We embrace the idea of a Horse Whisperer, and a Dog Whisperer. Why not a House Whisperer? Indeed, houses and apartments … places tell us a lot about their souls and those who have lived there before us.

I’ve honestly not thought much about a house having a soul, but I responded viscerally, reading this Architectural Digest article about House Whisperer Marriette Himes Gomez. She speaks Housetalk — “the language a house uses to communicate its most intimate feelings.”

Bracing myself for an “oh Anne”, from my more conservative, rational-minded friends, I acknowledge that a four-year-old house in Southampton, New York probably isn’t telling Gomez that it needs — or wants — a total make over.

The house is a baby.

This photo queues up our imaginations for the rest of the Southampton house, living in relative isolation with the Atlantic on one side and ponds on two others. Let’s pretend!

While this house needed a facelift to suit the taste of the new owner, the original premise of the house was valid: to look rambling and quicky, as if additions came over the years.

Paneling was supposed to show cracks, and the sitting room—the “barn room,” as original architect John Mayfield calls it—was made to look as if it has only thin boards to keep out the wind and the rain, when, in fact, there are boards behind the boards, along with thick layers of insulation.