McMansions

[Anonymous]

OK, this is a sore point. I used to be an architecture student so I have a better than average eye for funny looking homes. This can happen for a number of reasons, but the ones that I don't get are the awful looking very large homes. They are hard to miss, often perched in a lovely neighborhood in Bethesda or Chevy Chase. They have stapled on shutters, false muntins, vinyl siding and two or three architectural styles in one.
I can see that some of the builders don't care and have no taste, but did these folks not take the time to get a good architect? YIKES!

[Anonymous]

I was just noticing the McMansions out towards Loudoun County today. They look like big empty blaah plastic boxes. There's really no style to them from the outside. It looks like they were glued together in a hurry and not too sturdy. If you had a family of 6-8 kids, I could understand needing the space, but not when there's only Ma, Pa, & a couple of kids.

[Anonymous]

I like some of the homes, but wouldn't buy one. I want to wait and build my own so that I can have brick on all sides. My husband told me when he was a phone tech years ago, to dun the lines for the phone he could poke a whole in the side of the home with a screwdriver.

[Anonymous]

I think most new construction - large and smaller - is terrible and tacky.

[Anonymous]

Don't forget the stock, hollow-core doors from Big Box Home Improvement Store. I may be alone here, but were I to spend $1 - $2 million on new home construction, I believe I would spring for the solid wood doors.

[Anonymous]

I can't believe what people pay for some of these homes and the construction is shoddy. At least have brick and not cheap siding.

[Anonymous]

What I want to know is: are the people that live in these homes thinking that they're nice?
Am I the only one who appreciates natural materials, shutters that work (or no shutters at all), solid wood doors, and architecture that makes sense. The brick facades make no sense from a structural point. Oh, and the circular or half moon shaped windows with the grid slapped on. Just a teeny bit smaller house, and the nice features could be added with the extra cash.

[Anonymous]

I'm always amazed that they are on top of each other (or the street) and have NO landscaping for privacy, with the exception of several pathetic looking teeny tiny trees.

Someone told me it's because so many were built on what used to be farmland?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I like some of the homes, but wouldn't buy one. I want to wait and build my own so that I can have brick on all sides. My husband told me when he was a phone tech years ago, to dun the lines for the phone he could poke a whole in the side of the home with a screwdriver.

to run the lines not to dun the lines sorry for the typo

[Anonymous]

Is the same person posting the responses to this thread? They read like they are the same person and they have been posted within 2 minutes of each other--on a weekend.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm always amazed that they are on top of each other (or the street) and have NO landscaping for privacy, with the exception of several pathetic looking teeny tiny trees.

Someone told me it's because so many were built on what used to be farmland?

I posted this one - and only this one!

[Anonymous]

The word is CHARM. They have no CHARM.

[Anonymous]

there's one than one poster here. i'm one. anyway, i also like those front porches that are 3 feet deep and too small to accept furniture.

and the 3 and 4 car garages right out in front, with big ole white garage doors. like the loading bays at Sam's Club.

[Anonymous]

I want to hear from someone who LIKES them. I figure, they're so popular, I must be missing something. For my money, I want thick walls, solid wood, good insulation, and a cohesive design. I don't need "soaring greatrooms", or a master bath that could accomodate a king-sized bedroom suite. I think 2000 square feet is all I'll ever need.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I can't believe what people pay for some of these homes and the construction is shoddy. At least have brick and not cheap siding.

I'm another poster. My mom has a McMansion and has absolutely no yard! You can fit a lawn mower between her and her nieghbors home-and the walls are thin, you can hear everything in that house. The molding is subpar-I can't believe what they paid for that house. But she thinks our house is a piece of crap because it's old and we've had to do a lot of repairs and remodeling. To each his own.