Architects at Home: E.J. Meade

“My wife and I were young, and we were just happy to have found a home in downtown Boulder we could afford. We lived in the rear half of the duplex (750sf) for four years. During that time, I designed a more ambitious house. We moved out with the intention of building it. It was larger, perhaps a bit less avante-garde.”

“Then, in a weekend, I realized the plan was too ambitious and too expensive. I tore it up and in a week designed the current house. I spent evenings and weekends with a tool belt as a carpenter on site. I had done quite a bit of carpentry in New England upon graduating from college—it seemed like a good use of my undergraduate philosophy studies.”

“We used to joke about the standing seam metal siding, describing the house as the ‘tough shed’ in the middle of the block. I did this house in what was my architectural adolescence—I was in my 30s. The exterior expresses the exuberance of that part of my life, and it’s a collage of steel and stucco with just enough wood to lend some organic texture. I’ve become a much better editor in the years since. I am currently designing a new home right next door for a dear friend. I’ve got the entire exterior of the home down to just two materials; I feel that’s progress.”

“It all went quickly, we did demolition in April and moved in, albeit without a proper staircase by Thanksgiving. Ironically, the present staircase is a painted version of the construction stair.”

“I am always overwhelmed by the quality of daylight in the mid-morning—a time we seldom get to experience in our homes as work beckons us away in the daylight hours. The master bedroom is an entire wall and corner of glass (a bit exhibitionist at times) but waking each day to subtle differences of the morning sun on the flatirons continually reminds me of architecture’s ability to reveal the sense of place.”

“The décor is an eclectic mix collected over twenty-five years. The art marks the arc of my interest over the years, though I’m always drawn to classics. I’m really taken by modern American artists of the 1970s and have a few cool lithographs: Rosenquist collages, literature-driven pieces by Jim Dine and a great minimalist Robert Motherwell.”

“The furniture for me is somewhat haphazard, a collection of classics that span 200 years. The dining chairs are a mix of multi-colored ant chairs and the maple dining chairs I grew up with as a kid in New Jersey. I gave the womb chair to my wife as a Mother’s Day gift after the birth of our daughter.”

“I think that most architects live a bit like cobblers with barefoot children. While I work hard at completing precise, heirloom homes for clients, I do love living in a work in progress that will be up to my kids to figure out how to complete one day.”