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Imprints are strong emotional experiences in our lives that have “imprinted” themselves on our brain to become part of the tapestry of memories that shape our responses to ideas in our living environment such as: comfort, safety, social status, happiness, fun and connections with others. These “imprints” come into play when we think of the home, of our childhood neighborhood or when we first experience a space new to us, such as a renovated Loft in an urban setting or a new model home in suburbia. Our reactions, influenced by our imprints are gut level or instinctual rather than the reasoned analysis of: location, home size, and/or cost. Imprints can be either positive or negative.

If our imprints from the past were largely positive ones from an experience of rural living, we might have a difficult time seeing that contemporary downtown loft as an attractive place to live and the suburban neighborhood, full of tightly spaced homes, could be as unappealing to us as well. Changing our current imprints is difficult, so our reactions to experiences will not easily change, but new imprints are being formed every day as we learn and grow and these replace those old imprints over time.

You can see why people often choose lifestyles similar to their parents and are slow to turn to new ideas and forms of living, like lofts, or in the case of someone who grew up in a city apartment and couldn’t imagine living in a single family home much less a small town. It takes time to learn to accept change and imprints, or the lack of them. Imprints may cause us to design our homes ever so slowly, and new ideas are greeted more with suspicion than acceptance. That’s how it’s been with my neighbors and their suspicion of accessory dwellings. They say they are concerned about parking, the potential shading of a neighbor’s garden, or the design compatibility of the new additions to the neighborhood architectural fabric. That’s what they say, but they may be reacting instinctively to old imprints they still harbor within themselves. Part of our job is to give people a reason to develop new positive imprints with beautiful efficient non-intrusive backyard cottages that they can point to with pride.

Labels: Backyard Cottages, Imprints, Sidekick Homes

During the week of January 19 the huge National Builders’ Show and Building Products Exposition was the talk of Las Vegas. Homebuilders, Architects, Community Planners, Realtors, new home sales and marketing companies, and building product manufacturers attend this yearly event. Dozens of seminars and presentations are given educating the diverse crowd about the newest and best ideas and practices in home design and building.

Mike Kephart, Owner and designer of Sidekick Homes by Kephart Living, and Founder of Kephart, community, planning, architecture, was featured in two of those seminars along with other notable architects, Don Evans, Michael Medick, and Ed Hord. Judy Schriener, Mike Kephart’s Co-Author on their recent book, Building for Boomers, Joined Mike in one of those presentations. They revealed some of the myths and misunderstandings about the huge population segment called Baby Boomers, most importantly, that Boomers are much more complex than any attempt to stereotype them as a single group can capture.

A segment of those Baby Boomers still have school age children at home, and are considering bringing an aging relative or two in with them as well. They’ve been dubbed, “The Sandwich Generation,” because of their situation. These are the families that can benefit most from the simple addition of a Carriage House or Granny Flat in their backyard, and they are the population that Sidekick Homes was created to serve. An additional independent home is perfect for an adult child or two, a guest suite, or a home for mom or dad who feel safer by being close by. In most cases that dwelling can also be rented to supplement the family income.

Accessory Dwelling Units, (ADUs) the official zoning name for carriage houses, are an old idea being revived in this time of stress on American families. They were popular and plentiful in the first half of the 20th century and are a new and improved idea for today. This recycling of old ideas is common in life and it’s usually because those ideas are fundamentally sound.

Labels: Backyard Cottages, National Builders' Show, Sidekick Homes