Project MA(y)HE(o)M(e)

"For good plans, you pay now.  For bad plans, you may pay now and will pay later."

Apt word of caution for any one who's pipe-dreamin of  building a space of his own..!!
Well we fell into that pipe too ... :)

Vani & Chin were two happy souls- Good old pals who decided to be friends for life...
Their life was relaxed, chilled, laid back...like any other IT couple who spend 5 days cannonballing through traffic; deadlines & defects & the weekend whiling time ,shopping for unnecessary stuff; worrying abt the peanutty salary & miniscule, receding account balance -thinking...(mind it only thinking)..about achieving smthng big some day !!

And then, on a not so "dark & stormy day" (rather...a very bright & sunny day as summer was around), the brilliant idea of possessing a house of their own banged in their heads...tht's where the fun began...

Survey, going thru numerous ads, visiting places in the scorching sun, collecting brochures, brainstorming, evaluating affordability went on for months ....all they did for a couple of weekends was call up agents, set time, visit sites, brainstorm agn...
Poor souls...by EOW(End of Weekend) they were exhausted, irritated,mortified & petrified...so much so that thy longed for the weekdays & hated weekends... :-)

After 3 months of hunting they decided to call it quits & be contended with the rented place..but the sorry traffic only added to their woes...& they started looking out agn...but a rented spot this time ...well that was not meant to be..3 years in a comfortable house only spoils ppl & thy don't want to settle for less..

This lead to the revival of HouseHunt..they went over few options & finally narrowed down on the same apartment they liked 3 months back....but Vani was admant as it wasn't a comfortable travel given the distance & the lonely stretch(that was the only excuse she had..the place was jus awesome..but she was used to getting down the apartment n stepping into an auto, she thought it wasn't worth the pain.."SpoilSport !!!")
So this kind of went into a pending state....for as long as 2 months..it took considerable amt of cajoling, visiting the place n times & reflecting back for her to agree..(Pity Chin...din't take him this much time & effort to get her to say "Yes" the first time...Aah...!! ...<no more comments> !!)

Finally the house was purchased, formalities done...how u wish it was that easy..now u need to turn the house into your home..nothin emotional here..builders are smart ppl..they sell u a ready to move-in house..which is not really ready to move-in....that's where the designers debut....builders might be smart but these guys...thy surpass everyone....u gain PhD in Mortification...

So the bubbling enthusiasm of designing a space of their own -which was clutter-free, super-contemporary,out of the ordinary(a smart home to be short) was curbed down by the struggle that went in planning & getting the basics right.

I read this amazing quote smwhere :
"Do you think that the devil's in the house plan details?   The only devil in the house plan details of whom we know is the devil serving lazy, lousy home designers and home builders."

True..Devils they are...devils you cannot curse, scream, yell at, thy make u drink from your nose & make u feel happy abt it...u got to turn ur grimaces into grins..snarls into sweet talks...scowl into smiles....u gotta master the art of patience...!!

Phew...!! Vani & Chin -here they were caught into an infinite loop of travelling b/w work, new house & old house..(and our dear spoilsport was also working on a prjct with so calld strict deadlines...she found it easy to skip the new home class..Chin was all by himself..into the deep dust (..of wood accumulated in the house...) it was like a 30 km ride each day....problems din't see an end, there were absolutely no solutions...none..just a lousy bunch of people(the devils) who thought they were too good with their work no matter how mch thy spoiled it...
                      
                      Project My Home turned into Project Mayhem..

On & on it went...thanks to the devils...the notice to the landlord was revised twice..and then the deadline came in..thy had to move...!!! Yes move to the new house..but guess what...timelines were not met..it was still not ready to move-in..but thy did move-in..hoping one day..yes one day thy'll have the chance to unpack..

This gets me to another tailored to perfection set I read :
"Whatever you know about designing a home isn't likely much.  Really.  Whatever you know about building a home isn't likely much, either.  For sure.   So where you are is in-between folks who know way more than you do about the home you're paying out the nose to get home-designed and built, live in for maybe a major chunk of your time on this earth, sell someday to cash-in.  You know more about groceries than about home design and home building.  That can change, but only if it's in you to get from here to there"

We will get from here to there..."We shall overcome...we shall overcome..Someday...!!"