Designing with software

What I like about the idea of doing design work or planning the layout of a room or a house with software, is that it makes the process so much more efficient. You can basically create a mock up of the house or the room, taking note of the characteristics of the actual physical location, so that when you render it in the computer, the measurements are more or less close to the reality. That way, when you begin to add stuff like furniture, counters, lighting, all that, you're basically getting a pretty good approximation of what the final product will look like.

I say it's more efficient because all you have to deal with are the keyboard and mouse. Otherwise, you'd actually have to maybe move furniture out, or move it about, see if you like the outcome, and if you don't like how it looks, then you move stuff around again. That can just be terribly backbreaking, I think. Similar thing with wall covering. When you're using swatches and the like, you're basically still left having to imagine the entire space covered with that wallpaper or paint. With house design software however, the approximation is better. And you're not actually stuck just using software to imagine the interior of your house. For example, landscape design software is available for the outside of the house.

Software for house design?

Well, my work doesn't really involve technology, but I consider myself something of a hobbyist in that regard. I like tinkering with software. Hardware not as much. So the idea of working on the design of a room, or of a house using the computer really appeals to me.

Actually, I've already been doing something similar to this using Sims 1. I hope to get Sims 2 as well sometime soon, when I'm not so swamped with work, just for the extra customizability, and better graphics. But even with Sims 1, I rather enjoyed laying out a house, and then the rooms, then choosing the floor and the wall aesthetics, then finally furnishing the house. Good stuff.

I read somewhere before that there was software designed to do something like this, but for real. I'd forgotten about it until I saw a site which talks precisely about software like that. Now, that doesn't necessarily mean that I'll be buying 3D house design software anytime soon, but it's good to know that that type of software is around, and hopefully getting even better.

Backyard birdhouse?

I'm not really much of a bird person. I think I've had a few pet birds, but they weren't particularly warm pets. That said, I do like it very much when I wake up in the morning to the sound of birds chirping outside. There's just something about the sound that puts a smile on my face. Also, every once in a while, I catch a glimpse of an interesting looking bird outside, and it can be quite a fascinating experience. These aren't the usual brown ones that frequent our neighborhood. We're talking birds with bright shocks of color, or fancy looking tails.

So I thought that since I enjoy having them around so much, maybe I could return the favor, and maybe get more of them to drop by by setting up a bird feeder out back. It's a win win situation. They get to chow. And I get to enjoy watching and listening to them. In fact, I saw a picture of a pretty cool looking bird feeder, which just may do the trick. It has the appearance of a quite modern bird feeder, but I think it would look pretty good in most any back yard.

Some color for the basement?

One of the things I like about basements in general is the fact that they can be pretty cozy. They're pretty much isolated from the rest of the house. You need to usually go down a set of stairs to get there. And since the basement's below ground, it can be pretty quiet. No need to worry as much about the sound of passing cars, or noisy kids. So basements are great. Unfortunately, a lot of what works in their favor can also end up sucking.

Mostly for me, it's a question of light. Basements which don't have any windows, of course don't get any natural light. So you're pretty much dependent on artificial light. The problem is that where your light isn't very bright, and where the color of the walls in your basement isn't particularly bright either or warm, you might basically end up with a dank looking space that people would rather avoid, which is a shame. So I'm thinking it would maybe be nice to give the basement a refresh, in the form of a splash of paint. Was looking at a site earlier with some ideas for basement colors. After going through this list of basement colors, I'm favoring something similar to a shade of red. White was one of my options, but I agree that it can be a pain to maintain.

Maybe start with cleaning?

I remember that a lot of the shows I watch about interior design (actually, all I think) start their work by clearing out a room. It seems so easy on the television. Basically, they set up a time lapse camera and capture footage of a crew coming in, picking up the large pieces of furniture and bringing them outside the room. Then the smaller pieces follow. Then the stuff on the wall or on the floor. After all that's done, you end up with a clean room. Sort of a blank canvas if you will. And all of a sudden anything seems possible with the space.

Unfortunately, stuff tends to accumulate for me. And when I try to clean out a room, well, the clutter just kind of moves around and never really finds a home. Was reading a post on a site earlier where the writer was experiencing something similar over the holiday. Made me realize that I really do owe it to myself and others to recycle old furniture. It clears up my spaces so maybe I can finally get started on improving the house interior, but at the same time, someone else gets to use my junk.

A home security system?

Ah. This is very cool. Right now, I do make it a point to be security conscious. By that, I mean that the doors have multiple locks, deadbolts, chains, all that, and I make sure to keep them locked unless they have to remain open for some reason. Also, I make sure that the windows are closed as well so intruders can't just make their way in through an open window. Unfortunately, that's basically it. Don't even have a basic alarm system at home. But that's always been at the top of my to do list because, well, security's pretty important to me. Most everything else doesn't matter in the face of a loved one who's hurt after all.

So I saw this site which doesn't just talk about security systems for homes. It talks about automated systems. Cool. I like the idea. It's so high tech. Some of the stuff that jumped out at me about these automated security systems was the fact that you can have video surveillance cameras (Cool, but I never thought they might be in my budget.), lights which are activated by timers or motion, and even automated locks. I especially like the last one.

Pond water feature?

So I was wandering around online, when I happened upon a site where the writer was talking about a recent trip to China. And when I was looking through the guy's pictures of the trip, one of them stood out for me. It was a picture of the area surrounding a Chinese tea museum. There was a body of water. Trees. And a bridge running over the body of water. And then, in the middle of the body of water (Was it a creek? A stream?), there was a water feature. Basically, it looked like a giant tea pot which was pouring a stream of water into the creek. And when I saw it, I thought cool.

Wouldn't it be kind of fun to have something like that? Some form of garden water feature out back? I personally love the idea of having a giant tea pot out in the back in the pond, but that doesn't necessarily have to be the case. Maybe something involving bamboo? So that it would be sort of organic looking, and maybe might even make a neat bamboo sound.

Future Renovation?

Well, actually, maybe not really a future renovation. But the thing is, I see a lot of these shows on television about renovations, and moving furniture around to freshen up a space, and interior design, and you know what I'm talking about. I love the idea of taking a space, and then spending a little bit just on a fresh coat of paint of a different color, and suddenly you have a space that feels warmer or newer or fresher or something like that. I love watching these interior design people go into a room, and then come up with a plan of attack for making it look so much better.

So I was playing around with future changes of my own at home. Nothing crazy or anything. I won't be knocking down walls, or installing a pirate ship in my backyard. But I think it would be cool to take my currently drab living space, and begin to make it look a little bit better. It might take a while, but I like the idea of my moving in the right direction, even if we're just talking about baby steps.