Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
KFI AM six forty. You're listening to Dean Sharp The
house Whisper on demand on the iHeartRadio app. Thanks for
joining us on the show today. Did you know today
last day of summer for twenty twenty five? Tomorrow is
the beginning of autumn, my favorite season of the whole year.
(00:21):
So I'm looking forward to it. And I know the
weather is going to shift much for us this week.
That's for dang sure, at least not here in southern California.
But wherever you are, I hope the weather is treating
you well. And you know what autumn is just it
is the It's the jumbo water slide into the holidays.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
That's what it is.
Speaker 1 (00:42):
And I love that idea, and so we're going to
be getting ready for it here. I've got some community
calendar events to talk to you about, some house whispery
stuff that'll be coming up in just a bit, but
more importantly today on the show. Today, on the show,
we're going to do what I wanted to do last
week on the show, I want to talk about introductory spaces,
(01:05):
making a great introduction in your home. Now, what that
means is, essentially, typically I call them transitional spaces. They
are about four or five spaces in any given house
that are transitions or introductions to the space that they
are leading to. And of course i'm talking about off
neglected spaces, pathways to the front door, boyers or entry ways, hallways,
(01:31):
stairways if you have a stairway and a two story house,
and pathways into the rear yard. These areas are so
so very important and usually not that expensive to fix,
change alter jush up. But we got to understand the
principles of what's going on there and what it is
that they're actually doing, what their real purpose is, so
(01:54):
you can take full advantage of it. That is what
I wanted to talk about last week and didn't because
I wasn't live last week. I was down with the VID.
It was an entire Tina caught COVID from I don't
know who, and then I thought, well, I might be
able to avoid it. Nope. About two three days after
(02:15):
boom floored us both or for a good week, So
lots of things got postponed this week and or last
week that got pushed into this week, including our anniversary.
It wasn't it wasn't a big milestone. It was close, though,
it's close twenty nine, twenty nine. We're right on the edge.
(02:35):
We're beginning our thirtieth year of being married together. That
happened last week, and I wanted to celebrate it a
little bit with y'all last week. We'll do maybe a
little thing this week as well. Anyway, everything got pushed off,
and so I am thrilled that I get to sit
down and have this conversation with you today. It is
a design oriented show. Today, the designer in me gets
(02:59):
to talk the bill well, you know, he's always here.
He's always here to answer questions, uh, and tell the
designer what he can and can't do. So that's just
the way it works inside my head. Also, of course,
we're going to be taking your calls today round about
mid show. Will be going to the phones as we
always do.
Speaker 3 (03:17):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (03:18):
And the number to reach me eight three three two.
Ask Dean A three three the numeral two ask Dean
eight three three to ask Dean whatever has you scratch
in your head about your home, whether it is a
design issue, construction concern, DIY question, inside stuff, outside stuff, heartscape, landscape.
(03:40):
I got you anything from property line to property line,
and from the ground to the sky. We will put
our heads together and we will get it figured out.
The phone lines are open right now, so you can
call in, jump into the queue, listen to the show
while you wait eight three three two. Ask Dean sitting
across there's a table from me. Should just slid in
(04:02):
in the nick of time to turn her mic on?
Speaker 2 (04:04):
Should I?
Speaker 1 (04:05):
Oh, my design partner, my better half, my best buddy
in the world.
Speaker 2 (04:10):
Tina is here. Good morning, Good morning, welcome home. How's
it going over there? Good? Yah? You got us all
packed up? Yep, we're all ready to go.
Speaker 1 (04:22):
We're gonna take a little trip, just a little couple
of days. We actually have to work tomorrow, but you know, still,
we're wrapping a couple of days of getting away that
was intended to be last weekend to this weekend.
Speaker 2 (04:35):
So it should be nice business and pleasure.
Speaker 1 (04:38):
Business and pleasure and business is always a pleasure, that's
true most of the time. We're actually pretty fortunate that way.
These are nice people. We're doing a little console down
down yonder. So anyway, all right, Tina's here, I'm here,
you're there. Guess what I guess that's everybody who needs
to be here in order for us to rock and roll.
(05:01):
One thing I said, I was going to give you
a little community bulletin reminder. Let me pull it up here.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
Let me. I got a couple of things to tell.
Speaker 1 (05:09):
You because we're now rolling into autumn right and autumn
is always a great opportunity. We always take advantage of
it to spend a little more face to face time.
So the first thing you need to know that Saturday,
October eleventh, that's coming up now in just a couple
ish weeks, Saturday, October eleventh, from ten in the morning
(05:32):
to two in the afternoon in Thousand Oaks Great Town
at Caneo Creek North Park, We're going to be at
the Native Plant Palooza. Native Plant Palooza. It is a
celebration and a festival wrapped around native plants. It's family friendly, outdoor.
We're guaranteed to have fun or your money back. Well
(05:54):
it's free, but you have fun, are your money back.
And you're going to learn about how native plants matter,
magically create wildlife habitat, and save water and help fire
safe your home all at the same time. And you'll
learn that from experts from all over thirty five eco
focused organizations and vendors like the California Wildlife Center, wild
(06:17):
Birds Unlimited, the Theodore Pain Foundation, they are great. Did
you know Theodore Pain largest native plant nursery in the
state of California dedicated to California native plants.
Speaker 2 (06:29):
If you have.
Speaker 1 (06:29):
Always asked yourself the question, what are the what kind
of native plants? Are it? Theodore Paine, Theodore Pain Foundation. Anyway,
they'll be there and also also to help make sense
of it all, a certain house whisperer you might know
and his boss Tina will be there too. That's Saturday,
October eleventh, ten to to Pneo Creek Park North in
(06:51):
Thousand Oaks and you can go to Coo SF cos
F dot org for more detail.
Speaker 2 (07:00):
All right, more.
Speaker 1 (07:00):
Stuff that's coming up here in the next few weeks,
little face to face opportunities and stuff that we're going
to start giving away.
Speaker 2 (07:08):
But I'll talk to you about that in a bit.
Speaker 1 (07:09):
Right now, let's take a break and then we'll get
to those introductory spaces in your home.
Speaker 2 (07:15):
You are home with Dean Sharp, the house whisper.
Speaker 3 (07:19):
You're listening to Home with Dean Sharp on demand from
KFI AM sixty here.
Speaker 1 (07:24):
To help you take your home to the next level. Yes, yes,
he can go to the next level and the one
after that and the one after that. But there's the secret.
Design matters most when it comes to transforming your home.
Not the workmanship, not the materials, not the whatever it
(07:45):
is that you're thinking in regards to stuff you can
buy to put into your home.
Speaker 2 (07:51):
All of that matters.
Speaker 1 (07:52):
I'm just saying design matters most because how it comes together,
why it's put together, where it's put together, that's the
most important part of the entire transformative process. Otherwise, if
you've got a mediocre, bad design, or thoughtless design, or
whatever the case may be, just not a lot of
thought put into design, then what you end up with
(08:15):
is very expensive, very well built perhaps, and of lovely materials,
poorly designed space, and nobody wants that. That's the greatest
tragedy of all. Okay, it's far better, in my opinion,
for somebody to work to walk into the disaster that
is an area of your home and say, Wow, this
(08:38):
place is challenged, isn't it, and you're like, yeah, yeah.
It is far better to have that kind of reaction
then for you to have just finished a oh, I
don't know, let's just throw a number out two hundred
and fifty thousand dollars remodel and have somebody walk in
and say, oh hey.
Speaker 2 (08:54):
I see your me and model place. No, that's very nice.
Speaker 1 (08:57):
Really, I just spent a quarter of a million dollars
on this and it's nice.
Speaker 2 (09:02):
Yeah, it's nice.
Speaker 1 (09:04):
See that's the thing. We don't want nice. We want
Oh my gosh, god, what have you done? This is amazing?
Oh my gosh. Yeah, that's what you expect. That's the
kind of ROI emotionally you expect on that kind of money.
Any kind of money that you put into your house
design matters most. So what are we talking about today, Well,
(09:24):
we're talking about very specific areas that I don't want
you to neglect in regards to your home. I want
to approach them in a way that maybe you haven't
heard them approached before, and resolve them in a way
that really encourages you that things can be set up
and they that it's all about making a great introduction.
Now what does that mean? Well, you all know first
(09:46):
impressions are very important, and I think most people understand
the concept or the importance of what we would call
curb appeal. Everybody has heard curb appeal. Oh, your house
has love curb appeal. Okay, and that's great. That's not
really what I'm talking about today, though, just to be clear, okay,
because curb appeal, technically speaking, is just that it is.
(10:09):
It's kind of taken in the whole vibe of the
front of a property before you've entered it, from the curb,
while you're driving by, or just after you've parked. But
now now somebody has parked their vehicle, Now somebody has
walked up the sidewalk, and we are about to walk
(10:30):
on to your property and make that journey to the
front door, to the entry door that is now in
the in the zone of what we are talking about today.
That is one of those five spaces that makes a
great introduction to your home, the pathway to the front door.
(10:50):
The other four are the foyer that is the entryway
once we get in, the front door, always leading anywhere
through your home stairway if you haven't. That's why I
say it's four or five spaces, depending on whether you've
got a single story or two story home, and pathways
from the back of the house into the rear yard.
(11:10):
These are spaces or five spaces whose primary job is
to make great introductions. And if they're not doing that,
and if you can't even conceive of that, then I
guarantee you you don't have it, and you haven't put
any effort toward it, or no one in the past
has either, and you could, and in my opinion, you should. Unfortunately,
(11:31):
if we don't realize that's their job, then we won't
hold them accountable for doing that job and doing it well,
because when they do it well, it makes a huge difference.
I mean, it makes a huge difference. You don't need
to try and imagine really what an introduction means architecturally
(11:51):
right now. You know, hopefully you'll be vibing with that
by the time we're done today. But let's just you know,
let's use you know, another form of art that you're
more familiar with. All introductions share the same goals. For instance,
a literary introduction, right, the an intro at the beginning
of a book. Uh, it creates the reader's first impression.
(12:16):
A prologue an introduction. Remember in Star Wars, right, there
was that that that's that cool opening that's now classic
where the prologue rolls across the screen, right, How how
cool is that? And it sets you up right. Introductions
all have the same goal. So a literary introduction establishes
(12:37):
the story and its significance, and it captures hopefully the
reader's interest if it's done it well, and it provides
a kind of roadmap for what's going to follow, and
makes the reader want to continue reading. Now, think about
what I just said and apply this now to a house.
It establishes the story and its significance, It captures the
(13:00):
individual's interest, provides kind of a roadmap for what follows,
and makes them want to continue. There you go, Okay,
more on this and we'll start breaking it down a
zone by zone when we return.
Speaker 2 (13:15):
You are Home with Dean Sharp the house Whisper.
Speaker 3 (13:19):
You're listening to Home with Dean Sharp on demand from
KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 1 (13:24):
Here to transform your ordinary house into an extraordinary home.
Oh of course that can happen. Oh yeah, every house,
well yeah, almost every house has the potential to be
transformed into an extraordinary home. The missing factor you and
your intentionality and good design. Right and by the way,
(13:47):
if your home needs some personal house Whisper attention. You
listen to the show. You love the show, and you're like, wow,
we just really what we need is Dean and Tina
standing here. If only that could happen staring at our
well it can. You can just go to house whisper
dot Design and get some more info. You could do
an in home design consult with us house Whisper dot Design.
(14:11):
Also coming up in our second hour, gonna be going
to the phones, and we've got room on the phone
board for you. The call lines are open right now.
The number to reach me eight three three two. Ask
Dean A three three the number two ask Dean A
three three to ask Dean whether it's a design question,
(14:31):
construction DIY, anything that's got you puzzled about your home.
We can put our heads together and get it handled.
And of course I'm talking about a very specific design
issue today, but when it comes to our calls, you
set the agenda. So anything you want to talk about
regarding your home eight three three two ask Dean. That's
coming up in just a bit, so jump into the
(14:53):
queue now. All right, back to making a great introduction.
So I told you that before the break that every
you know, every introduction essentially shares the same goal, whether
it's architectural, whether it's a literary introduction, to establish a story,
to establish the significance of what's happening, capture your attention,
(15:17):
give you kind of a roadmap of what's to come,
and make you want to continue on on that journey.
Whether you're reading, whether you're watching a movie, whether you're
moving through an architectural space, it's all the same thing.
You know, it is said that life is the journey,
not the destination. And I know that's a you know,
it's it's I don't know if it's an overused whip.
(15:39):
I don't know if I would put it that way,
but it's kind of become cliche. It gets used so much.
It doesn't change the fact that that's so true. And
in terms of design, these introduction spaces are They're not
our homes destinations. That's that's the reason why they are neglected,
to be quite honest, because they are not a destination.
(16:02):
They are something you pass through that you make a
journey to. That's why we call them these introductory spaces.
But they affect the quality of the journey to those destinations,
and therefore they set up a great deal of the
payoff of the destination itself. And understand how that kind
(16:22):
of works, I'll give you one of my favorite examples
from something that, especially if you live in southern California.
But I think everybody, you know, everybody in North America
is familiar with Disneyland on some way, shape or form.
You know, when you walk into Disneyland here in southern California,
or the Magic Kingdom ount in Florida, or Disney Park
(16:44):
anywhere in the world, you walk through Main Street, you
walk into the park, and you walk down Main Street.
Main Street, USA is perhaps the most ingenious theme park
introduction toy space. It is a hallway. You know, it
is a destination unto itself, sure because of the shops
(17:05):
and the eats and all of that kind of stuff.
But let's face it, when you're jones and to get
into the park and start having fun and taking rides
and going on adventures, main Street is an introductory hallway
into that space. And it's a brilliant one. It's a
brilliant one because it is familiar in a sense. It
(17:26):
is unfamiliar in another sense, in that it's not a
modern day street. It is set back turn of the
century Americana. Yes, it is a kind of a whitewashed
Turn of the century Americana Dream. You know, it's nostalgic.
That's the way all of our best memories of the
good old days are. They're nostalgic, and they're kind of
(17:48):
white washed in terms of like it's just happiness and
joy and quaintness and love, and you know, we forget
about the fact that there was you know, disease and
poverty and crime and racism and I mean just all
sorts of things happening at that time in our nation's history. Nevertheless,
they're still the good old days. There are the days
of childhoods, you know, in so many ways, even though
(18:11):
most of us now living did not experience a childhood
that way. There is that just nostalgic hook, you know,
and it sets you up. Have you ever thought about that?
It sets you up. It sets you up for everything
else that happens in the rest of the park because
the rest of the experience that you have at Disneyland. Now,
(18:32):
you know, you may hate going to Disneyland, that's fine.
I'm just you know, but you can understand where I'm going.
The rest of what you experience at Disneyland, the quality
of what you're about to experience everywhere else in the
park is really dependent upon just how much childhood imagination
(18:54):
and nostalgia is generated when you walk down those couple
of blocks in main Street before you get to everything else.
It is a brilliantly ingenious, immersive introductory space. Now, am
I telling you that everybody's home can be Disneyland. No,
(19:16):
that's not what we're after. But the principle holds true,
and that's what we're really trying to achieve. So let's
start with the pathway to the front door, the very
first introduction that gets made, the pathway to the front door.
And I already mentioned this is not the same as
curb appeal. Curb appeal is just that first hit that's
(19:37):
just like, oh, like a like a postcard, like a picture,
a snapshot. You're like, ooh, that house is interesting. Oh
I like the vibe of that house. Okay, But the
pathway to the front door, that's the introduction. That's that
path down mainstream that gets you up to the front
(19:57):
door and knocking or ringing the bell on the front door.
So the questions are knowing number one, that's not the
same as curb appeal, because now we're taking experiential steps
through the questions are where's the romance? Where is the
romance of the pathway to your front door? Now you're
(20:17):
like romance? Okay, understand. As a designer, I speak of
romance in terms of just emotional effect.
Speaker 2 (20:25):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (20:26):
I'm not talking about you know, love, hug and kisses.
I'm talking about the romance, the emotional wrapping around you
of an experiential moment.
Speaker 2 (20:37):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (20:38):
And you can all do this today. You can all
walk out. In fact, you might be doing it right now.
Speaker 2 (20:43):
Don't leave yet.
Speaker 1 (20:44):
I'm still talking. You don't have to go outside yet.
But the idea is what is the romance? And this
is maybe the most important question that you can ask.
What is the romance experience when somebody leaves the sidewalk,
step their foot first onto my property and then proceeds
(21:04):
to make that journey to the front door. And I'll
tell you right now, right now, if you're thinking, yeah,
there ain't much romance up there, let's talk about, you know,
maybe the elephant in the room. Most southern California homes especially,
and most homes across the nation, now, many of them
are what we call garage forward homes. The garage is
(21:27):
facing the street and there's that big old driveway, and
for a lot of homes in southern California, the little
path to the front door takes off from the top
of the driveway and then wraps around to the front door,
which means we're walking through a parking lot first before
we start the journey to the front door.
Speaker 2 (21:47):
Think about that.
Speaker 1 (21:48):
You think about that, and we'll talk about the implications
of that on the other side when we come back.
Your home the Dean Sharp the house Whispering.
Speaker 3 (21:57):
You're listening to Home with Dean Sharp on demand from
KFI AM sixty.
Speaker 1 (22:02):
Here to remind you when it comes to transforming your house,
design matters most. That's what we're talking about today. We're
talking about some very very important design decisions that you
can make for your home that every home should have
made for it.
Speaker 2 (22:16):
And again, I don't want to give you the.
Speaker 1 (22:18):
Impression by the way that this is all just hoity
toity stuff for big luxury homes. You're like, yeah, Dan,
I know the kind of stuff you design, and you know,
but I just live in a normal little home. Okay,
I just live in a normal little home. I have
what I have, Okay, I'm not trying to make it
overlead anything too much, you know, I don't want it
to rise above its station. Not trying to make our
(22:39):
little cottage a castle. I don't want you to. I
want it to be the most of exactly what it
is and what it can be. And these are the
very things like, for instance, this introductory space you talk
about cottages. If you go to the land of cottages
anywhere where tiny little cottages are nestled into a piece
of property, Yes, tremendous curb appeal when you first glance
(23:04):
at them, But the pathway to that little front door
is so important. It's so important, it's so romantic, it's
so sexy, it's so it gets you so set up
for what you're expecting when you get inside. And so
that's not pretentious, that's not overblown. That's not a state
(23:24):
kind of stuff. That is simply an architectural reality that
applies to every home, every structure, everywhere. Okay, I just
I want you to understand this. I am all about
the democratization of good design. I'm all about this egalitarian
approach to design. In fact, in very large part, one
(23:45):
of the reasons this very program exists, this show, is
that the soapbox that I crawl up on. It's not politics,
it's not daily news, it's not any The soapbox that
I'm crawling up on is that every structure, everywhere, especially
your home, deserves good design. Not just the big house
on the hill behind the double gates, okay, but your home.
(24:09):
So let's talk about this little issue we have with
your big two car garage or maybe three car garage,
depending on where you live, facing the street and the
big driveway leading up to it, and the fact that
a lot of homes, a lot of homes, especially here
in southern California, have the driveway and then they have
(24:32):
a little entry path that dives off the driveway to
the front door, a little accessory pathway that wraps around
maybe the corner of the garage and heads to the
front door. And the question is why why is it there. Well,
I'll tell you exactly why it's there. It's there because
the builder of your tract did not want to spend
the extra time and energy in concrete and the expense
(24:55):
in concrete to actually make a pathway from the sidewalk
or the curve independent of the driveway. They just wanted
to save money, saving money when you first build a
home in the track sense. It's not a lot, it's
not a big difference of cost. But when you multiply
that out time five hundred or one thousand, or two
thousand or five thousand houses, then everything becomes an issue
(25:19):
for a tracked developer, and every corner gets cut everywhere
they can. Okay, that's why it is there. It's not
there because that's the proper way to do it. It's
there because they may do with cutting a corner on
the budget. That is a house designed by spreadsheet, not
designed by architectural integrity. So now it's your home, and
(25:43):
the question is what can we do about your home?
Not every driveway is going to be able to do this,
because sometimes sometimes you got like an L shaped home.
Speaker 2 (25:53):
These are the toughies.
Speaker 1 (25:54):
Actually, Sometimes you've got an L shaped home out in
front where the garage is out front. And the nice
thing about the garage is that it doesn't face the
street directly. You get like the side of the garage,
so you get some architectural jug on the side of
the garage as if it's more house. Okay, but since
the garage faces ninety degrees kind of inward to a
(26:17):
little courtyard effect, the driveway is everything up to the
front door. Well, in those cases, I get take a
serious look at the whole driveway and the field that
the driveway gives, because we don't have much more choice
than that, even though there are even some exceptions to
that rule. But I'm talking about the typical situation where
(26:39):
driveway facing the street, house is facing the street. Driveway
is dominant. I mean, it's a seventeen to eighteen foot
wide piece of concrete that is likely twenty feet long. Like,
how did you know the size of my driveway? Yeah, well,
most double garage doors are sixteen to seventeen feet wide,
and most garages are sitting right on the allowable setback
(27:04):
from the property line, which in most of southern California
is twenty feet. So yeah, your driveway is seventeen by
twenty feet ish. Okay, And that's a lot. But here's
the most important part. It's not just that it's a
big area. The biggest issue is it's the servants entrance.
(27:24):
I know, you just promise you I wasn't gonna judge
us up, but I mean, think about it. You're forcing
your guests to walk through a parking lot to get
to your front door. There is nothing romantic about that
at all, Okay, especially when there's a really good chance
you've got a good sized yard area just adjacent to it,
(27:48):
that you've paid a lot of money to maintain, mow
that grass and do it. And yet they don't get
to walk through the most pleasant part of the front
of your home, which is your lawn and your yard
and all the landscaping that could ensue from that, because
there's no direct path from the sidewalk, and so it
may be super uber efficient, but it is because that's
(28:10):
the shortest distance from the one piece of expenditure that
the developer did to your front door. But it's not
the most romantic or impactful pathway, right, think about that?
All right, when we come back, we're gonna table this
discussion and we're going to take some calls and number
to reach me eight three three two Ask Dean your
(28:34):
homes Dean Sharper, the House Whisper. This has been home
with Dean Sharp, the House Whisper. Tune into the live
broadcast on KFI AM six forty every Saturday morning from
six to eight Pacific time, and every Sunday morning from
nine to noon Pacific time, or anytime on demand on
the iHeart Radio app,
KFI AM six forty. You're listening to Dean Sharp The
house Whisper on demand on the iHeartRadio app. Thanks for
joining us on the show today. Did you know today
last day of summer for twenty twenty five? Tomorrow is
the beginning of autumn, my favorite season of the whole year.
(00:21):
So I'm looking forward to it. And I know the
weather is going to shift much for us this week.
That's for dang sure, at least not here in southern California.
But wherever you are, I hope the weather is treating
you well. And you know what autumn is just it
is the It's the jumbo water slide into the holidays.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
That's what it is.
Speaker 1 (00:42):
And I love that idea, and so we're going to
be getting ready for it here. I've got some community
calendar events to talk to you about, some house whispery
stuff that'll be coming up in just a bit, but
more importantly today on the show. Today, on the show,
we're going to do what I wanted to do last
week on the show, I want to talk about introductory spaces,
(01:05):
making a great introduction in your home. Now, what that
means is, essentially, typically I call them transitional spaces. They
are about four or five spaces in any given house
that are transitions or introductions to the space that they
are leading to. And of course i'm talking about off
neglected spaces, pathways to the front door, boyers or entry ways, hallways,
(01:31):
stairways if you have a stairway and a two story house,
and pathways into the rear yard. These areas are so
so very important and usually not that expensive to fix,
change alter jush up. But we got to understand the
principles of what's going on there and what it is
that they're actually doing, what their real purpose is, so
(01:54):
you can take full advantage of it. That is what
I wanted to talk about last week and didn't because
I wasn't live last week. I was down with the VID.
It was an entire Tina caught COVID from I don't
know who, and then I thought, well, I might be
able to avoid it. Nope. About two three days after
(02:15):
boom floored us both or for a good week, So
lots of things got postponed this week and or last
week that got pushed into this week, including our anniversary.
It wasn't it wasn't a big milestone. It was close, though,
it's close twenty nine, twenty nine. We're right on the edge.
(02:35):
We're beginning our thirtieth year of being married together. That
happened last week, and I wanted to celebrate it a
little bit with y'all last week. We'll do maybe a
little thing this week as well. Anyway, everything got pushed off,
and so I am thrilled that I get to sit
down and have this conversation with you today. It is
a design oriented show. Today, the designer in me gets
(02:59):
to talk the bill well, you know, he's always here.
He's always here to answer questions, uh, and tell the
designer what he can and can't do. So that's just
the way it works inside my head. Also, of course,
we're going to be taking your calls today round about
mid show. Will be going to the phones as we
always do.
Speaker 3 (03:17):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (03:18):
And the number to reach me eight three three two.
Ask Dean A three three the numeral two ask Dean
eight three three to ask Dean whatever has you scratch
in your head about your home, whether it is a
design issue, construction concern, DIY question, inside stuff, outside stuff, heartscape, landscape.
(03:40):
I got you anything from property line to property line,
and from the ground to the sky. We will put
our heads together and we will get it figured out.
The phone lines are open right now, so you can
call in, jump into the queue, listen to the show
while you wait eight three three two. Ask Dean sitting
across there's a table from me. Should just slid in
(04:02):
in the nick of time to turn her mic on?
Speaker 2 (04:04):
Should I?
Speaker 1 (04:05):
Oh, my design partner, my better half, my best buddy
in the world.
Speaker 2 (04:10):
Tina is here. Good morning, Good morning, welcome home. How's
it going over there? Good? Yah? You got us all
packed up? Yep, we're all ready to go.
Speaker 1 (04:22):
We're gonna take a little trip, just a little couple
of days. We actually have to work tomorrow, but you know, still,
we're wrapping a couple of days of getting away that
was intended to be last weekend to this weekend.
Speaker 2 (04:35):
So it should be nice business and pleasure.
Speaker 1 (04:38):
Business and pleasure and business is always a pleasure, that's
true most of the time. We're actually pretty fortunate that way.
These are nice people. We're doing a little console down
down yonder. So anyway, all right, Tina's here, I'm here,
you're there. Guess what I guess that's everybody who needs
to be here in order for us to rock and roll.
(05:01):
One thing I said, I was going to give you
a little community bulletin reminder. Let me pull it up here.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
Let me. I got a couple of things to tell.
Speaker 1 (05:09):
You because we're now rolling into autumn right and autumn
is always a great opportunity. We always take advantage of
it to spend a little more face to face time.
So the first thing you need to know that Saturday,
October eleventh, that's coming up now in just a couple
ish weeks, Saturday, October eleventh, from ten in the morning
(05:32):
to two in the afternoon in Thousand Oaks Great Town
at Caneo Creek North Park, We're going to be at
the Native Plant Palooza. Native Plant Palooza. It is a
celebration and a festival wrapped around native plants. It's family friendly, outdoor.
We're guaranteed to have fun or your money back. Well
(05:54):
it's free, but you have fun, are your money back.
And you're going to learn about how native plants matter,
magically create wildlife habitat, and save water and help fire
safe your home all at the same time. And you'll
learn that from experts from all over thirty five eco
focused organizations and vendors like the California Wildlife Center, wild
(06:17):
Birds Unlimited, the Theodore Pain Foundation, they are great. Did
you know Theodore Pain largest native plant nursery in the
state of California dedicated to California native plants.
Speaker 2 (06:29):
If you have.
Speaker 1 (06:29):
Always asked yourself the question, what are the what kind
of native plants? Are it? Theodore Paine, Theodore Pain Foundation. Anyway,
they'll be there and also also to help make sense
of it all, a certain house whisperer you might know
and his boss Tina will be there too. That's Saturday,
October eleventh, ten to to Pneo Creek Park North in
(06:51):
Thousand Oaks and you can go to Coo SF cos
F dot org for more detail.
Speaker 2 (07:00):
All right, more.
Speaker 1 (07:00):
Stuff that's coming up here in the next few weeks,
little face to face opportunities and stuff that we're going
to start giving away.
Speaker 2 (07:08):
But I'll talk to you about that in a bit.
Speaker 1 (07:09):
Right now, let's take a break and then we'll get
to those introductory spaces in your home.
Speaker 2 (07:15):
You are home with Dean Sharp, the house whisper.
Speaker 3 (07:19):
You're listening to Home with Dean Sharp on demand from
KFI AM sixty here.
Speaker 1 (07:24):
To help you take your home to the next level. Yes, yes,
he can go to the next level and the one
after that and the one after that. But there's the secret.
Design matters most when it comes to transforming your home.
Not the workmanship, not the materials, not the whatever it
(07:45):
is that you're thinking in regards to stuff you can
buy to put into your home.
Speaker 2 (07:51):
All of that matters.
Speaker 1 (07:52):
I'm just saying design matters most because how it comes together,
why it's put together, where it's put together, that's the
most important part of the entire transformative process. Otherwise, if
you've got a mediocre, bad design, or thoughtless design, or
whatever the case may be, just not a lot of
thought put into design, then what you end up with
(08:15):
is very expensive, very well built perhaps, and of lovely materials,
poorly designed space, and nobody wants that. That's the greatest
tragedy of all. Okay, it's far better, in my opinion,
for somebody to work to walk into the disaster that
is an area of your home and say, Wow, this
(08:38):
place is challenged, isn't it, and you're like, yeah, yeah.
It is far better to have that kind of reaction
then for you to have just finished a oh, I
don't know, let's just throw a number out two hundred
and fifty thousand dollars remodel and have somebody walk in
and say, oh hey.
Speaker 2 (08:54):
I see your me and model place. No, that's very nice.
Speaker 1 (08:57):
Really, I just spent a quarter of a million dollars
on this and it's nice.
Speaker 2 (09:02):
Yeah, it's nice.
Speaker 1 (09:04):
See that's the thing. We don't want nice. We want
Oh my gosh, god, what have you done? This is amazing?
Oh my gosh. Yeah, that's what you expect. That's the
kind of ROI emotionally you expect on that kind of money.
Any kind of money that you put into your house
design matters most. So what are we talking about today, Well,
(09:24):
we're talking about very specific areas that I don't want
you to neglect in regards to your home. I want
to approach them in a way that maybe you haven't
heard them approached before, and resolve them in a way
that really encourages you that things can be set up
and they that it's all about making a great introduction.
Now what does that mean? Well, you all know first
(09:46):
impressions are very important, and I think most people understand
the concept or the importance of what we would call
curb appeal. Everybody has heard curb appeal. Oh, your house
has love curb appeal. Okay, and that's great. That's not
really what I'm talking about today, though, just to be clear, okay,
because curb appeal, technically speaking, is just that it is.
(10:09):
It's kind of taken in the whole vibe of the
front of a property before you've entered it, from the curb,
while you're driving by, or just after you've parked. But
now now somebody has parked their vehicle, Now somebody has
walked up the sidewalk, and we are about to walk
(10:30):
on to your property and make that journey to the
front door, to the entry door that is now in
the in the zone of what we are talking about today.
That is one of those five spaces that makes a
great introduction to your home, the pathway to the front door.
(10:50):
The other four are the foyer that is the entryway
once we get in, the front door, always leading anywhere
through your home stairway if you haven't. That's why I
say it's four or five spaces, depending on whether you've
got a single story or two story home, and pathways
from the back of the house into the rear yard.
(11:10):
These are spaces or five spaces whose primary job is
to make great introductions. And if they're not doing that,
and if you can't even conceive of that, then I
guarantee you you don't have it, and you haven't put
any effort toward it, or no one in the past
has either, and you could, and in my opinion, you should. Unfortunately,
(11:31):
if we don't realize that's their job, then we won't
hold them accountable for doing that job and doing it well,
because when they do it well, it makes a huge difference.
I mean, it makes a huge difference. You don't need
to try and imagine really what an introduction means architecturally
(11:51):
right now. You know, hopefully you'll be vibing with that
by the time we're done today. But let's just you know,
let's use you know, another form of art that you're
more familiar with. All introductions share the same goals. For instance,
a literary introduction, right, the an intro at the beginning
of a book. Uh, it creates the reader's first impression.
(12:16):
A prologue an introduction. Remember in Star Wars, right, there
was that that that's that cool opening that's now classic
where the prologue rolls across the screen, right, How how
cool is that? And it sets you up right. Introductions
all have the same goal. So a literary introduction establishes
(12:37):
the story and its significance, and it captures hopefully the
reader's interest if it's done it well, and it provides
a kind of roadmap for what's going to follow, and
makes the reader want to continue reading. Now, think about
what I just said and apply this now to a house.
It establishes the story and its significance, It captures the
(13:00):
individual's interest, provides kind of a roadmap for what follows,
and makes them want to continue. There you go, Okay,
more on this and we'll start breaking it down a
zone by zone when we return.
Speaker 2 (13:15):
You are Home with Dean Sharp the house Whisper.
Speaker 3 (13:19):
You're listening to Home with Dean Sharp on demand from
KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 1 (13:24):
Here to transform your ordinary house into an extraordinary home.
Oh of course that can happen. Oh yeah, every house,
well yeah, almost every house has the potential to be
transformed into an extraordinary home. The missing factor you and
your intentionality and good design. Right and by the way,
(13:47):
if your home needs some personal house Whisper attention. You
listen to the show. You love the show, and you're like, wow,
we just really what we need is Dean and Tina
standing here. If only that could happen staring at our
well it can. You can just go to house whisper
dot Design and get some more info. You could do
an in home design consult with us house Whisper dot Design.
(14:11):
Also coming up in our second hour, gonna be going
to the phones, and we've got room on the phone
board for you. The call lines are open right now.
The number to reach me eight three three two. Ask
Dean A three three the number two ask Dean A
three three to ask Dean whether it's a design question,
(14:31):
construction DIY, anything that's got you puzzled about your home.
We can put our heads together and get it handled.
And of course I'm talking about a very specific design
issue today, but when it comes to our calls, you
set the agenda. So anything you want to talk about
regarding your home eight three three two ask Dean. That's
coming up in just a bit, so jump into the
(14:53):
queue now. All right, back to making a great introduction.
So I told you that before the break that every
you know, every introduction essentially shares the same goal, whether
it's architectural, whether it's a literary introduction, to establish a story,
to establish the significance of what's happening, capture your attention,
(15:17):
give you kind of a roadmap of what's to come,
and make you want to continue on on that journey.
Whether you're reading, whether you're watching a movie, whether you're
moving through an architectural space, it's all the same thing.
You know, it is said that life is the journey,
not the destination. And I know that's a you know,
it's it's I don't know if it's an overused whip.
(15:39):
I don't know if I would put it that way,
but it's kind of become cliche. It gets used so much.
It doesn't change the fact that that's so true. And
in terms of design, these introduction spaces are They're not
our homes destinations. That's that's the reason why they are neglected,
to be quite honest, because they are not a destination.
(16:02):
They are something you pass through that you make a
journey to. That's why we call them these introductory spaces.
But they affect the quality of the journey to those destinations,
and therefore they set up a great deal of the
payoff of the destination itself. And understand how that kind
(16:22):
of works, I'll give you one of my favorite examples
from something that, especially if you live in southern California.
But I think everybody, you know, everybody in North America
is familiar with Disneyland on some way, shape or form.
You know, when you walk into Disneyland here in southern California,
or the Magic Kingdom ount in Florida, or Disney Park
(16:44):
anywhere in the world, you walk through Main Street, you
walk into the park, and you walk down Main Street.
Main Street, USA is perhaps the most ingenious theme park
introduction toy space. It is a hallway. You know, it
is a destination unto itself, sure because of the shops
(17:05):
and the eats and all of that kind of stuff.
But let's face it, when you're jones and to get
into the park and start having fun and taking rides
and going on adventures, main Street is an introductory hallway
into that space. And it's a brilliant one. It's a
brilliant one because it is familiar in a sense. It
(17:26):
is unfamiliar in another sense, in that it's not a
modern day street. It is set back turn of the
century Americana. Yes, it is a kind of a whitewashed
Turn of the century Americana Dream. You know, it's nostalgic.
That's the way all of our best memories of the
good old days are. They're nostalgic, and they're kind of
(17:48):
white washed in terms of like it's just happiness and
joy and quaintness and love, and you know, we forget
about the fact that there was you know, disease and
poverty and crime and racism and I mean just all
sorts of things happening at that time in our nation's history. Nevertheless,
they're still the good old days. There are the days
of childhoods, you know, in so many ways, even though
(18:11):
most of us now living did not experience a childhood
that way. There is that just nostalgic hook, you know,
and it sets you up. Have you ever thought about that?
It sets you up. It sets you up for everything
else that happens in the rest of the park because
the rest of the experience that you have at Disneyland. Now,
(18:32):
you know, you may hate going to Disneyland, that's fine.
I'm just you know, but you can understand where I'm going.
The rest of what you experience at Disneyland, the quality
of what you're about to experience everywhere else in the
park is really dependent upon just how much childhood imagination
(18:54):
and nostalgia is generated when you walk down those couple
of blocks in main Street before you get to everything else.
It is a brilliantly ingenious, immersive introductory space. Now, am
I telling you that everybody's home can be Disneyland. No,
(19:16):
that's not what we're after. But the principle holds true,
and that's what we're really trying to achieve. So let's
start with the pathway to the front door, the very
first introduction that gets made, the pathway to the front door.
And I already mentioned this is not the same as
curb appeal. Curb appeal is just that first hit that's
(19:37):
just like, oh, like a like a postcard, like a picture,
a snapshot. You're like, ooh, that house is interesting. Oh
I like the vibe of that house. Okay, But the
pathway to the front door, that's the introduction. That's that
path down mainstream that gets you up to the front
(19:57):
door and knocking or ringing the bell on the front door.
So the questions are knowing number one, that's not the
same as curb appeal, because now we're taking experiential steps
through the questions are where's the romance? Where is the
romance of the pathway to your front door? Now you're
(20:17):
like romance? Okay, understand. As a designer, I speak of
romance in terms of just emotional effect.
Speaker 2 (20:25):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (20:26):
I'm not talking about you know, love, hug and kisses.
I'm talking about the romance, the emotional wrapping around you
of an experiential moment.
Speaker 2 (20:37):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (20:38):
And you can all do this today. You can all
walk out. In fact, you might be doing it right now.
Speaker 2 (20:43):
Don't leave yet.
Speaker 1 (20:44):
I'm still talking. You don't have to go outside yet.
But the idea is what is the romance? And this
is maybe the most important question that you can ask.
What is the romance experience when somebody leaves the sidewalk,
step their foot first onto my property and then proceeds
(21:04):
to make that journey to the front door. And I'll
tell you right now, right now, if you're thinking, yeah,
there ain't much romance up there, let's talk about, you know,
maybe the elephant in the room. Most southern California homes especially,
and most homes across the nation, now, many of them
are what we call garage forward homes. The garage is
(21:27):
facing the street and there's that big old driveway, and
for a lot of homes in southern California, the little
path to the front door takes off from the top
of the driveway and then wraps around to the front door,
which means we're walking through a parking lot first before
we start the journey to the front door.
Speaker 2 (21:47):
Think about that.
Speaker 1 (21:48):
You think about that, and we'll talk about the implications
of that on the other side when we come back.
Your home the Dean Sharp the house Whispering.
Speaker 3 (21:57):
You're listening to Home with Dean Sharp on demand from
KFI AM sixty.
Speaker 1 (22:02):
Here to remind you when it comes to transforming your house,
design matters most. That's what we're talking about today. We're
talking about some very very important design decisions that you
can make for your home that every home should have
made for it.
Speaker 2 (22:16):
And again, I don't want to give you the.
Speaker 1 (22:18):
Impression by the way that this is all just hoity
toity stuff for big luxury homes. You're like, yeah, Dan,
I know the kind of stuff you design, and you know,
but I just live in a normal little home. Okay,
I just live in a normal little home. I have
what I have, Okay, I'm not trying to make it
overlead anything too much, you know, I don't want it
to rise above its station. Not trying to make our
(22:39):
little cottage a castle. I don't want you to. I
want it to be the most of exactly what it
is and what it can be. And these are the
very things like, for instance, this introductory space you talk
about cottages. If you go to the land of cottages
anywhere where tiny little cottages are nestled into a piece
of property, Yes, tremendous curb appeal when you first glance
(23:04):
at them, But the pathway to that little front door
is so important. It's so important, it's so romantic, it's
so sexy, it's so it gets you so set up
for what you're expecting when you get inside. And so
that's not pretentious, that's not overblown. That's not a state
(23:24):
kind of stuff. That is simply an architectural reality that
applies to every home, every structure, everywhere. Okay, I just
I want you to understand this. I am all about
the democratization of good design. I'm all about this egalitarian
approach to design. In fact, in very large part, one
(23:45):
of the reasons this very program exists, this show, is
that the soapbox that I crawl up on. It's not politics,
it's not daily news, it's not any The soapbox that
I'm crawling up on is that every structure, everywhere, especially
your home, deserves good design. Not just the big house
on the hill behind the double gates, okay, but your home.
(24:09):
So let's talk about this little issue we have with
your big two car garage or maybe three car garage,
depending on where you live, facing the street and the
big driveway leading up to it, and the fact that
a lot of homes, a lot of homes, especially here
in southern California, have the driveway and then they have
(24:32):
a little entry path that dives off the driveway to
the front door, a little accessory pathway that wraps around
maybe the corner of the garage and heads to the
front door. And the question is why why is it there. Well,
I'll tell you exactly why it's there. It's there because
the builder of your tract did not want to spend
the extra time and energy in concrete and the expense
(24:55):
in concrete to actually make a pathway from the sidewalk
or the curve independent of the driveway. They just wanted
to save money, saving money when you first build a
home in the track sense. It's not a lot, it's
not a big difference of cost. But when you multiply
that out time five hundred or one thousand, or two
thousand or five thousand houses, then everything becomes an issue
(25:19):
for a tracked developer, and every corner gets cut everywhere
they can. Okay, that's why it is there. It's not
there because that's the proper way to do it. It's
there because they may do with cutting a corner on
the budget. That is a house designed by spreadsheet, not
designed by architectural integrity. So now it's your home, and
(25:43):
the question is what can we do about your home?
Not every driveway is going to be able to do this,
because sometimes sometimes you got like an L shaped home.
Speaker 2 (25:53):
These are the toughies.
Speaker 1 (25:54):
Actually, Sometimes you've got an L shaped home out in
front where the garage is out front. And the nice
thing about the garage is that it doesn't face the
street directly. You get like the side of the garage,
so you get some architectural jug on the side of
the garage as if it's more house. Okay, but since
the garage faces ninety degrees kind of inward to a
(26:17):
little courtyard effect, the driveway is everything up to the
front door. Well, in those cases, I get take a
serious look at the whole driveway and the field that
the driveway gives, because we don't have much more choice
than that, even though there are even some exceptions to
that rule. But I'm talking about the typical situation where
(26:39):
driveway facing the street, house is facing the street. Driveway
is dominant. I mean, it's a seventeen to eighteen foot
wide piece of concrete that is likely twenty feet long. Like,
how did you know the size of my driveway? Yeah, well,
most double garage doors are sixteen to seventeen feet wide,
and most garages are sitting right on the allowable setback
(27:04):
from the property line, which in most of southern California
is twenty feet. So yeah, your driveway is seventeen by
twenty feet ish. Okay, And that's a lot. But here's
the most important part. It's not just that it's a
big area. The biggest issue is it's the servants entrance.
(27:24):
I know, you just promise you I wasn't gonna judge
us up, but I mean, think about it. You're forcing
your guests to walk through a parking lot to get
to your front door. There is nothing romantic about that
at all, Okay, especially when there's a really good chance
you've got a good sized yard area just adjacent to it,
(27:48):
that you've paid a lot of money to maintain, mow
that grass and do it. And yet they don't get
to walk through the most pleasant part of the front
of your home, which is your lawn and your yard
and all the landscaping that could ensue from that, because
there's no direct path from the sidewalk, and so it
may be super uber efficient, but it is because that's
(28:10):
the shortest distance from the one piece of expenditure that
the developer did to your front door. But it's not
the most romantic or impactful pathway, right, think about that?
All right, when we come back, we're gonna table this
discussion and we're going to take some calls and number
to reach me eight three three two Ask Dean your
(28:34):
homes Dean Sharper, the House Whisper. This has been home
with Dean Sharp, the House Whisper. Tune into the live
broadcast on KFI AM six forty every Saturday morning from
six to eight Pacific time, and every Sunday morning from
nine to noon Pacific time, or anytime on demand on
the iHeart Radio app,
Home with Dean Sharp News
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