Architects Hired

I chose a local architect, a young-ish duo actually, to help me develop a phased plan for the house. I talked to a few architecture firms to find that they charged a percentage of the overall project cost. That could add up to a pretty hefty sum. I chose this firm because I felt like an hourly rate works better for me. I can use them as much or as little as I need...or I can afford. They will stay anonymous for now so I can reserve the right to badmouth them if I'd like. I'll refer to them as The Architects.

I did a tour of the house with The Architects, talked about some of my ideas, and went through a bunch of my inspiration photos to talk about what I liked about them. That was an interesting process I'll talk about in another post. They've been back to take photos of every room, and measurements of every possible detail inside and out of the house. This took about three hours. All of the measurements will be put into their computers so we can start playing with layouts. It'll be fun to see what they come up with.

I was a little discouraged to hear them say that an entire re-clad of the outside of a house can cost up to $100,000 in this neck of the woods. The below is a "before" photo of one of their projects, just a few blocks away from here actually.

I think this is uglier than my house but it's hard to tell how much ugly might be hiding under my vinyl siding.

And this is the "after."

This is a photo of one of their projects in a Boston townhouse which seems quite lovely.

This is the "before" photo of one of their kitchen projects....

And this is the "after." I'd be happy with a kitchen like this.

So the process is under way.

Photos: Steve Ritter and Brian Beaucher