Winston Churchill Was Right

Architecture and all the associated bits have fascinated me since a young age. I remember using pads of graph paper to create house plans with functional nooks and crannies like phone booths under the stairs, window seats, and secret doors. My idea of a fun weekend was, and still is, a litany of open houses where I can study layout, proportion, design, and live in a fantasy land of indoor pools, tea parties, balls, and basement basketball courts.

I often look at houses and see not what they are, but what they were always meant to be. Maybe that means restoring an old beauty to her former glory with a few more modern amenities and some layout changes, it might also mean taking a humdrum house and giving it the unspoken story it always lacked.

I want to save every house.

To me, architecture is the perfect amalgamation of engineering and art, science and intuition, function and form, imagination, innovation, and reality. Maybe I missed my calling, or maybe I am exactly where I should be.

Houses are not just objects. They are living stories where memories are made.

My old soul bucked the trend to exist in a cookie cutter house in the typical suburban tract. My insanity led us to take on a completely uninspired and uninhabitable 1930s cape and create a project that is home. My experience allowed us to make it a reality. The process was sometimes painful and the transformation is at a year and counting. Every space and detail of our custom cape is intentional, a perpetual reminder of who we are and what we value. Good and bad.

Through it all I can’t ignore the importance of my husband. He is the yin to my yang; while I am the dreamer he is the realist.

We shape our buildings; thereafter they shape us. Winston Churchill

 

Winston Churchill was right. He spoke those words in reference to the Commons Chamber and recognized how our physical surroundings influence our perspective and behavior.

We shaped this structure but in the process it shaped us, will continue to shape us, and guide how we interact with our environment and each other.

Per popular request this blog is part story and part advice. Here you can follow along with past, present, and future projects. Get inspired to tackle DIY projects to make your house your home. Learn about investing, construction, design, history, architecture, and our pursuit of financial freedom.