Steve McKee – Page 13

16 12, 2007

How First Street keeps us together

By Steve McKee|2007-12-16T04:03:22+00:00December 16th, 2007|Benicia, Uncategorized|Comments Off on How First Street keeps us together

In eighteen years in this here town, I don’t think my family has ever missed the Open House Christmas thing on First Street, yet we’ve never attended the tree lighting ceremony that starts the evening. I attribute this to the fact that we live just a few blocks from “Adobe” whose Christmas lights pretty much outdo the Las Vegas strip for visual intensity (really, they do), so it never occurs to us to go watch a single tree get lit. But the shindig that follows, in which cars are blocked from First Street and Benicians lay claim to their downtown, [...]

22 11, 2007

You, the tile shop, the decision

By Steve McKee|2007-11-22T04:04:23+00:00November 22nd, 2007|Before you begin, Elements of Design, Uncategorized|Comments Off on You, the tile shop, the decision

It can overwhelm a person to stand in XYZ tile shop surrounded by so many possibilities. So, so many. But going in, you and your significant-other had a strategy. A ”look” that the two of you discussed a few times already, like when an image of a cool bathroom happened by in the Sunday Chronicle magazine. Or whispered about briefly in the dark of a Diane Keaton movie when the to-die-for kitchen up on the screen caused you both to miss dialog in order to point out the black stone countertop with the subway tile backsplash and the white raised-panel [...]

23 10, 2007

A Benician in New York

By Steve McKee|2007-10-23T04:05:43+00:00October 23rd, 2007|My favorite columns, Travel Tales, Uncategorized|Comments Off on A Benician in New York

The family and I took a four day trip to New York City recently. I've made several visits there in my life and have always really dug the energy level. I was overdue, and it also felt like it was time to introduce my kids to this uniquely American city. As cities go, New York is indeed the alpha - a city thoroughly energized in so many of the ways a city can be a city, so big and strong, a sort of masculine counterpart to the curves and delicacies of San Francisco. Melody shopped online for a basic yet [...]

19 09, 2007

Figuring out how much your building project will cost

By Steve McKee|2007-09-19T04:06:43+00:00September 19th, 2007|Before you begin, Uncategorized|Comments Off on Figuring out how much your building project will cost

If the title of today’s article got your interest, get in line. Estimating the cost for a building project is one of the most critical steps in the early decision making, yet remains one of the most vexing. It’s a classic “catch 22” situation: We need a full set of drawings to figure out the cost but don’t want to commit to drawings until we know we can afford the project. Later, when a design is finalized and a full set of drawings and structural calculations are meticulously completed, a bid process exists in which builders scrutinize these drawings and [...]

21 08, 2007

Why we travel: The city of Prague is a marvel – who knew?

By Steve McKee|2007-08-21T04:25:11+00:00August 21st, 2007|Travel Tales, Uncategorized|Comments Off on Why we travel: The city of Prague is a marvel – who knew?

“I suppose you’ll be doing an architectural tour?” asked a new acquaintance upon hearing I was headed to Europe. I’d never quite thought of it that way. “Yes,” I said. “Yes, I will.” That question stayed with me in the days that followed and got me wandering if I freakishly require my wife to follow me on some to-do list of visiting important buildings. The more I thought about it, the more certain I became that we do pretty much the same that everybody else does when they tour Europe: we simply check out the cool stuff. Since most of [...]

22 07, 2007

The “it” moment with my new house

By Steve McKee|2007-07-22T04:26:16+00:00July 22nd, 2007|My favorite columns, Thinking like an architect, Uncategorized|Comments Off on The “it” moment with my new house

I had an unexpected “it” moment the day before I was to surrender my big brand-new house over to the barely known renter. It happened after my family and I had spent a Sunday morning doing one last round of chores and cleanup. We loaded up the car to go, but I had to go back inside to check something and, for half a minute, had the house to myself and it was as perfect as it would ever be. The place would never be so free of flaws or look this good ever again. The next day it would [...]

About Steve McKee

How First Street keeps us together

You, the tile shop, the decision

A Benician in New York

Figuring out how much your building project will cost

Why we travel: The city of Prague is a marvel – who knew?

The “it” moment with my new house