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What Home is to Me

Ellen Birch

Department of Family Consumer Science, Brigham Young University – Idaho

FCS 140-02: Intro to Interior Design

Deanna Poulsen

April 1, 2021
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What Home is to Me

During the year 1976, a little house was built just south of the decade old community

college in the Idaho town known as Twin Falls. This 2816 square foot ranch style home is built

on the crest of a slight elevation raise facing east; the middle house on that side of the one-street

street. Twenty years later, a family of four made the move from Northern Idaho down to the

Magic Valley and claimed this house as their new home. A feature that appealed to Father was

the steel siding; he would not have to paint it over the years like he would have had to if it were

wood siding. There is a brick wainscot up to the windowsills on the right side and this is

balanced by the brick between the garage doors and along the sides of the garage on the left side

of the residence. This structure is not covered by any hip roofs, only three gable roofs and a shed

roof off the back over the patio. These low pitch roofs along with the residence’s open

rectangular shaped floor plan, attached garage, finished basement, and sliding glass door to an

open patio in the backyard are all prime exterior features of a ranch style home. Growing up, it

was always a welcoming sight (See Figure 1 of Appendix A).

Ours is a 4 bed 2 ¾ bath where the private living spaces are set off from the social zones,

separated by either a hallway or stairs/hallway. Three bedrooms and two baths are upstairs on the

right side of the residence and the other bedroom as well as the 3/4 bath are located directly

below. The kitchen is in a central location of the home, from whence the smell of fresh bread

winds its way to every corner of the house. From the kitchen you can face the front door or turn

and look down past the dining room into the living room. Mother always made it an item of

importance that we not leave the dishes piled up in the sink, because anyone who came to the

door would be able to see. The yellow Formica laminate countertop wraps around the kitchen in

a U-shape, where we have stools on the outer side of the counter peninsula. The face frame
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cabinetry consists of dark brown imitation wood case with matching overlay doors and drawer

panels. Before Father put up the tile back splash, there used to be wallpaper on the walls above

the counter. This wallpaper was found in other places around the house and slowly was removed.

Even when white tiles replaced the orange-brownish wallpaper, the color scheme of the kitchen

maintains a special kind of warmth (See Figure 2 of Appendix A).

All rooms on the main floor have a single detached ceiling light fixture except for front

music room. Various lamps and carefully monitored sunlight from the large window are the

means by which the front music room is illuminated. Rooms downstairs have bare lightbulbs

housed by light sockets in the ceiling. As a child, it was always scary when the lightbulbs would

go out suddenly. When the sun would go down and I was old enough to still be awake, I found

the house to feel different as yellow glows illuminated the spaces we congregated to for the

evening. The fear of the dark became less of concern for what I couldn’t see, but more of missing

what I knew I could. I remember when spiral lightbulbs became popular. They would flicker on

and gave a last breath of pulsing light after the switch had been switched to off. Slowly light in

the house became less yellow. It pleases Father that now all of the lightbulbs in our house are the

energy efficient LED lightbulbs that give off a ‘daylight’ light. “Residential LEDs -- especially

ENERGY STAR rated products -- use at least 75% less energy, and last 25 times longer, than

incandescent lighting.” (U.S. Department of Energy, n.d.). I still find my preference to be warm

lightbulbs and their yellow glow.

All the windows in our house are horizontal sliding windows. Rarely was any window

ever opened, but blind and curtains were opened and closed throughout the day. I remember

feeling it my duty to go around the house and open all the blinds and curtains to let the sunlight

in. I would do this at Mother’s friend’s house as well when we’d go over to visit. Later I was told
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how doing so let light in, but also unwanted heat which would make it more expensive to keep

the house cool. The heating and air conditioning runs through the floor of our home, so it comes

out of floor vents on the main floor and comes out of ceiling vents in the basement. During the

summer too, but especially during the winter I would monitor the floor vents and wait for them

to start blowing warm air. The best floor vent was between where the dining room ended and the

living room began, because it was right by the sliding glass door. I would huddle over it with my

blanket and poke my head under the curtains of the sliding glass door to feel the sun, so all of me

was slowly warm and happy.

While commonly a child’s eyes are drawn to the warm and happy things of their

childhood home, I was also curious about the other aspects. We had three types of different

ceiling finishes. Over the kitchen and dining is a knockdown ceiling finish, downstairs is just a

sort of wood paneling, and over the bedrooms and living room areas is a popcorn ceiling. As

children we found it fun to stand on furniture and play with the popcorn ceiling ;calling it snow

as we would knock it down. That was until Father scolded us. I questioned why and Mother

explained that knocking off pieces of the ceiling could be harmful. They worried that since our

house was constructed before 1978 the popcorn ceiling could contain asbestos. Mother kept it

simple stating that the pieces of the ceiling made a mess and was not good for the air. Further

research reveales, “Asbestos, a naturally occurring fibrous silicate mineral, was the material of

choice for popcorn ceilings until the substance was banned as a health hazard in 1978. …popcorn

ceilings installed as late as the mid-’80s could contain asbestos, and, when disturbed, disperse

microscopic fibrils known to cause lung-scarring illnesses and even lung cancer if inhaled.”

(Taylor, 2020). It was a simple lesson we learned; leave the ceiling alone. Still, I maintained a
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friendly connection with popcorn ceiling. Often while lying in my little bed, I’d look for patterns

and pictures in the texture of the ceiling before falling asleep.

Another thing I questioned was why our living room was so “small”. Mother explained

that maybe if felt smaller than the music room or kitchen/dining area just because there was so

much furniture. One wall was taken by a couch and recliner while the other was taken by another

couch, a massive 80s television box, and Mother’s sewing machine. I agreed saying that must be

why the room looked bigger upside down. There was only a single light fixture in the living

room, so upside down the rest of the ‘floor’ was rather open. She also pointed out how the color

affected the look of the room. There is a wood paneling wainscot of dark wood material along

the sides and the whole back wall around the fireplace is full wall of this dark wood. (See Figure

4 of Appendix A). My trick didn’t work for that one, and the space remained just the same

upside down. “Dark or low values seem to advance and close in space; hey are useful when

walls, floors, or ceilings need to seem closer for warmth or visual effect.” (Nielsen, 2011, pg.

92). I didn’t mind that the living room sometimes felt small. It gave the room a more cozy feel,

especially when were there all together.

I love carpet. To me, a house becomes less “hommy” the less carpet it has. Back when I

was a child, only three rooms had flooring other than carpet; the kitchen, upstairs, and downstairs

bathrooms. All the carpeted areas on the main floor were a soft tufted carpet; a pile blended with

both loop and cut tuft. Carpeted areas downstairs were just an outdoor type of carpet glued to the

cement floor, and we quickly learned what carpet burn was. Despite there being a ‘play room’

downstairs, the living room became the more favored place to play. We had to be careful of the

furniture which occupied most of the floor area of the room as well as the fireplace and its tile

hearth. (See Figure 3 of Appendix A). Even so, I have countess memories playing on the living
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room floor or wrapping up with blankets and pillows on the carpet instead of the couch in order

to be closer to the TV for Saturday morning cartoons. Eventually, Mother had wood flooring put

in the kitchen to replace the linoleum and put it in the connected dining room as well replacing

the carpet there. Recently Mother had hardwood installed in the entryway, hallway, and music

room. Now over the hardwood music room floor lays the Persian rug from Mother’s childhood

home with matching runners in the entry and hall. I guess homes grow and changes as we do.

My childhood home has greatly influenced my taste of interiors and favored residential

style. At a young age I wanted to become an Architect. I went to Architecture school up North

and found myself unable to connect with the big fancy commercial projects that were commonly

praised and referenced. I agree that it is nice and artistic, but I found myself longing for

something more personal and humbler. I decided residential housing design was my path and in

my work I sometimes ponder my childhood home as I play a modest role in helping clients

achieve the design of their dream homes. I wonder which parts are pieces of their childhood

home and which are pieces washed in from the trends of this era. Either way, residential design

takes on a new light when I consider how I am not just drawing house plans; we are not just

building a house. I am drawing what will be someone’s childhood home; we are building what

has potential to be a holy place.

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References

Nielson, K. J., & Taylor, D. A. (2011). Color. In Interiors: an Introduction (5th ed., pp. 92–93).

essay, McGraw-Hill.

Taylor, G., & Vila, B. (2020, October 5). All You Need to Know About Popcorn Ceilings. Bob
Vila. https://www.bobvila.com/articles/popcorn-ceilings/.

U.S. Department of Energy. (n.d.). LED Lighting. Energy.gov.

https://www.energy.gov/energysaver/save-electricity-and-fuel/lighting-choices-save-you-
money/led-
lighting#:~:text=Energy%20Savings,times%20longer%2C%20than%20incandescent%20li
ghting.
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Appendix A

Figure 1

Figure 2
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Figure 3

Figure 4