Billie's Folly

A couple years ago I started a new tradition.  Instead of New Year's resolutions, I write myself a New Year's letter.  It's like an annual diary entry.  It's not a recap (like holiday letters), but more of an assessment of my life to date--the quality, accomplishments, emotional state--evaluating the year behind and anticipating the year ahead, and where I am as the year changes over.  It sometimes comes across as stream of consciousness--very informal.  This year, I've decided to share it here. 12/31/18 - Here I am in Oregon.  Mission half accomplished.  It's a good thing I plan to live forever, because that's what it's taking to get this house built!  Probably a total of five years--from plans (concept was a lot earlier) to move-in.  But what else would I be doing?  And I'm actually almost glad that it's dragging out--I might never feel this creative and inspired again.  During the initial work with the architect--when anyt...

More from my vision board.  When I find images that I love, I can close my eyes and envision and mentally incorporate the elements into my architectural elevations.  Sometimes I have to give up on an idea--because it isn't in keeping with the style and age of the house I'm trying to create.  But generally, if I love it, it melds perfectly into the overall plan.  Here are a few interior details that inspired me. This is a design element we've repeated throughout the main floor.  Since the house has a central core of hallways and family room, with other rooms radiating off, I was concerned that the interior could be dark--especially during the winter months in Oregon.  So, as you enter the living room, dining room, office and sunroom, there will be glass transoms and side lights to distribute some of the daylight from these rooms.  This design is also repeated around exterior doors.  With the greenhouse glass in three locations, and this framin...

A dream, vision or inspiration board is a  collage of images that represent whatever you want to be, do or have in your life.   I t helps you focus, explore and clarify goals, in hopes of transforming them into reality.   Many use the online version--Pinterest.   I love the idea of Pinterest, but for me it's a vast, bottomless pit of links and evaporated time.   My (en)vision board is specific to my love of home design.  And "board" is not the right word.  Mine amounts to stacks of pages torn from magazines (yes, I'm one of the few left who prefer a tangible magazine to digital images) and mental photographs that reside indelibly in the right side of my brain.  I collect pictures of what I find beautiful, what I covet and what inspires me. Here are a few inspirations that I hope to emulate and incorporate into my house. I love everything about this house--I designed my roof line after the graceful curves here. I'm hoping to ...

Seasons at my rental house. It didn't take much thought for me to decide how I'd live in Portland while my house was being built.  My feeling about the next couple of years, was that I'd be in limbo anyway, so why worry about feeling moved-in to a temporary home.  It was all part of the adventure!  So I decided I'd rent a house large enough to hold me and my stuff--half storage unit, half  apartment. I was eager to find a place close to my building site.  I grabbed this house--sight unseen--because it was only seven minutes away.  And it ends up it's in a very friendly young neighborhood.  The only drawback is a steep driveway, then stairs to the front door (or from the garage to the main floor), then more stairs to the bedroom.  The movers definitely didn't appreciate it, and I consider the amount of groceries I buy at a time. I use one bedroom and a spacious family room/kitchen.  One side is my "office", and the other side is m...

While we wait impatiently for permits, the excavation and grading has slowed.  This is due to the garage move and a couple other significant changes.  I've had two requests to meet Skip (builder) and Ralph (architect) at the site.  This gets me excited each time, because it means they've been at the site and thinking and talking together about the house--and sometimes I think I'm the only one who can't stop thinking about it. At the first meeting, one of their suggestions was moving the garage--which I initially balked at (not the suggestion itself, just the suggestion of a major change)--but it was a brilliant move and now I'm so thankful they thought of it.  Their second idea that day was moving the whole project ten feet east.  It would affect the grading--creating a more gradual slope to the west of the house and driveway.  That sounded desirable and easy enough to do.  Another worthwhile change in the plans. Today's meeting was a cage-rattl...

It's been almost a year since I moved to the Portland area.  I said before, "I haven't looked back."  True and not true.  What I meant was--I've had no regrets on making the move and lifestyle change.  But of course I look back. Everyone has friends from different phases of life.  There are childhood through high school friends, where your shared background unites you.  Many people remain close for life, especially if they don't move far from where they grew up.  I however, didn't stay close with friends from my youth.  I'd been geographically confined (an island), and felt cubby-holed for those first 18 years of my life--or at least the last 8.  So when I moved away for college, I spread my wings, and took the opportunity to reinvented (a cliche, I know) my persona, and change my perception of myself.  In the process, I carelessly let go of all friendships (save one) and even memories from my past.   Living communally, in colle...

The front elevation I showed you a couple posts ago, is what guests will see upon arrival.  And I wanted it to be your first impression also.  A circular drive with a central fountain frames this entry facade, and I always intended this aspect would be an accurate representation of the house. But as I said, then the house continues from there.  And full disclosure:  It got big! The plans show a generous first floor.  I knew the rooms I wanted and got them all put together in a very organized (i.e. symmetrical) layout.  Then I wanted the second floor to mirror the first floor in perimeter, throw in 18" walls around it all--and suddenly I had a big house!  It took me totally by surprise!  I thought I was building the same house I had--with the addition of a bar and pantry--and a couple feet here and there.  Evidently all those square feet add up. Since then I've been in denial and refuse to talk square footage.  I may be the only 68 ...

Because I wanted straight, vertical exterior walls, the second floor replicates the square footage of the main floor--whether needed or not.  I wanted a master, an upstairs laundry, and two guest rooms, en suite.  All rooms are spacious.  But there was still unused floor space.  We tried to fit in a third guest room,  but it would have been too small relative to the others.  I didn't want another family room--how many places can I spend my time?  So, I have a spacious upstairs central hall.  My solution is to distract the eye with beautiful floors and my oversized Japanese woodblock prints, that will add richness to the space. The guest rooms will have sloped ceilings due to the roofline.  Having had this situation before, I think of it as adding character and charm.  The larger bedroom will have an eastern view, a queen bed and a loveseat at the northern window.  The small balcony from the adjoining bath has been removed for ...

I mentioned before that in the planning process I realized my obsession with symmetry.  Looking at the front elevation in the previous post, the living room is on the left (East), the dining room on the right (West).  Then the house continues from there.  I had in mind a central core that would be the entry, stairway and kitchen/family room.  On each side would be generous hallways with rooms adjoining.  I've split the main floor plans into two drawings below.   I wanted all the same rooms that I had before.  However, this is the house of my dreams, so I also wanted a couple rooms that I'd always longed for (coffee bar, butler's pantry).  I should add here that I diligently measured the main rooms in my previous home.  It was cozy, and I didn't want to lose that.  But I have plenty of furniture, and I figured each room could use a couple extra feet, so as not to feel quite  so  cozy.   Past the living room on the ...