This week I am going to be in NYC, my home away from home, for a memorial, dubbed as a “Celebration of Life.” If asked to speak, I will talk about celebrating beauty of life every day while we are alive, not just when a life is commemorated.
I discussed ideas and plans to change the hardscape of a certain “secret” garden in the previous Passion for Details post. I wanted to simplify the color palette and eliminate an annoying texture, but was not sure what construction method would suit our needs best.
Our “Garden Room” has a built-in 11-inch-deep bookcase comprised of predominantly open shelves and some closed storage. Even though minimum reach-in closet depth is two feet, I planned to use a portion of the unit as a closet.
I call myself DIY Ally because I help DIYers with their building projects online. I get a lot of questions about simplifying circulation, a way people move through spaces and rooms. Last month, I received a contact request from Trinidad asking for advice on a “residential concept” that had major circulation issues.
I am Alla DYI Ally. Architect on demand. Or an online architect providing advice without strings. Let’s say you are a DIY home improvement enthusiast remodeling a bathroom. An issue comes up. Architect on demand (a do-it-yourselfer, bargain-hunter, and make-doer), I am online — at your fingertips.
Thanks to my daughters, I have charted a career path of an architect whose main objective is to foster creativity. I have included them in my experiments. And they have validated my efforts time and time again. Building our dream home is a good example of the collaboration.
My daughter is going away to college in a year; she will be completely in charge of her destiny. There is a lot to teach her, as all other creative teens, about setting goals between now and then.
Setting up my daughter's space was the first thing I did as an architect-expectant mother. It was the framework, and the standards were intuitive: clean lines, not too cute, and nothing overpowering. I couldn’t possibly know exactly what was needed for support and engagement.
Space-saving design is born out of necessity. It solves, simplifies, and gives an alternative. Sometimes, it even anticipates a problem before it occurs.
Imagine turning a house into a home. House vs home. What is the difference? I conjure up an image of an apparatus programmed to cooperate, even anticipate and inspire. It's a sophisticated contraption attending to all of my whims — ascertaining that my emotional and physical wellbeing is taken care of. It's designed with efficiency and adaptability at its core to make life delightful.