Catchin' Up

Usually when people buy a home, the possibilities are there in front of them, dictated by the pre-existing structure. The rooms are laid out and you can complain about why anyone in their right mind would put the bathroom there or put some tile down over here. It was someone else's (or some other decade's) crazy thinking. You can be excited about making it yours with new paint or knocking out a wall, or maybe even changing out a pink/peach toilet and tub. And then there's homes like ours, where the location was right where we wanted to be, but there were oh so many things not at all right with the place.

That being said, we've had the idea of possibly owning this home for a couple of years. Our landlord had once casually mentioned perhaps selling it someday, so it was always there in the back of our minds as we searched for other homes- even when she didn't seem to want to do it at the time we wanted a home (what with the economy and all...) Still- we often talked about how we might do it differently- especially after a few years of living in it and fully recognizing its major issues. It may have been that when these issues were put out there that she was convinced to unload it on us. There's a definite line between bothering to fix something and just saying, "you know what- let's just start fresh."

So we're starting fresh, but not totally fresh, in a way. We have been casually thinking about this for a couple of years, and very seriously since last fall. And Anthony has always gravitated toward books like The Not So Big House, to the point where good common sense design and a nice dose of unexpected charm infused our daily thinking- causing both excitement (about possibilities) and headaches (about logistics) at the same time.

However our fearless architect, Alison, is starting fresh on this project- meaning all this time that we've been pseudo-planning and dreaming and scheming is time that she is now catching up on. She's discovering the issues that have long aggravated us. While we're excited about having someone else trying to work it all out, we're still the ones with the intimate knowledge of this project and we have to communicate this in a way that she can take her expertise to work it all out. Which brings me to my next point: the not-necessarily innate process of comfortable revision.

For some reason, it is common for second graders to want to just be done with things. I spend a lot of time at work trying to get kids to focus on quality work, no matter if it takes a while or a couple of tries. I spend a lot of time emphasizing the value of revision. We talk about how rarely does anyone get anything perfect the first time and the important thing is to use each other to critique and and accept the criticism as something helpful, rather than hurtful. I have one student this year who particularly gets upset with correction and any part of the revision process, to the point where I have to actually announce to him that "I'm heading over to your desk to look at your work and if I find something that could be corrected I'm going to let you know because it's my job to help you do the best work you can." (The announcements don't totally stop the tantrums when corrections are offered, but maybe if I say it enough it'll eventually sink in...) The thing is that somewhere down the line we have to develop thick skin and come to that realization that others ARE there to help us develop the best product we can. Sure, sometimes the criticism is not offered constructively, or even remotely politely with the aim of aiding the work for the better. (Anthony knows this all too well from the ill-fated, petty "reviewer B" *insert exacerbated growl and fist raise here*.)

I'm bringing all this up because when Alison came over this week with three early options for us, I came to the realization that just because we're paying her doesn't mean she was just going to do it all on her own and instantly solve all our problems for us. Instead this was going to be a constant process of evaluation, critique, and revisions. She's caught up on our site issues, we're catching her up on our lifestyle issues and things we always pictured in our home. She seems like she's taking it all in. The revision process involves communication and the end result is hopefully that good common sense home with the nice dose of unexpected charm that we've been dreaming of.

-J