Thank You For Five Years!

It is almost impossible for me to believe that it was five years ago this month that I quit my job to start Castro Design Studio.  It was a great job that I loved very much.  I had the great privilege of working with some wonderful people on really incredible projects, but I felt a void I knew could not be filled there.

I spoke to my amazing wife Kim who said “You HAVE to do it, we’ll find a way to make it work”… I then thought of my grandfather, who survived the Great Depression sometimes having to fight for food and shelter,literally, as a prize fighter in Mississippi and Louisiana.  He used to tell me that insecurity and self pity were luxuries he simply never had.  He used to say that the worst thing that could happen is that you would fail, and then have to pick yourself up and start again.  So I turned in my notice, and embarked on this enterprise.

Pictured are my grandparents Jose Maria and Virginia Castro with Desi Arnaz and Lucille Ball

Since starting Castro Design Studio I have had the great fortune of working with the best clients one could ever hope for on some very special projects…  To celebrate these past five years I would like to share with you some of the projects that I have done.

An entry detail for one of my very first projects

This was one of the first projects I did.  The owners engaged me to design their guest house and basement.

A previously unfinished basement was turned into a wine cellar and tasting room.  These wonderful photographs are by Blayne Beacham.

This project was not too big, but it had a huge impact on the way the clients feel about their house.  We added an entry portico, new shutters, chimney pots and landscaping.

This house used to be a small post war ranch house. We reused the footprint and most of the exterior walls, but reconfigured the floor plan and added a second floor and front porch.

Our one and only commercial project… A restaurant in Griffin, Ga, in what was at one point the town brothel.

An entry detail for a new house

A new house in Atlanta

Family Room and Kitchen for the house pictured above

A Garden Folly (fancy term for storage shed…)

This is a very special project.  The owners of this house waited decades to renovate their home.  They decided that instead of leaving their savings in the stock market they would transform their “old ranch” into the house they always wanted.  I was so honored that they trusted me to design the house they had dreamed about for all these years.

The owners of this house hired me to design their “forever” house.  We carefully worked together to design a house that gave them the aesthetics they wanted while still being respectful to the scale of the surrounding houses.

I was recently at a pool party there, and it was really amazing to see all of the neighborhood families enjoying the house.

The most amazing thing that has happened during these five years is the birth of our daughter Julia Maria.  After years and years of trying, we finally welcomed our “little monkey” into the family.

Julia loves to visit my studio, and help out when she can…  And yes, that is a drafting table you see in the background.  One of the things I love doing is drawing by hand.  It is a dying art, but I feel that it is important to craft our drawings this way so that they, like the designs we create will be one of a kind.

A new house in Atlanta

View of the family room and kitchen beyond

Back yard and pool

A new house in progress

Progress shot of the dining room

Progress shot of the kitchen

These past five years have been incredible.  They would not have been possible without the love and support of my family and friends, to whom I am eternally grateful.

I am also so incredibly grateful to all my wonderful clients.  Thank you from the bottom of my heart for allowing me the privilege of waking up every day to do what I truly love.  It is an indescribable honor to help you make your dream house a reality.

Finally, I leave you with an image of one of our projects on the boards, and coming out of the ground this year.

Thank you for visiting and sharing this brief look at the last five years.  Stay tuned for many more years to come!