Welcome to the Design Foundation Blog! Thanks for visiting my first post.
Laying a foundation for your new home, remodel, or addition starts before you dig a footing. A firm foundation begins with a well-planned and documented design.
My name is Damon Rye and I am passionate about authentic home design. With over 20 years’ home design and construction experience and 15 years’ project and program management experience, I’d like to share my experience and knowledge with you and hear your ideas regarding projects that others (and I) have and will be undertaking.
I will be posting at least every two weeks on home design topics from financing to finishing new construction, remodels, and additions. This will be based on current trends and practices as well as past experiences. I will be tracking projects to include contracting (and doing much of the work on) my own barn-style residence scheduled to begin in April and ideas that are incorporated in my on-going residential design portfolio.
This blog will also include a forum on home design and construction-related topics. If this sounds interesting to you, please read on to find out more about me and my business and subscribe to my Design Foundation blog… then share it with your family and friends.
Background
I have 36 years’ experience in home design, drafting, construction, and project management; and I’m an avid DIYer. I have been designing and drawing house plans, building homes, and managing projects since 1983 (yeah, I’m getting old). Until October 2018, my home design and construction experience was a side job while working as a Title 32 technician at the 188th Wing, Ebbing Air Base, Fort Smith, AR. I once heard that you should not retire from something…but to something. So in February 2019, four months after retiring, I established DR Home Design and Consulting.
Mission
DR Home Design & Consulting is a home design and consulting business focused on residential design authenticity.
For design to be authentic, it needs to accurately reflect the values, ideas, and aesthetic of the underlying idea. This sounds simple, but is actually a valuable consideration that requires considerable effort to get right.
– Creative Bloq Staff (Computer Arts)
The Plan
To me, residential design authenticity means creating a foundation by listening to the customer’s ideas, interpreting those ideas, understanding how to integrate them in the design, providing relevant information regarding trends and best practices for the customer’s consideration, and involving the customer throughout the entire design process. That way, the final plan set communicates the customer’s underlying idea.
My Tools
The tools I use to provide a firm design foundation are features of Chief Architect (the home design software I use), my website, this blog, Houzz Idea Books, and Pinterest Boards. My goal is to inform, inspire, and challenge my audience by growing my home design portfolio and creating relevant and informative blog posts and forum content.
The Program
The intent of my blog is to help provide a Design Foundation for those interested in new home construction, a home remodel or addition, and my fellow DIYers. My blog topics will include trends, innovations, craftsmanship, home efficiency, home technology, and the like. I will also convey some of my own home building and DIY project experience, lessons learned, and upcoming projects. My goal is to post a page at least once every two weeks.
The Inspectors
Your feedback is appreciated and encouraged. If you have experience with any of my blog topics, please provide input, suggestions, and even constructive criticism or disagreements. Feel free to start a discussion. Together, we can help create firm design foundations!
I look forward to this portion of my new business and getting to know others with a desire for firm design foundations. I invite you to subscribe to this blog and follow me on Houzz, Pinterest, and Facebook. If you like what you see, please share it with family and friends. And be sure to inspect my work by commenting, following, and pinning!