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Master class in home layout

last year
last modified: last year

So many would-be homeowners post their home design plans here and ask for help. So many present plans where the site and prevailing light/exposures are not taken into account. How many responses do they get regarding fat houses, dark interiors, etc., caused by poor placement of pantries, garages, closets?

Well this article in House and Garden UK by famed architect Stan Dixon is an excellent study in how to site a home to maximize light and views. One-room deep, a central core, and bedroom and kitchen wings combine to yield a home that is warm, welcoming, bright and airy.

https://www.houseandgarden.co.uk/gallery/stan-dixon-atlanta-house

Comments (22)

  • last year

    great article!

    Diana Bier Interiors, LLC thanked dani_m08
  • last year
    last modified: last year

    I would like to see two things missing in the article: the original 2” inspiration image, and the floor plan, although I understand why they would not show the floorplan.

    However, from the photos, it appears similar to the winter home my parents had in Arizona. Somewhat H shaped, one room deep with bedroom and kitchen wings. Each room including the foyer had windows on two sides, despite the house being ”attached” to the neighboring houses on either side. The H enabled complete privacy yet plenty of light and view with courtyards. It was a pleasure to move through the house, and to live in it.

    Diana Bier Interiors, LLC thanked bpath
  • last year

    And yet, when I lived in Texas, scorpions were also an issue! Especially if you lived on a ground floor. I always lived upstairs.

    Diana Bier Interiors, LLC thanked bpath
  • last year

    That's a beautiful home! Love the exterior color, slate roof, and so many things on the interior.


    This stood out to me: "Restraint is something we often employ in our work to create harmony..." as it's the opposite of so many mill plans we see here, with angles, bump outs, and myriad doo dads on the exteriors.

    Diana Bier Interiors, LLC thanked chicagoans
  • PRO
    last year

    I so agree I have always loved MCM ranch homes I used to call the one I relly loved the FRank Sinatra home where the house was see through in the main living space . We now have a home like that and so simple in design and so liveable no useless gables or silly bumpouts just good well planned design

    Diana Bier Interiors, LLC thanked Patricia Colwell Consulting
  • last year

    I saw This book on Designing Spaces for People at the library book sale, I wish I’d gone back for it.


    Diana Bier Interiors, LLC thanked bpath
  • PRO
    last year

    That is a beautiful home! Great article.

    If that is their downsized retirement home, I would love to have seen the larger home they were in!

    Diana Bier Interiors, LLC thanked Debbi Washburn
  • last year

    bpath, I have Patterns of Home, by Jacobson, et al., and it's a fantastic psychological explanation of why humans need shelters organized/sited the way we do. It's a really great read.

    Diana Bier Interiors, LLC thanked One Devoted Dame
  • PRO
    last year

    Oh, yes, Debbi, I'm sure that house cost mega-bucks!

  • PRO
    last year
    last modified: last year


    @ One Devoted Dame


    I've been to Arizona five times.

    My chances of living there? No freaking way. The only crawling things I want in my world are BABIES!!!! Not mine, someone else's.

    I am hard NO on Palmetto bugs, NO on roaches, No on ants,

    I am NO on spiders, triple hard NO NO NO on scorpions , and I will hunt down the least scary spider, typical in any climate, like it was the invasion of the millennium at 15 times the size of one crawling the ceiling line..

    I am NO on stink bugs too. I despise flies...moths as well. Add bees...(.unless outdoors ) , and while I appreciate their attributes of pollen distribution, please do it somewhere else, not near my al fresco dining table or patio lounge chair.

    This probably explains my ability to live in a climate that at times, could send one into hibernation for months..... yes.... exactly like a bear............!

  • last year

    The only crawling things I want in my world are BABIES!!!! Not mine, someone else's.

    Got ya covered, there!!! I'm more than happy to personally contribute babies! <3

  • PRO
    last year

    I’m with you, Jan, on all those creepy crawlies. You forgot mosquitoes, though, evil creatures.

  • last year

    So all this talk about bugs has me thinking -- Is there a secret design solution (aside from window screens and various flora) to the bug problem? Natural light helps a ton, obviously, but are there other things we should be looking for (or looking to avoid)?

  • PRO
    last year

    No secret design solution that I can think of except for screens on all doors and windows.

    Keeping the house clean is the best way to cut down on the number of spiders and other insects that like to nest or overwinter in the house. Vacuuming all floors and especially under furniture where spiders like to lay eggs is super helpful. Don't leave doors open, obviously. Have a good exterminator on retainer. We had lots of sugar ants one year and now the exterior of the house is treated monthly for them and (knock wood) we haven't seen them anymore. They also treat the house for carpenter ants, termites, carpenter bees, and crickets.

  • last year

    totally Agree with @chicagoans - the discipline in the design is what makes it so stunning (plus those gorgeous finishes)


    it is so different than what’s popular now with all the gablepalooza houses and tacked on stone veneer


    thanks for sharing!


    fwiw lived in the ATL several times over my lifetime, def don’t miss the palmetto bugs (aka giant flying roaches)

  • PRO
    last year

    Pay attention to the exterior of your home. To every entry especially. I have pulled up to a potential client.....followed the walk to the front door? What greets me?

    An entry literally SPUN and obscured by cob webs. Right across the entry door! Clearly not the favored entry?

    Mulch..... too heavy, and too close to the foundation? That's an RSVP not necessary for ants.

    Some crawlies will be fact of life. For the truly invasive , you get a timely extermination as in a tropical clime - a cost of living issue that goes with heat and humidity thrive.

    Stink bugs? They rode over on a ship from The far EAST....WE NEVER HAD THEM until they took the voyage.

    Nature is weird. Everyone dislikes bats,......until you know they dine on .....mosquitoes lol

  • PRO
    last year

    Ugh - don't forget about spider crickets! I went over 50 years of my life without ever seeing one and now...... Their defense mechanism is to jump AT you!

  • PRO
    last year

    Hornets or wasps are the real deal where we live but we have by accident found out if you have adead wasp nest in a tree leave it there , it seems the wsps don't want to invade anothers territory so hardly any this year in our outdoor area . Who knew, BTW out neighbors had the usual hoard.

  • PRO
    last year

    Dragonflies eat mosquitos too--and they're much lovelier to look at than bats!

  • last year

    Okay, so I've been thinking more about the lovely house in the original post.


    I think the only thing that would've made it better, is if it had been built in an historically French area. I realize that I may be completely uneducated about this, but when I think "Georgia," I don't think French. Now, if we mosey on over a bit to the west, and hit Louisiana, THEN I think French. This house -- I think it's the shutters on the doors -- gives me a From-France vibe.


    Please educate me if I am mistaken, in the house's architectural style, and/or the influence of French culture in Georgia. <3 If I just proved myself an idiot, I don't wish to remain one, lol.

  • PRO
    last year

    We don't know what the neighborhood is like since there are no photos of surrounding homes. I don't think it screams French--it's a stucco home with simple windows and shutters, and a slate roof. Personally I think it's simple enough to be at home in a lot of areas, especially anywhere in the southeastern US. It could even work in California or the southwest. JMHO