January 16th, 2007

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Building Our House
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The Barefoot Home

I’m usually not one for the coffee table books, but we received The Barefoot Home for Christmas and I quite enjoyed it. It’s essentially a architecture and design book based on the author’s philosophy about design. And, you know, it helps that I share a last name with the concept.

You can read what makes a ‘barefoot home’, but I’ve extracted the gist:

  • Get comfortable in your everyday home.
  • Feel the warm sun on your toes, the cool tiled floor, the polished wood planks on the back deck.
  • Make your windows and doors really big, with lots of glass.
  • Open whole walls to the outdoors, extend the roof outward, let the floor slip seamlessly outside to become a deck.

Basically, it’s taking the aesthetic and feel of the ’summer house’ and making it your own. The site has plenty of photos to illustrate this approach.

I haven’t been looking at a lot of house-building books and magazines, but this is the first one I’ve seen that jibes with my personal aesthetic.

I was reminded of this book because Meg was musing about design choices.

Comments: 6 Responses so far

Travis
January 16th, 2007
12:08 pm

I just about got you this book; I’m glad one made its way to you.

TTFN
Travis

[Reply]

David Lewis
January 17th, 2007
3:03 am

Another interesting book that I really like “Creating the Not so Big House” by Sarah Susanka

(http://www.notsobighouse.com/)

Really interesting in terms of having the space you want without having a mega house. Inspiring.

Cheers,

David

[Reply]

darren
January 17th, 2007
9:44 am

David: Thanks for that. Indeed–unlike most of our friends and colleagues, it seems–we don’t want a mega house. We’re looking at around 2000 square feet.

[Reply]

David Lewis
January 17th, 2007
4:27 pm

Hi Darren,

No problem. It’s a great book with some inspiring ideas in terms maximizing space. We moved from a 800sq/ft condo at 4th and Blenheim in Vancouver, to a 2800sq house with 10 acres outside of Fredericton, NB, to a 2200 sq/ft house in Halifax, NS … and the plan is to relocate to Ottawa in the next six months and find something around 2000 sq/ft (there are four of us), and a 1/4 or so lot (or smaller).

Honestly, we live in way too much space. Watch the UK home reno shows … tiny, but efficient. Smaller homes can be spacious (if done right), but still be cozy and more efficient to run.

Good luck in Malta and building on the island.

Cheers,

David

[Reply]

darren
January 17th, 2007
4:59 pm

David: Indeed. A while back I researched the average size of a Canadian house:

“I found a source from 2003 that says it’s about 1800 square feet. In case you’re wondering, according to the CMHC, the average size of a Canadian house in 1945 was just over 800 square feet (where did they put the kids?). In 1975, it was 1075 square feet.”

That kind of growth isn’t sustainable.

[Reply]

Tim
June 21st, 2007
1:05 pm

This book indeed makes for a good guest read! And yes, I too find it quite interesting that the book’s name and yours has something in common.

[Reply]

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