House in Progress Diary

Patterns in the House

Sorry about the uneven posting schedule. I've been waking up sitting on the couch with the laptop on my knees and the lights in the room blazing. Such is insomnia...one minute you're awake and the next minute you're wondering "Wah? Wah is this rice cake still doing in my mouth?" Especially when you have pets. Hungry pets.

Anyway. It was during another insomnia-fueled episode that I took these photos while looking for the patterns in the house.

Some of the clues are: the role of uneven numbers, especially threes; borders; and "x = y". Intuitively, this house appealed to us before we even figured out that these patterns existed here. In our old bedroom, we had a dresser that illustrated the basic principles in this house:

Three rows of three squares each, each square bordered and all the squares bordered again.

As I walk through the house, I see the pattern of three vertical panels in every door:

I see the uneven numbers and borders in the tiles of the entry way (7 geometric starbursts right in the door with a border around the edge):

Squares on the borders even :)

The x=y equation is sometimes a little more difficult to see. The joints of our original moldings are known as "butt joints" (we didn't name them!) This is different from mitered corners.

You can see this best in the original trim around doorways and windows. The width of the vertical flat trim pieces (x) are the same width as the horizontal flat trim pieces (y). So the look is extremely balanced. A little decorative trim on the top (and bottom if it's a window) lengthens the look without compromising the balance.

Then you look to where the border trim was replaced years after the house was built. X does not equal Y here...and it sets my teeth a little on edge. Obviously, some folks would think that I'm a goof. And I am. But it's something in my bones. I respond to balance and patterns and form.

Except in my sock drawer. Or my closet. Don't look in there.

Posted by jeanne on July 27, 2004 at 8:34 PM (2)