Daily Life - Building Your Dream Home (C0193)
Daily Life - Building Your Dream Home (C0193)
A:
Mr. and Mrs. Robinson! Let's get straight to it. You have saved up your money for years and are now ready to build your dream home. What did you have in mind?
B:
A suburban bungalow straight out of the sixties! A perfect lawn with minimal landscaping. A brick patio in the backyard with an old-fashioned grill, quaint lawn furniture, and a swimming pool. A two-car carport, pastel siding and a gable roof. Completed with white shutters and a white picket fence !
C:
Uh, honey?
B:
In the living room we would have moss-green rugs and a fireplace with a stone mantle and wood paneling on the walls. In the kitchen, the cupboards would be a pale yellow and we would have a turquoise metal oven and vinyl flooring -
C:
Umm, sweetie, but I was thinking of a more modern style house. An open concept house, all glass, wood, metal, and concrete.
B:
But sweetums, there is always a lot of wasted space in those kinds of homes. Besides, it's just a fad. It doesn't have the homey feeling the old homes do.
C:
Sweetie-pie it's not a lot of wasted space. It is relaxing and the house would be eco-friendly with an in-floor heating system and designed to retain the heat of the sun in the winter and keep the house cool in the summer. We would have solar panels on the roof -
B:
Do you know how much those things cost?
C:
What about your vintage furniture, dearest? And instead of a lawn, which is also a lot of wasted space and would require environmentally harmful pesticides, we would have a fish pond in the backyard and a garden that would cover the whole yard so we could grow our own food!
B:
But buttercup, I thought you always said that you loved visiting your grandmother's house!
C:
And I thought you, Mr. Scientist, were all up on saving the planet with your technological advancements!
A:
Umm well I am just going to go get some coffee while you two keep discussing.
Key Vocabulary
dream
something you really want to do
home
place where a person lives
suburban
located or residing in a suburb
bungalow
a house which is built on one level
the sixties
the years from 1960 to1969
minimal
the smallest possible amount or size
landscping
a view across an area of land
patio
an area of the garden with a hard surface
quaint
unusual or old-fashioned in an attractive
carport
a place where you park your car
pastel
a kind of dry colour in sticks
siding
material attached to the outside of a building
gable
the triangular upper part of a wall
roof
the top of a building
shutter
covers unfold in front of a window
mantle
the shelf above a fireplace
paneling
sheets of wood fit into a frame to form a wall
turquoise
a bluish-green, precious stone
vinyl
firm plastic which can be bend
sweetums
used as a term of endearment
fad
fashion
homey
having a feeling of home;comfortable
sweentie-pie
used as a term of endearment
eco-friendly
not harmful to the environment
in-floor
installed in the floor
heating
a system for keeping rooms warm
retain
to keep or keep possession
solar
relating to the sun, using its lingt
panel
a flat section of a wall, door
vintage
representative of the best and most typical
dearest
used as terms of endearment
pesticide
a chemical substance used to kill insects
fish
a creature living in water
pond
a small body of water
buttervup
a plant with small yellow flowers
technological
based in scientific and industrial progress
advancements
improvement or development
picket fence
a fence consisting of pickets
open concept
a form or style of room
all up on
have all knowledge or information of something
Supplementary Vocabulary
renovation
to restore to good condition; make new or as if new again
blueprint
a print of architectural or technical drawings, drawn with white lines on a blue background; the layout or floorplan of a building
general contractor
a person who contracts for and assumes responsibility for completing a construction project and hires, supervises, and pays all subcontractors
interior designer
a person who specializes in designing architectural interiors and their furnishings
landscape
to adorn or improve (a section of ground) by contouring and by planting flowers, shrubs, or trees
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