Last week was the first post in this (mini) series of posts, Prep for a Modern Home: Where To Begin, and we answered the basics – what’s the first step and what you need to know to get started.

My goal is to let you know how easy and exciting it is to work with an architect to design and build a new home.

Lake Wylie House – Studio MM Architect

To elaborate a bit more on “Where to begin” from last week: Setting up an introductory call is an important first step in finding the right architect to work with. You’re going to be spending a lot of quality time with her (or him). It’s critical that you find someone with whom you can communicate well and someone you feel like you can trust. Design is the fun part – and many people we talk to want to jump into sharing their ideas and inspirations in our first call. I love that! …I just want to make sure you’re comfortable with our entire process before we get started.

Prep for a Modern Home: Images + Inspiration

This week I’m going to talk more about images and inspiration – and hopefully help you understand that you don’t need to have either of them sorted before we begin. That’s our job to help you with that!

Images from a previous post: Behind the Design: Cat Hill

Once we start a project, our first step in getting to know you and your family a lot better is to ask a lot of questions. In our Pre-Design Phase (which we call our information gathering phase) we send our clients a questionnaire so that we can learn more about them and how they live in their home. Our questions are focused on details like where you eat dinner each night, what a weekday morning looks like, or where your kids sit to do their homework. The last question in our questionnaire is “Likes” – we ask you to collect images that describe your style, taste and character.

“How should I compile my thoughts, ideas, and inspiration images so I can have a more productive conversation with an architect?”

Just start pinning! Or tearing out pages in magazines, or pulling together a few of your favorite family photos, or searching online for images you like and saving them in a folder titled, “My Dream House.” Pin architecture, design, color, food, glitter, whatever inspires you!

I wrote a post about this a few weeks ago in which I shared some of the inspiration images one of our clients showed us during this Pre-Design Phase. From modern house to very different modern house, to David Bowie, to a swing overlooking a field of daisies…. her pinterest board painted a brilliant picture of her personality and character. These are the traits we want to design in your home. We’re not only focused on the modern architecture, we want it to be about you. So pin, clip, and pull together as much as you feel like sharing. We love to see it all!

Inspiration images collected by clients

 

“I have lots of ideas for a new home. What is the best way to narrow down what I want?”

 

One of the questions in our questionnaire is “What is your wish list?” And the question directly following that one is, “Please prioritize your wish list.” The first part of our pre-design process is you taking a moment to answer the questions. The next step in our information gathering phase is meeting to discuss all of your answers. This is an in-depth meeting which typically leads to many more questions and answers about how you live, and discussions about what’s most important to you in your new home. We will talk about size and square feet as it relates to budget, and we will talk about wish list and how that relates to budget. With all of this information, we can then move into design. Similar to most of my answers, it’s our job to help you figure out how to narrow down your ideas into the perfect home for you and your family.

FLY Modern – Studio MM Architect

So often I get the question, “We have a limited budget – are you still interested in working with us?”

Absolutely! We do not define projects by budget. We love working with anyone who is passionate about the design of their home and excited about the design process. Working with an architect has value far beyond designing a pretty home. We understand how to design beautiful, efficient spaces that work for your everyday life – today, as well as planning flexibility for the future.

Chalet Perche – Studio MM Architect

If you’re interested in building a new modern home in Upstate NY – or anywhere for that matter – please do not hesitate to reach out to us. We love what we do, and we’d love to share that with you.

For even more information about working with an architect please check out our Frequently Asked Questions.