McMansions from Hell

mikesr1963 said:
You better be rich to live in one because it won't be long before it starts to $1000 to $5000 you on a regular basis for monthly up keep.
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In the DC area there are people called “mortgage poor.” The huge house eats up so much money that they can't furnish it and they only heat a few rooms, using space heaters. I've seen a lot of huge dining rooms with no table. But it can be a good financial option if it gets the kids into a rich school without paying for private school, at least if the house’s value appreciates.
 
jp_nyc said:
In the DC area there are people called “mortgage poor.” The huge house eats up so much money that they can't furnish it and they only heat a few rooms, using space heaters. I've seen a lot of huge dining rooms with no table. But it can be a good financial option if it gets the kids into a rich school without paying for private school, at least if the house’s value appreciates.
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That is kind of common here too. People buy into big fancy houses in fancy developments and then sleep on a mattress on the floor with like no other furniture. A lot of those people lost big during the big financial mortgage meltdown, but they are still a lot of them around.
 
I've always thought that Papa John's house was an ugly monstrosity :embarrassed:

Heck, any of these McMansions is a better house than the little 720 sq. ft. house I live in…if you can afford them.
 
jp_nyc said:
In the DC area there are people called “mortgage poor.” The huge house eats up so much money that they can't furnish it and they only heat a few rooms, using space heaters. I've seen a lot of huge dining rooms with no table. But it can be a good financial option if it gets the kids into a rich school without paying for private school, at least if the house’s value appreciates.
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I thought you were in nyc?
 
Tiltsta said:
A lot of the houses in the link are ugly, but I never bothered to look for 'voids' in other people's houses. I guess I just don't know enough about design to really pay attention.
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No one does, not consciously.

But it's about visual comp0sition. If you look at a poorly composed painting/drawing/etc., you may be able to something not right, without specifically recognizing it's because of lack of balance, symmetry, etc. It just feels "off", maybe get an comfortable tension looking at it.

The McMansion site isn't telling you the houses are ugly, it's telling you why they just "feel wrong" when people look at them; regardless of their size and price.
 
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jp_nyc said:
In the DC area there are people called “mortgage poor.” The huge house eats up so much money that they can't furnish it and they only heat a few rooms, using space heaters. I've seen a lot of huge dining rooms with no table. But it can be a good financial option if it gets the kids into a rich school without paying for private school, at least if the house’s value appreciates.
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Except the "highest rated" schools in the DC area are in neighborhoods that have existed for 50+ years.

No one moves to Loudoun Co for their school system.
 
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Peen Simmons said:
50 years or more of systematically devaluing and defunding arts education and you get a nation of executive innovation consultants living in ugly beige houses full of dogs in sweaters and comic book movie blu-rays.

Story checks out.
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Or maybe they're just nice people living in large houses. :shrug:
 
Maybe those nice people just dont share your interests.

Maybe they geek on something else, like cars. Maybe theyre amazed that you could live with yourself for driving a car as ugly as whatever you drive.
 
2manband said:
Maybe those nice people just dont share your interests.

Maybe they geek on something else, like cars. Maybe theyre amazed that you could live with yourself for driving a car as ugly as whatever you drive.
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Possibly. But, from my experience, most of these folks are behind the wheel of a vehicular McMansion such as a Jeep Cherokee or similar.
 
2manband said:
Maybe those nice people just dont share your interests.

Maybe they geek on something else, like cars. Maybe theyre amazed that you could live with yourself for driving a car as ugly as whatever you drive.
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You're missing the argument here.

That said, you could have the ghosts of Steve McQueen and Frank Sinatra hanging out in your driveway, with the cars from Bullitt and High Society being washed by the ghosts of Grace Kelly and Marilyn Monroe in bikinis... And it would all be negated by the tackiness of the McMansion looming behind them.
 
McMansions are architecture by real estate agents. devoid of thought, devoid of design, they are only big.

their only reason for existence is to maximize development potential of the lot they sit on.
 
They are often built just a cheaply as regular schmoe suburban houses too. With lots of shady contractor cost cutting and slap em up as fast as possible workmanship.
 
Flamencology said:
You're missing the argument here.

That said, you could have the ghosts of Steve McQueen and Frank Sinatra hanging out in your driveway, with the cars from Bullitt and High Society being washed by the ghosts of Grace Kelly and Marilyn Monroe in bikinis... And it would all be negated by the tackiness of the McMansion looming behind them.
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Meh. I think youre familiar with my longstanding position that ones ability to like or dislike something is not an achievement.
Hating on McMansions is about as original as hating on the Olive Garden or Nickleback. *yawn*
Now if you actually DO something, like say design a beautiful building, or cook an amazing meal, or write a really great song, then thats something to be proud of.

To create is far more valuable than to critique
 
2manband said:
Meh. I think youre familiar with my longstanding position that ones ability to like or dislike something is not an achievement.
Hating on McMansions is about as original as hating on the Olive Garden or Nickleback. *yawn*
Now if you actually DO something, like say design a beautiful building, or cook an amazing meal, or write a really great song, then thats something to be proud of.

To create is far more valuable than to critique
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Every work of art is also a work of criticism, for better or worse.

At any rate, you're wrong. Humans will be reading Aristotle, Samuel Johnson, and Dorothy Parker long after most novelists are forgotten. In fact, that's already true.
 
If everyone lived in a smaller home and got to know their neighbors the world would be better off. Those things are built on fear and vanity.
 
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