Image excerpt from Fine Homebuilding Drawing Board column about upper-level oriels.Drop by your local newsstand, and pick up the September, 2011 issue of Fine Homebuilding to find my latest "Drawing Board" column about upper-level window bays, known as oriels. Explore three different types: an entry-announcing oriel, stair-landing oriel, and a pair of oriel dormers. Find out why you might want to incorporate an upper-level oriel in your next project. Click here for a PDF of the column. "Taking oriels to a new level" by Katie Hutchison, Issue #221, September 2011. Reprinted with permission copyright 2011, The Taunton Press, Inc.

Visit the KHS publications page to see other magazine columns and articles I've written.

by Katie Hutchison for House Enthusiast

I’m drawn to authentic barn cupolas, like this one. Grand, domed cupolas, the type with a belfry or lantern, can be exquisite, but it’s the hard-scrabble, yet graceful, venting cupola on a work building that speaks to me. This octagonal one is outfitted with green slatted louvers and a gently curved, somewhat-conical roof. The white roofing color reflects heat and nicely contrasts the black roofscape and moody sky. Of course, the weather vane on top is a fine form of functional grace, too. Look for another winning weather vane in a future “design snapshot”.

by Katie Hutchison for House Enthusiast

This composition exemplifies the power of two – to reflect one on another, to contrast one to another, to connect one to another, to complement one and another, to assimilate one into another, and to attract one to another.

No, this isn’t a trick image. These symmetrical doorways likely defined two separate living quarters at one time, or perhaps, they still do. Or, maybe they addressed a duality in the household, the way Shakers had separate doors for men and women. The boldly contrasting colors of the glossy, red body/trim and the black doors lend a sophisticated Asian-infused color palette to otherwise colonial American materials and detailing. The green planters and plantings complement the powerful color scheme. Dutch doors, which by their very nature offer two (door and operable window) in one, round out this dual entry’s appealing duality.

I, for one, am smitten with these two. How about you?

by Katie Hutchison for House Enthusiast

quarter-scale model of "Musical House", courtesy of Kickstarter.comNow's your chance to contribute to an "interactive public sculpture" in the form of a house, by street artist Swoon. In collaboration with New Orleans Airlift, Swoon and other sound artists aim to create a permanent, full-scale "Musical House" out of material salvaged on site from a dilapidated New Orleans Creole cottage. Their first step is to create a "shantytown sound lab" to test the ideas to be incorporated into the "Musical House". Hard not to love a Kickstarter project like this.

by Katie Hutchison for House Enthusiast

"Katie's lair" by Katie (of KHS), a grown-upFind an introduction to this series here.

I would love to see a "napkin sketch of home" created by you, your family, and/or friends -- both young and old.

Please submit sketches via a scan or photo to Katie@katiehutchison.com for possible inclusion in the series. Include the artist's name and age, and a title for the sketch, if there is one.

Share your idea of "home" -- whether it's your cat, your porch, or your neighborhood; you decide what "home" means to you.

Let's get sketching.

by Katie Hutchison for House Enthusiast