Who are the people you spend the most time with?
I’m not extremely social and don’t have a group I hang with on a regular basis. I have a few friends, none of whom know each other, that I see individually on a semi-regular basis; but the people who take up the lion’s share of my time are the workers on my property and in my house.
It all started ten years ago when a tall cedar tree fell on my roof. After getting the roof replaced, I just kept going, hiring different locals to do different things on the house. One thing led to another until I now live in an almost totally transformed home. I had to be present constantly because I had strong ideas about what I wanted done and these guys needed direction and inspiration. Most of them didn’t believe they could even do what I was asking, but every one of them went beyond their limits and did amazingly artistic and structurally interesting things. One guy even said as much—After building a 3 dimentional, 7- foot high glass shadow box on the wall enclosing a wallpaper photo of the old World Trade Center, (twin towers) so that it appeared to be a window in a NYC condo with a great view—he stood back in wonderment at the finished product and said, “I can’t believe I actually did that!”
Another guy built a coffered ceiling in my garage which I turned into a speakeasy for my husband. I told him what I wanted. He scratched his head and slept on it. The next day he was there bright and early building the framework on the floor. It took over a week to complete, then he and a couple of his crewmen raised it up from the floor and affixed it to the ceiling, lined it in tiny recessed lights, etc—it was a real accomplishment.
Having such very close and trusting relationships with these workmen has been one of the most fulfilling encounters with humanity that I ever had. It’s been going on for ten years and I hope it continues for another ten.
It all started ten years ago when a tall cedar tree fell on my roof. After getting the roof replaced, I just kept going, hiring different locals to do different things on the house. One thing led to another until I now live in an almost totally transformed home. I had to be present constantly because I had strong ideas about what I wanted done and these guys needed direction and inspiration. Most of them didn’t believe they could even do what I was asking, but every one of them went beyond their limits and did amazingly artistic and structurally interesting things. One guy even said as much—After building a 3 dimentional, 7- foot high glass shadow box on the wall enclosing a wallpaper photo of the old World Trade Center, (twin towers) so that it appeared to be a window in a NYC condo with a great view—he stood back in wonderment at the finished product and said, “I can’t believe I actually did that!”
Another guy built a coffered ceiling in my garage which I turned into a speakeasy for my husband. I told him what I wanted. He scratched his head and slept on it. The next day he was there bright and early building the framework on the floor. It took over a week to complete, then he and a couple of his crewmen raised it up from the floor and affixed it to the ceiling, lined it in tiny recessed lights, etc—it was a real accomplishment.
Having such very close and trusting relationships with these workmen has been one of the most fulfilling encounters with humanity that I ever had. It’s been going on for ten years and I hope it continues for another ten.
