The Deb Paine you've always known, but never known.

As I turn over the page to this new chapter of my career, deep inside I want this blog to be a space where I can share myself in a new way, one that is more authentically who I am at the core. A place to share the way I see the world, design, and otherwise. A place to share things I find beautiful, emotional, inspiring, and not well known in the world of busy-ness. This is really what I am doing with this whole transition from "Deb Paine Inc." to "Method." It is a step away from the grinding pace of full-on construction and into a space where I can give my best to the kinds of projects I thrive in, with the people I enjoy working with most.

Method is not just a rebrand for the sake of drumming up business, it's the result of a process of discovery and discernment I've been going through over the past year, really taking stock of what I've done in my career, how I see myself, how my clients see me, what I've enjoyed and been best at, and what I want most out of the remaining working years I have before me. One of the best parts of the process has been really nailing down and articulating who I am and what I can offer to clients. The rest of this website is the fruit of this work.

I've lived a full life, wild and unexpected in many ways, and there are many threads that have woven together to make it the rich cloth that it is now. Every sketch that I do during a conversation about a client's dream house or kitchen has echoes of my earliest memories as an artist with my first teacher Henry Hoar. He was a big, portly, kindly man with a skin tag like a ball and chain above his left eye which mesmerized me as a small girl. My mother pulled me out of primary school after the terrifying nuns rapped my knuckles for being left handed and took me to Mr. Hoar. He defined how I looked at everything, taught me to see, taught me to squint. When you're a kid one of the first things you try and learn is how to draw a straight line, but he showed me that there is no such thing as a straight line in nature, so I learned to draw the curves and shadows. Car trips in the countryside in his beat up station wagon, setting up in landscapes, there was a sense of freedom and wonder as I learned to see the world with my own eyes and that left hand to draw.

That desire for wonder and freedom has taken me all over, from New England shores to Los Angeles in the wild 70's and 80's...I was a terror back then, you should have seen me, a beautiful terror. But I worked my tail off to support myself and had the time of my life. Being on my own out there, I learned to put my head down and work but also to enjoy life, make deep connections with people, and look for delightful moments along the way. I learned to transform my love of seeing and drawing into making and building. I found that I had an eye for designing and making spaces that people would want to be in. Having left home early and never looking back, I guess I always kept an eye out for "home" and inadvertently developed a real eye for homes. You could say that "cottage" became my second language from an early age. I still love how a small, beautiful space can make a person feel welcome and content.

But, I also fell in love with the process of taking a vision and making it into a reality, the unexpected problems, the surprising solutions I could come up with, and the satisfaction of a completed project. Learning to complete big jobs is not a talent, it is a skill that was hard won and I had to earn my place in a construction world dominated by men.

So, I have earned my place and can even say a deserved reputation. This next phase is simplifying what I do by removing distractions, removing the stress and complexity of running a construction company. After 38 years of construction, I have a broad experience and knowledge base to tap into for construction consulting, kitchen/bath design, and residential design. A dear friend commented that I’m self-actualized. Perhaps that is true. There is always room for more. Like anyone else who is changing their work life, it can be both exhilarating and a little scary. Redefining yourself is not an easy thing. Being vulnerable to change is welcome, and brings with it little buckets of insight into who I am. At this point, I get to choose which buckets make me smile and which ones are not needed anymore. By making these changes in my work, my service, I am defining out loud what brings me daily joy.

Relationships are important to me in this new endeavor. I would love to work with people who are interested in more than a financial transaction. Perhaps I'm more interested in figuring out and helping them figure out what really works for them and enjoying the process of discovery together. Many people want a kitchen or house without really taking the step of asking what do I really want and need. Fully asking this question might mean a deeper reflection or longer process and not everyone is willing to step into that space. It takes folks who think things through and are willing to be analytical. I do ask lots of questions of my clients. It’s part of the Method. 😊 But a willingness to engage like this can lead to insights and ideas that flow straight from the hearts of my clients and then progress to the unexpected moments of delight and great solutions.

This is what I've always sought: a poignant journey with deep people, people who have the desire and imagination to make something special.

And I've had the privilege of working with many along the way, people who shared my desire to pursue perfection and delighted in the unexpected moments along the way. I am excited to come across new ones in this next chapter. What makes for the best client contractor relationship is a question I've spent a lot of time thinking about and will explore deeper in later blog posts.

Most of all, this is a hopeful step. In it I hope to find a place of real zen with my work where I can pour myself into the best projects with the best people, tackle the most interesting design problems, but also keep the freedom to say, "No that's not a job I'll take", or to lock up the office early and take a walk on the beach if my mind's not in the right place to do my best work.

It is a new chapter, I'm excited by the moment and look forward to seeing where it goes. Let's pursue something better together, perfected imperfection, unexpected curios, moments of delight.

There’s more to say, and we will be pouring out further, thoughtful writings about what Method does, and how we approach the processes of design as well as implementation. Many of my friends and clients have appreciated me texting articles or inspiring images over the years, and so we are going to formalize it more and take the time to create a real conversation around work that has been completed over the years; both ours and others’.

You are always invited to respond to and share these emails (just hit reply, it’ll come straight to me), or unsubscribe if this just isn’t your thing. But we encourage dialogue, and our hope is to inspire conversations rather than add junk to your inbox. For now, here we go!