Archive for July, 2008
Arlington House Styles Part 4 – The Split Level
July 31st, 2008 Categories: Arlington Dirt, Real Estate 101
Today’s lesson will be a short one – in all actuality it probably should have been included yesterday. Today I’d like to discus the split level home. These were wildly popular in the 70’s although I’m not quite sure why, but we see quite a lot built during that time period – of course some earlier, some later.
The main characteristic of a split level is that the home is quite literally split into two halves and they are 1/2 a story apart from each other. MOST of the time, the split is side to side. So, what you can expect from a floor plan is to enter into a foyer and have a living room, dining room and kitchen on that same floor. Then, you can turn to the left (or right) and choose to go UP 1/2 a flight of steps to the bedrooms (anywhere from 2–4 depending on the size of home) or DOWN 1/2 a flight of steps to a rec-room. Sometimes you can continue down 1/2 flight zig-zagging through the house from side to side to lower level bedrooms or even an unfinished storage area, laundry, etc…
You’ll hear references sometimes to a 4–level split. Conceptually, if you flattened the house out, you’d have a rambler on a basement. Instead, this just gives some interest to the spaces. The most I’ve seen is a 5–level split. Also, and I’ve only ever seen one of these, I once saw a back to front split – it was a very interesting home but you wouldn’t be able to tell it’s a split level from the outside…
Here are our photo examples: This first one is a little tough to read, but look at the window heights on the left side of the home compared with the top of the door frame…
Here’s another one that’s easier to see:
In this second example you see a more typical roof line change.
Happy Thursday
Jennifer
Serving all of your real estate needs in Arlington, McLean and the entire Northern Virginia Region!
Contact me today for a free home valuation or buyer counseling session! Spring is HERE!
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Arlington Virginia Home Styles Part 3 – The Bi-Level and the Split Foyer – Cousins of the Rambler
July 30th, 2008 Categories: Arlington Dirt
Yes – I thought before the description of a rambler became a distant memory, we’d cover a few relatives – remember, a rambler is single level living, most of the time on a basement. In today’s examples, it it ALWAYS on a basement…
What primarily distinguishes between the 3 styles is how and where you enter the home. In a rambler, you enter on the main level and can then proceed downstairs into the basement. Generally these were built on any type of topography ranging from fairly flat to gently sloping downwards to steeply sloping downwards. This gives a nice walk-out basement in the back and brings a lot of light into the home.
In a bi-level, the entry door is IN the basement – you enter generally to a foyer with a garage perhaps to one side, rec room to the other – it’s like a daylight basement but to the FRONT. You then proceed UP the steps to the main level living, laid out exactly as described in the rambler. These are generally only placed on lots where the land slopes upwards.
Here are a few examples:
Some might confuse the bi-level with a colonial, and as we haven’t defined a colonial yet – look at the windows to see if you can determine if it’s 1–level living upstairs (living room, dining, kitchen, bedrooms) all together – the 2nd picture is a little more deceiving, but a bi-level nonetheless.
The second example for today is called a split-foyer – not to be confused with a split level… a Split Foyer is the same house inside as a rambler or bi-level, however, the entrance is BETWEEN levels – so you enter the home to a very small landing to make a choice to go upstairs to the main living level or downstairs to the rec room/basement, garage, perhaps storage and laundry. You can easily spot these once you know to look for the door placement between levels:
So there you have it – relatives of the rambler – all offering lots of living space.
Happy Wednesday…
Jennifer
Serving all of your real estate needs in Arlington, McLean and the entire Northern Virginia Region!
Contact me today for a free home valuation or buyer counseling session! Spring is HERE!
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Arlington Virginia Home Styles Part 2 – The Rambler
July 29th, 2008 Categories: Arlington Dirt, Falls Church Dirt, McLean Dirt
Yesterday I mentioned my series on house styles found here in the local area – today I thought I’d hit a biggie – The Rambler. This comes in many shapes and sizes, but it’s basically a 1 level home – most of the time here it’s on a basement, but it could just be built on a concrete slab. You will generally find a living room/dining room “L” and kitchen on one side with bedrooms/baths on the other side – a rec room in the basement perhaps with another half bath – and maybe an unfinished utility room. That’s it! Many people have added on perhaps a den on one side or a family room off the back. Let’s look at some examples:
Here is a fairly small (but super cute) rambler:
Here are some additional examples:
Ramblers are also a FABULOUS starting point for a renovation. There are many things one can do with a rambler, and what makes it most attractive for renovating is the large footprint. You have to figure if the entire living space is on 1 level and you double it by adding a 2nd story, you don’t necessarily have to create an addition.
The other fantastic thing about renovating a rambler is that you can turn it into a colonial by going straight up and keeping with colonial architectural aspects. You can add a steep roof with dormers and create a LARGE cape cod. You can create an arts and crafts style (see example below) or a farm house style. You can even create a contemporary.
Here’s an example of a rambler that underwent a whole house renovation taking the square footage from about 1,900 to 4,800.
Before:
And here it is AFTER:
Yes, it is the exact same house!
So, there’s your lesson on ramblers… If you’re in the market for something to renovate, give me a call – I can help you find a great property TODAY!
Happy Tuesday!
Jennifer
Serving all of your real estate needs in Arlington, McLean and the entire Northern Virginia Region!
Contact me today for a free home valuation or buyer counseling session! Spring is HERE!
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Arlington Virginia Home Styles – Part 1 – The Cape Cod
July 28th, 2008 Categories: Arlington Dirt
I was having a conversation with a new client last week and we were talking about architecture. Just general terms really, he was telling me that he didn’t like boxy rooms, tight spaces, etc… but he really can’t afford a large home. I said, “oh, so you probably don’t want a cape.”
He looked at me and said, “I don’t know; I don’t know what a ‘cape’ is.”
So I went to the MLS listings and began describing house styles and what he could expect from the different floor plans – in general terms. It dawned on me that a lot of folks probably don’t know the difference between some of these styles. So I thought it might be best to write this series of posts to illustrate the different types and styles that can be found around Arlington. Now, of course you can also find these in Alexandria, Falls
Church and other surrounding towns and cities – but all of my photos were taken in Arlington.
Today, I want to focus on the ‘cape’ – or as it’s formally known as, “The Cape Cod.”
Here is a classic photo of a cape:
This is a beautiful example of a cape cod style home – they are known for a fairly small footprint, a very steep roof and dormers upstairs revealing usually 2 (or maybe 3 in a big home) bedrooms and a bath. There are obviously bigger and smaller examples, but most of the time you can expect to find a living room, dining room, kitchen and most of the time, you’ll also find a bedroom and full bath on the main level. Some, like this one, has an addition on the side, which is probably a family room.
Here’s another photo I took:
You can find these homes scattered all around the east coast – in fact, the first home we owned in California was a cape cod! It certainly looked out of place there, but here, they are beautiful sightings around Arlington County and the surrounding areas!
Over the week (or more) I hope to cover Ramblers and Bi-levels, Split Levels and Split Foyers, Contemporaries, Tudors and Colonials. There are a few others, but these make up the majority of what we find here. If I run across other great examples while I’m out and about, we’ll toss those in too!
Happy Monday – stay tuned as tomorrow we’ll another exciting house style!
Jennifer
Serving all of your real estate needs in Arlington, McLean and the entire Northern Virginia Region!
Contact me today for a free home valuation or buyer counseling session! Spring is HERE!
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