Phase I: Lessons in Sustainable Space Planning

I still have four or so posts to create  - and all their attendant visuals - to finish sharing our Phase I changes with you. But I have been thinking about what's happened thus far, and since we're beginning the rip-out for Phase 2, I can't help but assess and reflect.

If you've been reading Shelter&, you know that I purposefully gave Phase I a slim budget. For several reasons: 

• For me, the most exploratory purpose of minimal funding is that that is today's reality. I wanted to use a budget anyone might realistically scrounge up to make some changes to their home in the hopes it would point them towards more intentional living.

• Ideally, TJ wanted the rent from Phase I to repay that portion of the remodel in two years. 

• Lastly, it is just smart business practice to keep cash fluid as possible as I reshape my own company to work with "collective, and non-traditional households." I am growing a new market focus, and evolving new products that serve, and that takes time. 

So, could I do the essentials of Phase I that got us 2 rooms up and rented for $25,000 or less? Tall order. Did we reach our goal? 

Yes! To date, Phase I finalized at $17,300. It had the bulk of the common room odds and ends, moving our laundry, subdividing our great room with a new 11-foot high wall with a 4-foot double door, sprucing up the two rooms upstairs and their shared bathroom, working on general house presentation inside and out, as well as buying a new fridge.... and an unplanned new cooktop too. 

I’m tickled! But what happened as I moved through this process of making my house my partner?

In general, it meant I scrimped, did some of the work ourselves, and reused. Everywhere I could. It meant I changed my must-haves. I redesigned, then edited down that redesign, as they call it in the space design biz, then edited it again, and again.


1. I let go of many design ideas. Good ideas and fun wonderful solutions. I hoped to add cabinet doors on all my upper kitchen cabinetry with an open weave wire grid "pie shelf" center panel. Would've worked brilliantly with the new chimney.

 Didn't happen.
 
The second hallway wainscoting didn't happen. The fresh paint job in heritage colors in commons and kitchen never happened. I learned that the story touches I did do are strong enough. My housemates feel comfortable, relaxed, not concerned about disturbing anything precious. In a phrase, they feel at home.

There is a true difference between design, decor and space planning.This process forced a shift from thinking lovely interiors or elegant story-making decor, to pure space planning that asked, "What do I have that can make my place work well and feel welcoming?" My intention - generating income, and finding interesting housemates that felt compelled to share our home with us - became the driver of my choices. And this was the right focus. After all, my old house was wanting from the onset. I knew it would never be a grand old 'dam of a house. And making it into one was never my goal.  Ever.

The challenge became how little I should do to achieve what I needed.

2. I also discovered that I really had to pair space planning with re-purpose.That warms the "conservor" part of my heart. The reuse side makes me feel all the better for what TJ and I are doing here, especially when it added to the charm and story about who we are.

And I should add that I needed to have a contractor who was game to do all that and flow with me. Tim is all round terrific. Together we're doing "Sustainable Space Planning." How cool is that?

3. Moving forward with this mindset is letting me achieve most of the essential Phase 2 pieces: Our added master bath, a larger pantry, a new fridge alcove, with a new and more removed entry into our own "privacy realm", plus some work on the upstairs bathroom in the last room we will share. I get the gift of more done.

4. Lastly, without a large budget, I see that it is not a process you can plan and then just watch unfold. But that has some magic to it. Evolving the finished solutions happen in waves. I do know that keeping this kind of impressionistic design hand makes me a better, stronger designer. It keeps the design choices elegant and singular all the way through. That's a gift too. I'll let go of the rest as much as possible.

What this means to you is that it can be done. We each can impact our homes without a "design budget." I admit, if you have those extra dollars, they can significantly add to the feel and finish of a place. But hold onto this idea of doing as much as you can with as little as possible. The design and priority lessons learned by not having a large budget are profound. It is important to understand that the flow of a room, the layout and placement of furnishing, using what you have with new intentions can do much to achieve your goal.

Go for it, and please share what you're doing!