Julie and I met with our design team yesterday - our Architect: Tom Blanck & his assistant Sonja & our designer: Nancy Roth of "Perfect Design Solutions". We FINALLY have some floor plans that are beginning to make sense so that we can get this project on course!

It took 2 weeks and significantly slowed down the process we were hoping for, but I have a piece of advice for anyone thinking about restoring an old (especially historic) home: GET BOTH TRADES ON BOARD WITH YOUR PROJECT!

I know, I know - "architects and designers are just professional shoppers / spenders." Yes, but if you get the right people this can help you SAVE money! Our architect has already proven extremely valuable by helping us realize our goals for the home without destroying / demolishing a lot of the infrastructure we 'paid for' when we bought the place! One of his mottos (I'm finding out quickly!) is "Don't dump it if you paid for it". I'm going to upload pics of the new/final floor plans this week - which are (happily) very much in keeping with the existing structure of the home (which saves on cash and is more sensitive to the heritage of the building). He's also finding great materials to build with (e.g. Lexan Ceiling Panels in the porch) that are very inexpensive but add great features (natural light!).

This is finally starting to come together! I'm hoping we'll be able to break ground by mid-October and be wrapping up within a few months! We'll see how it all goes...