Comments on: Wood and Fruit in Place, the Tree House Is Ready for Its Photo Shoot

By: alberti-qwerty

alberti-qwerty — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 13:05:55 +0000

Whoops - pardon the typos. What I meant:

An admirable element common among Ms. Barden’s homes is a peaceful ambiance, carefully evoked via a magical harmony of space, proportion, and light. This ambiance - to this writer - is not of sterility, nor of lassitude, but of an undercurrent of energy generated by a pleasant, rhythmic aesthetic. The terrific photographs above can scarcely recreate this feeling. The extreme effort and care given to the design of her homes is rare among Houston developers. She is a gem to be appreciated, as are the homes she crafts.

By: alberti-qwerty

alberti-qwerty — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 13:01:36 +0000

An admirable element common among Ms. Barden’s homes is a peaceful ambiance, carefully evoked via a magical harmony of space, proportion, and light. This ambiance - to this writer is - not of sterility, nor of lassitude, but of an undercurrent of energy generated by a pleasant, rhythmic aesthetic. The terrific photographs above cannot can scarcely recreate this feeling. The extreme effort and care given to the design of her homes is rare among Houston developers. She is a gem to be appreciated, as are the homes she crafts.

By: Dr. Pat Ryan

Dr. Pat Ryan — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 13:24:25 +0000

Beautiful clean lines and a very zen feeling to the whole place…in an age of clutter, excess, and too much information, this would be a peaceful escape…isn’t that what a home should be? Well done, Ms. Barden!!
A+ in my book, and wish there were more homes like this, and fewer builder atrocities that have a hodge-podge of styles and big boxy rooms with no “feeling”…when are we going to stop building charmless homes with turrets and Victorian doors with leaded oval windows slapped onto colonial vernaculars….architects, save us!!!!!!!
I loved this house!

By: anonymous

anonymous — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 04:39:54 +0000

None of the previous criticisms leveled are valid.

1.) Making sweeping claims as demonstration of inferior product is a common empiricist debate strategy to discount the ego/desires of the future home owner.
2.) The windows privacy issue is as stale a debate and left best in the 20th century. Condo cool has always applied phenomenal transparency to enhance the awareness of the occupant.
3.) The hiding of the garage is a moral statement that would not make demographic sense w/r/t price point and location. It takes a sweet balance of traditional modern values with postmodern identity to achieve something people here will call home.

From the pics it’s seems a pretty good update of the working class bungalow parcel to upper class condo. You really have to experience a place like this to make good spatial and programming judgments in architectural terms.

Clean design work, nice outdoor meditations. Hope to make it out this sunday.

By: markd

markd — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 00:31:00 +0000

I rode by today… seems like rugrats could be a problem in the immediate neighborhood.

By: Carol Isaak Barden

Carol Isaak Barden — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 18:50:34 +0000

I have enjoyed reading everyone’s comments, and extend an invitation to all you bloggers to visit The Tree House on Sunday afternoon, September 6th, 5:00 p.m., 1608 Indiana. (It is a no-shoe zone, I provide the booties.) ) I would especially like to meet the most critical bloggers - Flake and Wayne. I will be there until 5:30 p.m. with my pit bull. Looking forward to welcoming you!

By: Aimee

Aimee — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 12:06:37 +0000

I still love it.

By: justguessin

justguessin — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 05:59:44 +0000

I prefer my stucco painted in the sage-green-grey tone embodied by mold/mildew.

No problem with those “baby trees” the city will take them when they have to widen the street in a few years. It always baffles me when trees are planted in the city’s easement…..that $150 you$just spent on a tree (if it is a worthwhile tree, it might be worth that much not at HGC) could be dug up shortly by a city crew. Also, new homeowners, when you (or the developers) plant those “baby trees” next to a house…….it causes foundation problems….

By: JT

JT — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 02:58:45 +0000

So Wayne, why don’t you submit something you’ve built to show all of us, the CIB sycophants, what it really is all about?

This house has a very specific type of buyer in mind just as the faux Tuscan McMansion does as well as the psuedo-Victorian in the Heights. It certainly won’t appeal to the masses and I am sure Ms. Barden is quite aware of that.

By: Eric

Eric — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 00:14:51 +0000

The above two comments take some of the sting away from the fact we’ll all be dead in 2012. Cheers!

By: flake

flake — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 19:35:43 +0000

This is built for looks, not actual USE, right? Consider unpacking the groceries in high heels - you’d better not accidentally step in between those Zen-garden concrete blocks on the pathway. Oh, and pushing a stroller over them is gonna get annoying pretty quickly. Hope nobody ever breaks a leg and is on crutches or in a wheelchair - mighty tiresome to have to go up & down those stairs all the time - and is there a handrail on the second stair? Hope the elderly parents never come to visit!

It’ll be a shame to cover all those windows, too, but who wants to be your neighbors’ nightly entertainment?
That little patio outside? It’s too small to be of real use - wonder why they didn’t extend the brickwork at least under the posts of the pergola?
To top it off - the mature trees in this picture look like they belong to the neighbors, where they and the house they shade will probably be demolished in a few weeks so another vapid box can be built.
I can’t wait to see what this house looks like in 20 years when those baby trees in the courtyards have gotten bigger and their leaves start piling up.

By: Wayne

Wayne — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 17:54:04 +0000

This house is indeed sterile and it is frankly boring to any quality builder. I love this site but it is indeed typical that the majority of contributors to this site want to mock truly interesting architecture and ooh and aah about a house such as this one which is plain, without imagination and boring. My father who was in the commercial window covering business for 45 years, used to tell me that white and off-white were the chosen colors of the architecturally destitute. I never agreed with my father on too many things but on this I believe he was right. It is okay to like this womans product because everyone is entitled to an opinion, but on this and other websites she has been elevated to cult status and that is a pile of crap. She is building something different for the current time but it is truly simple and plain and as another builder, I am not impressed with the product nor am I excited by Ms. Bardens talents.