TITLE: BUILDING BASE STRUCTURES—WHAT IF YOU HAD TO START OVER?
That sunken living room story hits close to home. Years ago, I worked with a family who wanted this dramatic double-height foyer—looked stunning on paper, but it ate up so much usable space that they ended up with cramped bedrooms upstairs. They loved it at first, but by year two, they were trying to figure out how to convert part of the foyer into a closet. It’s wild how easy it is to get swept up in “wow factor” stuff and forget about day-to-day living.
I’ve always found ceiling heights tricky too. Higher ceilings are great until you realize you’re heating (or cooling) all that extra air. And don’t get me started on moving walls... I once saw someone try to rework a kitchen layout only to find out their “simple” wall shift involved rerouting half the house’s plumbing. Sometimes I wonder if we overthink finishes and underthink the bones.
