Having Your Cake

I always wanted to build a house. I always wanted to design a house and choose all the stuff that goes into it and be part of the process. I went to architecture school for 2 years and design school for 4, so I should be qualified!
I always loved old houses. I loved that they had history and stories. I loved that they were sturdy and solidly built. I loved the details of the architectural style and the little extra built-in things and even the dents and dings. I loved the idea of working on the old house to fix it up and keep it current.
When it came time to move from apartment to our own house, we looked at both options and fell in love with a 1939-built Colonial reproduction with many windows and a screened-in porch and two fireplaces and hardwood floors (under atrocious carpeting) and plaster walls (under atrocious wall paper) and lovely white painted detailed molding and a beautiful front staircase and a laundry chute and a big lot. And it appealed to the environmentalist in me to reuse an old house instead of building a new one, so it became ours. I have had a wonderful time stripping the house down to its true beauty by getting rid of carpet and wallpaper, finishing the basement to utilize the amazing stone fireplace, and remodeling the kitchen in a manner that was true to the old but easier to live in. It has been a good house to raise kids in and it feels warm and enclosing.
So I had resigned myself to never getting to design or build a new one and I was pretty much okay with that. Then my husband reignited the old dream to have a lake place, and since there were not many homes for sale but quite a few ‘difficult’ lots that would be challenges to build on, it seemed my opportunity was here! The lot is flat at the road, with a steep wooded slope that approaches being a cliff in places, down to the water that is shallow enough to wade in but deep enough for boats at the end of the short dock.
So I have been designing and choosing and redesigning and detailing and next week we begin!
Sometimes, you CAN have your cake and eat it too. (But you can’t have your SAVINGS and spend it on a second house . . . did I mention that yesterday?)