Subject: Who is right the Architect or the Decorator??

From: Charles Sued <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 05 Dec 1996 23:00:27 -0500

Hi,

First I apologize if I am posting incorrectly to an improper newsgroup. 
I have a problem and I was hoping to get a 2nd opinion.  

I am rebuilding my house with a "traditional" tone.  I would like to
install a mahagony door and a mahogony frame.  My architect is telling
me that if I put a mahogony frame that I must make all of the moldings
and trimming in the entire room mahagony as well or it will not look
right.  He even went so far as to say it was like a law, or something.  
My decorator doesn't seem to agree.  She says that if I put wood
moldings around the room and just make the door and the frame mahagony
it would look fine.  (This also fits into my budget).  My architect told
me either do the entire room mahagony, or don't do it at all.

Who is right.  Are there any other opinons?  Any would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Charles

---

From: "nancy g." <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 06 Dec 1996 00:14:03 -0800

Charles Sued wrote:

> I would like to
> right.  

Well, it is typically the way it's done.  In *most* cases, the baseboard
and mouldings in a room are of the same wood and finish as the door frames
and doors that you can see from inside the room.

> He even went so far as to say it was like a law, or something.

(grin) Architects tend to be very definitive in their statements, I think.

> it would look fine.  

Ummm ... that would kind of depend on what *kind* of wood you're talking
about when you say "wood mouldings."  After all, mahogany is also a kind
of wood, right?

My opinion is that if you stain the trim with a color that comes close to
matching the mahogany door and door frame, and if the grain or texture
of the wood you use isn't too different, it would probably look OK.  There's
no question it would look *better* if it were all done in mahogany, but
you're the only one who has to be happy with it, and you are the only one
who know exactly what your priorities are and what your budget can tolerate.

> My architect told

If you don't *want* to do the entire room in mahogany, don't.  Remember,
you hired the architect to tell you how things should be built, and you
hired the decorator to tell you how they should look.

If you DO want to do the whole room in mahogany but are debating due to
the cost ... that's a different story.  If you really have your heart set
on it, I'd say go for it.  We decided in our house to go with a custom
color angled and trimmed formica countertop that more than doubled the price 
if we'd just used plain in-stock formica.  We were at that point WAY over
budget and completely out of money ... we thought we were crazy to order
the custom countertop.  But we both loved it.  And we have not ONCE regretted
ordering it.  If you don't *LOVE* the thought of the mahogany, you may be
sorry if you say yes.
 
> Who is right.  Are there any other opinons?  Any would be appreciated.

Replacing baseboards and moulding really isn't too terrible of a job to do
to an existing room.  Figure out if it would be prohibitively expensive to
have the job done in the less expensive wood but planning all along that if
you really HATE it when it's done, you would then switch to mahogany.  Or,
you could do like we did in this house and develop what we call the "Five-Year
Plan."  This was simply the list of things we still wanted to have done, but
had run out of money for.  We just figured we'd do them all five years down
the road.

---

From: [email-masked] (Daniel P Tasman)
Date: 6 Dec 1996 06:53:23 GMT

Charles Sued ([email-masked]) wrote:

: I am rebuilding my house with a "traditional" tone.  I would like to
: install a mahagony door and a mahogony frame.  My architect is telling
: me that if I put a mahogony frame that I must make all of the moldings
: and trimming in the entire room mahagony as well or it will not look
: right.  He even went so far as to say it was like a law, or something.  
: My decorator doesn't seem to agree.  She says that if I put wood
: moldings around the room and just make the door and the frame mahagony
: it would look fine.  (This also fits into my budget).  My architect told
: me either do the entire room mahagony, or don't do it at all.

The door and it's trim is an integral feature of the room - it's not a
piece of furniture, but rather, a part of the structure itself.  The
material that is used for the doors and the trim should match the other
molding in the room.  

Architects deal with the design of the building and things integral to it
- doors, windows, occasionally lighting fixtures, cabinetry and so on. 
Interior designers are experts at dealing with the building's interior
"accessory uses," to use a bit of urban planner's jargon - furniture,
wallpaper, curtains, appliance colors and whatnot.  Who would be the
expert in this case?

For a second opinion, check out some new houses that are being built in
the area - not all of them were designed by architects or decorated by
professionals, but you might want to see if different types or colors of
wood are used within the same room of any of those houses.

-- 
 Dan Tasman  http://www.acsu.buffalo.edu/~tasman/     tasman#acsu.buffalo.edu  
 No unsolicited commercial email please - all junk email will be returned 20X
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 | "I think that I shall never see a billboard lovely as a tree.            |
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 |                                        Odgen Nash, Song of the Open Road |
 +--------------------------------------------------------------------------+

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From: [email-masked] (John Bell)
Date: 6 Dec 1996 13:47:09 GMT

In article <[email-masked]>
Charles Sued <[email-masked]> writes:

> I am rebuilding my house with a "traditional" tone.  

(snip)
> Who is right. 

You are! These people are taking your money to do a job.  The decision
rests with you.   A lot depends on how you want to be about
"traditional".  You can get the feel of tradition without being slavish
to it.  I don't know many people putting in hot water rads anymore,
even though they are traditional.

Put in mahagony later as your budget allows, if that's what you want. 

john

***************
He always treats me like a child,
except on Saturday night
when I make the martinis.
              - L. Douglas
********************************

---

From: [email-masked]
Date: Sat, 07 Dec 1996 04:39:50 GMT

We are building a traditional new home with mahogany 6080 doors and
mahogany trim around the front of the door but on the inside we are
triming the door out with pine wood moulding.  The door is door will
be framed in a 5 inch ribbed moulding with blocks in the corner and
painted white moulding throughout the room.

---

From: [email-masked] (Michel Gagnon)
Date: Sat, 07 Dec 1996 00:18:50 -0500

In article (Dans l'article) <[email-masked]>, Charles
Sued <[email-masked]> wrote (écrivait) :

+Hi,
+
+I am rebuilding my house with a "traditional" tone.  I would like to
+install a mahagony door and a mahogony frame.  My architect is telling
+me that if I put a mahogony frame that I must make all of the moldings
+and trimming in the entire room mahagony as well or it will not look
+right.  
+My decorator doesn't seem to agree.  She says that if I put wood
+moldings around the room and just make the door and the frame mahagony
+it would look fine.  (....)
+Who is right.  Are there any other opinons?  Any would be appreciated.
+
+Thanks,
+
+Charles

The "all-or-nothing" strategy is certainly more traditional ; likewise,
around here, the main cooridor, living room and dining room used to have
similar and more elaborate moldings than other rooms where visitors did not
go. However, many schemes are done nowadays and acceptable if they suit
your taste... and budget.

If present baseboards are smaller then traditional replacements (i.e.
replicas), you might also think about a third scenario which includes doing
the door and framing right now and changing the baseboards in a few years.
I would however avoid painting baseboards in a contrasting colour, but
rather blend them in with the wall colour (personal taste, because of the
varnished door frame).

And if this may even confuse you, we plan something like that for our
living room. Doors, door frames and moldings will be oak, likewise for
baseboards,but wall moldings and trimmings will be painted because there
are so many of them it would make the room too dark and "crowded".

-- 

Michel Gagnon
Montréal (Québec, Canada)
nouvelle adresse : [email-masked]
ancienne adresse : [email-masked]  (jusqu'au 31 dec -- until dec 31)
Montréal (Québec, Canada)

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From: Chris Ferguson <[email-masked]>
Date: 8 Dec 1996 03:35:04 GMT

> Who is right.  Are there any other opinons?  Any would be appreciated.

First of all, the architect has no right to tell you that. YOU are the 
client, the one who has the final say in all aspects of design. YOU 
own the architect, and the architects job is to convince you about 
particular design ideas, or legalities and hazards. It sounds like the 
architect hasn't really done his/her homework, and is simply saying 
"that's the way it has to be." This is not design.
The decorator (I'm assuming is not an interior designer) at least has an 
open mind, but may be saying this as a "yah well, sure, whatever". I 
suggest to be careful. In the meantime, do this:
Draw a 3-dimensional cube with a yellow marker, pencil crayon, whatever. 
Then, draw a brown rectangle like a door on one of the sides. If you can 
live with that, then go for it. Look at it for a while, and really study 
it. If you have trouble drawing, tell the architect to do it for you. 
You're paying him for it.

Good luck!

funkster

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From: [email-masked] (Jim Kleinschmit)
Date: Sun, 8 Dec 1996 08:25:31 GMT

Charles Sued ([email-masked]) wrote:
: Hi,
: 
: snip'd for space
:
: I am rebuilding my house with a "traditional" tone.  I would like to
: install a mahagony door and a mahogony frame.  My architect is telling
: me that if I put a mahogony frame that I must make all of the moldings
: and trimming in the entire room mahagony as well or it will not look
: right.  He even went so far as to say it was like a law, or something.  
: My decorator doesn't seem to agree.  She says that if I put wood
: moldings around the room and just make the door and the frame mahagony
: it would look fine.  (This also fits into my budget).  My architect told
: me either do the entire room mahagony, or don't do it at all.
: 
: Who is right.  Are there any other opinons?  Any would be appreciated.
: 
: Thanks,
: 
: Charles
:-->
: IMHO Charles I would be more concerned with who I really want to please
: the most, The architect, decorator, or myself.
:
: IMHO
: Jim
:-->
--