage, but you cannot have it all! Sobering, but true.

The kids today want mostly to be wired into every possible electronic media device and thereby be connected to their world. They are o.k. with living in a really tiny place, provided that it has some pizazz! Include communal laundry, game rooms, social activities and exercise facilities and they are in. They are about style and brands. While we were about getting rid of our bras, buying funky clothes at the Goodwill and smoking a little dope, these kids are quite frank about their sexuality and shockingly pragmatic about how they solve certain intimate challenges in a way that reflects the impossible situation we over indulgent parents created for them. These are the kids that have been nurtured into being unrealistic and spoiled, narcissistic and selfish.

Into this reality two huge American companies have introduced a thought process that I believe will spread like a virus. Several years ago a representative from Target spoke at the national ASID (American Society of Interior Designers) conference here in San Diego ad unveiled their brilliant plans for creating a cutting edge brand. These people are brilliant and their mission statement - Expect More. Pay Less - is exactly what Gen-Y or Echo Boomers want. The genius of Target has been to align themselves with well known designers of clothes, house ware products, shoes and furnishings and create favorably priced, but really cool products. Quality is not as critical to the young as style and being chic. WalMart in certain parts of the country began with a reputation for being the cheapest place to shop. Elitists on both coasts wouldn't be caught dead inside a WalMart store and frankly I've been in only a handful of WalMarts in my entire life. However, they will have the last laugh with their slogan Live Better. Pay Less! They are nipping at Target's style heels and introducing a bold new program to assign a Green rating to each product that they carry. This ain't your grandma's WalMart!

When the young think of their future, do they ambitiously want it all, just like their parents? I would think so, but from my mid-life vantage point I now realize that few people attain everything they wish for from life. When we tell ourselves that we should expect more, how realistic is that? While it is obviously true that we can engineer products to be affordable and attractive, life on the other hand is not as easily controlled.

It's Shrinking!

Downsizing is the word! I write a weekly syndicated column called Small Spaces for Creators Syndicate and when I started writing a decade ago, the subject was not quite a "hot" topic. But right now it is THE topic in home improvement, interior design and the architectural circuit. Americans have downsizing on their minds and the trend is spreading, in part due to the worldwide economic woes and in part because we are all waking up from what were wasteful and selfish environmental practices.

Obviously our bank accounts are dwindling. Our investments are on a hunger strike. The future for Baby Boomers like me is not looking anything like I thought it would look ten years ago. Millions of us Boomers and millions of our kids - the Echo Boomers, Millenials or Gen-Y-ers or whatever you want to label them - are staring at a shrinking lifestyle. Ten years ago everyone sought designer products from eye glasses to cookware bought in chic stores that gave out stylish bags. Now the cool purchasers are picking up products designed by well-known people for Target and WalMart where you can live better and pay less! Pretty quickly it will be those that can create a certain look for less that will be celebrated on the streets of America. Waste and greed are out.

At the recent NAHB International Builders Show in Las Vegas Eliot Nusbaum, Better Homes and Gardens Executive Editor of Home Design presented the results of the Next Home Survey along with reported trends from a nationwide network of field editors, the magazine's Home Improvement Challenge and editorial coverage. "Not surprisingly, we continue to see a 'cents and sensibility' approach when it comes to buying or improving a home, with practicality and price being top priorities," says Mr. Nusbaum. Americans want smaller and more energy efficient homes. 36% in 2009 (32% in 2008) of a sampling made up of new home buyers and current home owners indicate that their next home will be smaller or 'somewhat' smaller than their current home.

This Baby Boomer grew up in one of those 1,000 square foot post-WWII suburban floor plans with 1 1/2 baths and no great room in view! Generations lived in homes that ranged from 850 square feet up to about 1,400 square feet. The funniest part of what is happening now is that the Gen-Y group or Millenials tell information gathering groups that they do not mind living in really tiny space. Like we are talking 400 to 880 square feet! Chicago's The Streeter offers luxury high-rise units under 600 square feet; the River Oaks apartments in Houston average about 880 square feet and at least one Washington, D.C. condo is less than 400 square feet. Of course such small places have been common in Manhattan or London for generations, but that this trend is inching across the entire country is what is notable. However the kids demand amenities: Wired for every possible electronic device, communal exercise and game rooms, planned social events, and door-to-door laundry service. Real life for this generation takes place outside of their small home anyway.

Everything from our bank accounts to our homes to our sense of security is shrinking! Get ready for the new normal - smaller!