Create an ideabook for your next remodeling project!
Browse more than 1,000,000 photos from top designers and save your favorites
10 Elements of the Just-Right House
The World Series, Moneyball and the smart house: The case for smaller homes rich in character and function over the big and bland
Houzz Contributor. My name is Bud Dietrich and I am an architect located in the Tampa Bay area of Florida. I am licensed to practice architecture in Illinois, Florida, New Jersey & Wisconsin and I am a certificate holder from the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards (NCARB). Since 1996 I have worked from my home office and provide full architectural services exclusively to the single family residential market. My passion is to transform my clients' houses into their homes. I strive to have the "new" home accommodate my clients' lives without fighting them at every junction. I look to add curb appeal to encourage a beautiful streetscape. And I design any addition to look and feel like it has always been there.
Our projects have won numerous design awards as well as having...
Houzz Contributor. My name is Bud Dietrich and I am an architect located... More »
The St. Louis Cardinals and Texas Rangers, the two teams the 2011 World Series, are definitely not big-market teams like the New York Yankees. Both teams spend roughly half of what the Yankees spend on player salaries. In fact, the two teams with the highest salaries, the Yankees and Philadelphia Phillies (combined almost $400 million annually or twice as much as the combined Cardinals and Rangers payroll), didn’t get past the first round of the playoffs.
Surely proof that money doesn’t always buy a winner, one of the "truths" made evident by Moneyball.
What is true is that it’s not about throwing money at what you’re building but how well that money is used. It’s not about amount or size, it’s about being "smart" and finding the right solution.
The same can be said for our homes. The last few decades have seen the size of the average American home increase significantly. Before 2008 it was not uncommon to see whole developments with 4,000- to 6,000-square-foot houses sprout up in the suburbs. In the process, the little things stopped mattering.
But in recent years an approach, like that used in Moneyball, has given us a renewed interest in a home that isn’t just about size. As articulated by bestselling author Sarah Susanka, a house that’s big and bland is less preferable to a home that’s small and rich in character.
What we want in our homes, like in what they wanted for those Oakland A's in Moneyball, is that elusive quality of "just right." Not too big nor too small; not too expensive nor too cheap — we want smart design that enables us to live the life we want to live in a sustainable and enriching way.
Surely proof that money doesn’t always buy a winner, one of the "truths" made evident by Moneyball.
What is true is that it’s not about throwing money at what you’re building but how well that money is used. It’s not about amount or size, it’s about being "smart" and finding the right solution.
The same can be said for our homes. The last few decades have seen the size of the average American home increase significantly. Before 2008 it was not uncommon to see whole developments with 4,000- to 6,000-square-foot houses sprout up in the suburbs. In the process, the little things stopped mattering.
But in recent years an approach, like that used in Moneyball, has given us a renewed interest in a home that isn’t just about size. As articulated by bestselling author Sarah Susanka, a house that’s big and bland is less preferable to a home that’s small and rich in character.
What we want in our homes, like in what they wanted for those Oakland A's in Moneyball, is that elusive quality of "just right." Not too big nor too small; not too expensive nor too cheap — we want smart design that enables us to live the life we want to live in a sustainable and enriching way.
| Like it? Save it to your Ideabook »
|
| 1. A smartly designed home is rich with detail that increases the joyousness of life ... |
| Like it? Save it to your Ideabook »
|
| ... no matter the style or location. |
| Like it? Save it to your Ideabook »
|
| 2. A smartly designed home uses every bit of space to enrich the lives of its inhabitants ... |
Like it? Save it to your Ideabook »
... while leaving no cubic inch unwanted, uncovered and unused.
Like it? Save it to your Ideabook »
And giving the kids a sense of wonder and delight.
| Like it? Save it to your Ideabook »
|
| 3. A smartly designed home lives large, allowing the outside to become a part of the inside and the inside to become a part of the outside. |
It expends as much attention on the landscape as on the home.
by CWB Architects
»
Like it? Save it to your Ideabook »
4. A smartly designed home uses the third dimension to distinguish and ennoble spaces so there's isn't a blasé feeling from everything being the same ...
Like it? Save it to your Ideabook »
... and defines and establishes a living room that we actually live in.
5. A smartly designed home creates a hallway that's more than a hallway.
|
by SPG Architects
»
Like it? Save it to your Ideabook »
|
| And provides a space that's both storage and seating. |
Like it? Save it to your Ideabook »
6. A smartly designed home accommodates the messiness of everyday life, whether behind closed doors ...
| Like it? Save it to your Ideabook »
|
| ... or out in the open. |
Like it? Save it to your Ideabook »
7. A smartly designed home discovers uses for leftover spaces.
Like it? Save it to your Ideabook »
Even in the most unlikely of places.
Like it? Save it to your Ideabook »
8. A smartly designed home is scaled to the human form through the use of well-placed and well-proportioned trim, both inside ...
... and outside.
Like it? Save it to your Ideabook »
9. A smartly designed home is a good neighbor and engages the world around it ...
by PMWArchitects
»
Like it? Save it to your Ideabook »
... even when it's different.
| Like it? Save it to your Ideabook »
|
| 10. A smartly designed home is respectful of the planet we all share, saving its owners money while conserving resources. See more of this passive-solar home design. More: High Style in 800 Square Feet |
Ideabook updated on Oct. 21, 2011.
What are you working on?
News From Our Partners
Latest Ideabooks
People found the photos in this ideabook after searching for:
View over a million photos:
How did we let the builders pollute the landscape with their so wrong idea of architecture?
I also like "outside the box" thinking combined with economy and reuse of materials. Here are some pics from my reno. So far I kept the material cost under $5000. For e.g.. The walls are cladded with finished plywood of the shipping crates which was going to garbage. The fireplace and table are done by using wood salvaged off marble crates shipped from Brazil. The cabinets are used millwork from closed down retail stores. Countertops are precast concrete which i did right on my living room floor. Yes, my wife is a saint. LOL.