Overlays

Overlays

We are planning a remodeling project for our home.  The architect/designers that we chose came to the house and made detailed drawings of its present configuration – they call it the “as built” drawing.

Then they imagined some of the ways that our space could be transformed to work better for us.  They drew those plans on translucent paper in exactly the same scale as the “as built” drawings – these are the “overlays.”  When you put the new plan on top of the current one, you can see exactly what is to be changed and what will remain.  Pulling back a corner of the overlay is like a time machine – from the present to the future.

Earlier this summer I spent a night in the Illinois town where I grew up. Continue reading