Early design inspiration

When I was in elementary school, I spent endless hours as design consultant to a couple named Steve and Stephanie Sunshine. An ecologically minded couple on a tight budget – they were also new parents – the Sunshines urged me to reuse and recycle whenever possible. Egg cartons, plastic strawberry containers and toothpaste caps all found repurposed places in the Sunshines’ modest four-room home (as a light fixture, crib for baby Sweets and trash bins, respectively). I think they really appreciated the uniqueness of the custom items I created for them.

Because I didn’t have any sewing skills to speak of, Kleenex became the all-purpose fabric of choice for blankets, pillows and clothing, reinforced with a good deal of tape. Cardboard boxes, plastic lids, wrapping paper, beads and yarn all held a galaxy of possibilities. It was not playing with these dolls, making them talk and interact, that was so much fun, but the process of deciding what they needed for comfortable lives and then figuring out how to make it from whatever I could scrounge up.

Designing and making things for the Sunshines’ home sparked an early love of fixing things up that was not reignited until A. and I moved into the 1527 house. With a limited budget but plenty of weekend and after-work hours, we figured “Why not try?” Joint compound, a wonderbar, tin tiles and 2x4s became the new materials holding dreamy possibilities. An investment in a basic sewing machine and scrutiny of its accompanying guidebook helped me step up to creating curtains and covers out of real fabric.

Comparing our most recent project to our earlier ones, I am amazed by how much we’ve learned and how many new skills (and tools) we have collected. What I have always loved most about every one of our projects is that we did them ourselves and we did them together (and that we are still together!). For many projects, professionals are definitely needed. For many other things, a fabulous purchase cannot be beat.

But for plenty of others, a little sawing/stitching/sanding/spackling turns out something that is just right.

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