I am really getting over home renovations and DIY clients, the clients are great but the jobs are always tedious and the costs are never known until the job is done – usually much more than the client wanted to spend. Take it from me: don’t undertake large renovations - just knock the damn thing down and be done with it.

Anyway...

Just about to design a new home on an inspiring site. Whenever I am commissioned to do some really modern architecture I pick-up my Paul Rudolf book "The Florida Houses". The homes shown in that book are elegant, simply designed and easy to build. Paul's long gone now but between 1940 and 1960 he designed some amazing new homes.

So... I’m thinking conceptually about simplicity of natural elements that exist on the site - large boulders - the shore of the lake – surrounded by Australian bush – something that may have been washed up on the shore... mmmm...

This is how the design of a building starts and if this concept flows through in all aspects of materials, feel, layout, etc - the entire building will read well as a whole and it will "work" visually and functionally. See this helpful article at The Home Design Directory if you'd like to learn how to design your own home.