Still Becoming
Written By Harmony Morris
The first time I met them, they sat close together at the end of my desk. His hands folded before him and hers clutching a folder full of inspiration, hopes and dreams. Both, their eyes bright.
There is something about them - a kind of quiet excitement that feels almost youthful, despite leaning into retirement. They’ve raised their family, watched their children raise theirs, and now they are ready to create something just for themselves. Not something bigger or flashier, just something truer.
They’d been searching for the right architect, knowing the time was coming to move from their townhouse, nestled into a very social community, to something more private. They found a gem of a property with a lot of potential for single floor living, but they lack the ability to envision what it could become. “This isn’t just a renovation,” she told me. “This will be our forever home.”
At their second meeting, I asked why they chose to work with us. They said it felt right, right from the beginning. “There’s something about having a woman at the helm of this project,” she said, her eyes softening as she confesses. Design, at this stage of life, is less about impressing the world and much more about creating a home deeply authentic to the journey that brought them here.
The modest ranch sits on a quiet street lined with mature trees. It’s unassuming but soon, it will transform. The roofline will stretch outward to embrace a generous new porch. One from where they’ll greet the neighbors with a friendly wave. Inside, we will move the staircase and shift the walls to open a bit so light will travel easily from room to room. A small library will become the heart of the home. A collection of well read children’s books, photo albums and novels that captivated them along the way. A new mudroom to collect their loved ones’ coats upon visiting. A craft room for her to explore her creative nature. The primary suite, calm and unhurried, will hold the quiet luxury they’ve earned through a lifetime of caring for others.
The intuition behind good design is most noticed by those who will benefit the most. Many clients come with a ‘problem’ that has acted as a catalyst for a home transformation but don’t know what the solution looks like. As I get to know them, I often am able to interpret what they want before they can find the words for it themselves. In the case of this sweet couple, what they were asking for wasn’t just a home, they needed a place where they could continue to evolve.
Walking through the space now, even in its unfinished state, I can feel their story in the air. I can see them here together years from now, still teasing each other, still sharing coffee on that porch. It makes me think about how we never really stop growing. Even as the world quiets around us, even as we “settle down,” we keep discovering new ways to belong to our own lives. To each other.
When done well, the design process has a way of revealing that truth. It doesn’t freeze time; it gives time form and a place to unfold. Now, standing in the middle of the little ranch house, the blueprints scattered around me, the sunlight shifts across the plans; the same sunlight that will warm their many days to come It is in these moments when I feel closest to my clients. The passion I feel for the work I do warms my chest and it occurs to me: we are all, at any age, still becoming.
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Harmony is the in-house architectural designer and founder of Creative Concierge, the design department within Creative Building Concepts where she specializes in creating custom residential spaces with timeless character and thoughtful detail. When she’s not sketching floor plans or walking job sites, you’ll find her mentoring and teaching young, aspiring designers through class and application. She lives just outside of Carlisle within a private plot in the woods, among her beloved gardens with her husband, their three kids and two rambunctious border collies.