I love magazines for design ideas!
The Design Dilemma: 7 Lessons Learned
When my husband and I agreed to build a new home, I knew it would be a post and beam. In the last few years I’d become more familiar with the post and beam style through work, overseeing quite a few photo shoots of post and beam structures. The photo shoots were a great opportunity to see many different styles of custom post and beam home designs along with additions and barns. All were unique, dissolving my years-old presupposition that post and beam structures were of a similar design and style.
We decided to build on a beautiful five acre wooded site complete with a babbling brook; a natural place for a post and beam. We wanted a house that had a true “one of a kind” feel but neither of us had totally formulated how we wanted our home to look. We hired an architect to come up with several design options. His designs were interesting and full of clever concepts; but we saw right away his vision was not our vision – at all. It was disheartening, but it was the wake up call we needed. Even though we weren’t planning to pour the concrete or lay the roofing ourselves, building a home was going to be hard work. Time for Plan “B”.
Thus concluded our first lessons learned: #1 – Get organized; and #2 – Trust our instincts when dealing with outside advice. Five more important lessons were to follow. Stay tuned for more lessons I’ve learned….
