Almost 20 years ago we bought a place in the suburban town where I grew up. It had the best laid out double size lot with neat accessory buildings but it also had an absolutely horrible, over remodeled by a bad do-it-yourselfer, house.
After 20 years we paid it off and I got the (dumb) idea to tear down the old house and build a new one. (Building custom homes is NOT normal in the suburban Los Angeles area) We started down this path about 3 years before my wife’s Dx. My wife reviewed and we discussed the many necessary decisions and it was something we were doing together. I asked for building suggestions from this board a long time ago and many of you offered excellent ones that we incorporated. Thank you!
We hired an Architect & drew up plans. Then the market collapsed and there were no construction loans for at least 18 months. It has taken us about 6 years (and my wife’s ALZ retirement) to get to this point. But in January we finally did it. We drove a bulldozer over the old house and began construction
I tried to do it right. 100% green construction (it qualifies for LEED certification) using all steel framing. (no wood) Our contractor had never built a residential home in steel before and wonders why we went the extra effort. (We hate termites) It is over insulated with spray foam, it is solar powered and over engineered.
Planning ahead (see: aging in place) It is 100% handicapped accessible on the first floor. Extra wide doors, total flat floor, wheelchair ramp out front. (Nobody is in a WC yet) Master bath is 100% wheelchair accessible for the shower. There is a trapeze over the tub to aid entry/exit and grab bars everywhere! I even had the outlets put 18”off the floor so you don’t have to bend down as far.
Lots of money (WAY TOO MUCH!) but I figure whatever money was not put into the house the NH was going to get anyway, so I drained the savings accounts. . . . . (Spend down early – we have no kids) It is certainly the LAST thing we are ever going to do together. (I cant imagine building another house!)
ANYWAY. . . . I want to install a corner stone with the dates and the names of the architect & builder I also think the house should have a name. Grand houses commonly do.
I do NOT want to use my own name because I built it not only for me but also for the next buyer. In design and building I have tried to anticipate what will be functionally in style 20+ years from now. I do NOT want to use any generic pabulum name like “Mountain View” or “Meadow Glen”.
Ideally I would like to tie the green construction & handicapped access in a cute name that you might have to think about to understand. The Way It Ought To Be The Way It Should Be What could be. . . Steel & Sealed Dunbildn Dunitright Fawdafuture The House That Built Me
In researching the names of great homes (see: Newport RI) I see that they are not phrases (they contain only about 2-3 words) and not more than a few syllables and are not jokes or funny.
I think I have finally settled on a name . . . . “Steel Memories”
Whatta think?
I have also considered the phrases below but they just seem too long and more like an epitaph: Building Life on Steel Memories Built for Living on Steel Memories Green Living and Steel Memories Green Living for you Steel Memories for me Built Right for Today with Steel Memories from Yesterday Sustainable Futures and Steel Memories
I like something like The House That Built Me. That might be too many words I don't know but the reason why I like that name is because the description you gave of the house sounds like the way we need to be in dealing with this disease. Sturdy and accessable!!!! Also because when you first started it she hadn't been diagnosed and you grew into a caregiver and (sounds like a very caring caregiver) you have thought of everything that a person would ever need to make their life easier.
Steel makes me think of Jim Steel which was the narrator's pseudonym in Catcher in the Rye...or something close to that.
I'm a little like Nikki here, having trouble "steeling" myself sufficiently to think up a very upbeat moniker. Which is why "Steeling Ourselves" came to mind, because it's what I have to do in this game.
I think my house should be named "Blood, Sweat and Tears." Especially since Jeff bought albums by that group, and very few others, in the 70s.
There's always the original German name for Silent Night: Stille Nacht. (sounds something like "shteela nahkt.")
Or "Steel Standing," because it's bound to carry within its frame the spirit of your life together.
Interesting choice you made by building the house. When I asked an elderlaw attorney about spending down IRA's to pay off the mortgage, the response was "people don't do that". I hope that you are able to keep your wife at home for a significant period of time after putting so much into building the house. That was my plan, but I didn't expect the disease to play out the way it did in my husband (frequent need for major med adjustments).