Back in California

I have a wonderful architect--and by wonderful, I mean superhumanly patient!  Bob designed a house our family had previously lived in, and I hired him to design a lovely sunroom and guest cottage at my last home in California.  I don't think many creative types would have been as accepting (and need less ego stroking) as he was of my initial floor plan sketch and insistence that this was the house I wanted.  I'm a lie-awake-at-night designer, and I was pretty much married to the layout I'd been dreaming of for years.  Bob made me consider options outside my rigid little box, and was vital in making my vision work in real-life proportions.

We worked together pretty much non-stop for over two years.  Bob has a great staff--all equally patient.  We devised a system where I figured out basic markup techniques on my desktop, and we went back-and-forth from there.  But given online access to every drawing, gave me the ability to get into every. little. tiny. detail.  I reworked each elevation ad nauseam, until even I was sick of my endless tweaking.  And I learned that--where I thought I had a healthy appreciation for balance--I actually have a compulsion for symmetry.  But through it all, Bob and his staff showed great perseverance, and I believe the result of our collaboration will be a house where the quality of light is special, the spaces will feel gracious, and there's an ease of use at every turn.

One quality I have is the ability to vividly visualize--even in daylight hours.  Almost from the beginning, I've been able to virtually "walk through" every room, seeing my furniture in place and paintings on the walls.  I can "feel" the spaces around me and almost experience the feeling of being home.