our almost architect

On Friday, The Wall Street Journal featured this gorgeous Charlottesville home designed by David Day, "the architect who got away".

Back when we were first getting serious about our renovation project, we interviewed David, who was then working with Watershed Architects here in Richmond. We liked him instantly, and we loved the suggestions he made about the project as he walked through the house with us, so we offered him the job. We were sorely disappointed when he -- gently and politely-- turned us down.

The story has a happy ending, though. We're grateful to David for connecting us with Scott Broaddus, who worked so collaboratively with us to produce a design that we're still delighted with and that we're constantly getting compliments on. Scott, who is a friend and former 3North colleague of David's, graciously incorporated the ideas from David that we had liked so much, and then added many ingenious touches of his own.

My favorite contribution of David's was the idea to use the chimney that penetrated the center of the attic as the headboard for our bed. It sounds simple enough in retrospect, but it was actually an ingenious solution to a conundrum about how to divide up the upstairs space in a way that wouldn't make the master bedroom feel cramped. Now we get the larger half of the upstairs for our bedroom, divided into sleeping and sitting areas by the column of brick that comes up through the center of the room.