Are you changing your house, or is it changing you?

Something is always changing. The light is always changing. The weather, the seasons, the moonlight is always shifting the way we take in the world.

I’ve noticed that my daughters see the world very differently than they did before they started having babies. Babies have a way of making you feel grateful for very normal things like sleep. In my case, my kids seem to have so much patience – way more than I ever did. When their kids are screaming because there will not be ice-cream till they take “three more bites” – I see a power struggle. That’s all I can see. But no, it’s “use your words.” I see a threat and they see a teachable moment.

Houses can “grow up” or they can just stay immature and stubborn. Good house design creates homes that will “parent” you, giving you entirely new ways to see your life. You will feel welcome, accepted, affirmed and even corrected. Or, you can feel the power struggle.

The stairway to the third floor at the newly converted Woodbourne Inn takes you up to the most modern and most generous of the eight suites. The view through the new “historic” windows is of the tree canopy. You are somewhere that you don’t belong – at least not in your normal life.

But then those stairs you just climbed are just as narrow and steep as they were when they led to a real attic. You, along with every other guest feels the suspense, the promise of treasure to be found.

When that filtered light hits the red stripe on the Hudson Bay blanket laying on the bed it captures either the adventures of Little Red Riding Hood or the cape on Lady Godiva’s white horse, depending on whether it is 11 am or 11 pm. Houses can invite the outside in, or keep it out. Flaws can become treasured features, or sore thumbs. Rooms can hold memories, can sing and can even make you sit up and get busy. Some rooms can do all of that and more.