Bike Riding + Modern Architecture

When I was little, my family used to go on bike rides through the nearby neighborhoods on nice nights after dinner. I used to call them "bike-a-rides" because that is what I thought they were called. To this day I still get a smile when I think, "I'm gonna go on a bike-a-ride."

It is great how kids say the funniest things. Like yesterday my nephew told my husband that he should marry me again. When my husband asked why he said "so you can have romance." I thought that was very profound for a 6 year old!

Sorry for the sidebar.

Anyways, the house pictured above was on a neighboring street of ours and was always one of my favorites. I would beg to ride by the "colors house" and it was there that my love of modern architecture was born. Windows that go from the floor to the ceiling, multi-colored panels, taking some queues from the indoors out, and outdoors in - just beautiful.

There were actually two similar houses right next to each other, but the other was more of a plain white color, just the same style. To my dismay, I found on my most recent trip home earlier this month that the house next to this one had been "normalized;" as in they added some architectural features such as fake shutters to make it look more like every other house - boring.

I was pleasantly surprised to find that my favorite "colors house" had been virtually unchanged and I now have an even greater appreciation for the risk taken all those years ago. There are several good examples of modern architecture in our small city of Michigan City, I just wish that it would have caught on a bit more.

I don't get Americanized architecture. You do know that your fake shutters aren't even large enough to cover the entire windows right? Which is their rightful purpose? I guess if something becomes commonplace enough, no one even remembers why it is there in the first place, they just conform. I don't blame you though because every other house has them and it is an easy way to add an accent color in all honesty.

Small Rant Warning: When looking for new houses, I get so sick of it being a beautiful lot in a great location and the house has a giant garage facing the road blocking the house, or some of those "decorative" shutters... on the contrary I get a smile on my face when someone has broken out of the ordinary and places a sweet house in a boring neighborhood. Case in point, my "colors house."