In times of crisis you may not be able to invest in a new home but you should always invest in the one you already have.
Probably the change of house you wished for so long is now hopelessly delayed. Banks are hampering credit and times advise for prudence and cost containment.
But the reasons for change, if they aren’t related to the location, should in principle subsist: inadequacy or aging of the current space, because the kitchen, toilet or other rooms are obsolete, or the house needs a general upgrade, or for reasons of functionality that aren’t well solved and in the end have never inspired or convinced you.
In times of crisis when dining out, vacations and other luxuries are continuously addressed, home has to be our area of comfort, our retreat, the center of our world. So, it makes all the sense to invest a bit in its improvement.
If we can’t move, we must make our house the most welcoming as possible. Turn it into a place that will inspire us on a daily basis, able to give us moments of pleasure and sustain us in rough times.
If we can't hire an architect to make us a new house or to remodel the one we thought we would buy, we are likely to succeed in involving him in remodeling the house we already have. To ask for it won't probably cost as much as you're thinking, and the result will make all the difference.
Many people have made the idea that an architect will complicate things, proposing expensive and strange solutions , on a whim. There may be exceptions that confirm this prejudice that is, in most cases, profoundly false: A good professional understands what he's asked for and will propose rational solutions in a creative and customized way, optimized for each space. And in most situations, more economical than a solution proposed by a curious or by someone committed to selling a product or equipment. Apart from that a good project is a shot for the ego. For the architect, but also and especially for his client, that beyond experiencing an immeasurable improvement in his daily life, still witnesses the rising of his property's value.
Such intervention is always an opportunity. Or, a posteriori, a missed opportunity.
2012, November