"Dreams are the seeds of change. Nothing ever grows without a seed, and nothing ever changes without a dream." - Debby Boone

[source: bestprintbuy.com]

For as long I can remember, it's been a dream of mine to build my own house.

I grew up regularly watching This Old House hosted by Bob Vila and The New Yankee Workshop hosted by Norm Abram with my family. Over the years, HGTV was frequently playing in my living room, the Planet Green Network was also a favorite of mine for the 2 years it was in existence, and more recently I've completed binge watching the British TV series, Grand Designs, which I originally discovered with my husband on Netflix.

Besides home improvement and design shows, I also regularly follow architecture and design sites such as ArchDaily, Leibal, Contemporist, Freshome and Materialicious to name a few.

In 2000, the idea of my dream home was further influenced by a book I read, The Not So Big House, by architect and author Sarah Susanka, and the theories behind its ensuing movement. And over a decade ago now, in 2008, a German architect and friend introduced me to the Passivhaus and encouraged me to explore the works of classic architects like Neutra, Mies van der Rohe and Le Corbusier.

With all of this, the idea of my dream home grew and evolved over time, but it was the love and support of my husband and his own dream of buying a beach house in his childhood community of Long Branch, New Jersey, that defined and created the Long Branch Passive House project we know today.