Mid-Century Modern Homes in Piedmont

Piedmont Mid-Century Modern Home

Can we talk about our love affair with Mid-Century Homes?

What is it that makes these simple homes so super cool? It's all in the details! Clean lines and aluminum windows go from blah to incredible with fine, green and sustainable materials in the remodels and eco-friendly landscaping that requires low water and maintenance.

Here are some pix I snapped. Enjoy!

Details, Details, Details....

Rockridge Craftsman Bungalow

Berkeley and Oakland Craftsman Homes Retain Strong Market Value

W.R. Lethaby wrote...

It is a pity to make a mystery of what should most easily be understood. there is nothing occult about the thought that all things may be made well or made ill. A work of art is a well-made thing, that is all. It may be a well-made statue or a well-made chair, or a well-made book. Art is not a special sauce applied to ordinary cooking; it is the cooking itself if it is good. Most simply and generally art may be thought of as THE WELL-DOING OF WHAT NEEDS DOING. If the thing is not worth doing it can hardly be a work of art, however well it may be done. A thing worth doing which is ill done is hardly a thing at all.

We listed an Oakland, Rose Garden Neighborhood 1908 Craftsman home for $799,000, and received eight offers last week. The home went well over the asking price. Another home on Woolsey in Berkeley, had 100's of visitors to the open home last weekend. The more authentic the home is to the period, the more interest it seems to draw.

The green movement has parallels in the Arts and Crafts Movement. Building quality, long lasting, homes from natural materials close at hand is one of the tenants of green building. Many "new construction" homes built in the last couple of decades are hopelessly out of date already and need to be completely overhauled, creating tons of construction waste.

In considering a new home, you'll want to find out how long the builder thinks it will last. Typical homes these days are built to last fifty years, where the Craftsman homes in our neighborhoods have already stood the test of time for the past 100 years.