My favorite moderist

[Michael Bulatovich]

Remember, "Less is a bore"?

[++]

Or mine,

You don't want your life designed to look out of place.

[Kris Krieger]

Troppo wrote in news:Xns99B65692ECF48troppo19notsohotmail@210.8.230.25:

[ ... ]

Well, that last point is an interesting question ;)

OTOH, there is a difference (albeit not a definite line, more like a gradient) between something being mroe readable in general, and something designed for the visually impaired.

It's all a matter of target audience, tho'. If a website is intended to be accessible to as wide an audience as possible, then yes, work has to be put into making it clear/readable to as many people as possible. For example, a site with information about cancer, or how to avoid parasitic infections, or safety information.

It doesn't seem to me that your target audience would be narrower. Color doesn't have to be eliminated; OTOH, there are "color-blindness palettes" online (I think I still have the files, let me know whether you'd like me to check and send them if I still do), socolors can eb chosent aht still look good to a general audience, but also look distinguishable to the majority of people with color-vision impairment.

Generally, tho', it's been noted for years that light text on a dark background can be difficult for people. One option migh tbe to use a paint program to do up some simple text buttons with a minimum of colors and using the web-safe palette, save them as JPG or GIF (not all browsers can read PNG, esp. older ones, so JPG and GIF offer the greatest accessibility), and load them into your page.

Dunno whetehr that's of any use but HTH ;)

[Kris Krieger]

"Don" wrote in news: [e-mail]:

No, it's just my personality - I tend to get tired of what I suppose could be called "monolithic spaces". I like (need) to have as much natural light as possilbe, but I also like to have the space itself to be less monolithic and more rhythmic, also with some material/textural changes.

I understand the concept of the Farnsworth house, and admire it - just that I personalyl would probably nto like living in it ;)

Yeha, the "ol' stnadard". THe one thing I like here is that at least there are 3 windows which are only, oh, I guess about 10" (maybe 8"?) apart, so it's a bit closer to a picture-window effect. That's also true for the 2nd story (the room is 2 storys, i.e. about 18' in height). SO that works out OK, too.

But most houses IMO have way too few windows. I assume that's because it's just cheaper to do it that way - no need for added framing, no need to bother putting in energy-efficient windows, no need to fuss with all that troublesome fitting and insulating and caulking =>:-p

I saw the pic you'd had online of th eplace in Florida - there were a lot fo very nioce features, and I recall seeing the windows in the back :)

We didn't have any wildlife here, since it's a new development, but, being "freaks" , what we did, unlike the vast majority of people, was decide how much we wanted to pay in total - which was about half of what the bleeping real estate agents were trying to pressure us into paying =:-o !! - for the house *after* creating a budget for the pool and at least the start of the yard. So I was able to install quite a few trees and shrubs

- one 15' tree, a few 10'-12' trees, and a load of smaller shrubs. THe point being that critters are always attracted to plantings. So, we're getting more birds, dragonflies, butterflies, and so on.

OK, no deer, or other large critters, but at least an increasing number of smaller ones, which do bring activity into the yard.

To be sure... Are larger windows something you can add yourself? Or is that something that you'd need to contract to have done?

[Kris Krieger]

"Michael Bulatovich" wrote in news: [e-mail]:

Heh ;)

OTOH, it all always depends upon the individual. I've known some poeple who live dso much in their minds, not fantasies but rather, reading/thinking/math and the like, that they paid little attention to their living space, aside fromwanting it to be orderly. Saw *much* of the opposite while house-hunting over the years - patterend wallpaper and patterned drapes and patterned furniture and so on and so oforth - some of it literally gave me vertigo and turned my stomach because of the visual strain. Interesting that very few wallpapered places I saw ever had art on the walls. WHen I get art, I like to get originals when possible, and one advantage of a blank off-white/cream/vanilla/whatever wall is that it really puts the focus onto the artwork. Same goes for clean lines elsewhere - puts the focus onto one's valued items/artwork.

At any rate, I admire and understand/appreciate the Mies house, and simialr structures, in several ways, and am glad that they exist - just that I personally think I'd get tired of the space if I had to live in it ;) .

Sometimes, less *is* more; other times, it's a good inspiration ;)

[Kris Krieger]

"Don" wrote in news: [e-mail]:

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I love it ;) Between being overweight, and having arthritis, it's the one form of xwercise that doesn't leave me immobile the next day

Hard to say because it's fairly automatic - it generates chlorine from salt, so every few weeks (more when it rains more, less when there are longer sunny periods) I dump some in. THere is a monitor to keep track of the level; I like it a bit on the saltier side. There is an ozonator. LAso a Polaris bottom cleaner.

So, there really is not much to do. Empty the catch-baskets (whcih I check daily since little toads tend to get into the pool an dsucked into the basket) (they usually live once removed); rince the filter cartridges every so often; brush the side tiles to prevent mineral buildup; that's about it. The main expenses are running th efilter etc., and in the cooler months, gas for the heater.

We prob run a bit less, with the salt system and the ozonator taking th eplace of most chemicals.

No fountain, but a 12' waterfall wall. Not with th ebrown stone construct

- it's a 2' (from the ground level) wall, faced with the same tile and is used for the pool-edge, and topped with the same stone as the coping. REal stone, not brick. Colors went with the house (tans, touich of unmber here and there) better than did any of the brick. Coping i sNoche Honed:

don't seem to carry the tile we used - it's basically a medium sky blue with buff and a bit of an ochre color, looks like the colors were put on and them swiped horizontally with a brush, to giv ea sort fo "watercolor sky" look. THe buff an dochre-ish colors go with the coping stone (whcih in turn, goes with the house brick), and the plaster is a blueish pebbel finish that, with the water in the pool, looks like this: The pool itself is a simple shape, basically rectangular, with rounded corners on the side opposite the house (ther are a lot fo homes in back of us with arched windows, and ther eare arched doorways in the house, so I wanted to echo that, while keeping a very basic swimmable shape). The steps have a "niche" so they do not at all impinge upon the swimming lanes. I designed the pool before I picked the builder, and the poeple at Platinum Pools were just fine with that, translated it to their CAD program an dhelped me tweak the pool and decking design. I also had pretty much decided upon the colors and general materials, also the decking tyupe. So they got off easy

The water looks sapphire-blue from inside the house, and I put up a couple solar lights that I put onto 3' poles (well, 2' since 1' is in the ground)

- they're 2' out from the pool (the width of the deck where they are located), so they reflect on the water at night - looks nice esp with the

2' perimeter of loose stone that circles teh decking (whole house, pation, and connected deck, actually) (intended to be bug-barrier, since it's easy to speay the bleep out of it with insecticide) (yes, there is 20-year fiberglass weed-barrier under the stones ;) ).

There isn't a whole lot of yard directly in back of teh pool, so I put in 2 greyish pindo Palms, which look really nice, backed by a few clumps of tall grass - so far, Panicum virgatum vars. "Dallas BLues" (sprays outwards) and 'Heavy Metal' (upright/vertical habit), both of which also have blueish- greyish-green foliage and bronzy seed-panicles. TO the left side facing the pool (i.e. opposite th eporch) is a Mediterranean Fan Palm, which has been a bit of a disappointment but I suspect that's because it got infested with bleeping bleep-bleeped fire ants (I really loather those damn things), but I doused the base with Seven pellets and fertilizer, and the newer leaves are slowing coming out and looking much better. INn the back and to the sides of that are Bambusa multiplex (clumping bamboo), 'Golden Goddes' on the left and 'Alphonse Karr' on the right.

That is the back curve of the "pie slice". To the right (southwest side) is the beginning of the White Garden; so far, from left (south) to right (west): an almond verbena, a NAtchez crepe myrtle, a Little Gem magnolia, a Viburnum odorotissima, and a white Oleander - at which point, you're back to the 'Golden Goddes' - sort-of in front and to the right of that Fan Palm is a Gardfenia 'August Beauty'. Directly in back of th epool, visible from the main room/family room, is a very littel rose bed with Iceberg (white), Lavaglut (true deep eye-popping blood-red, not even a *hint* of accursed pink), and Julia Childe (yellow). Off to the right of the pool, north- east of the Pindo palms, is anotehr Little Gem, a Yaupon Holly, in front of that a Hesperaloe ("Red Yucca"), a Pineapple Guava, and a couple Foster Hollies, with a couple more coming around the East side of the "pie slice". In front of those are teh Citrus - Navel Orange, Rio Grapefruit, and soon to be moved there, a Meyer Lemon. THen a small ned with soem assorted red/orange/yellow-blooming thnigs, then another 'Golden GOddes', Foster Holly, 'Alphonse Karr', Awabuki Viburnum, and agoan a 'GOlden Goddess'.

Can't see that corner from the house, only gfrom the pool. It's the low point of the back so it's rather wet, had a 'littel Gem' die so I'm trying the Bamboos as Privacy Plants. Plus, I do really like babmoos and otehr ornamental gfrasses. I'm trying to find a place for a miscanthus Giganteus, which I want very much, and places for a couple of other, lower grasses ("only" 6'- 8' foliage rather than MG's 10' foliage).

From the house, then, the pool has IMO a bit of an "oasis" look, esp. when the sun is very bright. I eventually want to hide the fence, yet leave about a 2' strip that can be mowed. Actually, I'd like to eventually make that strip stone as well, but that'll be *very* evxpensive...so, fo rnow, it's jsut that damn St. Augustine grass. I hat elawn but I can't afford to deal witht eh yard all at once. Also, gotta keep some grass in back in case of resale, sincemost people have a fetish for lawn, for some reason. ALso have to keep 50% of the front as lawn, it's the HOA dictate. But I'm getting in some shrubs and so on there as well ;) Have the large stuff, now I need to get small perennials that are successful. HTat part has been a learning curve. But that's a different sage ;)

I'm very happy with how it's turning out so far. Everyone who sees the pool says they really like it, which is cool but th ebest is that *I* really like it a lot ;)

Need more plants back there, tho'...