What's Your Story?

From AT House Tour AB Chao's Modern + Old = MOLD

Gregory's Good Quote today reminded us of a home design technique of a former boss (an architect). He developed fictional plots about clients' homes. The stories would serve several purposes...

One, to communicate the sense of place with the client. The story could communicate some things that drawings alone just couldn't. The client could alter the story to better reflect what they wanted, thus communicating their intent back to the designer.

Two, the fictional story helped him as the designer to create the space. The story was used to fill in the holes that invariably arise when working through the design process.

I remember one particular project and the fictional story behind it. The client, a local family, had purchased a traditional country home and hired our firm to renovate. My boss' story was that the home was that of a European couple with modern sensibilities. They were new to the area and stood out like sore thumbs. The way they lived in their renovated farmhouse was different from their more traditional neighbors. Their home was full of modern art and furnishings they brought with them from Europe, not to be found locally. Their modern possessions were in high contrast to the house's shell. This fictional plot-line helped put everyone on the same page and served as a reference throughout the project.

What story does your home tell? What story do you want your home to tell?

Comments (19)

Going by the photo, the house is inhabited by some illiterate who finds these rectangular objects in the streets, and not knowing what they are, lines them up by color.

This sounds dangerously close to those stories they make up on ANTM: "You're a Bulgarian princess working in a dough-nut shop".

i made up a story that i was a nudist who lived in the nicest house on my street...

I want my home to be the lush pied-a-terre of a wacky and opinionated bon-vivant and art collector who enjoys cocktails, dining out, dressing well and frequent extensive foreign travel with too much luggage...

A young couple still deciding their path in life move into a moderately safe neighborhod just far enough away from both parents but close enough to do their laundry for free. Both young minds learning to merge their precious items for the first time, and testing their limitations of compromise. they keep their monetary spending down by integrating heirloom furniture, though grossly oversized into their one bedroom one bath with a cat whose need to scratch ruins any hopes of keeping the new couches for years to come. Their warmth, love, and friendly disposition is reflected in their choice of decor accented by a sense of childhood fun which reflects in everything from the alice in wonderland cookie jar to the mulitiple gaming systems and giant television.

Nineteen year old with a love and desire for vintage and well designed furniture. A poor college girl who dreams of a beautiful kitchen, modern cat furniture and a place to call home.

Um...I don't get the point of this. Why not just say what you're looking for? Why make up a story about other people living in your home?

the stories seem very j. peterman catalog-esque.

I think I figured out why people would want to do this story thing. It's because we are embarrassed that decorating usually involves massive amounts of time, energy, and money creating images of ourselves. It's about inventing or reinventing the self. Artifice. It makes us self conscious and slightly shamed. That's why we distance ourselves from the act by superimposing a story. Notice how the story in the post indicates that the European couple did not make an effort to be different from their neighbors; they just hauled their pre-existing stuff over from Europe. But the real client who actually owned that house was undergoing a very deliberate act of artifice--and the fact that they had to distance themselves by pretending it was someone else's house/belongings indicates that they're embarrassed by it. This sort of embarrassment-hiding tactic is everywhere: just look through a Pottery Barn catalog trying to sell us stuff that looks like it was in the family for generations or bought from a quaint Parisian flea market so we forget it was made of shoddy materials by poverty-stricken and abused workers in developing countries. The End.

[to continue]...not that there's anything wrong with it. I gleefully feather my nest all the time. But I don't feel that I have to make up a story about it. And actually, squarely confronting the truth about my design aspirations and my belongings forces me to think about where my stuff really comes from--and to make responsible decisions that my conscience can live with, free from romantic self-delusion.

Ha! Palmetto's is my favorite. The real tragedy: if our hero could read, he or she would know the "ENGLISH" book might be of some use.

I am a vampyre from Heian Japan.

After surviving a number of lifelong struggles during which her children have all grown up and gone out into the world on their own, the heroine has finally prevailed and built a house which seems to be set in the middle of a mountain meadow (due to the landscaping) although it is really in the middle of a 12 year old suburban development near the Salt Lake City limits. To continue, the homeowner has created a restful sanctuary away from the real world where she can come home from work, shut the door and relax with her four footed companions until the next day, when she goes forth to solve workaday problems for a huge conglomerate. The End.

A young man in his early 20's proving to the world that we are not just dirty, plain, boring, dirty laundy piling, locker room smelling, dirty sink filled, smelly, irresponsible, beer drinking idiots.

Everyone who comes into my apartment goes WOW! And im not even gay.

You might not be Gay but your first paragraph made me HOT. ;)

My apartment's story would be that of the reincarnated Radames (of Aida fame)... who finds himself in New York City.

Not yet aware of his past, and not yet having found his reincarnated Aida, he is fascinated and haunted by the combination of tribal and regal, black and white, and all things Egyptian.

I totally get it. The idea is to relate on a different level, connect the dots. It could also be a little like "dress for the job you want, not the one you have". If you want your house to express a different side of you, or a new direction, creating the story helps you to visualize it.

First off, Patrick (the other one) you're funny. :-)

Secondly, if you were to look at my apt, you'd see a guy who has modern tendencies but has ended up with an eclectic assortment of modern (MCM etc) to traditional and a few hand made pieces of furniture etc thrown in for good measure and who also happens to like vinyl as a listening source.

You'd also see a guy who's place while not fancy has a look of someone who appears to live in a somewhat higher income bracket than what is reality (and no, nothing that I got into debt to achieve). :-)

I should add...

I actually have done similar when I was coming up with house plans back in the day when I was still imagining myself as marrying a wife, have kids etc

My "stories" helped me to come up with some of the features, rooms etc I'd like to have in some of the homes I drew up (no, I'm not an architect), however, those fantasies have long since vanished and take wife, make it a partner instead so my needs have obviously changed but some of the ideas are still valid. :-)