Back to the Phase I planning period:

Back to the Phase I planning period. Subtitle: the Springboard to Intimacy. I had no idea that the process of designing a house and getting it built was so intimate...but once you have bared your closets, basement, garage and kitchen drawers to a person, the mystery is pretty much gone.

And then there is this feeling of gluttony: people asking you what you want, and how many, and how much, and what do you like, and what do you need.....an all-you-can-eat-mentality of options and choices offered by people who can really make it happen.

So we had more meetings, during which Jason and Michael were beginning, working on and then finishing the Coffee Ethic...which then became another great place to have a design session or two....now also involving the friend/engineer Tom Netzer.....and being surrounded by the living testimonial to theworkshop 308's most interesting, endurable and ethical craftsmanship and design....not to mention, Jim Hamilton and Tom Billionis and Blue Batok coffee to die for.

Jim and Tom and their families have to be some of the best people to move to Springfield in a very long time. They have brought so much with them and have accomplished more since they arrived than some people do in a lifetime. And they certainly picked the right designers to work their plan....and a whole lot more.

The bits and pieces of the Coffee Ethic project I was able to absorb, as an outsider, were both inspirational and encouraging to my own developing plans. For instance, Jason and Michael brought Jim and his wife out to see my land when they mentioned that some day they would like to design and build a place in the country....they found and used resources for the shop that ran the gamut from historical ice storm wood to Bourbon, Missouri flea market bargain chairs....and rather than staying perched atop their stools at drafting tables, they put the hammer to the nails until wee hours of the morning and used every facet of experience they may not have known they had.

It just occurred to me what makes them so unique....or at least one thing: their work has no boundaries. And I mean both out-going and in-coming. They allow people and objects and places and ideas to enter into their designs....in so many ways...and, as a result, their projects have a truly endless impact.

Phew. I am WAY off the subject here. WAY off. theworkshop 308...design without boundaries. Huh. I'm sure that's already been used....but it's the truth.

Yes, this segment was supposed to be about the Phase I planning period...I just got a little side tracked.

I'll never forget the night Jason and Michael came over and unveiled the design of my house on their computer. (I believe refreshments for that evening included a Hot Tamale and Cheeto combo and beer.) Stay tuned.