Staying put* and modifying your existing home has special benefits.  Neighborly relationships continue.    The trees and gardens you’ve nurtured return shade and beauty.  What’s often overlooked is that you can also profit from what you’ve learned from years of living with your house.  You can focus on the problems and not walk away  from what works.

Remodeling and additions are significant investments and should enhance the original house.   This sounds obvious, but too often it’s not the case.  It’s common to see additions that are jarringly out of character, or that degrade existing rooms by blocking daylight and views.

Modifying an existing house, while seeming to restrict possibilities, can in practice focus and magnify creativity.  The thrill of opening up old walls is unmatched.

*see Bloomington author Scott Russell Sanders’s book Staying Put