4 Homes, 1 Time, 1 Place In Time
Jacquie and I had been married for one year and were living a a small 2 bedroom apartment near Northridge Mall with our one year old son Nik and another child on the way. Jacquie was working at a banking clearing house for cash withdrawal card services, and I was working at Duchow’s Marine in Pewaukee doing advertising and sales. Like so many folks of my situation and age, I wanted the American dream of owning a home, preferably BUILDING a new home. Due to our inadequate financials, every bank seminar that was held, which I attended(frequently) told me that my dream was more of a “pipe dream“.
I was (still am) a workaholic, but found time to steal away to visit various model homes on my drive from work to home. We were so poor, I distinctly, clearly recall me wanting to go to the Parade Of Homes at 5 Feilds subdivision in Pewaukee, but the 5 dollar entry tickets were honestly just too much of an extravagance at the time. Jacquie, always the realist, did not want to go with me to the various open house and home shows since this only was feeding a dream that was seemingly unlikely to happen.
Since I loved promotions and advertising, I just kept on visiting all the builder’s models and collecting home plans. I kept saying, I could do this or that better than this or that builder. I kept dreaming of the day and kept calling bankers to see if they would give me a break and give us a loan. I distinctly also remember me walking by Pete, a nice sales person at Duchows. He was sitting at his sales desk near the front door and I sat down at this desk and he told me about how he financed his home. I was so jealous of the interest rate he had locked-in. The rate was a stunningly low 9.9% and we both just knew we would never see rates that low again. Seriously, this was how we felt , and this was his rate. The year was around 1988 or 1989 as I recall and the rates of the day were 11 or 12% as I recall. If someone else out there remembers this time period, please correct me if I am wrong, but double-digits were not unusual at all. Boy have we all gotten spoiled with today’s 4.9 or 5.3% rates.
When we finally did find one very special banker who had the “power” to grant our financing dreams, I was elated when the day came when we could actually begin construction of our new home. I was out at that home every moment I could manage to be there. I got a natural “high” from being on that job site. Today, I still feel that high and I still clearly recall my emmotions of that first home start every time someone comes to me and we start their new home. For some, the starting process of appraisers who appraise way to low of a value, or the back and forth cost cutting the clients go through to get into their budget, or the struggles getting the design approvals all make the dig-day just that much more special when it arrives.
This last week, I got to do something which was as high of an emotional high as when I built my first home. I began construction on not one, but 4 new model homes, all in the same general location, namely, Reflection’s Village , in Richfield. If you don’t know, I live in Richfield, just 2 minutes from these 4 homes. To be more accurate, I did not actually commence construction on all 4 homes, yet. I have dug holes and started basements on 3 of the 4 and the 4th is coming very soon as we await a Wisconsin sanitary permit to arrive.
These are not just ordinary (we don’t do ordinary) Miracle Homes. Each of these homes has something “special” unto itself. Each has something new that has never been done quite like this before. One, our HYBRID Ranch (read my earliest blog posts) is so fantastic in unique features, I am up at all hours researching and designing just how we will be able to create all of the many fantasies we have imagined.
We have imagined a new version of our invention, the “Flooding Patio”. This is a sunken patio, complete with tables and chairs which can be easily (and quickly) flooded to become a wading pool. You can sip drinks and entertain while you and your friends dip their toes into 2 inches of cool water OR you can fill this patio a few feet deep to use for kids play and swimming.
We are taking our concept of our unique invention the Tri-Screen theatre and making it more deluxe than ever. This is 3 , 10 foot movie screens that are adjoined to create one huge 6 foot tall by 30 feet long image. We use a camera rig of 3 cameras to shoot footage of ocean waves by the beach, of lush green forests, or of purple night city-scapes. The intient is to put our viewers into the image and make them feel as though they are “there”. At the same time that each 7 minute scenes change from , say, the blue seaside waves to the green forests, all the table tops and bar top , and even the walls of the room all turn the corresponding color and the (player) baby-grand piano music changes to suit the new scenes mood. All of this done automatically, all on cue.
For the kids, we are working on our first kid’s bedroom suite where the sitting room/play room joins together to become a wonderful theatrical experience not with video screens, but rather in fully lighted rooms showing what in effect is more like a stage show/puppet show that is (again) fully automated. When this Miracle invention is complete, we hope to have kids be able to take their favorite illustrated book and bring it to life on stage. The action would be synchronized to music and lighting and other moving effects which I have never seen done before. I think it is safe to say, that every room both inside and outside(yes, outside rooms too) have something very special to remember.
It will all begin with a special presentation in our main garage entry which will resemble a seminar stage where we will give a short 10 minute presentation to everyone who enters the homes. Imagine, deciding that instead of sleeping in your master suite tonight, you and your spouse decide to sleep in the backyard cabana. An at -home get-away that makes you feel like you are sleeping at a vacation resort destination. Catch an outdoor movie right from your cabana’s bed, just outside the glass wall.
If anyone thinks they have seen or heard it all, we are just getting started in making your home, the most magical, special place of all. Now, I go back to spending my wee hours of the night making sure we have enough pixie-dust loaded in our wands to make this all really happen.
Blessings,
Tom Hignite
Note: Don’t forget to see me at the Spring Tour special open house night this Thursday night 6 to 8 and this weekend 12 to 4. I will likely be in Jackson. We are also open Monday night from 6 to 8.
