Experts

Several years ago, I watched a blacksmith work.  The gentleman pounded and fired, twisted and cooled, and soon a lovely leaf was fashioned out of a piece of iron.  He twisted the end to make a loop, creating a key ring, and (probably in response to my millions of questions) gave it to me as a gift.  It was amazing and a little intimidating to see how expertly and comfortably he used his tools and talent to create beautiful objects.

I felt a little of that same awe today, when we met with our builder-draftsman, Jared, to talk through our house plans.  He took the (pathetically amateur) drawing that I had spent hours working on, and turned it into a thing of beauty.  Or, at least, a thing of function, style, utility, frugality, and a smidgen of grace.  

Mema, Bradley, Craig-the-realtor and I spent almost three hours with Jared in a conference room in Saratoga Springs.  (Bless my sister Telima's heart--she watched all my kids for five hours today, maybe more.  I am SOOOO grateful.  It's hard to imagine trying to do this with my little chickens pecking around.)  We showed pictures of the style of house we like. (I favor Craftsman, Mema favors Victorian, and Bradley favors "Not Ugly".  Because of budget constraints, Craftsman style seems to have won the day.  Turrets are terribly expensive.)  The above-mentioned floor plan drawing was dissected.  Requirements, wants, and wishes were discussed.  

And by the end, we had something...workable.  And actually nice.  And very very exciting.

Now, Jared takes his drawing back to his computer and drafting program and creates it.  It should take him about a week.  After that, we tweak and play and then...send it out to bid!  We're hoping to break ground in August, but that might be laughably optimistic.  We'll see!

(Bradley and I have decided that we want to "crowdsource" this project a bit, so if you have an idea, I'd love to hear it.  There are some of my friends out there (you know who you are!) who might have ideas/advice/warnings for us.  I'm going to get my hands on pictures of the rough drawings and then ask for your opinions.  I hope you'll be willing to share!  So stay tuned--as soon as I get the drawings, I will put them up.)