A SENSE OF SOUL

We want our home to have a sense of soul. We want it to be inspiring not intimidating.

We want it to reflect our spiritual values that we are part of something bigger, whether you want to think of that as community, culture, or creation. We believe we have been very blessed in this life but we believe that the gifts we have received are not meant to stop with us but rather we are meant to channel those gifts to others.

We also are part of a continuum of time and would love to find a way to honor the past, for example, is there something, even subtle, a beam or a doorknob that we can carry over from my parents’ house into the new house.

We don’t want to be a slave to, but rather be conscious of, other traditions that frankly are more thoughtful about home building than our Western “tradition” of merely building large, soulless, testimonies to fame and fortune.

We want it to be a house of stories, whether they are stories of people who have worked on the project or visited, materials we have used, collections we have gathered, or things that have happened—they all give more meaning to a home. They help craft that Gezellig feeling we noted earlier.

"Your beliefs become your thoughts.
Your thoughts become your words.
Your words become your actions.
Your actions become your habits.
Your habits become your values.
Your values become your destiny." —Mahatma Gandhi

"You have set the powers of the four quarters of the earth to cross each other. You have made me cross the good road and the road of difficulties, and where they cross, the place is holy." —Black Elk