The Process
A is for Architect
Small renovations may not seem like they should take any time at all, at least to someone who has not been faced with the blank slate. However, rarely is something exactly as it seems. In residential design the best first step is just like the the alphabet: A is for Architect, B is for Builder, […]
How much is it going to cost to renovate my house?
So often people ask me “how much is this kitchen/bathroom/addition/renovation going to cost me?” I hate to say it, and I am usually very blunt, but on this I am purposefully very vague, though I will always say three things. Renovations typically cost more than new construction. So when you see new homes at $80 […]
Verve the new Women In Architecture Upstate Newsletter
I have gone silent in my posts of late. It is not for a lack of trying, merely that work has been going incredibly well. Architecture is a feast or famine industry and I am channelling my inner squirrel and feasting now. Back in August I wrote a short ‘article‘ about myself at the request […]
From where does the inspiration come?
So many times people tell me that they thought they wanted to be an architect. They always say “That’s cool.” when I tell them what I do. And I like to think it is because they understand the inherent value in what Architecture brings to any place and people that are engaged with it. I […]
Being my own client
We are almost halfway through the initial renovations on my house. I have often thought I understood how my clients felt about the process of renovating their home, working with a budget, dealing with a mess, worrying about it getting done and done well. I didn’t, until now. Typically I am the voice of positivity […]
An architect’s own home
So just how does an architect (me) go about selecting their own home? The problem lies in the fact that I see opportunity in all, or almost, all of them. I happened to take a look at three houses in Greenville. My criteria for my agent, Lynn Skidmore, was pretty simple. First, a fenced yard […]
ScrapHAUS for the Greenville Humane Society
A few months ago I read an email request from the Greenville Humane Society asking for architects to design and build a “Bowhouse” to be auctioned for their cause. I wasn’t sure I could fit it into the work schedule and I knew that I didn’t have the tools anymore, thanks to Katrina, to build […]
Apologies to the Elephant
Large, somewhat unruly, often overwhelming animals make for an easy target. So I’ll use the metonym again and repeat what a good friend of mine used to say when we were hard at work trying to finish a project. Donald said, “You can’t eat the whole elephant in one bite.” So we would break the project [elephant] […]
Elephant in the HOUSE
Picture if you will an elephant. Now visualize the child’s house, four walls each with a window or door. Now put the elephant in the house. His snout will hang out of one door, tail out the opposite window, and his sides are pressed up against the walls and windows. If you are working on […]
Can the process really be standard?
Wandering through the local Barnes & Noble bookstore, sorry to the small bookshop lovers it was truly convenient this day, I recently discovered that they no longer have a section on Architecture. This was quite disturbing on many levels because it had been replaced by Home Renovations and Decorating. Further frustrations prevailed when even in […]