stealthq's Profile

Are you serious? I fail to see how everyone's busy schedules can't possibly accommodate a 5sec message saying 'yes, I will be there' or 'no, I have other plans'. At the very least, someone who doesn't bother to answer should not just show up. If there's an RSVP, assume there's been some planning involved and have the courtesy not to throw that off if you KNOW you're not expected.

Really, the amount of time, money, and effort spent planning is up to the person throwing the party. We like to go to the extra trouble to make our friends feel like we went the extra mile for them at the holidays. The whole point is to give them the best time we know how, not to show off. If someone makes you an extra-special (and maybe expensive or time-consuming) gift, do you assume it's all so they can show off? If so, that is very sad.

It's not a new thing or an e-invite thing.

My mother has hosted a Ladies' Christmas brunch, Christmas Eve party, and Christmas dinner for at least 20 years. She sends out paper invites, expensive looking ones. Every year about half of the people invited to the event\s (and mostly the same people are invited every year) don't RSVP. Drives her nuts. We've finally come up with the policy that if someone shows up without an RSVP, they are welcome to stay, but if there's not enough chairs, they can stand. If there is not enough extra food, then they go hungry. We're not making extra food to cover all the people who don't RSVP but might show up anyway, anymore. It's just too expensive.

A property owner should be permitted to do whatever they like to their property so long as it meets code for their area. If you buy in a conservation or historical district, or buy property that is on a historical registry, you know what you are getting into, and if you don't, that's your fault.

But, to buy a piece of property and have some random people decide after the fact that your property should be 'preserved' and suddenly you can't do anything to it? No.

For those that think that FLW is wonderful, though he is certainly recognized as a prominent figure in architecture, few people beyond those that are in the field or hang out on design blogs know anything about him. It is not as though he is taught in high school art class along with Michelangelo or da Vinci. There are a certainly a number of people that don't appreciate his aesthetic at all. Also, lets not forget that his designs are extremely high maintenance. I don't wonder that someone would buy one of his houses with the intent of tearing it down if it is not to their taste. What I do wonder is why the preservation group hasn't offered to buy the property if they are so determined on restoring/maintaining it.

"If however, your county/city just wants the tax dollars, then the regulations will reflect that--and house size will be maximized."

I can't disagree more. Where I live, the historic districts are among the most expensive areas to live and therefore suffer some of the highest property taxes. Here, taxes are calculated by the value of the property, not strictly by the square footage of the house. And, frankly, it is the value of the land that has the most weight. For my property, as an example, the cost of the land is 90% of my total taxable property value according to tax rolls.

It really comes down to choice. Some people want to live where there are more extensive rules for house construction and maintenance. Those people can live in HOA neighborhoods or historic/conservation districts. Others feel that they payed for the property, they should be able to do what they like so long as it meets health/safety codes. There are areas that allow for that, too.

I am in a conservation district, and while I feel that my district has struck a decent balance in preserving the feel of the neighborhood without being unreasonably restrictive, still there are times where I feel I ought to be able to do what I want with my house and not have to wait for a quarterly meeting to get X approved.

I can also tell you that preserving the older homes comes with a price. They are smaller and more expensive to upkeep. They are less energy efficient unless you spend a ton of money ripping out and replacing insulation, windows, roofing, electrical. Closets are generally non-existent, and rooms are not set up the way a modern family likes to use their house. Many bedrooms and one bathroom is the norm. Tiny kitchens and unattached garages. How many parents would like having an outside door into their kid's room? It's common here.

You can't have a list of black houses without adding the half-buried 'Darth Vader' house (unofficial name) on the corner of Buffalo Speedway and University in Houston. If you're lucky, maybe you can find a pic from the years when they tried to grow grass up the slopes of the roof. That house stuck out like a sore thumb, probably still does.

Inductive charging is ridiculously inefficient. Don't think I want to pay an extra x% in electricity fees for the benefit of having a universal charger.

Those of you saying that a box-spring, etc isn't absolutely necessary if you have close slats are correct. However, sleeping on a mattress with just slat support feels different than sleeping on a mattress with some kind of platform support. It's more noticeable with a latex or foam mattress, especially a soft one.

My guest bedroom is a super-pale peachy shade, paler than #1: DKC #3. The funny thing is that everybody who walks in the room loves the color and asks about it. They say it feels 'happy' and 'warm', and not one of them can identify the basic color. They all think it's a neutral. One thing that helps is that room get a ton of natural light. I don't think it would be as successful in a dark room.

Psst, home body & CanadianMango ...

Because if you design your landscaping and pool in the right way, a kidney or free-form pool can look like you lucked out with a crystal clear natural pond in your backyard. Think grey-green gunnite, natural stone surrounding walkways and tile, overhanging shade trees, naturalistic plantings, etc. Definitely not cheap, but gorgeous. The 'off-the-rack' versions look awfully ugly, though, I agree.

They can fix the orange peel. Make them skim coat over it. Do NOT let them get away with it or the number of half-assed jobs and screwups will increase. Ask me how I know.

BTW - you get little sympathy from me. This is nothing. Wait until the contractors do things so stupid that you wonder how they survived past 6mos. of age. Throw a hammer in your new tub, breaking it? Been there. Tell you they've thrown the main breaker so you can cut an electrical wire when they didn't? Done that, too. Install window sills so that there's a 2" gap between sill and wall? Heck, yeah. Tell you with a straight face that they're unable to get cracked and peeling latex paint off of siding with an orbital sander so they'd just HAVE to skip that step and paint over it? Yep. My favorite, though, was the custom vanity that had to be made EIGHT times to get it to fit the alcove and have all the doors and drawers operational. The last and final time, the doofus left his tools loose with the doors so they ended up with a nice dent in the front. WTH?