FAKE TOPIARIES.

OUR PET PEEVE? CHOOSING AN ARCHITECT BASED ON 3X3 INCH PHOTOS OF HOMES. THAT, AND

In our instagrampinteresthouzz crazy world, so much of home building is about the pictures.

Who doesn’t love pictures? They set off tiny satisfaction buzzers in our visual cortex.

Like pretty little desserts at a party. But really, should you choose an architect based solely on eye candy? We think there ought to be a bit more meat behind the decision. Read on for meat.

Ok,

here goes: No matter how lovely, a photograph can’t fully express the feel, character and thoughtfulness of a home. What it’s like to live and move inside it, the flow from room to room, the connection to the land, the balance of openness and warmth. A photo can’t even tell you that all the furniture in the room was shoved to one side to get that single shot. Nor can a photo tell you how thick the walls feel and whether the windows are simple cutouts or create vessels for the light to play–on walls and floors and ceilings as the sun travels across the sky. These are just some of the things we consider when we design a home for you. We enter the process with no preconceptions, no style that we hope to replicate over and over. We enter the process full of curiosity and questions. It’s your house after all, not ours.

We consider, along with you, how your home connects to the world beyond it. Not just the site it’s built on, but the neighborhood that surrounds it, the natural world. Does it feel like it could have been there forever, and should be there forever? Or at least the next 100 years? – We think that’s important.

Our clients don’t choose us because they want a home that’s more ostentatious than their neighbor’s, but because they want to create something personal and meaningful. A place of substance. They care about details–not just in the most-visible spaces, but throughout. All the way to the spare bedroom or the rumpus room.

Are you still reading? Yes? Thank you! (Clearly, you have the attention span to be a TEA2 client.) If you’d like to read (even) more about how we approach designing a home, please take a look at our website. Most of the pictures are bigger than 3x3.