Does Your House Have a Mullet?

When you hear the word “mullet,” you smirk, right? Business in the front, party in the back. The Oxford English Dictionary asserts that the mullet hairstyle was “apparently coined, and certainly popularized, by American hip-hop group the Beastie Boys”, who used it as epithets in their 1994 song “Mullet Head.”

A mullet may have been at its peak in the 1980s, but it’s never completely gone away. You can actually trace it back to the sixth century, when Byzantine scholar Procopius wrote that some factions of young males wore their hair long at the back and cut it short over the forehead, though it was termed the “Hunnic” look at that time.

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So what does any of this have to do with homes? What’s a house mullet, you ask? It’s a home where the front facade and the back of the house look entirely different—just like a hair mullet.

You’ve heard of the McMansion, but what about the McModern?

With a house mullet, you’ll find more traditional architecture in the front, while the rear facade is bolder and far more modern. People will often buy old homes, that have little natural light, and then construct third-floor additions with wrap-around, floor-to-ceiling glass windows in the back of the house. Many people do want to keep the integrity of an older home, so they will keep a gabled roof in the front but build a modern, open flat-roof addition in the back.

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At its simplest, a house mullet is all about leaving the street-facing front of the house traditional and turning the attention to the back, specifically because more windows means more light, nature and connection to the outdoors without sacrificing privacy. Forward-facing, the house is formal and private. The party is in the back!

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