DIY, old houses & very big ideas.A journal by Melissa Powers

House edition / San Francisco

Big ideas.
No plan.
Lots of opinions.

I'm Melissa. I have an old San Francisco house, very specific taste, and a growing list of things I've never done before.

AI concept study of a walnut handrail, not Melissa’s house
AI material study. Not project photography.
The vision.The attempt.The revised estimate.The beautiful version.

The house, in chapters

Small beginning.
Big opinions.

First, the little library. Then the staircase, the blue room, and the details worth keeping. Start with the ambitions and the questions, before the after photographs.

Explore all project briefs

The whole point

The process is unqualified.
The taste isn't.

Not expert instruction with the difficult parts edited out. The first attempt, the better attempt, and the part where I call someone who knows.

Meet Melissa
AI concept study of aged brass hardware and wood
AI material study. Not project photography.

The sourcebook

The details
make the room.

Paint, hardware, lighting, and the choices that deserve a closer look. A considered starting point for finding the beautiful version.

Explore the sourcebook

Current links go directly to retailers. Affiliate connections are not active yet.

Field notes

Several things
worth saying.

All field notes

For your own very big idea

A little planning.
Off the record.

Put the result, the unknowns, and the actual budget in one place. It does not make the project less ambitious.

Make your project brief

Beautiful, eventually.

The learning stays in.

The decisions, the things worth keeping, and what the beautiful version actually takes.

Read the field notes