Consumption and Real Estate
The Simple Home: The Luxury of Enough (American Institute Architects)
- ISBN13: 9781561588312
- Condition: USED – Very Good
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For everyone who craves a simpler lifestyle, not only in how they live but also where they live, The Simple Home features 21 houses and presents six different approaches to creating a home that realizes its full potential both simply and elegantly.
We are living in complex times, in a commodified, virtual, and overstimulated culture. One response to high levels of complexity and overstimulation is to look for yet another gadget or closet organizer to simplify our lives. But the answer lies somewhere else. The road to a simpler more satisfying life begins with a clear-eyed examination of the choices we are making for our time–and that includes choices about where we want to live.
The Simple Home presents six paths to simplicity, each illustrated by human-scaled, unadorned homes with straightforward floor plans and forms. These are open, light-filled homes (with rooms or spaces that are often multipurpose) that express their beauty in their utility and practicality. Simple homes are low maintenance and often green, designed for homeowners who wish to embody a different set of values in their housing choices than the run-of-the-mill starter castles littering the landscape.
The 6 Paths to Simplicity:
1. Simple is Enough
2. Simple is Thrifty
3. Simple is Flexible
4. Simple is Timeless
5. Simple is Sustainable
6. Simple is Refined
We are living in complex times, in a commodified, virtual, and overstimulated culture. One response to high levels of complexity and overstimulation is to look for yet another gadget or closet organizer to simplify our lives. But the answer lies somewhere else. The road to a simpler more satisfying life begins with a clear-eyed examination of the choices we are making for our time–and that includes choices about where we want to live.
The Simple Home presents six paths to simplicity, each illustrated by human-scaled, unadorned homes with straightforward floor plans and forms. These are open, light-filled homes (with rooms or spaces that are often multipurpose) that express their beauty in their utility and practicality. Simple homes are low maintenance and often green, designed for homeowners who wish to embody a different set of values in their housing choices than the run-of-the-mill starter castles littering the landscape.
The 6 Paths to Simplicity:
1. Simple is Enough
2. Simple is Thrifty
3. Simple is Flexible
4. Simple is Timeless
5. Simple is Sustainable
6. Simple is Refined
Rating: 
(out of 14 reviews)
List Price: $ 40.00
Price: $ 15.00
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#2 written by Merope 1 year ago
Review by Merope for The Simple Home: The Luxury of Enough (American Institute Architects)
Rating:
This is an absurd, but very American, architecture book. Usually with this genre the glossy pictures make up for the text — that is NOT the case here. The pictures are very average. The text is okay … a gospel of architectural $implicity substituted for actual … well … simplicity.Here’s the thing: simplicity in this book is interpreted as minimalist furnishings. Well and good. But it is easy to relish the zen luxe of a room when one has the most wonderful architecture to surround that perfect, single $10K furnishing. It is easy to be “simple”…. own few possessions and buy few furnishings when you can afford a house designed with built in window seats, dining nooks, stainless appliances and murphy beds.
What is really needed is a guide to designing with simplicity and sustainability in mind. That would be …. you buy some nasty tract home for $300K in Redmond Washington and want to decorate / design sustainably, simply, tastefully and, above all, peacefully.
Probably the most amusing thing about Sarah Nettleton’s book is the secret glimpses into the homeowner’s stuff: forests of books, cotton fields of clothes, acres of wood cabinetry, and pits of stone and concrete tile and countertops.
My hard earned ducats bought this book. Don’t use yours.
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#3 written by Centime Picot 1 year ago
Review by Centime Picot for The Simple Home: The Luxury of Enough (American Institute Architects)
Rating:
I bought this book because I liked the pictures, but what turned out to be the best thing about it is the philosophy behind it. I’ve been trying to streamline my life and reduce clutter, but I haven’t been able to strip things down as far as I’d like. This book makes bold suggestions about how much we really need to live comfortably while doing as little damage as possible to our surroundings, and suggests specific ways to do it. It made me look at our house in a whole new way. This book is a great model for anyone trying to simplify their living space. It’s also imaginative–one house has a ceiling like an overturned boat because the people who live there love the water. I like it so much I bought two more copies for gifts. -
#4 written by John Matlock 1 year ago
Review by John Matlock for The Simple Home: The Luxury of Enough (American Institute Architects)
Rating:
To me, the essence of this book is beautifully summarized in the photograph on the back cover. It shows a plain and simple room, tan/biege colored walls, a couple of windows, a painting on one wall and the only furniture is an easy chair, a small table beside it and a stack of books on the table.Like most of you, I suppose, I’ve lived in a bunch of houses and apartments. I finally decided to move to a small town in Nevada. I bought a tiny house, less than a thousand square feet. It’s old, I don’t know how old, but at least a hundred years. As Ms. Nettleton says in one of her chapters, Simple is Timeless. It was cheap, $30,000 (plus another $12 for remodelling), As Ms. Nettleton says, Simple is Thrifty. And as she also says, ‘Simple is: Enouth, Flexible, Sustainable, Resolved Complexity. As she quotes Albert Einstein (who wasn’t talking about houses, but it’s a very good quote) ‘Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler.’
Ms. Nettleton has grasped the essence of living a much simpler life. The homes presented here might not fit your ideal, but the ideas she presents are exactly what I wanted when I moved here from the East Coast. Beautiful book.
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#5 written by Mary K. 1 year ago
Review by Mary K. for The Simple Home: The Luxury of Enough (American Institute Architects)
Rating:
The image on the cover is as “simple” as this book gets. While most of the homes in this book are beautiful, I did not find them to be particulalry simple. The image on the cover, as well as the editorial notes, conjure up notions of not only simplicity in home design, but a real departure in our thinking about the way we live. I already own several books on the subject, and was excited to learn something new – but nothing new here. While the homes generally lean towards cleaner lines and a BIT less clutter, they are quite elaborate and complex in terms of building materials, construction & application of those materials, and the costs involved. I was also disappointed that most of the homes are located in the country and with only a sparse representation of urban examples. Finally, when I looked at the list of architects and firms whose designs were featured in this book, I recognized some of the most famous names in the industry. This left me feeling somewhat mislead by chapters with titles such as “Simple is Thrifty” and “Simple is Enough” when this caliber of professionals and their respective price tags are involved. - Comment Feed for this Post
Review by JJ for The Simple Home: The Luxury of Enough (American Institute Architects)
Rating:
Wonderful case studies about 20 homes with good explanations about material choices, site considerations, and the people who own them. It’s a Taunton Press book, so the photos are great, of course. I especially like the floor plan illustrations that support the photos and give a sense of flow through the houses.