Introduction Have you ever walked into someone's home and realized it has nothing to say? We all have that friend with a larger-than-life personality--or maybe your friend is known as the super Zen, go-with-the-flow yoga enthusiast. You'd expect to walk into their homes and feel that personality come through, right? Well, you'd be surprised by just how many homes I've seen that had absolutely nothing to say about the unique people who live there. Your house is the one place in this world that can be inherently, unapologetically you . Someone who has never met you should be able to walk into your house and immediately know who you are and what you're about. I believe that homes can talk--they can tell a story. They can tell us to relax, to be confident, and to live our lives with intention and integrity if we build them to be places that speak directly from our personality and serve our needs. I believe in surrounding ourselves with inspiration and living in a way that displays unquestionable purpose. The decisions we make about our home's design and functionality form the foundation of our house story. Whether you're renting one room in an apartment or launching a full-blown home construction project, you can tell your house story so that where you live represents you and inspires you every day. And I truly believe that I'm the person to help you tackle this because of how I learned on the job. I've failed before so you don't have to. You see, I didn't go to design school. I didn't go to contractor school. But fast forward a decade, I've built and designed hundreds of homes and have multiple seasons of my own HGTV home renovation show under my belt. I haven't been formally trained in any of the things I now do on a daily basis in my full-time job. I love building homes and I've had to learn as I go. I'm writing this today as a professional in the home renovation biz, but it wasn't that long ago that I was exactly where you are: embarking on a home renovation project and in way over my head. In 2010, my husband, Brett, and I were building our first home together, and we had no idea what we were doing. We naively thought we'd joyfully pick paint colors together like they do on HGTV, say "That's the one!" and go have dinner. Boy, were we wrong. We thought our first home construction project was going to be so much easier than it actually was, and we didn't have the time, expertise, or knowledge to guide our project. We didn't know any of the things our contractor was asking of us, and it cost us money. Choosing the right paint color was the least of our concerns. After two years of drowning in our project, it became clear it was never going to get done unless one of us was there full-time. I gave notice at my corporate job, and the next thing I knew, I was on that job site every day, asking our contractor questions. I wanted to know how everything worked, to solve real home problems, and that was the beginning of my career. Obviously, not everyone is going to quit their job and fall into their future career. But because I went from literally not caring at all about design and construction to making it my profession and passion--in 0 to 60 speed--I have a unique perspective on how home renovations work. What I'm saying to you is, I've been there . I get it. And because I'm not from any design school, I'm not beholden to any rigid design rules. I don't get caught up in whatever the latest fad or the hottest ticket item of the moment is--that's not what my clients need. What they need is a house that they can live in. And that's what I'm after here: I want your home to be livable, functional, beautiful, and incredibly personal. I want you to be comfortable in your home. So, if it's midnight, and you're sitting on your kitchen floor surrounded by paint swatches and hardware samples and you're pulling out your hair over all the decisions and uncertainty, take a deep breath and open up this book. This is the book I needed when I was where you are today, sitting on that kitchen floor in a crumpled heap of stress. I'm going to help you. You've got this--now let's get started! Excerpted from House Story: Insider Secrets to the Perfect Home Renovation by Jasmine Roth All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.
