Extreme makeovers. They’re the real proof that potential doesn’t always meet reality. I remember the feeling while watching these TV shows where they picked a person and changed how they looked, felt and walked around in life in a couple of days. I always wondered if the “victims” of these shows came to realize how some simple changes would actually flip around their entire life.
It’s always like this, we tend to believe that in order to have an ideal scene (in any area of our life) we need to work on complex and hard changes, but as soon as we start and truly decide to change, we realize how simple it actually was and how close to glory we’ve been.
It’s not an act of magic, some people just know where the outpoints are, then go and simply fix them, getting outstanding results in a few simple steps. For us at Levy Design Group, this is the truth and we love to do it, not with people and looks, but with space and design.
The first moment that we stood in front of this 12,000 sq. Ft. house we knew that this was one of these cases. The owner had bought it a few months back thinking about its potential, but not knowing where to start. So many questions and ideas circulated around the table in the first meeting, and it seemed like there was so much to do that we were tasked to start only with the exterior and then decide what to do inside the house. I warned the client that true design and architecture always contemplate everything as a whole, and that he should get ready to experience some real change happening to everything, even if we were just being hired for the exterior at first.
We performed all of our standard steps, first understanding the house by scanning it and playing with the 3D model, then creating some sketches and inspiration boards and building an accurate 3D model for further discussion and basic decisions. While this process was happening, the “victim” mentioned that he truly loved Spanish style homes, but that it didn’t seem feasible to create this without rebuilding the house. It seemed like his hopes for the design were good, but again, without being able to understand the main out-points, having his dream house was becoming optional.
The more steps we took, the potential became more obvious. More design became simpler steps, until we found THAT problem that was the basic outpoint of the house. I can absolutely assure you that once this was understood and fixed, this project became bright and its true personality started forming.
I’m not intending to be a know best but I can tell you that 99% of the needed solutions presented by the client in the first meeting weren’t attacking the real problem. This doesn’t mean that we didn’t listen to him, it just means that we also read between the lines to find out what is actually going on with the project.
(Rear exterior 3D Model / sketch).
(Front of house exterior sketch).
One vital fact about extreme makeovers is that sometimes we need someone outside the problem to help us find a simple solution, call it a stylist, a designer, or even a friend who tells us that we have something on our teeth. But it always takes you, as a first step, wanting to change for good.
Stay tuned for this extreme makeover, we’ll be changing this house’s feel, value and experience, making potential and reality one.