Its been a little over a year since we moved into our new house in Redmond. Jamie, Madeleine and I wanted to take this opportunity to tell you again how much we love the house you designed for us. When we first met, we told you that we wanted a small house (1800 sq ft) that was efficient and elegant. Our image was that it would be like a well-built sailboat-lots of wood, nice lines and no wasted space.

You listened carefully to our vision for the house, the functions it needed to support as our “pocket ranch”, and encouraged us to think more expansively about what our house could be. Your commitment to work with us to make a wonderful distinctive house a reality within the confines of what we were able to spend on it was very appreciated. It wasn’t always easy to keep within the budget-especially as the cost of lumber and other materials started to rise— but we appreciated deeply your willingness to go the extra mile to control the cost while keeping the basic design intact. Through the process we came to trust implicitly both your artistic sensibilities and your pragmatic approach to working with Doug Young, the wonderful builder you recommended.

One moment in the design process that I’ll always appreciate was the day we spent on the site getting the orientation of the house just right. We have some wonderful pictures of you holding the ladder as I climb up to make sure the upstairs views were “just right”. Well, we did get the views just right-the big windows we put upstairs in our reverse plan house are a daily source of joy. The house’s other special touches-the wide wrapping porch with its rough cut timber supports, the wood stairway-give our house its wonderful unique personality.

It was also extremely helpful to have you visit the project during construction to make sure everything was on track. As novices in the house building process, it was a source of great comfort to know that you were working along side Doug Young to make sure that the house was built the way you designed it. Having your input on the inevitable decisions that needed to be made during the construction phase was invaluable.

Thank you again for taking on this “little house” project. It was a true pleasure to work with you to build our house. We are happy to recommend you to others considering building in the Central Oregon area. Thanks again for taking on two “first time house builders” as clients and gently guiding us through the process.

– Ann Bunnenberg
Jamie Ross
Madeleine Bunnenberg-Ross