sierraeast: you're talking mostly about doing building projects for other people--not yourself--right? Is it different when you do it for yourself? Here's my take on that: First, those of us who know nothing about building are more tossed about by all its jaggedness because we have no idea what specifics to expect. Or how they get dealt with. To a pro, you are (eventually) aware of WHAT can go wrong. And also, of how to fix it. Or, at least, that it CAN be fixed. We amateurs know none of this. Secondly, even for a pro, when it's your own it's more emotional. I would think. Just like when family has some problem rather than a stranger you hear about. My own pathetic attempts to prepare myself for all this have consisted of learning all I can about what's ahead (to cope with the first aspect I just described). And for the second, everyday I try to adjust my attitude. Since we got tossed around on the sea of home design and architects, I decided to try REALLY hard to act "as if" this is someone else's house. Just a project I'm working on. As much as I have gotten involved in my own professional work, a project there has never been as gut-wrenching/mind-warping as a project for myself outside of work. So, I'm trying to act like this is "just" a job. (Bear in mind I have never been good at professional detachment either! But, a little better.) The one benefit I can see so far is that I'm approaching things more on an intellectual level. Doing a lot of learning, listening, problem-solving. TRYING to act like I'm doing this for someone else. I try to interrupt myself, distract myself with another activity or other thoughts or TV or music or talk radio, or something--every time I start to wallow in emotion. Remember years ago when the mental health field was recommending expressing your anger? Beating pillows, screaming in the bathroom, etc.? I do. It was 20 years later when the research came out indicating this was exactly the wrong thing to do. That it resulted in a vicious cycle of more and more anger. The better way was said to be to simply acknowledge, to yourself, your feelings. And then go about your business and let them sort themselves out. So, I'm trying to apply that tidbit of knowledge and not let myself increase my own misery. I'm admitting what I feel, then trying to just let it be. Not feed it or whip it into a frenzy (and I'm totally capable of frenzying up anything). Strong feelings will dissipate with time if left to be. I'll find out how well this works. Cause I gotta say, going into this I thought I'd never get this far. I really thought I couldn't STAND it.

The question is...does it matter? I think it does, because words matter. We throw around words on this board constantly when we really mean other things, and I too am guilty of this. Custom really doesn't mean custom when used on this board, it means architect. So someone who maybe isn't experienced on this board may see the word "custom" and think they designed their house from the ground up, therefore it is very custom. When most posters really mean the house needs someone with professional design experience and some measure of talent to guide you through the design process or actually design the home. ----------- Also a better understanding of the differentiation can lead to better advice. In the area I was born in (an area that I still own land in), the major tract builder can build a 4,000 square foot house for under $280,000. If you can't differentiate between a tract and production builder, it is hard to understand how that is possible. ----------- Finally, I am not sure this board does a great job these days of helping people build a home. I might be alone in this, but I would prefer a well built, poorly designed home over a poorly built, well designed home. We focus so much on the design process and the freedom you have to make selections that we sometimes miss the real tragedy of production and tract builders, the shortcuts they take in construction in order to deliver those appealing prices. While I agree custom homes are better than semi-custom and semi-custom is better than production, etc., the real quality cutoff for me is control of the how the walls are built rather than where they are built. For me this is the biggest draw for an architect and the thing rarely touched on, but may actually pay dividends far into the future that make architects not only affordable, but profitable for those value conscious consumers. Again, this is just my opinion.

Funny that 1500-1700 square feet is "smaller" here in the US. A little perspective: in most European nations, that's a BIG house. For example, the typical middle class French house, out away from the big cities where land is more affordable, is still only 800-1100 square feet. A 1500 square foot house for sale there is advertised as "for big families." But to get to the gist of things here, your 1920s house will be a fundamentally sturdier and longer lasting house than anything being built today. Modern lumber can't come close to the dense, solid old growth wood that was used in houses then. I know, I've drilled into both! Current lumber is softer, more flawed. Just look at a house under construction. Many dimensional boards supplied are warped, bent, scarred with knots. I've seen evidence of previous insect infestations. Even modern lumber's nominal dimensions are smaller than in the old days. And sometimes they cheat even that; I've bought lumber in the last few years and had to adapt my projects to the lumber's actual dimensions, a fraction of an inch smaller than the supposed nominal. Old houses were designed to be plenty strong, by architects with seat-of-the-pants experience. Modern architects use computers to adopt the cheapest, lightest, flimsiest materials and design that will still hold the house up. It's all about a low price while still maximizing return for the builder and his investors. Wall Street requires it. I expect that your 1920 house will still be standing proudly a couple hundred years from now, when the newer houses around it have fallen down, or been torn down to be rebuilt.

@Mrs. Pete - I have a Panasonic Whisper and it seems to be highly rated so in my limited experience, I can recommend one of their models. My designer selected the exact models based on whatever was necessary for Code and my bathroom configuration. It seems to work really well - it runs for a period of time after someone showers but is very quiet. Not sure if it's semantics but they read humidity and not steam per se so there doesn't have to be visible moisture or steam for them to operate. Originally mine were set to be too sensitive so they were going off for no apparent reason - i.e. in the afternoon when no one had taken a shower for many hours. When my HVAC made a service call on something else, he kindly adjusted it so that it was less sensitive which is fine. I am not sure why people generate so much steam. I have a moderately large shower (footprint of the original tub/shower combination with glass doors that don't completely go to the ceiling. After turning on the shower for about a minute, the inside of the shower glass becomes condensed and the temperature of the shower becomes comfortably warm. There is NO condensation on my mirrors and the fan continues to operate for awhile afterwards. The floor and walls of my shower as well as the shower glass are dry after a relatively short period of time - i.e. the next time I use the bathroom after a shower. I don't think I would want a fan IN the shower because it would be taking away the nice toasty warm being generated and the fan mounted in the ceiling outside the shower seems to work fine. I keep the shower door closed but generally my master bath door is open. I have sliding mirror glass doors immediately at the entrance to the bathroom and these have never shown the slightest bit of condensation or moisture escaping from the bathroom.