homesower's Profile

I really like this house. I could be comfortable living there.

I am curious about the area in the kitchen where you have a storage rack for coffee cups and such. It looks like there might have been a closet there. Am I right? If not, what was it?

I love the way the walls curve to reflect the curved Second Empire roof. That style roof, where it curves around and takes in the walls, is very popular in France and that was where it originated. It was very common in the "Second Empire" period (the reign of Napoleon III), but it actually goes back a couple of hundred years before that. In the U.S. it was used for a lot of public buildings in the 1870's and is sometimes called the "General Grant" style.

I'm not actually that fond of it, but curved walls, now that is cool. I grew up in the 1/2 story of a 1 1/2 story home and my walls were the insides of the roof, at a pretty steep slope. I've always been partial to that "in the roof" look and feel. Would love to have those curved walls in my house.

Anyone interested in Second Empire, I have a page on it, as it effects houses at my house blog http://www.house-design-coffee.com/second-empire-house.html .

I would go with a custom tub. I had a custom shower base installed for a small bathroom. It occurs to me that anyone who could do that could do the same thing on a larger scale to make a deep, built-in tub. Otherwise go with the Japanese, and get the whole recirculating water thing. The keep the water recirculating and warm. They leave the water in, which is pretty gross if you are a hairy gaijin like me, but that doesn't mean you would have to.