When Cybele went into the house a little while back she said, "It really feels now like something's missing."

My heart skipped a beat because my first thought was that in the course of the demolition, I had taken the soul out of Chez Melendy.

She assured me that wasn't what she meant, but it nonetheless served as a caution. As Joni Mitchell so appropriately sang, "you don't what you've got 'til it's gone."

Demolition work starts to do a job on the psyche. All this tearing down has to give way to building at some point.

Home sweet home is my intent. How do we make it ours? Make it serviceable? Make it comfortable?

We've seen the glossy magazines: "This couple renovated their kitchen for less then $40,000!" or "My clients wanted their new homestead to be informal, intimate, and a bit whimsical."

I don't know how much whimsy goes for these days but I'm sure I'm not going to find it between the ads for a $15,000 retro refrigerator and an $8,000 stove hood.

One thing's for sure, this project is growing.

I suppose it's the nature of all projects to go beyond their original scope. This one is no exception. The picture to the right is of the bathroom we were going to leave alone.

© 2006 James Graham

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