How a Curb Story Is Made
Every transformation on this site goes through the same five steps. AI is part of how the houses and the concepts get visualized. Choosing the house, setting the constraints, deciding what gets rejected and explaining the reasoning are all mine.
01
Choose the House
The source house is fictional unless a story clearly says otherwise. I look for a familiar home of a recognizable era, the kind of house you’d pass on an ordinary street without giving it much thought.
02
Set the Constraints
Before anything changes, I decide what stays, like the brick, the roofline, the mature tree and the window openings. It’s the same house at the end of the story as it was at the beginning, and the constraints are what keep it that way.
03
Direct the Concept
AI visualizes directions inside the constraints I’ve set. It doesn’t pick the house, and it doesn’t decide what the house needs.
04
Reject What Doesn’t Fit
Concepts that break the constraints, ignore the climate or quietly turn into a different house get thrown out, and most of them do. You don’t see that part in the finished story, but it’s where much of the work happens.
05
Explain the Reasoning
The published story names what stayed, what shifted and why, including the trade-offs. The idea is that you can use the thinking on your own house, not copy the picture.
What the AI Does
Visualizes concept directions inside constraints I’ve already set, and lets me explore several believable directions for the same fictional house.
What the AI Doesn’t Do
Choose the house, decide what deserves to stay, judge whether a result is believable or write the reasoning. It doesn’t measure, engineer or verify anything about a real property.
Concepts here are editorial inspiration. Anything to do with structure, drainage, safety, accessibility, electrical work or code has to be evaluated by qualified local professionals for the specific property.
See the Method in the Guides
Each guide takes one problem you can see from the curb and explains what to look at first, what to keep and where the trade-offs are.