Howdy Michael,

Now that the dust has settled and the house is complete, we wanted to let you know how much we appreciated your talent and help through this renovation.

While Mark and I certainly had ideas on what we wanted to accomplish, we were excited with the evolution of the plans as we went “though the process” with you. Your ability to see to the core of what we were trying to do and turn that into a reality was great (and from stories of other renovators we’ve met, uncommon).

From the beginning, when we handed you 35 pounds of marked up books and magazines and some crudely sketched plans, you showed your commitment to our project. Your very first set of drawings showed you “got it” — you really were able to see the essence of what we wanted to do.

We appreciated your very easy to work with style and even got to know your entertaining way of handling some of our more dubious ideas (“well, it’s a look”). Even when you’d proposed some fairly major change, you presented them in such a positive way as to keep us from feeling” protective” of our original plans. We felt you were our partner on the project (instead of just “the architect”). The design process was really a great experience for both of us.

The results of all that work were captured in your wonderfully detailed and exacting final plans. I remember the day I handled the blueprints and details book to the head carpenter. He said “Wow'” and that he’s had to build entire houses with less. Attention to all those little details helped to maize this project come out exactly as we had dreamed. When I walk around the house now, I still get fits of giggles at how amazing this project came out.        It seems less the product of design and more our dreams turned directly into reality.

We continue to get a virtual parade of folks who stop by to compliment on the exterior of the house (the porch gets almost embarrassing gushes of praise). When we invite someone in, their jaws drop. In fact, we’ve had more than a few architects come through and give grudging appreciation for the design and work. I have literally seen people stop in the cars and pull over to gawk. Definitely not the goal of this project, but an impressive testament to all of our collective work.

We look forward to working with you when we are ready to start phase 2 of the renovation (relax, that’ll be a few years out yet). We’re thinking hard on it and can’t wait to see what we can make of it with your help.

If anyone would ever like to contact us to discuss how the process worked or like to see some of your work “in the flash” (as it were), please feel free to pass along our phone number. We’d be happy to share our experiences.