We met with Alan a few times to go over the Guiding Principles and more details from our wish list. Things like a Not So Big House philosophy, an open floor plan with everything on the ground floor, large window seat with view of the woods, library with built-in shelves, etc.
Alan took all of this in and asked for a mix tape of music that we felt would capture how we wanted to feel in the house. We burned the following to CD:
Grant House Playlist, for Alan Abrams
- “Solsbury Hill”, Peter Gabriel
- “This Woman’s Work”, Kate Bush
- “Star Dust”, Nat “King” Cole
- “Miles from Nowhere”, Cat Stevens
- “Like an Old Fashioned Waltz”, Sandy Denny
- “Love’s Recovery”, Indigo Girls
- “Let Me Be Your Pirate”, Nena
- “The Kind Of Love You Never Recover From”, Christine Lavin
- “The Pony Man”, Gordon Lightfoot
- “Splendor in the Grass”, Pink Martini
- “Falling Slowly”, The Swell Season
- “Red & Blazing”, Abigail Washburn
- “The Joyful Kilmarnock Blues”, The Proclaimers
- “Lodestar”, Sarah Harmer
- “Moonlight Bay”, Leon Redbone
After a few preliminary drafts, Alan produced this intriguing layout:
Unfortunately, when the estimate came back from Klockner & Co., it was way over budget. Putting everything on the ground floor isn’t nearly as economical as stacking levels. Because of the Universal Design principle, we needed all the main living spaces to be on the ground floor. But we decided to move the kids’ bedrooms and the mechanicals upstairs, which eventually led to the final design:
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