We had the whole house rebuilt, really: we added a new wing with a master bedroom and bathroom, and a living room underneath; we extended the front of the house and added an atrium; we redid the kitchen completely; we installed all new windows and re-did all stucco on the exterior. It was a big project, taking six-seven months, but it remade the whole house.

My wife and I saw three designers, and we just didn’t get along with one. Another did a design for us, but we didn’t like what they did. They might have misinterpreted what we wanted. North Star came highly recommended by a neighbor, for whom they had done some work. It is difficult to translate what might be only in your head into reality. There were some questions whether what we wanted was doable and whether the house was worth saving or should we tear it down and start from scratch?

The remodeling almost doubled the size of the house. We wanted a much better and bigger kitchen, and the entryway was not suitable. Patricia had children of her own, and we needed space for them. We wanted a real master bedroom suite, which the house had never had.

I was on site quite a bit, so when North Star had questions I was there. I was very favorably impressed with how they worked: they came every day, they worked, they cleaned up after themselves at the end of the day. They always showed up when they said they would; they were good workers and good carpenters. There’s quite a lot of custom woodwork in the house.