FAY

“Mark brought both creativity and design to our project… he came up with an idea that was much bigger than we originally had and it worked perfectly…. Mark understood what we wanted to accomplish, the project came together very well….”

- Ruth Fay

About this project:

It just seems natural, maybe necessary, to become quite close to the intimate details of your client and their family when designing their home. In this case, Dennis and Ruth Fay and their kids were already close friends. We had watched each other’s kids grow up, vacationed together, and I had even designed a kitchen remodel for them about 7 years ago.

Six years hence, they asked me to spread the joy around the rest of the house. I really didn’t have any way of knowing what form that joy might ultimately take for Ruth and her kids. I could not have known that Dennis would set out his desires for the home, but would not experience, in this lifetime, the joy of living there again.

It is poignant to say that, since this home represented to Ruth, the dreams and plans they shared at home together, she quite plainly states, she will never move from this home. She considers it to be a bigger than life reminder of their lives together. He seems somehow still present in the small details we fashioned around his particular desires. Knowing his passion for surfing, the wave form of the ceiling and the wooden “surf board” beams were conceived before his illness. The front door made from the same wood as the “Duke’s” surfboard was selected to honor Dennis.

It was quite wonderful to see the extra care and concern each tradesman took in their craft, knowing this house, although modest in scale, could be monumental.