Do You Need to Choose a Style Before You Design Your New Home?

When you begin working with your Architect, you might think you need to start by figuring out what style to choose for your new home.

That’s not a bad place to begin if you’re dead-set on a particular architectural style, or if you’re building in an area that requires it. Together you can discuss what you love about it, and figure out how to make that style fit your needs.

But choosing a style first isn’t always necessary. In some cases, it might actually might it more difficult to design the home you’ve been dreaming about.

Proper House Proportions: A Trick of the Trade

If you’re a house junkie like me, watching the home shows, reading the home magazines, and looking at houses wherever you go, then you’ve seen good houses and not so good houses. You’ve seen charming homes that seem perfectly settled; you’ve seen houses that seem “complete” – like there’s nothing you could do to make them any better. Those are often the ones with proper house proportions.

Five Strategies to Make the Home You’re Designing More “Green”

It takes a little science and a little art to design a beautiful, livable new home that’s energy-efficient, uses less material to build, and connects with its building site. Those are some of the major ingredients of good design – and essential ingredients you need to make your house more green.

The Difference Between “Symmetry” and “Balance” in Home Design

My clients occasionally ask me for symmetrical home designs. Sometimes that’s because they appreciate the elegance of symmetry, and sometimes it’s because symmetry is easier to understand.

Symmetry is found in all kinds of artistic composition, but so is asymmetry. What’s more important is balance – balance between the colors in a painting, the elements of architectural design, or the lines of a popular song.

I wouldn’t have the slightest idea how to write a song, but I can’t help but notice some similarities between what I hear in music and what I see in architecture.