I have no problem with a front load garage, because that's how the vast majority of people who live in places like this enter and leave the house.

Designing so that the foyer allows entry from both the front door and the garage results in everyone enjoying the foyer space. I love this feature in my tract house. I never use the garage to enter the house after I park the car in the driveway (the garage is my husband's woodworking shop). But I live in Texas, so snow isn't an issue, and I don't mind a little rain.

Yes our garage entered directly into the front foyer and directly into the back hallway through two separate doors, and was a side-entry garage. (Thus the drapes in the front facing windows of the garage). But our lot was large enough (it was double) to have the driveway be a relatively graceful sweep from the side. And mostly invisible from the house.

My uncle had designed a house for the lot which would have placed a front facing garage right near the front sidewalk and a separate entry court with a back end that was all glass and optimized the very steep lot , views of the trees and distant hills. But it was unconventional, not very friendly to the existing typical streetscape, very expensive, and lacking in closets. So my parents built a much more conventional house that took some advantage of the lot with big windows , but nothing like the modernist house would have.

If you're set on building, break the mold and choose a timeless style and a single quality siding for the entire house. I don't like the trendy mixed materials, like the initial post. I'd skip any details unless they're functional (garage door hardware, shutters and even the porch, which appears to be too small for chairs).

Oh, I want to play. All of our new builder specials look like this on teeny 5,000 sf lots.

That beauty is in escrow for just shy of $1.5 million.

^^^ Oh kayce, they built a house for the garage!

The latest is the sugar cube... it's a question of "how many ways can we fit the boxes together?" - CPArtist

Lol! Brilliantly said CP!! I shall be thinking of that one often.

Increase that 100 mile radius Richfield. You're not alone.
The why, the cause of it all, is partly that lay-people don't know any better, and often don't care to learn, and of course partly because bigger houses have become perceived as synonymous with a (unrealistic-for-your-profession-lifestyle-family-makeup-and-location) big bank account.

And while it IS perfectly possible to get better design, hell anything worthy of being called "design" period, with the same budget, and with just a bit more EFFORT, design remains a distant world.
And thoughtful design doesn't have to cost more than careless design. Actually, many of the expensive custom houses brought to this forum are poorly designed, so it doesn't have to be about money. - One Devoted Dame
Exactly!!

In all the other areas one can splash money in, one absolutely WILL. No one skimps on a car, private schooling, etc. Partly because the industry for something like a car has a set design and production process, and the consumer just gets the (generally) well designed end product. There's no online software to fiddle with, no fly-by-nights who'll swindle you into thinking that's buildable. Limited choices and customisation, but that's another story. But with the house, we'll go with the lowest of theee quotes & slap anything together, as long as it's big & looks modern.

Here's an old, timeless quote of Live Wire Oak
Houses today cost a lot of
money, so it's tempting to make that money show up as much as possible. 12
gables, a gazillion angles, 9 bumpouts, and 3 different bricks with 2 stone
choices and shakes with shiplap all thrown together. Resist temptation

I don't see the big issue as houses in a single area resembling each other. It's houses resembling each other (worldwide) in trendy, decidedly bad-design aspects. Particularly when the owners clearly had ample means to get an architect and... (is it really so complex?)... a well designed building according to their needs.

The house I'm in and the two next to it have some resemblance. They had the same builder, were built around the same time, ... but none of them have the gables, angles, bumpouts, etc. and they're all relatively well designed. Not quite high end. Not architect designed. But designed according to a few good basic principles, unpretentiously, in a practical style that in those days was extremely common here, and that 'lives' well for decades.

Design is thought made tangible. For better or for worse. And sometimes evident as the lack of any

"In all the other areas one can splash money in, one absolutely WILL"

Maybe not food either. Many people aren't comfortable paying the true cost of production on the food they eat (or what would be the true cost, if it wasn't produced using immoral practices), or they aren't even aware of what that cost is.

Interesting how the actual necessities of life (food, shelter) are where we are the first to cheap out.

Here in the DFW area, new homes in builder subdivisions look like this.

This one is probably mid-1990 to mid- 2000 construction.

If you want to go a bit fancier and newer, now you'll get this....

And if you want the newest and fanciest with all the features, your new home will look like this.

I try hard not to be snobby about architecture, but I really do not like these homes at all. They are just too much. But like everyone else has said, they sell. And builders make a profit. So they will continue to be made until the above two things are not true anymore.

Real estate 101 - you buy the house AND the land.

In all the other areas one can splash money in, one absolutely WILL"
Maybe not food either

To an extent. But that's when buying the general groceries. There's still the price-tag boast of glamorous restaurants, wine, whatever.
People boast about their cars, hairstylists, travel destinations, kids' schools, but few boast about their architects, contractors, interior & kitchen designers.

The thing is, in everything else, if the intent is to show money, money is typically (gladly) spent in doing so.
In housing, if the intent is to show money, we often see the least amount of money being spent, with the aim being the greatest physical size. And, far worse, what money is spent is spent in the... shall we say "least wise" way too.

Research is a big deal. As much as I say you dont know, and don't know what you don't know, it is unfathomable that for a significantly large and long term investment, little to no research is done.

It's very off-topic, but even when spending $$$ on glamorous meals etc the *true* coat of the food isn't reflected. Because the wait staff is still making minimum wage at best. And the dishwashers are still tentatively employed and might be called in at a moment's notice or sent home in the middle of a shift with no compensation. The farm labourers are still earning subsistence level wages and farmers are producing food at a loss.

Not always, of course. But still all too often.

It's reflective of the mindset that has lead to McMansions: what's going on on the inside and behind the scenes isn't important, as long as Joe Blow next door sees the right exterior image.

Here is a bit from a comedian that I like, "I love real estate agents. I mean, they are the true heroes. They really are. Have you ever watched HGTV? Real estate agents have to deal with the dumbest people in the world making the biggest decisions of their lives."

The prices aren't artificial, the prices are based on the perceived and market value of the land underneath.

The 20 x 40 foot lot where my house is is worth more than the 125 acres I own somewhere else. I didn't decide that, the market did and it's not artificial because it is what someone is actually willing to pay. The condition of the house when I bought the property had a little to do with it, the property was worth almost as much with no house on it than it was with a house on it (the difference was less than it would cost to actually build a habitable house, which I don't fully understand but that's the way it was.)

If its a freakin swamp in the middle of nowhere then yeah, it ain't gonna be worth much. But if one piece of land is the same as the other. One is just more expensive because its closer to a city, This is artificial pricing. I don't live in the middle of nowhere. Im just a little farther out and there is such a dramatic price difference. But as long as there are brainwashed people like you that are convinced it better to be closer to the city then these artificial prices will continue. I forgot to mention many of those multi-million dollar homes were right next to the highway. So I see, you pay more to hear buzzing night and day and beautiful air quality. I was just in chicago this morning. I can literally smell the difference when I come home.

Down the street from me there are true mansions ranging from 10,000sqft and up. These houses don't exist closer to the city. No one is dumb enough (yet) to spend that much. With the artificial pricing they would be like $100,000,000

I think this is the most expensive house in Illinois. I'm 5 minutes from it.

https://www.zillow.com/homes/for_sale/pmf,pf_pt/5090080_zpid/3000000-_price/11039-_mp/globalrelevanceex_sort/42.156913,-88.117304,42.094655,-88.227168_rect/12_zm/

If this house was in silicon valley it would be at least $80 million. Cough cough artificial pricing cough.

It's not the view everyone desires, though. To each his own.

shead, that's my kind of view!! Well said! :)

I think to some extent these houses are built to show money that hasn't actually been spent. As I said up thread, huge houses are often built with no better quality than small builder or entry level houses. They are just bigger.

In Toronto, the houses look similar in builder neighbourhoods. However in older neighborhoods, the houses tend to vary. The older homes look much better. I enjoy simple lines which include a simple roof (ie not overly complex).

The bottom line is builders build what will appeal to the widest population, just like Target stocks what sells & network television produces shows that will appeal to the widest audience, not necessarily the most creative or best written shows.

@K Laurence, the bottom line actually is builders will do whatever is trending especially in the kitchen since its the house seller. The majority of people that buy these kind of garbage builder grade homes don't really know much about houses in general. So they build them dirt cheap but make them look pretty. Its basically the homes camouflage. A potential buyer walks in the house and goes oooooo aaahhhhhhh. Wife goes, "I love this house" and they buy it. LOL. Thats the gist of it.

My son and his girlfriend are looking for a 2 bedroom flat to buy in London England. They prefer an older house that has been converted to 2 flats, rather than a flat in an apartment building. I live in an expensive city (Toronto), and the London prices there make Toronto look dirt cheap. It's all about location - how long it takes to get to the financial centre where they both work. An 800 square foot flat is considered large. They have a great life there and can afford to buy, so more power to them. Nobody there expects to have the kind of space that we take for granted in North America, and it doesn't prevent them from enjoying life.

My son and his wife just built a house that looks very similar. It seems to be style for newly built starter homes in my area.

I think Kristin really hit on a large part of it. Some of these houses were rooted in better design, and have "baby stepped" their way into horror minor change by minor change as the original concepts were "improved" by some designer who doesn't really know his/her craft.

Perhaps it's time to revive one of CPA's useful older threads.

Tsk first world problems

Of course! You're on a home building website. You're using the internet, which means you have access to a computer and the knowledge to use it. Virtually *any* post on *any* forum that doesn't address eradicating poverty can be signed with "first world problems." lol

I mean you know that this site is entirely devoted to the "first world problem" of home design right? Obviously solving world hunger or resolving the Middle East crisis is a bit out of the parameters of what can be accomplished with decor...

Lol @OldGrayMare, jinx!

Heidi Kostrey, what does that even mean? Because you don't care about design, other people aren't allowed to care?

Tsk judgemental people.

Obviously that post struck a nerve :)

Also, safe affordable good quality housing is a whole world problem.

@raee_gw zone

“That Denver house has one design feature that I really loathe -- the front door at the end of a "tunnel" created by the garage and a projecting room.”

Oh, I looked a house recently that had this. Inside was beautiful, but walking up those front stairs felt so ominous!

Oh, I looked a house recently that had this. Inside was beautiful, but walking up those front stairs felt so ominous!

It's the Go Away Tunnel. October 31st is really the only day it works well.

I detest these homes and the isolated neighborhoods they're usually built in. The aspirational look tries to disguise the cheap building materials used. It's all smoke and mirrors and marketing and looks like it will end up in a landfill one day.

@One Devoted Dame

“Designing so that the foyer allows entry from both the front door and the garage results in everyone enjoying the foyer space. I love this feature in my tract house. I never use the garage to enter the house after I park the car in the driveway (the garage is my husband's woodworking shop). But I live in Texas, so snow isn't an issue, and I don't mind a little rain”

I actually purposely changed my builders master plan from an entry from a garage that went into main foyer shared with main front door, to one that went into a separate mudroom. I have no need when coming in from garage to enter main foyer. But...I live in a part of Canada cold and snow is definitely an issue - I am happy to go from my warm car, into my heated garage, into my warm mudroom where I can discard my snow boots and heavy winter coat, etc!

I really think so much is what you are used to locally, and that can depend on factors not important elsewhere. “Houses attached to garages” are popular here, whether the house is small or big, in large part due to small lots and weather. I have lived with all manners of parking over the years, and I strongly get the appeal of a front attached garage where there is limited space.

Like I think it was @palimpest noted, a trade off for a rear attached garage - where you can get it - means little yard space. I prefer to have less front yard (which to me is a bit wasted space except for curb appeal) and to have room to create a little private sheltered yard to enjoy those warmer months of the year, one which I prefer my living spaces to look out at over the front street.

"Tsk first world problems"

No. The Hierarchy of Needs.

Entering the foyer directly from the garage may not make sense if you have a mud room.

I put a lot of thought into it, the front garages lead through a fire door and past media room stairs and then a pocket door to a large mud room which in turn leads to a corridor where the first door on the right leads to a guest bedroom; helps when guests need to leave or come in late. The next bedroom in the corridor is what we call the kids room, grandkids in our case, this helps when tired and sleepy grandkids arrive, they can be bundled right into their bedroom without a need to traverse the entire house; that bedroom is huge and heavily sound proofed. All bedrooms have ensuite bathrooms.

@gthigpen I'm in DFW and have been searching forever for something outside these massive developments going up everywhere. The houses are ugly to me! I found my new to me 1967 ranch in a quiet neighborhood near the lake on 1/2 acre. It's old, but hoping to make it my own. I'm sure I'll have many dilemmas to come! Someone has already reno'd the place inside, and happily it's at least neutral and move in ready. Financially I'm outside the McMansion box, but here's the cookie cutter I left, and what I just bought.

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@kulrn, nice. I can't stand those cookie cutter neighborhoods. You drive through and every house is identical and right next to each other. Its like the twilight zone. Or like a bunch of sheep. The builders are the farmers, the buyers are the sheep. Or like the movie the truman show. Everything is staged. I don't know how to really describe it. All I know is I hate it.

All you need is some trees and some landscaping you'll be fine.

Cookie cutter identical houses, some original landscaping

Thanks Tony! Once I get settled, I'm going to need lots of ideas for the landscape! I do know the inspector said the grade by the house needed to be fixed, and weirdly, there is no walkway to the front door!

We have some neighborhoods here where they have taken cookie cutter to a "new" low level: every home is painted the same color. Some vary the colors a bit: choice of 3 or 4 pastel colors. You seriously can't tell one from another unless you see the address.

Well then, baaa baaa baaa.

The desired neighbourhoods and homes of today are often the tracts and/or cookie cutter homes of the past. In my own city I can easily see the core downtown streets of Victorians, side by side, the rows of post-war bungalows, the era of the 1970s split levels, the neighbourhoods of 1980s contemporaries. Only then I guess then easily spewed insults did not have the same world wide audience. Or maybe people in glass houses (like those in their post-war bungalows or their 1970s split levels) knew better to insult the newer 1980s contemporaries.

I live in a city of built-altogether-in-a-row nearly-identical blocks of houses of every era from the 1790s to the present. That's never really bothered me. I actually like the slight variations on a theme and the uniformity.

If the houses are good looking, in particular. If the houses are ugly, then rows only amplify the problem.

But I am not a fan of the millennial infills in my neighborhood that tower over their neighbors and don't relate to them or the streetscape in the slightest.

I want to show this somewhere for months already..guess it's the right thread

https://www.zillow.com/homes/for_sale/Ladera-Ranch-CA/0_fr/1_fs/pmf,pf_pt/52835_rid/1_open/days_sort/33.589956,-117.580147,33.512703,-117.708035_rect/X1-SS145ghugk9l4p7_7kib9_sse/2092247743_zpid/?utm_source=email&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=emo-savedsearchdailyemail-newconstructionimage&rtoken=864af726-017b-40fa-b6ab-8acca471c0ab~X1-ZUznz7yfdeoidl_7q4l7&3col=true

(of course some are nicer..this is really unfortunate exterior. They can't seem to sell it too)

we live in late 60 s tract subdivision ourselves. It's considered a very desirable one though-first it was built by some prominent builders, awards and stuff, several models and their variations, and relatilvely bigger lots..now it means it's still very small lt if I compare to what some other posters from different states show here for example, but still much bigger than anything new construction. If I already own a house-I want to enjoy some privacy. (Before coming here I lived in cities all my life, so having a single-family house is new for me)

Second, as years went by, howeowners personalized, added, landscaped, and now the main reason the neighborhood is desirable- besides its walkability, being good for families etc-it's precisely it looking less cookie cutter. It's not a true-non-cookie-cutter, but then it's also not the prices of non-cookie cutter Laguna Beach for example..:)

We have a garage in the front, but it doesn't bother me since it looks well balanced. Previous owners were into working on exterior and landscaping..:)

Some new developments mind garages being strictly in the back, having these alleys.

Again, in older Laguna Beach it looks well functioning, and even adorable, and in these new developments, somehow it doesn't. Maybe because it's stuffed together too closely, which gives very industrial look

I also agree that houses can be easily very similar but look really elegant, and well designed. (as visiting many cities and looking at buildings there proves.) And the layout inside will make sense, and everything will just make sense, and will be built well and quite pleasing to the eye.

I don't know why it became harder to execute, lately.

As for where we are(OC, CA)-I understand the local desire of creating more urban like environments in suburban context (very ..planned communities, etc), but then add public transportation, guys:) Until they solve it somehow where we live, it's not here not there..

April, I have to say that house is a contender for the ugliest newly built house inside and outside :( And they want more than $1M for all this ugliness.

It looks like the builder chose to take every shortcut known to man and then proceeded to reduce any utility out of the kitchen and baths. I'm sorry. I have seen better tract homes in my area with more utility and function than this one you posted.

There's an old saying in the auto sales business, which salespeople know well: "There's a butt for every car...so find it!"

The meaning is that someone will buy that car. And that car. And that car. So go out and make sales!

Same applies to houses. The fact that most houses are not designed, but simply constructed doesn't seem to matter.

Here is a thoughtful and refreshing essay relating to many of this thread's ponderings:

http://mcmansionhell.com/post/171906495491/looking-around-all-buildings-are-interesting

Denita, I was truly hoping somebody will say it, so thank you:) It's really unforgettable one, isn't it? I even feel bad a bit..like I'm staring at trainwreck and can't stop.

(going to read mercurygirl's link)

I thought it was just kinda dull. I feel like I've seen a lot worse.

The thing is, that when houses with anything unusual about them are posted, the majority of the replies (unless the house is over 100 years old) are suggestions to homogenize any of those characteristics out of existence.

kulrn - I like your new house! Way better than the cookie cutter ones. And a 1/2 acre near a lake is awesome! But get yourself a front walkway. :)

Amen gthigpen! What were they thinking? I'd also like to rethink the pseudo patio in front of the windows too! Lots of projects to come... :-)