House layout in America. Interior layout of American houses. Who is American suitable for?

For an American private house- indicator of success. Living in the suburbs, where neighbors know each other, in silence, away from the noise of the metropolis, is much more prestigious than even in the center of New York. At the same time, a typical American house differs from a traditional Russian one. Let's try to understand the main differences.

Let's start with the construction process. The technology adopted in the USA involves the construction of a frame from wooden frames, on which sheets of OSB or plywood are attached. There is insulation between them. The walls are hollow, making communications easy. In addition, such lightweight walls do not require a solid foundation; the construction process is simpler and cheaper. Redevelopment is also easy - no reinforced concrete that will have to be hammered. However, such an American house is more expensive to operate - it is more difficult to cool it in the summer and heat it in the winter than a solid one made of cinder block or brick.

Most likely, when you enter a typical American home, you will be greeted by a staircase like this, leading to the second floor, which is more private and is traditionally where the bedrooms are located. Closed corridor or a separate hall, where it is customary to take off shoes and leave outer clothing, in American homes most often there is simply no such thing.

The kitchen in American homes is usually open and spacious, often with an island for cooking. It is noteworthy that already ready-made houses can be sold unfurnished in other rooms, but always with built-in kitchen set and equipment that it is not customary to take with you when moving.

The kitchen - dining room - living room in general usually constitute one room, occupying almost the entire first floor. An American woman, when choosing a house, will most likely immediately say - I want to cook and look after the children or communicate with guests. Such an open plan is now becoming more and more common in Russia, but is far from being so popular.

A two- or three-car garage, which often becomes part of the ground floor and has a separate entrance directly into the house, is another difference American home. There are usually at least two cars in a family, because a housewife living in the suburbs also needs something to get to work, take her child to training or to kindergarten.

Clothes drying machines in Russian houses rare, like separate room-laundry. In American homes, a special pantry is usually allocated for these two units, hiding the equipment from guests. Often a laundry and drying room is located on the second floor, near the bedrooms, or in the basement. Washing machine in the kitchen or bathroom, which is often found in Russian small houses, will cause great surprise to the American.

Residential basement. For the average Russian, a basement is a cellar where potatoes and pickles are stored, supplies for the winter. For an American basement often becomes a full-fledged additional floor. There can be a home theater here, a guest room with another small kitchen, “man’s den” of the owner of the house, bar, games room.

Master bathroom. In an American home, there are usually as many bathrooms as there are bedrooms. Or even more - a separate bathroom can be located on the ground floor for guests. Of course, it is not necessary that the bathroom be attached to the living room like in the photo, but it must be adjacent to the master bedroom.

As for children's rooms, there are no significant differences in size and design. However, in the USA it is customary for each child to have a separate room. Therefore, an addition to the family often becomes the reason for moving to a more spacious house or remodeling. Yes, and children's bedrooms usually have their own separate bathroom, even just one for two.

Leaving guests on the living room couch overnight is not American tradition. A spacious home usually has a separate guest bedroom with everything you need, although not very large, but functional, great for friends and family.

Built-in wardrobes and dressing rooms. Another attribute of a typical American home. Free-standing wardrobes have not taken root in this country; a lot of space is required for clothes and shoes, so the master bedroom is often adjacent to a dressing room, and the remaining rooms have built-in closets for a lot of things.

Barbecue area. An American house usually has two courtyards - in front of the house and in the back, hidden from the eyes of passers-by and neighbors. It is in the backyard, even a small one, that there will be a barbecue area - a typical pastime for an American family on warm summer evenings.

And finally - in the USA, a family rarely buys a house with the thought: “This is where my children will live.” Mortgages are available, the country is large, and there may be many reasons to move. Therefore, the attitude towards houses and apartments is somewhat different - not for centuries, but while it is convenient for me and my family, a lot can change in ten years. In addition, let us clarify that the above differences relate to traditions that have developed historically. Modern Russian mansions are often even larger than American ones and have similar characteristics.

Nov 28, 2018 Sergey

Russian people have always been curious to compare life in their native village and some “village” over the hill. Alas, in our mentality our own life has so often failed.

Nowadays, a lot has changed thanks to open borders, it has become more convenient to adopt experience, and we have adopted it. But there is a difference between our houses, it cannot be erased and there is no need to try - each country has its own characteristics and its own original details. Russian people cannot understand or accept some points, but understanding them will be useful and interesting. So let's take a tour of a middle-income US home.
1. Huge ceramic sink

This is precisely their invention, most often mounted opposite the window. The farm sink is more reminiscent of small bath or bidet. But it probably has its own charm.
2. Mason jar

Oh yes! The hipster generation knows what it is. And in America they are simply crazy about them! Mason jars go everywhere - glasses for cocktails, jars for swirling (in their understanding), storage containers, vases. Needless to say, the flagships of this industry - Ball, Kerr, Atlas and Established 1898 - are making good money from this craze.
3. Bathhouse, laundry across the road

Do you need to wash your clothes? Go straight, then right and don't forget the money. At the same time, proudly carry your hamper (transparent mesh bucket) with all its offal. Or, if in your apartment building there is a laundry room, go down there. Dryers and washing machines are only available in private homes, where a storage room is usually allocated for them. But, apparently, it’s easier for people. Carrying laundry somewhere, doing laundry in public.
4. Dressing room

What our women often dream about. This one with a chandelier, an ottoman, shelves - in short, another room. Well, or, as a last resort, a closet-storage room, like in all American films. I won’t argue about convenience, but this is clearly not provided for in the layout of our houses.
5. Different bedside tables

We are somehow more and more inclined towards classics, symmetry and harmonization of space. This feature was found in American houses in the middle of the last century. Now American designers and ordinary people are striving to make the interior as casual and relaxed as possible.
6. Shower for two

A really interesting and useful move. To shower more often and with greater comfort with your significant other, simply equip the shower stall with two shower hoses on both sides. Or hang one large ceiling one over the entire space.
7. Directional lamps

In fact, spots have been used in Russia for a long time, but they were originally invented in the USA. Moreover, they are attached everywhere - from armchairs to baseboards.
8. Party ambiance

What we see in the movies. Ask any American and they will tell you that this is incredibly important! Not so much food and drink, but flags, themed decor and disposable tableware with pumpkins, Christmas trees, flags and other paraphernalia.
9. Kitchen pantry

Food cabinet. This is where all non-perishable stock that is locked is stored. plastic containers, bags and in film. It saves space and frees the refrigerator from what is not needed at the moment.
10. Household waste shredder

This is a device inside the sink. You press a button in the wall, and like a blender, it turns food waste into porridge and flushes it down the drain. To be honest, it is a dubious pleasure to wash food into the water. Even if interrupted. Yes, you get rid of smell and leaks to some extent, but at what cost! Everything is fine, except for the total overload of the sewer system.
11. Holiday decor

This is a slightly different topic than with parties. Americans love to hang wreaths on their doors, not only in winter, but also in spring, summer, and autumn. The difference is in materials - shells, greenery, yellow leaves. At Easter they will have Easter bunnies and eggs, at Christmas they will have poinsettia, mistletoe and fir branches. Well, they love this business, they love it.
12. Bench in the shower

A stationary bench in the shower is also a fairly common occurrence in the United States. To make it easier and easier to carry out all manipulations with the body. For big bathroom lovers, you can read there, think about life, and watch a movie if you install a special screen in the shower panel.
13. Grill

There are more than enough fans of Sunday and Saturday grilling in this country! Near any private home, a solid grill, somewhat reminiscent of a stove, should be in mandatory. There they fry cutlets, vegetables, and even… sandwiches with cheese.
This article is not a reason to divide everything into “good” and “bad” or blindly copy other people’s ideas. Just take note and maybe feel proud that we have everything the way it is. Because we are, in general, special!

Author: This summer we went to the Poconos, about which I wrote several posts, and at the same time we stopped by to look at a house that our good friends were selling. We dream of moving away from New York sometime in the future, closer to nature and all that, and if possible we are exploring various options. Of those more or less nearby, everyone praises Pocono. This is a resort town in Pennsylvania, where quite a lot of Russians live and vacation, and which is considered a fairly popular place for recreation and permanent residence many New Yorkers. Pros: relative proximity to New York (only two hours by car), beautiful nature(mountains), availability of infrastructure (shops, restaurants, etc.), low prices on housing (compared to New York). Of the minuses: relative proximity to New York (as much as two hours by car), lack of railway connections (you can only get there by car or bus), provinciality (this is not New York). Pocono isn't close enough to commute to work every day (although some people do), but it's not so far away that you can't travel to New York a couple times a week for business if you need to. In general, what we need is if you work from home, have a desire to live in a beautiful place in nature, and at the same time want to be able to get to New York in a reasonable amount of time.
There are no questions about the place itself. The Poconos are truly a great place to live, with something for everyone to enjoy. There is everything you need for life and recreation: an excellent water park, a bunch of different shops, shooting clubs, decent restaurants, hunting, fishing, and wildlife, And alpine skiing, and so on, and so on. This is certainly not New York, but it’s hard to call this place a wilderness. A sort of village with minute transport accessibility to urban civilization. Pennsylvania also has more relaxed laws and you can, for example, own a gun without any problems. Even black bread and boiled sausage you can buy it - the Poles sell it (for some reason I have a special attachment to these products). Car insurance there is much lower than in New York, many Russians buy land or a house there, and then drive around New York with Pennsylvania license plates (this is illegal, but if you are careful, it is possible). Pocono also compares very favorably with New York in terms of real estate prices. If in New York there is nothing to catch with $100,000 in your pocket, then in Pocono you can already look for something. With two hundred thousand dollars, you can choose pickyly. With three you can start making your childhood dreams come true.
Our friends are selling a house located in a closed community. A fairly popular format for living outside the city, which can be compared to a gardening partnership. A limited area inhabited by additional rules and agreements. This is both good and bad. It’s good that you live in an area that is guarded, cleaned and lives according to certain laws. It’s bad that you have to pay extra for this and you have to obey these laws. But here everyone chooses what they like.
Central community road.

This community, for example, has its own beach, a swimming pool with a restaurant and a luxurious children's playground. The entrances are guarded, and the territory is patrolled around the clock by the local security service, which replaces the police in its functions. Among the disadvantages of such a life, for example, the speed limit is 15 miles in the territory.

I like living in a house outside the city, and I have decent experience - I lived in own home in gardening near St. Petersburg. True, it will not be possible to adequately compare, Russian reality is too different from American reality.

One could only dream of such roads in our gardening. The limit is to chip in with your neighbors for a KamAZ truck of crushed stone for backfilling. All the roads here are like this, and no one rushes along them. The local security guards' favorite pastime is catching people for speeding.

The house is a classic frame house, standing on strip foundation and covered with siding. Everything here is like in Russia, except for the decorative external doors. I would also make a canopy over the porch. But here the climate is better and the canopy is not so relevant.

In America they really like to make terraces. It's called damage. This house is no exception.

A porch is clearly better than a gazebo or bare ground, but in Russia such a use of space would be considered wasteful and a covered veranda would be made.

In America, the rules of life are slightly different and, in addition to the desire to increase the area of the house, there is also a reasonable attitude towards property taxes and difficulties with permits for any construction work. You, for example, can be a super builder, but you will never be able to build a house yourself unless you have the appropriate license. So the terrace is something you can do yourself, but the veranda covered on all sides is no longer there.

These are neighboring houses. Everything here is like gardening. Everything is in plain sight. Except that no one puts up fences.

But if you look only back, there will be a forest and no neighbors. Not everyone has this look, of course.

You can find living creatures in the bushes on the site. She grazes along the roads and sometimes jumps right under the wheels.

The living creatures are larger. The presence of a person a meter away from her did not bother the living creatures at all.

Inside the house. Entrance door with glass. Not a very popular solution for Russian life. A door in Russia must be iron and impregnable. In America, security is not an issue at all. The lock on the door to the house is no different from the lock on the inside of the office Russian office.

In the USA, all new houses are sold with finishing, equipped kitchens and bathrooms. This is a standard kitchen with a stove, refrigerator and dishwasher. By local standards, parquet is considered not so cool, but kind of an advantage. Here it is made of bamboo. I've always had a soft spot for windows opposite the sink.

The house is small by American standards. But I'm all for these sizes. Cleaning and heating such a house is easier and cheaper than a three-story mansion. I'm silent about taxes.

Living room with gas fireplace. I have a question about the wisdom of using a gas fireplace, but the owners say that it heats well and does not burn oxygen. Let's take their word for it. Ceiling fans are also incredibly popular in America. Cool stuff really. They say that the Poconos are not as hot as New York, and you can live here without air conditioning. Of course, I don’t believe them, but there really aren’t as many air conditioners in houses as we have.

The bathroom is really equipped with fittings and furniture. All you need to do when moving into such a house is just to buy furniture for your rooms.

One of the rooms. In total the house has 4 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms. The floor is carpeted, popular in the USA. Heating is provided electric convectors.

The classic American window, which I already wrote about.

Although some people believe that typical American houses are built “from cardboard,” we hasten to refute - these buildings are built mainly from the same wood as our traditional housing. The notorious drywall, which, by the way, also consists of cardboard only to a small extent, is widely used exclusively for interior work.

Why in typical houses in the USA they don’t really like to use brickwork, but prefer technology frame construction? The answer is simple: traditional frame buildings turned out to be easier to rebuild after notorious natural disasters in US cities.

But capital houses stood in ruins for a very long time. And it’s not with American mobility to build buildings with complex technical processes, foundation shrinkage and other difficulties, because redevelopment in typical US houses is also carried out literally in a day or two.

A standard building “sandwich” is more reliable in thermal insulation than brickwork. Placed in a wooden frame mineral wool or foam plastic, with outside secure layers of plywood with vapor barrier film and finished, for example, with plastic siding.

The inner side, with the use of which the decoration of the room comes down to painting or. Where necessary, of course, beams are also installed and other types are used. Wooden elements are well impregnated with special compounds, which significantly affects their service life and fire resistance.

In this way, a small team of up to ten people needs less than a month to build a “box” of a house. Then the plumbers and electricians get to work, and after that the work begins. Large teams are often involved, working on the construction of an entire area.

If desired, you can handle the construction and on our own, spending three months on it. Interior decoration or remodeling interior design in such a house do not entail any difficulties.

Such a house is not a family mansion, which usually belongs to people with “old” surnames who own large resources. No one thinks about leaving a typical American house as an inheritance - it’s easier to sell and repurchase, and work registration and our other realities do not keep anyone in this country in one place.

Since serious development in the area is advertised in advance, clients can either order a house or purchase a ready-made one. Any options are offered, usually the municipality dictates small restrictions on appearance buildings and local area. There is no additional offer here: housing is rented completely ready, maximally suitable for living.

In the American sense, this is tiles already laid on and in the entire house - or another finishing option ordered in advance. The walls are painted discreetly and neatly, absolutely all communications, all sockets, lamps, blinds, fans are fully installed; The kitchen and bathrooms are completely ready for use.

By the way, the actual hallway in such a house is not separated. The main hall in the house combines the central entrance to the house, the dining room, and the kitchen. Unusual to our perception, but convenient. Here, in the living room, you will definitely see a fireplace (it can be either gas or traditional); From here there are doors to other rooms. You won’t see any cracks on the walls or wallpaper pasted at random.

Repairing a home after moving in usually comes down to just... What’s also interesting: the sockets here are partially hidden in the plinth, on which springs are also attached, protecting the walls from door impacts.

If something doesn’t suit you when choosing a house, they will immediately change everything you want - except, of course, load-bearing structures. The fireplace will have to be accepted as it was installed; the cost of the refrigerator is not included in the kitchen set - but you do not pay additionally for the stove, dishwasher, kitchen furniture, hoods and sinks. The kitchen also has a special room - a food room.

There are at least two bathrooms in the house. The “adult” set includes a shower stall and a separate dressing room.

A separate “pampering” is climate control, air conditioning and, of course,. In the garage you will find a boiler: only cold water, You heat it yourself.
Such buildings are quite reliable; now houses built according to the same scheme back in the 60s are quite sold. They are typical for mild climates, when in winter the temperature does not drop below – 5 C.

In the north, other materials are used to build typical American houses, but they will also be built according to frame technology and made of wood.

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Modern interior American houses quite simple, traditional and inexpensive to implement. Here you will not find unnecessary expensive interior bells and whistles from expensive materials. The entire interior of the house is tied to reducing the cost of construction and increasing functionality. However, all interior solutions are such that they look great and look expensive.

The main effect is achieved by imitation of expensive materials and thoughtful decoration of house interiors. For example, internal stairs in houses are assembled using wooden frame made of oriented particle board, painted, plastered and covered with carpet. IN recent years with compliance with requirements fire safety Metal frames are increasingly being used. In any case, you will rarely see a wrought iron staircase or marble steps in the interior of an American home.

A noticeable drawback of the interiors of our houses, even the most expensive ones, is that the interior is often very “flat” in expression and color. American interior houses, on the contrary, are built on expressive color combinations and contrasts. Simple interior decorations are used a lot architectural forms, such as arches, niches, double and triple ledges. Almost all houses are decorated with overhead elements made of polyurethane foam - platbands, baseboards, sockets - adding comfort to the interior of the house. Please note that there are no houses in the interior sharp corners- they are all smoothed out.
UPD: kniazhna - The corners are not smoothed in all houses, but in new and renovated ones lately smooth out, yes.

What are the features of the layout of American houses? Internal interior zoning modern house designed in such a way as to keep the guest in the front part of the house, which usually looks the most formal, and to hide as much as possible from prying eyes all the internal chambers of the inhabitants of the house. Usually, at the entrance to the house, there is a small area with a table and chairs, or with small sofas, where you can talk with the visitor without taking him inside the house. For the same purpose, if there is no such area in the house, the visitor enters the living room - a large common room into which the kitchen usually opens, dining area and a relaxation area. Here in the same large room the whole family gathers. Non-ceremonial breakfasts and lunches are usually arranged on small tables either in the kitchen or next to the kitchen. For dinner parties there is a separate ceremonial table in a particularly formal interior, located either in the dining room ( traditional houses), or in the living room - a large family room.

Often the living room ceiling has a second light, or if the house is one story - a cathedral type ceiling - when there is no traditional flat ceiling and the entire space is open to the rafters. Another feature of American houses is the almost complete absence ceiling lamps. A chandelier in the traditional sense can only be present in the living room, if the height of the ceilings allows. Otherwise, lighting is achieved by a combination of wall and table lamps, switched on from one block of switches (switches in English - that’s the difference in mentalities!) These switches are mainly one or two all-American models and at a price - even Turkish ones don’t sell them for that kind of money.

In the living room there is always an area for gatherings, often combined with a home theater and the obligatory fireplace. Wood-burning fireplaces are banned in new homes in California due to environmental concerns. Therefore, everyone uses gas fireplace inserts with ceramic replicas of firewood. You can see what the interiors of these houses look like in the photo below:

The floor in the front part of the house is usually decorated with a combination floor tiles or ceramic granite with parquet board. These elements do not occupy the entire area, but sooner or later they will be combined with carpet, which allows you to save a significant portion of money. Carpet is considered consumables, which can be replaced at certain intervals. The walls of the rooms are always decorated with reproductions of paintings. Americans really like to collect series of images in blocks of 4 pictures in a square on the wall. Tempera or decorative wall paintings are often used for decoration. wood panels as below:

The walls inside the house are traditionally finished with plaster laid on plasterboard sheets. The interior is usually painted in natural yellow colors of varying intensities - from light brown to grass green. Cornices, baseboards and other decorations are painted in white. The doors are mostly white - by the way, the most inexpensive ones - costing no more than $100 apiece (mostly cheaper). Spending money on doors for the interior of a house made of expensive wood is considered irrational.

All rooms have a lot of built-in furniture, which is sold with the house. By the way, there is no such thing as a house under finishing, popular among us, is not here. You cannot sell a house without finishing, all the necessary built-in appliances and a kitchen. You can - only an undecorated house. Interior decorations are left to the taste of the new owner. Still engineering systems must be installed in accordance with strict technical standards. By the way, the developer is obliged to give a 10-year guarantee for the house he built. There was a case where a two-year-old house was flooded as a result of the nut of a flexible line to the second floor toilet bursting. All repairs (replacement of swollen gypsum board, wet thermal insulation, wiring, etc.) were carried out at the expense of the developer.
UPD: kniazhna - Houses without appliances are also sold, but not to everyone. More precisely, not every bank and not every buyer will give a mortgage for such a house. Usually, one’s own is “adjusted” during the design process, if initially there was no or there is the possibility of choosing a finish (several options) upon purchase (most often in houses under construction that have already been sold).
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A large family room is most often adjacent to a kitchen or kitchen area, more or less isolated from the general area. large room. What are the features of the kitchen interior? First of all, myself kitchen furniture already built-in and equipped with everything necessary, such as a stove, oven, large microwave (sometimes integrated with a hood to save space), dishwasher and a food waste disposer in the sink.

It is considered bad form to place a washing machine and dryer in the kitchen - there is a laundry room for that. Also, no one will ever tolerate the presence of chipboard in furniture. Particleboard is considered a carcinogen and the preserve of the uneducated poor living in mobile homes. Kitchen facades are most often made of natural wood. Countertops are made either from new polymer stones or from traditional ceramic tiles, which is of course much cheaper. If space allows, the sink and food preparation area are allocated to an island in the middle of the kitchen. Also, in the part adjacent to the living room, an additional small sink for wine glasses or cups is often installed.

Interior of a bedroom in a house. Usually there is a master bedroom, which larger size, often has its own large bathroom and access to the terrace.

Smaller bedrooms are for children. A second bathroom is usually located near children's bedrooms.

Each bedroom is equipped, at worst, with a built-in wardrobe. Recently, more often they are building dressing rooms, adjacent to the bedrooms - that is, a closet that you can enter. Beds usually have a lot of pillows. The blanket is not tucked into the duvet cover (a waste of time), but is simply placed on a second sheet, the head end of which is wrapped over the blanket - easier and more convenient. The floor in the bedroom is traditionally long-pile carpet.
Houses without appliances are also sold, but not to everyone. More precisely, not every bank and not every buyer will give a mortgage for such a house. Usually, one’s own is “adjusted” during the design process, if initially there was no or there is the possibility of choosing a finish (several options) upon purchase (most often in houses under construction that have already been sold).
UPD: kniazhna - Rooms that come without wardrobes “cannot” be called bedrooms - they are considered work rooms and do not count towards the number of souls in a family. In other words, everything that has a built-in wardrobe- bedroom:)
These sheets are tucked under the mattress at the foot and along the edges, as if wrapping the sleeper. Duvet covers also exist, but they are often intended for decorative purposes - to change the interior of a room without replacing the entire blanket/bed set.

15.

Home bathroom interior. A modern American home can have from two to five bathrooms. One toilet - at the entrance - guest. Large bathroom in the master bedroom. The bathroom is near the children's bedrooms. That's the minimum. In old houses there was one large bathroom and at least one toilet. What are the features of bathroom interiors? Most often, the bathroom is combined in our understanding. The zones are naturally separated by either a shower or a partition made of glass or glass blocks. It happens that first you enter the washroom, and then inside you open another door and enter the bathroom combined with a toilet. But there are never two doors next to each other like ours. In this case, you don’t have to run out of one room and quickly run into another if absolutely necessary. There are also usually two washbasins. Most often they are hidden under stone countertop or embedded in the laid out ceramic tiles table top. The taps are either separate, as in England, or modern ceramic lever taps. The second feature is showers. There are almost no shower cabins like ours. There are bathrooms with high sliding glass doors - you can wash in the shower while standing as much as you want, but most often, separate shower cabins are built, lined with ceramic tiles on the floor and walls and equipped with one opening glass door. Toilets - most often of one type - according to California standards, water consumption is strictly regulated.