The
Jewel Box® Home
Let
me introduce you to The Jewel Box® Home. A living space that is beautiful
and practical, filled with light and profoundly calming. The
Jewel Box® Home is a way of overcoming
big-house envy, a status symbol for
the smaller home and an answer to global
warming for the lifestyle diva. Famed architects Louis H. Sullivan
and Frank Lloyd Wright called several of their favorite projects “jewel
boxes”. This term wonderfully captures the richness of small
home living. Let’s take a look at the defining characteristics
of a Jewel Box® Home.
| What is
a Jewel Box® Home? |
| Size |
Rather than making a grand statement,
a Jewel Box® Home respects the scale of its neighborhood. Compared
to the average home, its size is modest, usually less than
2,000 square feet. But a large house that is beautiful,
practical and efficient can also qualify as a Jewel Box® Home. For
example, Melissa and Bill Gates have incorporated many elements
of a Jewel Box® Home into their Medina, Washington residence. While
the massive rambling palace built by the Sultan of Brunei with
1,788 rooms and 200 bathrooms could never be considered a Jewel
Box. |
Philosophy |
People are the heart of a Jewel Box® Home. An antidote to the McMansion,
beauty and function are valued over accumulating space and
things. |
Purpose |
Jewel Box® Homes are designed
to meet the needs of home life, rather than follow trends
or impress neighbors. Just as a jewel box displays
the gem inside to its best advantage, the Jewel Box® Home
enriches the lives of its people. |
Letting
go of big-house envy
 Conventional
wisdom tells us bigger is better. But when it comes to living
space, this is not always true. Most people believe they will
be happier in a bigger house. But that happiness is either
short-lived or never fully realized. Why is that? A larger
home comes with a bigger mortgage and more upkeep. A big house
does not necessarily satisfy more of our needs, these are probably
taken care of already. Nor does a big house make us a better
spouse, parent or human being. Whether we harbor fantasies of a kitchen
island with a granite countertop, a mudroom with extra cubbies, or
just want to keep up with the “Joneses”, there will always
be reasons to rationalize moving to a bigger house. Just keep
in mind that beauty, harmony and function can exist in any size house
and are often easier to cultivate in a small home.
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Small
homes as status symbols
Can a small home be a status symbol? Just as hybrid cars have
become associated with Hollywood power brokers, a Jewel Box® Home
confers a
certain cache and prestige on its owners. Rather than making
a
grand display of wealth and space, often considered crass by today’s
standards, these homes quietly breathe status through a blend of
beauty, harmony and function defined by their owners’ needs.
Global Warming
and the Jewel Box® Home
“[McMansions] look like small office buildings
glowing in the dark.
Between the outdoor lighting and the light streaming out
the windows,
they are clearly consuming a lot of kilowatts for what is
at most housing for three or four people.”
— Breen Kerr, Los Altos Hills, California
Mayor Pro Tem,
Communities Rising Up Against McMansions, Scripps Howard News
Service, February 2, 2005
“I would say that a typical house easily
wastes 20 gallons [of water]
per house per day, and I wouldn’t be surprised if a McMansion
wastes double that.”
—
Gary Klein, California Energy Commission residential water use
expert, Communities Rising Up Against McMansions, Scripps
Howard News Service, February 2, 2005
 The
Jewel Box® Home is a relatively painless and practical response for
homeowners concerned about global warming. Its smaller footprint
automatically reduces the negative impact occupants have on the environment.
Fewer rooms need heating, cooling, and lighting and fewer bathrooms
need water. Within the community, Jewel Box® Homes preserve green
space and do not contribute to urban sprawl. Owning a Jewel
Box Home is one of the best ways to be a responsible environmental
citizen.
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Reasons
to Choose a Jewel Box® Home
Why choose small
home living? |
| A Smaller Price Tag |
That super-size house comes with a
hefty mortgage. Add on property taxes, maintenance costs,
homeowner’s insurance and utilities and you are coughing
up some serious cash that goes right out the window. This
does not even take into account the cost of furnishing and decorating
a large home. Investing the money you save by sticking
with a small house is usually a winning financial strategy. |
Less Maintenance,
Less Stress |
Maintaining a big house takes time
and energy. Those cavernous rooms must be cooled in the
summer, heated in the winter and kept clean. Dusting
a light fixture in a two-story foyer is no easy task. Even
if you have ‘people’ to do the cleaning, gardening
and household chores, you still have to supervise their work. The
question becomes do you want these headaches? Is this
how you want to spend your time? Of course there is ongoing
upkeep with a smaller home, but the time investment is much
lower. |
Comfort |
By definition big houses are large. Most
have two-story foyers, great rooms with cathedral ceilings,
and oversized windows. These houses are built to impress. The
emphasis is on size, not livability. Cavernous rooms
often feel cold and uninviting. Voices echo loudly off
high ceilings and marble floors. And for some people,
the practicalities of life in a big house are uncomfortable. A
family that is used to living in close quarters, may feel isolated
and lonely when members are spread out in separate rooms, each
with his or her own TV and computer. Young children especially
may feel abandoned if they cannot hear voices in an adjacent
room. By contrast, a Jewel Box® Home is filled with the comforting
sounds of family life. Living spaces are built to human
scale. Architectural details add beauty and character,
rather than artificial grandeur. Common areas are warm
and inviting, retreat areas are relaxing and calm. As
always, human needs take priority. |
Low Environmental
Impact |
The small footprint of the Jewel
Box® Home allows its owners to live lightly on the Earth. This
is highly valued in a society that actively protects the environment
and its resources. |
Functional Efficient
Space |
The large volume of space in a
big house means that many of the rooms are not used as much
or as efficiently as the space in a smaller home. This
is especially true with formal dining rooms, oversized great
rooms and two-story foyers. In a Jewel Box® Home, people
live in the living room and eat in the dining room. The
daily rhythms of life flow naturally throughout the space of
the home. As a lifestyle choice, the obvious upside to
a big house is having an impressive place to live. But
do you really need or want that kind of space? |
"Having a larger house complicates things. There
is more to be done."
—Homeowner from “Swellsville”
Do you have a Jewel Box® Home? Are you thinking of getting
a Jewel Box® Home. I'd love to hear from you. Click here to contact
me.
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