September 11, 2009

Melissa is a fictional character that we have created, and not the name of the House... read on
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Redesigning an existing house is a daunting task.  Especially a home built 1870 with no plumbing, no electric, no heating or air conditioning, no bathrooms, and no in house kitchen. I can't tell you how often I am asked about the location of the old outhouse.... "you know people threw all kinds of wonderful treasures down into the potty hole, and you should dig them up!"   Yeah, riiiiiiiiiight, I think not! I am not going to dig through one hundred plus year old poop! forget it, no how, no way! No matter what anyone tells me, it is still poop!
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Even though we are doing some reconstruction, and adding on a Master bedroom, we are still working within the confines of the original house and its foot print. We are lucky in many respects that the rooms in the house are quite sizable for a Victorian home. I have seen many a Victorian home with huge grand verandas, sweeping porches, towers and balconies, only to find a warren of tiny little rooms inside. The North Street house on the other hand has nice sized rooms, not huge, but nicely sized, so we have taken this into account in doing the redesign. A palatial Master bedroom and bathroom with grand vaulted ceilings and a walk in closet the size of Wyoming would not make sense. So we are working within the space we have to create new living spaces that, work with the original house, are contemporary in their appointments, and yet feel as if they could have always been there. It is important to remember that we are two men, and two men may think somewhat differently than, say, (SI hate to use the term) a more traditional couple. Take the Master bathroom for instance, do we need a bathtub? would we ever use a bathtub? most likely not... So we say "what would Melissa say?"
Ahhhhhh... Melissa.   Melissa is a fictional character that we have created based on a woman we saw at an open house. The house was charming, and very nicely done, sitting up on the town edge of Fitch Mountain. We had gone to the open house to see it as a potential home for us.  It wasn't the right fit, but the agent was lovely and we spent sometime talking with her. During our visit another couple came in to have a look around. The woman was tall and very "power walker" thin, with salt and pepper hair, cut in a chic Asian style bob, that you could tell was perfectly dyed to maintain its appearance. She and her poor hen pecked husband flew quickly through the house as she complained about everything it had to offer. They quickly finished their tour and headed for the front door to leave, as they did so the agent simply asked if they had any questions. Well, you would have thought that they had been stung by a cattle prod! They shot for the front door, clambering over each other to get out, as the woman brusquely informed the agent that they were already working with another real estate agent, and they had no questions. BOOM, the front door slammed shut. All we could do was stare at one another...
We named her, Melissa.
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As we come upon decisions that need to be made, we have a three way conversation... Phillip, Myself, and Melissa. "How about if the Master Bedroom did not have a walk in closet?", oh, "What would Melissa say?" Not that we ever intend to sell the house, but we never know where life will take us and so we must think on what other potential owners might say or want. We do not base our decisions on what others would want, but we do take Melissa and her best friend Mindy (Melissa no longer shops with her husband, because Men are stupid, and Mindy is a "yes" girl) into account. Do we as two boys really need a big walk in closet? No... but, "what would Melissa say?" so walk in closet it is. Besides, I guess I do need a place to store all my ball gowns, or at least a place to lock away the screaming children of invited guests.
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On a last note and to prove that we do not base everything on Melissa... See yesterdays post, Melissa is going to HATE that stove! Sorry Melissa, I love it!

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