7:00 am. It’s just another design, just another house, just another mix of concrete and steel…and blood, sweat, smiles, tears. My daughter grew up here. I grew up here, but in a different way. As I walk around the empty rooms one last time, they’re less empty to me than they would be to a stranger, because I still see the people and things that once filled them, and I still hear the sounds of the tools and voices that built them. The hand print of my daughter is still clear in a section of concrete, leaving a permanent record of her presence. It’s the only one, but it’s not alone. So many people left their imprint, which though less tangible, is still as much a part of what we created. David Collins. George Paul. Mert Hull. Guy Cox. Chris Kannenberg. Bill Haney–he quit chewing tobacco while here! Keith. Lee. David. Carl. Even the scoundrels–Ed, Tim, Bob. I guess they made us stronger, because they didn’t kill us. There are some I’m forgetting. Quick, think, before the door closes and it’s too late. I can feel the orchestra ready to play me off the stage. Oh! Angie. Angela. Dave. John. Pam. Mike. Chris. Josh. Ray and crew. Sheelah. Scott. All a part of the story. Every square foot–hell, every square inch–holds a memory, and nothing that might happen to it next will diminish that. New colors, new furniture, new footsteps won’t take away from what we experienced here. The walls plastered by Lee, who lived too hard and died too young. The flying stairs that nearly did me in. The neighbors I wanted to kill. The view to die for. I don’t know why, but these last few hours leading to closing have brought forward the imagery of the last hours leading to the gallows. The psychoanalysis of that can wait for another day. It’s time to go. I don’t know if I’ll look back or not. The whole process is about moving forward. A real estate market that we could neither withstand nor resist, and that in many ways we inadvertently brought on ourselves. Opportunities in other places that we also could not resist. The siren call of an even better future for the two whom I most care about. One last chance to commune with our creation. I’m not sure I’m ready to let go, and I know it’s not ready. It conjured up one last snowstorm to try to strand us on the mountain–yes, I actually believe the house is responsible for that, and don’t try to convince me otherwise. It almost worked, too. We shoved absolutely everything possible into the moving van in a rush so it could leave by driving, rather than sliding. But I stayed back to sit one last time, one last night, with nothing but the coat on my back and the warmth of the heated floors to comfort me. We each–the house I built and me–had a fitful night, but the new day dawned with bright sunshine and a perfectly clear Carolina Blue sky. I can see almost forever, albeit through teary eyes. 9:30 am. Reality strikes quickly. The power company–excuse me, “energy company”–just cut over the service to the new owner, so I’m operating on borrowed power. It’s time. I’ll go now, reluctantly, but I’ll go. 10:00 am. I did look back. But just once. View Image So yeah, you can guess–unless I was too abstruse–that we sold our house in Asheville. Opportunities elsewhere for others in the family. For the moment it’s the Winston-Salem, NC area. Who knows where it will be next. Closing was today, except it wasn’t a real closing. Just attorneys snipping at each other from the safety of their own offices, and me wandering the streets of Asheville till I was beckoned for a signature or a pick up. The new owner originally learned of the house’s existence and availability through its appearance in September’s Architectural Digest, so smartly arranged by our realtor. Everything’s been in the works since then, with a Florida couple coming to grips with a move to the mountains and with a move into a house they loved, but didn’t completely understand. They had so many engineers, appraisers, inspectors crawling over the house in these recent months that we would have felt less probed with a visit to the proctologist. We can’t say the process was fun, but we do appreciate some of what we learned and some of the people we met. Our realtor did her job well, as did our atty, as did the radon dude. Each earned their recompense and our gratitude. Two factors dragged this out over the last year-ish. First, the house is extreme, and not every prospective buyer could accept that for themselves. Surprisingly, the acceptance had little or nothing to do with the shape. Most resistance was to the ultra-contemporary styling with which we designed and built it. Most people in this area, when push comes to shove (i.e., when a lot of money is on the line), prefer a more traditional interior. I can’t tell you how many times the feedback was, “It’s impressive, but we’re looking for something warmer.” And always from the women rather then the men. Oh well, not much we could do about that. We did what suited our tastes, as everyone should do with their own house. In the end, the house matched with the buyers. The second resistance was price. Appraisers are not my favorite people right now, though it all worked out in the end. They assign a price to everything based on “comparable” houses nearby that have sold recently. In our neighborhood, quite a few houses have been sold recently. That established a benchmark pricing range that was hard for us to escape, even though we had features–view, radiant floor heating, computerized lighting, etc–that the others didn’t. But nothing seemed to matter beyond the development and the house size. So while we certainly bested the appraised value by a good amount, it created constant tension. Guess I shouldn’t expect to have it both ways–as a designer, I say that appraisers should compare these houses to similarly sized and located houses without regard to shape, and then when they actually do that, I complain that an exception should be made for us! So, it was hard to escape the pattern set by recent sales in the neighborhood, but the only people with a real right to complain are those still living there, because our sale and the others will cause their taxes (based on market values) to go way up! Then they’ll choose to leave, as we did, and the cycle will beget itself. The focus is now on all that comes next in life: setting new priorities, rebalancing, relaxing a bit without the pressure of two homesteads. We loved what we did and are grateful for the opportunity to live in a house that worked so well for us. Some day we’ll likely do it again, but only after we’re certain of where we’ll “permanently” land, which will depend a lot–just as with this move–on what’s best for Meili. Building is too hard work to be undertaken until you’re committed to an area, and right now we’re just visiting for awhile. Of course I’m still designing houses like this, and only like this. I’m more committed to them than ever. If anything, we’ve shown that there is a good market for a well-designed and built house of this genre, and that the market value should meet or exceed that of its traditional peers. For us, that never was in question. Not for the buyers either. In the end, all the typical market factors apply–location, location, location.
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Cloud,
There is no comprable home. You are a creator You are a maestro.
Chuck S.
SamT
Now if I could just remember that I am a businessman with a hammer and not a craftsman with a business....."anonymous". . .segundo
Wow, that is a beautiful space you've created there. Looks plenty warm to me, what with the way light enters the room, the curved shapes, the interplay of light and shadow.
You, your family, and the dozens who worked with you, have left the world a better place. Thanks.
Look on the bright side - every change means a great opportunity to meet new challenges.
and
not more problems with THAT neighbor!
;)
Welcome to the
Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime.
where ...
Excellence is its own reward!
Darn shame I didn't make the trip to see the place in person.
I don't know yet what it must feel like the first time you sell the home you built with passion.
Best of luck down the road.A great place for Information, Comraderie, and a sucker punch.
Remodeling Contractor just outside the Glass City.
http://www.quittintime.com/
can still see the place. just tell new HOs that we are advisors that come with the place at no extra cost doing follow-up inspections.
Welcome to the Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime. where ... Excellence is its own reward!
jim.... thanks for the post... great lyric ramblings
best of luck and keep on postingMike Smith Rhode Island : Design / Build / Repair / Restore
I'm really sorry to read this, Cloud. "Schocked" is more accurate.
(didn't mean that "bunker" crack a few years ago you know <BFG>)
Romania wasn't built in a day.
Nice read Jim
Good luck wherever you end up.
Doug
Cloud, I take back the TeleTubby house joke from a few years ago...
Seriously, this frees you up to do the next great thing. Please post pics!"War is God's way of teaching Americans geography." Ambrose Bierce
Okay, you're getting closer to the coast, which is where your dome-iciles would shine...and when you do, make it a really big one, with plenty of room for the RocK 'n Roll Rest Home<G>Hey, good luck, stop by if you're over here, and keep us posted on your new neighbors<G> "But to be honest some folks here have been pushing the envelope quite a bit with their unnecessary use if swear words. They just put a character in to replace a letter. But everyone knows what they're saying." Sancho FREE CAROLE
I've had no problem with the neighbors here in W-S, and we've been here a year. If we did have problems, I'd have known it was me--you know the joke: who's the common factor in all of your failed relationships?!Let's just say that I'm not sad to stick either neighbor with the other--they deserve each other. And not sad that I'll be at least partially responsible for causing some taxes to increase. But that's as much of a parting shot as I could muster.Everything else is normal. Still designing the same stuff, with houses going up in a variety of places. Only thing different is I don't have as big a tax bill or as many sf to clean and maintain. And that's a good thing.
Nice reflection on your home.
So THATS why you said "shhhh" when I asked you about the pic in Arch Digest last year!
Forrest - Knew somthin' funny wuz goin' on
>So THATS why you said "shhhh" when I asked you about the pic in Arch Digest last year!Yeah, I found the "so has it sold yet?" questions to be depressing, even though well-intentioned. Even though I did pretty good with being patient, it's still a stressful process, and the uncertainty of market value of any extreme house adds to that.
missed you moved.hope things are goodwhen will you change your screen name, and what will it be? Colonial, Federal, raised ranch?? telephone pool hidden?
bobl Volo, non valeo
Baloney detecter WFR
"But when you're a kibbutzer and have no responsibility to decide the facts and apply the law, you can reach any conclusion you want because it doesn't matter." SHG
...telephone pool hidden?
I'm having a hard time getting a visual on this one - it sounds like a new arch form -
to Jim - best of luck with your move and new abode, whatever its form - and with your family, the most important part of life -
there's a saying (scripture?) that I can't find right now to the point that it's better to live in a tent with love than a mansion in the other state -
see ya on the internets -
"there's enough for everyone"
http://cloudhidden.itsa.infoThose pix were snapped by a photographer hired by the realtor.http://homepage.mac.com/cloudhidden/PhotoAlbum15.html has the history of the project. In there you'll see one of my daughter as a toddler in front of turned up pex where it will connect to the manifold. That picture was a recent lifesaver. We tested at 15 on radon. Contract requires < 4. Radon contractor decided to drill through the slab. I warned him of the RFH that he hadn't been told about by the realtor. We used those pix to identify a safe spot to almost the inch. Since we had maybe 12 hours between results from the lab and closing, there was no time for a screw up by perfing a tube. We marked a spot and he made a clean hole, finished on time, and the 11th hour results came in at 2.5. It was the last hurdle, and a huge one at that.
Jim - thanks for the links. DW and I just went through them frame by frame. Just wow. Great design and execution; nice balance, etc., etc.
I know it was hard to leave!
Forrest - guess we can't come visit now . . .
Quite a tribute Jim.
I hope that someday I'll have an attachment to a house equivalent to your own.
We've been in ours going on 13 years now. We could move tomorrow without hesitation. While the place is finally growing on me, I absolutely HATED this house for the first ten years here.
It's certainly a home for my family....but I believe we'd make any four walls with a roof comfortable enough.
Someday...someday.....I'll build the "castle" I'll wish to die in.
I hope you are eventually able to recreate that bond, where ever it may be.
Best of luck.
J. D. Reynolds
Home Improvements
Well I guess congratulations are still in order. Best of luck to you and your family. New day, new opportunities and all that.
It sounds like you have been in WS for a while? You didn't but a rectangular house did you?
Meile at a new club? Making new friends and fitting in school well?
I appologize for not hooking up with you when we were near. Good intentions and all but time didn't allow.
Anyways, I did see your house was for sale but I did not want to say anything here as I felt is was somewhat private.
I can understand the mixed feelings regarding the sale. I know you all had alot of your hearts in that home. Smile, think fondly of all your memories and count your money.
You summed it up quite well. The emotions of the last night and morning caught me a little off guard. It was pretty much a transaction up till then, but there was something about being there alone and communing with it while empty that made all the memories flood in. It was a peaceful time--one of those "moments" that burn into the memory deeper than most. The morning of my wedding was another. Meeting Meili the first time, too.We've been in W-S for a year and five months. Took me 6 of those months to finish prepping the prior house. Had help, but he broke his leg and that turned one month of work into six. Bought a regular ol' house here. Don't know if we'll stay long enough to warrant the time investment of building, so we were stuck with what's available. I'm ok with it as long as I don't reminisce about the RFH, sturdiness, hot water recirc, views, space, lighting system......oh shoot, there I go...Meili's with a good gym, and that was part of the move. Once we'd determined to sell--purely financial, with values (and TAXES) tripling in about 5 years--then the big question was, to where? We're at one of the top gyms in the state, and quite happy. She's learned so much more than she would have where we were. She just migrated to Level 7 and the optional routines. That's so much better suited to her than compulsories. Her first meet was this past weekend, and she scored higher (despite new and harder skills, and only 5 weeks to prepare) than in the entire Level 6 season this fall! Came oh so close to having the top L7 score of the meet. In the words of Max Samrt, "Missed it by thaaaaaat much."Great schools, too. They have a full-time AG (Academically Gifted) program versus only a couple hours a week in Asheville. She made the transition so well it's scary. She's far more mature than the adults involved!Thanks re the privacy part. A few people ran across it and asked, but all deferred, and I appreciate that. It was stressful enough without playing that out in public.Y'all doing ok?
Y'all doing ok?
Yup, life is good.
My younger daughter just moved to L7 also. Picked "Walking on Sunshine" for her music.
Meile's?
Benny for your Thoughts
Jim
I’m a little saddened to hear that you’ve sold Cloud-Hidden. I’m sure that you feel you left a piece of yourself there. I sure enjoyed reading and watching the building process. I would be remiss to say that I was a little envious of your home in the Carolina hills.
Do you have plans to build another dome? I sure hope there are plans for another dome in the near future. I would relish watching a new dome take shape and see what new adventures you would have with this one. Also, I hope you’ll continue to give us sagely advice on the Monolithic Dome site.
Are you planning to continue with your design service?
Best of luck and hope to see your comments on Breaktime.
Tim
well mr.if you are out travelin around and happen to find yourself
around Mt. Airy go a little farther north up the mountain to Fancy Gap
when you get there, get out the truck--holler real loud --if I dont hear ya
my kin peeps will. I,ll take ya fishin or grounghog huntin or something.yer
allmost there, but you are still about 85 miles south of Gods country. cl:)>DW
That was a great read, thanks for sharing it.
Now you can start working on designing the next one...even if you aren't going to build it right away.
jt8
"Holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one getting burned."
-- Buddha
Can I sleep for a few years first? I'm tired.
Takes a new gf to forget the old one ;)
(speaking of the house, that is)
So maybe a couple months, but not a couple YEARS. You'll start thinking, "that section of the house was really cool, but I wonder what it would be like if we did..." And then you'll just get sucked back into it.
Living in rectangles is for squares.
jt8
"Holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one getting burned."-- Buddha
The whole design issue gets frustrating sometimes. Good design is good design. But people like to get caught up in tradition, trends, what's stuck in their heads, etc..
Did some house concepts for a couple retiring to the mountains in Asheville about ten years ago. Cool, interesting older couple. They named their furniture (i remember 'Herman' was this big antique china cabinet). Long story, but i did the designs for free in exchange for some artistic license. The first version was modern/contemporary (lots of glass, corrugated metal siding, simple forms . . . sorry, no curves). She hated it. Came up with 3 more designs afterwards, each one getting more traditional. The first one was pretty artsy. But any of the final 3 would've been fine in any FH issue.
She had drawn her own floor plans, and it turned out she only wanted something to wrap around what she'd drawn. DW and I had dinner at their house once to see how they lived. They were both pack rats, with crap everywhere. And what she'd drawn was an open floor plan with no storage (contrary to her own typed program in the first place). Which meant they'd eventually be trading one garbage pile for another.
We ended up parting ways. It was amicable, and i'm sure they built something they liked, but continuing just wouldn't have worked for either of us. So keep doing your spheres. And the next time neighbors and appraisers start to gripe about your circles:
chest out
chin up
and in gymnastic terms, tell them to stick it.
life's too short :)
Jim, sad but sweet, I am gonna miss visiting there, when I am in the hills visiting my Grandson, but man, ..what a place ya made, what a place.
Sniff...
Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
The secret to a long life is knowing when its time to go. M. Shocked
Duane, you were one of only two BT people to see it, and the other's no longer around. The only one who can testify that it really existed, and wasn't just an elaborate fabrication by me! :)This "for sale" stuff is why I've been vague about not being around the recent times you'd visit the area. It wasn't personal...
few of us will live more than a generation past our passing in stories told by others about us... a few will have written a song that will outlast us, a very few will have an impact on history, and even less with have a statue of our likeness placed in public...
you my friend have a monument to you and your craft
thanks for sharing
p
Well, I was honored to have the tour you so graciously gave. And even more honored that you asked my advice on a little leak problem..LOL.
It certainly was a REAL dream house...I learned alot just seeing it in real life.
So I guess ya finished all those loose ends (G).
Catch ya next trip down that way maybe.
Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
The secret to a long life is knowing when its time to go. M. Shocked
Beautiful gorgeous home. You are a master.
blue
"...if you just do what you think is best testing those limits... it's pretty easy to find exactly where the line is...."
From the best of TauntonU.
I saw that in AD and wanted it!
You can be so proud of that house...Good luck!
What is the issue of AD you were in? I must of missed it.Friends help you move.
Real friends help you move bodies!
September 2006...Editor's Choice Estates for Sale
Thanks.
Not sure if I should say congrats or sorry, so I have decided to say "sorgrats" on the sale of cloudhiddenFriends help you move.
Real friends help you move bodies!
No "sorry" needed. It's a good thing. Everything has its time, and this was the right time. That house has afforded us the opportunity to do and experience a lot in the future, and for that we will always be grateful.And now, let's all hold hands and sing Turn, Turn, Turn followed by Kumbaya:To everything - turn, turn, turn
There is a season - turn, turn, turn
And a time for every purpose under heavenA time to be born, a time to die
A time to plant, a time to reap
A time to kill, a time to heal
A time to laugh, a time to weepA time to build up, a time to break down
A time to dance, a time to mourn
A time to cast away stones
A time to gather stones togetherA time of war, a time of peace
A time of love, a time of hate
A time you may embrace
A time to refrain from embracingA time to gain, a time to lose
A time to rend, a time to sew
A time to love, a time to hate
A time of peace, I swear it's not too late!
We moved from our "dream home" about 7 months ago. I remember going back for the last load and making sure it was clean for the new owners, when I left the driveway i was crying. Went to the lake once this summer and my house was the last one before the public dock, when I passed it I really got sad. Did notice that some of my unfinished outdoor stuff was finished though.
Course we sold and moved because we had to, we were suprised by how quick it did sell with our real estate market the way it is.Friends help you move.
Real friends help you move bodies!
>we were suprised by how quick it did sell with our real estate market the way it is.I've said, and continue to say, "There's always a market for quality."
Thank you Carol, ponytl, and others.