If you’ve ever had the chance to sit in a hot bathtub outside on a cold winter night, watched the stars through the rising steam and perhaps spotted a well-camouflaged Tawny Frogmouth perched on the branches of the nearest gumtree, you know exactly how much such experiences can contribute to our wellbeing. And even if you haven’t yet had the privilege, we’re sure you can see the allure.

It’s not so much about personal hygiene and a relaxing moment anymore. It’s becoming a whole wellbeing experience, where we intentionally make time to slow down. Stepping outside of our fast-paced lives and making time to collect kindling, starting a little fire under the bath tub, letting it warm up the water slowly until night falls. Goosebumps all over and that long exhale as you first dip your toes into the hot water. Making time to enjoy the soak and lapping up the environment with all your senses before wrapping yourself in a fluffy towel and walking barefoot back to the house, jumping from paver to paver, red cheeked and blissfully content.

In our last newsletter we explored how home might be our most overlooked wellbeing practice, and how a values-led brief can set the foundations for a home that supports your ideal lifestyle. This time, we’d like to delve a little deeper into the ways we can design homes with people’s wellbeing in mind.

not everything needs to be effortless.

The other day I was having lunch inside and found myself watching the world go by through the kitchen window with soft fascination. I locked eyes with a cheeky currawong pecking at the window frame to flush out insects. Such resilient and clever birds. It made me wonder if they look at us thinking: “Those humans are funny creatures, how they lock themselves into a cage of their own free will, missing out on all the cool stuff that’s happening outside.”

We’ve been sold the narrative that having a bigger house, with rooms that can accumulate all the stuff and toys, a garage with automatic roller door, and all the bells, whistles and smart devices that run our home will make life more convenient. But does convenience always contribute to our wellbeing and make our life better? Or might there be something to be said for a little inconvenience too?

When you think about it, a lot of the things that contribute to our health and wellbeing feel hard at first. Going outside on a stormy and drizzly day to go for a walk or tend to the garden. Doing some exercise when it’s far more tempting to rest on the couch after a long work day. But don’t we always feel better once we’ve overcome the activation hurdle and broken the convenience trap? Very few people come home regretting the run, the swim or the walk with the dogs.

We think there’s something valuable in allowing ourselves some ‘inconvenience’ into our lives. In making choices based on our own values rather than designing every bit of effort out of the day, and in creating homes that make it easier to reconnect with nature. Humans are part of nature and inherently need that connection. Incorporating design features into our homes that allow for nature connection will support our wellbeing. And the ways we create this connection can look very differently for everyone.

bringing the outdoors in.

One example is a Homeful shack design currently coming to life in the narawntapu area of Northern Tasmania. It’s been thoughtfully sited, sheltered from the breeze, surrounded by beautiful Xanthorrhoea (shiny grass trees) and positioned to capture warm sunlight. What a spot to relax with friends and family and simply be immersed in nature!

The Homeful Shack was designed for exactly this kind of bush or beach block. It celebrates the relaxed, wholesome Tassie lifestyle and provides all the essentials for comfort: an outdoor kitchen and wood fire if you want them, indoor space to cosy up when the cool weather rolls in, two bedrooms, deconstructed bathroom facilities and a big deck for living. … not to mention the essential bath on the deck!

our relationship with the resources we use.

The more we ponder this, the more we feel like part of designing for wellbeing is not trying to remove every little inconvenience from our lives. Some of the things we love incorporating into homes actually ask us to participate a little more. The outdoor bath takes longer than jumping into a quick shower. A detached carport means walking those extra few metres through the weather before you reach the front door. A wood fire needs kindling to be collected, carried and lit. These are not the most convenient options, but there can be something quite lovely about that. They draw us into our surroundings and make us more aware of our own comfort, rather than pressing a button and expecting the house to do everything for us.

A wood fire is perhaps one of the clearest examples. We know burning wood comes with environmental considerations and it isn’t the right heating solution for every home or location. But there is also something special about being involved in the energy cycle yourself. You see the wood pile getting smaller. You tend the fire and notice when the temperature changes. You learn how much fuel it takes to warm a space and how to burn it most efficiently.

There is much value in that connection. When we can see and feel the resources involved in keeping ourselves comfortable, we may think about them differently.

orientation, connection + awareness.

One of the simplest things we can do for wellbeing is give people a relationship with what’s happening beyond the walls of the house. Morning light entering a bedroom from the east, helping our waking hours follow the natural rhythm of the day and positively influencing our circadian rhythm. A garden positioned where you can see it from the kitchen as a way of drawing you outside to pull a weed, pick something for dinner, or see what has grown. An outdoor shower means feeling the air on your skin. Living spaces opening onto a deck or patio. A window seat positioned where the low winter sun falls.

Thoughtful sightlines help a home feel connected rather than enclosed, and they allow us to witness the small seasonal shifts that are easy to miss when life gets busy by connecting the home to the outdoors. They help us pick up on those sweet little things like rain moving across the landscape, the wind in the leaves, birds arriving in the garden, or new growth appearing in spring. Even the patterns of sunlight moving through leaves and across an interior wall can create tiny moments of delight during an otherwise ordinary day.

Orientation plays a big role here too. Where possible, we like living spaces to make the most of northern light. We want to invite the low winter sun deep into the house to bring warmth while appropriately designed eaves provide shade when the sun sits higher in the sky in summer. And once the sun disappears, we like to mimic the glow of the sun through lighting with warm golden tones from wall lights + lamps, instead of a bazillion downlights beaming white light. The quality and type of light - and when we are exposed to it - will affect our natural rhythms and our nervous system as well. If you are renovating or building this is an opportunity to contribute to your future health and wellbeing.

making room for the everyday rituals.

Wellbeing design doesn’t always look like a bath under the stars. Sometimes you just need somewhere to put the school bags.

There’s a lot that we can do in the design to accommodate the slightly chaotic reality of everyday family life. Where do all the shoes go when everyone is home? What about the dog lead? Swimming gear? School bags and toys?

Thinking through those little rituals early on in the design process can help create a home that can enhance your everyday life and make it feel easier and less mundane, without costing a bucket load of money. A simple drop zone near the entry, laundry or kitchen might be nothing more elaborate than a second-hand bookshelf, a shoe rack and some sturdy hooks. These zones can mean less stuff scattered across the floor and less searching for things every morning. And it gives you more time to enjoy living, rather than hunting for a futsal sock and then running late to the game!

The same applies to good storage more broadly. We don’t think every possession needs to disappear behind a cupboard door, but reducing visual clutter and giving everyday things an obvious home can reduce visual overwhelm and make busy spaces feel much calmer.

Flexible rooms are also a winner. Instead of building a separate room for every possible activity, one thoughtfully designed space can work as a study now, a guestroom next weekend, somewhere to exercise or a bedroom later as family life changes.

Which brings us back to one of our favourite subjects: enoughness.

less house. more life.

There’s an understandable temptation when designing a home to add another room or another feature while you have the chance. But every additional square metre needs materials, labour, energy and - most importantly - money to build. It will also need to be heated, cooled, cleaned and maintained.

There’s a lovely overlap here between designing for our own wellbeing and designing with the wellbeing of the planet in mind. Building only what we need means fewer materials and resources are being used, less energy is needed over the life of the home, and we have more room left for gardens and habitat for wildlife.

Building is already a significant financial undertaking for most people, and unexpected costs and constant uncertainty can add a lot of stress to an already demanding process. Setting a realistic budget with a ‘just-in-case’ buffer built in from the beginning can give you a little more breathing room when material prices change or surprises crop up during the build.

Sometimes the better choice is less building and more garden. A smaller building can leave room for a productive veggie patch, native shrubs, a bird bath or a deck for an outdoor BBQ. Gardening in particular gives us a great reason to get outside and move. It’s constructive, slow-moving, and gives busy minds something else to focus on. It’s just so, so good!

Perhaps that is really what we mean when we talk about designing for wellbeing. Is there enough room for the life you want, without so much house that it becomes a burden? And perhaps, every now and then, does it ask you to step outside in bare feet and feel the warmth of the soil, or light a fire under the bathtub and wait patiently for the water to get warm?

Written by Susie + brought to you by the Designful + Homeful team x

thoughtful goodies:

If you’re curious and want to work out what enough might look like for you, and what values you want your house design to support, we’ve put a lot of thought, care + effort into creating resources that will guide you through the decision making process. You can start with our complimentary Values-led Briefing Guide and Determining Your Values Questionnaire. And for those wanting to embrace a simpler way of living, we’ve also just added our new Guide to Enoughness to the shop.

further reading & listening:

our current reads/listens:

The Serviceberry by Robin Wall Kimmerer

The Ancients by Andrew Darby

our upcoming reads/listens:

I eat the stars by Sarah Wilson

Every wild soul by Katherine Johnson

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I think we’ve all been there. Sometimes it feels as though life demands so much of us these days. Work, family responsibilities, appointments, looking after the house, caring for animals, paying bills. Then there are all the apps, subscriptions, smart devices and productivity tools that promise to make our lives easier and simpler. But in reality, often it feels like we’re running on a treadmill that is going faster every day with very little time to stop and breathe.

When we reach that point, it’s only natural to start looking for ways to feel better. It’s almost as though wellness has become a product. Health supplements, a spa treatment, a relaxing weekend away (which, if we’re honest, can sometimes add even more stress to an already full plate), the latest exercise routine or another book promising better sleep.

Many of these things definitely have their place and can be genuinely helpful. But it also made us wonder whether, in all our searching, we’ve lost touch with some of the simpler ways of supporting our wellbeing. Have we become so used to looking outside ourselves for the next solution that we’ve stopped listening to what our body and mind are actually asking for?

making room to breathe.

Jodi Wilson explores this beautifully in her book A Brain That Breathes. Rather than offering another list of things we should be doing, she writes about ideas like enoughness, soft fascination (those moments when you have your morning cuppa and you find yourself looking out the window, watching the birds in the trees without really thinking about anything at all), and intentional not-doing. She reminds us that often our minds don’t need more input, what we need is simply some space to settle, some breathing space in our lives.

Where do these moments of intentional space exist and how can we create more of them? When do we feel genuinely restored? Not distracted for a little while or entertained long enough to forget about everything else, but restored in the sense that we feel more like ourselves again? More often than not, it’s through those moments that could easily pass us by if we weren’t paying attention: Hanging washing outside on a sunny morning and soaking up the first rays of sunshine. Looking out the kitchen window while waiting for the kettle to boil. Wandering through the garden to see what’s growing, or simply standing outside for a few minutes after rain because the air smells so nice.

None of these moments have been designed as wellness practices. We don’t schedule them into our calendars or tick them off a list at the end of the day. They simply become part of how we live and create little areas of breathing space throughout the day without asking us to buy something, achieve something or become better at something.

well being.

On the recent Homing Podcast, Dr. Esther Sternberg, author of Healing Spaces, explores the relationship between our surroundings and our health. She speaks about seven interconnected domains that support our wellbeing: sleep, resilience, nutrition, movement, relationships, spirituality and the environment around us. Our homes can be thoughtfully designed to support each of those.

A home filled with natural morning light can help regulate our body clock, making it easier to sleep well at night. Windows that frame gardens, trees or the changing seasons encourage us to lift our eyes from our screens and reconnect with nature. A home that opens easily to the outdoors makes it more likely that we’ll step outside, move our bodies or spend time in the garden. A dining table that’s welcoming and easy to gather around creates opportunities for shared meals and stronger relationships. Fresh air, good ventilation and healthy materials contribute to an environment that quite literally supports our health. Even something as simple as a comfortable chair beside a window can become a place to pause and knit, sketch, read, or simply let the mind wander.

None of these design decisions are particularly glamorous. They don’t usually appear on a list of luxury inclusions or become the hero image in a magazine. Yet, over time, they greatly influence the way we live.

Of course, a thoughtfully designed home can only do so much. It can’t make us put the phone down, go for a walk or sit outside with a cup of tea. We still have to participate in our own wellbeing. But a home can make those choices feel a little more natural and more inviting.

We often talk about making life easier, but easier isn’t always the same as better. Convenience certainly has its place, but comfort can mean something quite different. How comforting is it, standing side by side to warm up your hands by the wood fire while a pot of stew slowly bubbles away? It’s not the quickest way to heat a meal, but I wouldn’t want to swap that moment for the speed of a microwave or the convenience of underfloor heating.

designing a life, not just a house.

Conversations about building usually revolve around budgets, floor plans, square metres, finishes and fixtures. They’re all important decisions, of course. But they rarely get to the heart of a much bigger question: How do you want your home to support the life you hope to live? Not just today, but also ten or twenty years from now. Designing a home is about so much more than deciding where the kitchen goes or how many bedrooms you need. That’s why we like to start our conversations with clients differently. We ask what fills your cup? What helps you unwind? What are your values? Those answers tell us far more about a future home than choosing between black tapware and brushed brass ever will. A bigger house doesn’t necessarily mean more breathing space. Often the opposite is true.

Those questions eventually became the foundation of our Values-led Briefing Guide, and more recently inspired us to create the Determining Your Values Questionnaire as a complimentary resource. Rather than focusing on rooms or design styles, it’s designed to help you think more deeply about what matters most in your life, and what a future home may need to provide and make room for. It’s full of thoughtful questions that are just as valuable for couples and families as they are for individuals, often uncovering conversations that haven’t yet been had.

Because before we can design a home that supports your lifestyle and wellbeing, it helps to understand what this looks like for you.

For us, the things that contribute the most to our wellbeing aren’t the things that save us time or the places we escape to once or twice a year. They’re the things that make us want to come home.

And after all, we have to remember that our understanding of wellbeing changes throughout our lives. The home that supports us as a young couple won’t necessarily be the home we need when children arrive, or after they’ve left. Our interests change. Our routines change. We change. Perhaps that’s another reason a home is never really finished. Like us, it’s always becoming.

further reading & listening:

This article was inspired by the book A Brain That Breathes by Jodi Wilson and a recent interview with Dr Esther Sternberg on the Homing Podcast. Both thoughtful explorations of wellbeing that we’d highly recommend.

our current reads/listens:

Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer

The Ancients by Andrew Darby

our upcoming reads/listens:

The Serviceberry by Robin Wall Kimmerer

Healing Spaces by Dr Esther Sternberg

Around the winter solstice, the sun feels especially precious.

Here in lutruwita / Tasmania, the daylight hours are short and the sun follows a shallow path across the sky. At winter solstice, the sun rises about 30 degrees north of east, reaching only around 29 degrees above the horizon at solar noon, before setting at about 30 degrees north of west. It is a small window of sunlight, but a reliable one. And because the sun sits so low, it can reach further into a home, finding that one warm patch where everyone seems to gather without really deciding to.

In Australia, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have long held deep, place-based knowledge of seasonal change: reading the movement of the sun, moon and stars alongside plants, animals, weather, water and Country. When we reconnect with ancient thinking, we become aware that our seasons are not just dates on a calendar, but patterns to observe and live within.

There is something grounding about paying attention to the winter solstice. The shortest day and the longest night. A turning point in the year that people across many cultures and places have marked in different ways, as slowly, almost invisibly at first, the light begins to return. It won’t be long before the stunning Tasmanian Silver Wattles start flowering, bringing bright yellow blooms into the moody winter landscape and reminding us that even in the coldest months, the next season is already on its way.

why sunlight belongs in the home.

Designing homes asks us to practise observation and care. To notice what a site and home offers, from winter sun to summer shade, wind, shelter, soil conditions and outlook. And to respond in a way that works with those natural systems rather than against them. Through observing place, a home can help us live more in tune with the land, while also asking us to care for the site, urban and remote, as the custodians for now and into the future.

This is the time of year when passive solar design becomes both a technical idea and a lived experience. A well-oriented home does not need to fight the season quite so hard. Around the winter solstice, thoughtful design allows low sunlight to venture into the spaces where daily life happens: the kitchen, the living room, the places where we sit with a cup of tea, fold washing, read, cook, work, or pause for a moment in the middle of the day.

Getting northern sun into your house in winter is the cheapest and most effective way to make it warmer and more comfortable through the colder months. It is something that has been considered carefully in every Homeful plan, designed with an ideal north in mind so the spaces you spend most of your time in can make the most of that low winter sunlight.

6 simple ways to make room for winter sun.

Even when a home has been designed with good orientation in mind, the way we live in and around it can affect how sunlight can weave its way into our living spaces. Sometimes it’s too easy for something small to stop the winter sun from doing its work.

Here are 6 simple things that can make a big difference:

1. prune vegetation that is blocking morning and northern sun.

Winter sun is limited, especially in the precious morning hours, so it’s worth noticing what might be getting in the way.

This does not mean clearing everything back(!) Trees and plants are part of the life of a home too, offering habitat for birds and other wildlife, providing privacy and fostering mental wellbeing. But if shrubs or large tree branches are blocking your northern windows during the colder months, a careful prune could help bring more warmth and sunlight inside.

A good place to start is to stand outside on a winter’s day and watch where the shadows fall. Notice which windows are receiving sun and which are missing out, and whether a small seasonal trim could make a difference without losing the feeling of the garden.

2. plant taller deciduous trees to the north.

A well-placed deciduous tree can work beautifully with the seasons. In summer, its leaves help filter heat and glare from the sun. In winter, once the leaves have dropped, the lower sun can pass through and reach your home. It’s a win/win: shade when you need protection, light when you need warmth.

The important part here is clever placement. Think about the tree’s height, canopy spread and shade it will cast once it’s fully mature.

3. check that eaves and window shadings are doing the right job.

Eaves and shadings are small design details, but they have a big role to play. Spending time to calculate the correct ratios and proportions and incorporating them into the design will allow the low winter sun to enter your home while keeping the high, harsh summer sun out. This is especially worth thinking about if you are renovating or planning an extension.

4. let the sun reach the floor.

Sounds simple but it’s just as easy to get it wrong… If your best winter sun is landing on the back of a couch, a tall cabinet or a pile of things waiting to be dealt with, your room may not be getting the full benefit. Where possible, keep the area near north-facing windows open enough for sunlight to reach the floor or other surfaces that can hold warmth. That cozy feeling we’re all longing for in winter? This is where you’ll find it!

5. change window coverings to limit these blocking any sun during the day.

Heavy curtains, blinds and shutters can be wonderful at night, helping to hold warmth in once the sun has gone. But during the day, they need to be opened properly so the home can gather the light and warm up when sunlight is available.

If you are choosing new window coverings, it’s worth noticing how much glass they cover when open. Some curtains or blinds still block part of the window when stacked back, which can reduce the amount of winter sun entering the room.

6. if you are designing or renovating, give the best light to the rooms you use most.

One of the biggest passive solar wins is placing your main living spaces on the northern side of the home.

A sunny hallway is lovely and a sunny laundry is useful (for 5 minutes). But the greatest benefit comes when winter sun reaches the rooms where daily life gathers: the kitchen, dining and living areas. Of course, every site has its own constraints. Slope, views, access, neighbouring buildings, existing trees, planning rules and budget all affect what’s possible. Perfect orientation is not always available, so it’s about compromises and thinking about what you value most. The decisions you make early on in the design process can keep giving back for many winters to come.

further reading + goodies.

Head to the Homeful shop to download your free Values-led Briefing Guide.

This resource will step you through identifying your values and ideal lifestyle, defining what’s enough for you, and thinking through what functions and activities will support your values and ideal lifestyle; then focusing on how your home can facilitate this, defining your financial capacity, and how to make decisions and compromises.

our current reads / listens.

The Salt Path by Raynor Winn.

The Bush by Don Watson.

our upcoming reads / listens.

The Ancients by Andrew Darby.

People care is a permaculture based approach to caring for self and community. Focusing on positive opportunities rather than obstacles. Based on the overture; when people’s needs are met in simple, collaborative and compassionate ways, the ecosystems encompassing them will bloom. Here at Homeful people care is embraced through the practice of ‘enoughness’: working out what you really need to be happy and healthy, without taking more than your fair share. When our homes are created with this in mind, the positive impacts radiate.

“Do what you can

With what you have.

Nothing more is needed.”

- Rick Rubin.

in a consumptive world, we can redefine care.

People Care starts with caring for self, not in a trendy self-care buy all the anti-aging products the internet offers up to you kinda way. But in a way of encouraging the development of self-reliance and awareness, which can come from a focus on non-material self-care. Through identifying robust values and taking responsibility for our decisions (and often privilege) we can begin to empower ourselves, which in turn allows the same vigor to be shared with the community around us. This is a rational place to start thinking through how your home space supports this, or can support this further. If you’re embarking on the journey of creating a home, whether a renovation or new build download our Values-led Briefing Guide here.

Through our processes here at Designful and Homeful a level of reciprocity is required to make for a delightful design experience. It’s simple, you define your needs and values and we’ll converge with you, through a design that is the best fit for your needs and site. And then we all observe an outcome that is designed from a collective perspective, starting from the base focus on self.

“A truly rational human world is one that doesn’t look like efficiency or profit or perfected machines.

It’s a world that reflects who we are as a species, in all our incredible diversity, fluidity, history and eccentricity.

It’s a world of never-ending interestingness + multiplicity.”

- Thomas Heatherwick.

designing home spaces with a focus on people.

People care principles can also relieves the external pressures of what the latest Pinterest or social media craze is. Instead it shifts the focus to a more pliable notion of architecture, something more human. A creation that will last for longer, be used flexibly for generations and take less from the world’s finite resources. That’s not to say we’re discouraging beauty in the every-day house, but rather that beautiful spaces can be defined in other ways, rather than embedded in how much of everything you’ve squeezed under a giant roof (see our previous newsletter on Defining Small.) There is beauty to be found in homes being designed to witness the seasonal shifts with open arms, for cooking, bathing, sleeping, sharing, feeling, actively living within the natural cycle around us, not tucked away in cavernous houses on screens. These are the moments that we design for, these are the moments that our Homeful pre-designed house plans support. Housing should support our kin and others for the long term. It’s time to start building homes that are truly ‘enough’ — for your values, lifestyle, budget and the planet.

“If we dedicated our lives solely to noticing changes in natural light and shadow as the hours pass, we would constantly discover something new.”

- Rick Rubin.

further reading + goodies.

Head to the Homeful shop to download your free Values-led Briefing Guide.

This resource will step you through - identifying your values and ideal lifestyle, defining what is enough for you, thinking through what functions and activities will support your values and ideal lifestyle. Then focusing on how your home can facilitate this, defining your financial capacity, and how to make decisions and compromises.

our current reads / listens.

The creative act : a way of being by Rick Rubin.

Humanise, A Maker’s Guide to Building Our World by Thomas Heatherwick.

our upcoming reads / listens.

A Catalogue of Love by Erin Hortle.

The Bush by Don Watson.

Homeful provides thoughtfully designed house plans, at a fraction of the cost and size of your average Australian home. Here’s a quick dip into the stats behind it and why building or living in a smaller home can be considered more than enough.

Australia builds the biggest houses.

We have a dwindling household size, plus we are spending less time in our houses as we’re working our bums off to pay our big houses off. WHY? We are also coming embarrassingly last in the developed world in terms of climate policy.

No matter how ‘sustainable’ or ‘green’ your build is, regardless of your solar set-up, your material selections, your triple-glazing or your passive house credentials - the bigger it is, the more energy it will use (remembering that embodied energy and operational energy both need to be taken into account. Read more about these here: embodied energy and operational energy.)

a small house footprint is simply better, for a whole range of reasons.

So, how big ‘should’ your home be? How many rooms ‘should’ you have? What’s ‘the norm’? The average new home according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics is between 235-240m2. A house this size can make sense for a large household, a multi generational one or one that is shared, however in Australia households are getting smaller. In 2023, census data showed the average number of people per household was 2.5. (Down from 4.5 people per household in 1911 when houses were less than half this size!). With only 2.5 people per household, that’s a whopping 96m2 of floor area per person. (A great amount of space if you dislike the people you live with!).

This might be the ‘the norm’, but this notion of what’s normal is destroying the planet, reducing accessibility to housing, and increasingly binding housing to our country’s economy. Let’s not aspire to ‘normal’ anymore. It’s not the way it has to be.

all families and households are diverse and different.

Some people have special needs, accessibility requirements, and aging in place as well as multi-generational living is something to be considered. So how much space do you really need? That all depends on you and your situation - but if you’re coming from a place of “What do I/we need?” rather than “What is normal these days?” you’re on the right path.

At Homeful and Designful, we think about 30m2 per person is more practical, and has many benefits.

smaller houses.

Use fewer materials, use less energy, are cheaper to build, are cheaper to run, have a smaller footprint on your land, are quicker to clean and have more fun surprises! All of this benefits both you and the planet - it’s a win, win.

We believe and have tested that for a family of 4, 120m2 can be enough to hold the essentials of daily life without the unnecessary. This size house gives gentle nudges to connect to outside, seek shared spaces for leisure, entertainment and fitness. This sized home can subtly hold a family closer together through connection via shared spaces and work much harder for you for less energy and financial outlay.

Our Terrain Design is our template for a considered, functional home that is enough for a family. It respects those busy mornings when you get interrupted in the shower 3 times and solves this via a deconstructed bathroom, it embraces functional storage zones that can be customized to your particular hobby needs and there are up for grabs spaces that can be whatever you imagine. Think study/library/yoga/sewing/art+craft/kids play den.

we live in an uncertain world, some certainty is comforting.

By choosing a small home template you can understand your cost earlier, feel more in control of your future finances and start dreaming about your garden because you’ll have lots of space left over!

So why not check out our full suite of pre-designed floor plans on the Homeful website + purchase a ponder pack from the Homeful shop if you want to use it as the perfect template for your ‘new-normal sized’ home build anywhere in Australia.

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further reading + goodies.

Head to the Homeful shop to download your free Values-led Briefing Guide.

This resource will step you through - identifying your values and ideal lifestyle, defining what is enough for you, thinking through what functions and activities will support your values and ideal lifestyle. Then focusing on how your home can facilitate this, defining your financial capacity, and how to make decisions and compromises.

our current reads / listens.

A Brain That Breathes - Essential habits for an overwhelming world by Jodi Wilson.

The Performance by Claire Thomas.

our upcoming reads / listens.

The creative act : a way of being by Rick Rubin.

Makers : Lutruwita/Tasmania by Ivett Dodd.

Subscribe now

Here at Homeful and Designful, we’ve been defining our values, and it feels hopeful in a world that’s feeling overwhelming.

January and February have swum by in a haze of long balmy days. Marked by time spent at the beach, in the forest and our gardens, and clicking away on the computer in work mode. Our values are defined as a hearty balance of - enoughness, resourcefulness and mindfulness.

enoughness

We believe that taking more than what is strictly needed is a privilege that needs to be respected and well considered. At Homeful and Designful, we believe that the built environment is holistically intertwined with sustainability, economics and the wellbeing of our people and the planet. With this in mind, we challenge our clients and ourselves to consider exactly “what is enough?”

resourcefulness

We have created a series of resources, offerings and house design plan packs to assist in more people building homes that are designed with function and thought. With cost friendly, simple to build, passive solar designed floor plans, drafted into thorough documentation sets, ready for you to customize for your lifestyle and block of land.

mindfulness

Through Homeful we have designed financially achievable homes that support healthy, down to earth and mindful lifestyles. Today’s world is facing some serious environmental and social problems and what a lot of people don’t seem to realise is that each of us has the opportunity to make a tiny but significant impact, and the best place to start is at home. Stop and consider for a moment what it is you and your family need to live a good life that is healthy, meaningful and that doesn’t negatively impact on anyone else. You have the opportunity to make a difference for your family, your community and our planet by only using your fair share and giving back in kind.

Through our values we offer you the opportunity to achieve more than just building a new home, you get the opportunity to support a meaningful lifestyle that treads softly on the earth + drives a movement towards what matters.

further reading + goodies

Head to the Homeful shop to download your free Values-led Briefing Guide.

This resource will step you through - identifying your values and ideal lifestyle, defining what is enough for you, thinking through what functions and activities will support your values and ideal lifestyle. Then focusing on how your home can facilitate this, defining your financial capacity, and how to make decisions and compromises.

our current reads / listens

There Are Rivers in the Sky by Elif Shakaf.

Truganini - Journey through the apocalypse by Cassandra Pybus.

our upcoming reads / listens

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What is enough when considering our homes? 

How can we help our clients consider what's enough for them so they can live a life aligned with their values whilst leaving enough for others and the planet?

This is what I do at Designful.  

I start with values. And ask meaningful, honest questions. 

What are your values?  This can be a challenging or curious way to start a design project but if we don't know what values we are creating a vessel for then what's the point! 

We can design to support not only ourselves but each other, to nurture values, live ideal and responsible lifestyles and reduce unnecessary impact.  If we know our values we know what's important to us, and what's worth spending time and money on. It allows us to let go of the unnecessary and make way for the meaningful. 

And this is what we all really want, meaning. 

This is what truly satisfies us. I think one of our jobs as people helping people create homes, can be to assist them to let go of the unnecessary to make way for the meaningful. 

And enough will look different to everyone. 

Not all homes that are enough will be small. Not all homes that are enough will have one bathroom. There are different needs when designing for a household of 7 than 3, for a single person, multigenerational family unit to a share house.  And we all have different requirements depending on circumstance, ability, location and lifestyle. 

It's not always just about size. It's also about being honest and appropriate.

Good design is honest. Good design is useful, is unobtrusive,  involves as little design as possible and is not burdened with non-essentials. A few of Dieter Rams principles of good design. 

Good design is enough. 

I do not aim to shame anyone or make anyone feel guilty because the striving for more is not our fault. Currently we live in a system that thrives on us wanting more. 

Constant messages, advertising, praise for acquiring more is pressuring us every day.  

Capitalism conditions us to believe and behave as if we will never have enough to be satisfied or happy.

And as a my mate Sarah Lebner from Cooee Architecture said recently in response to one of my podcast interviews:  

Because it's harming us and the planet.

So, how do we let go of the excess to make space for the meaningful? 

We don't like letting things go, having less, feeling like we are going without. But as Jay Austin says: 

“We're not going to ever be able to achieve the environmental gains that we are seeking whilst expecting our lives to be the same. We're going to have to give some things up. The secret is that a lot of this we are not actually going to miss.”

I think we won't only, not miss this stuff, but flourish without it. 

I look forward to seeing the shift back to us appreciating homes for what they are truly meant to be. Vessels for a meaningful life. 

Because, as Michael Allen Fox says:

“For better or worse, presence or absence, home is a crucial point of reference - in memory, feeling and imagination - for inventing the story of ourselves, our life narrative, for understanding our place in time. But it's also a vital link through which we connect with others and with the world and the universe at large.”

And a few more thoughts on this here.

What is this stuff we might give up? 

Well I think the essence of this is in the question not so much in the answer.  

What can we let go of to make space for the meaningful? What is enough for us? And this is what we can help each other with. It can be a bit challenging but there are also many people out there just waiting for someone to help them with this and give them permission to make decisions based on these questions. To support them to find their own answers to these powerful questions and walk with them to this empowered place of enoughness.

To rebuild these connections and meaning, maybe we can start by asking new questions.

Instead of how big? Ask, how do we want to feel? Instead of how much will it cost? How much meaning will it bring? Not, can I have it but, is it necessary? 

So, what might a home that is enough look like anyway?  

A home that is enough provides for our human needs and they are: shelter from the elements, safety, a place to rest, a place to carry out good hygiene, a place to eat and access safe water, a place for human connection, a base to allow us a livelihood. They may also provide a place to practice our spirituality, to raise our children, a place that supports our divergence and different abilities, maybe a place to grow food, a place to acquire knowledge or practice an art or craft, a place to be with others. 

And they should also connect us to place and honour the land where they sit. 

When we say or think of the word ‘home’ we are not referring to timber and bricks we are referring to a feeling that is strongly linked to place, memory and belonging. 

If we reflect on  these things, what a home needs to provide, it seems that we have gone far beyond what is enough in some areas but we are lacking in others. Whilst we have more than enough rooms, tech, things, comfort and convenience we are lacking connection, meaning and belonging. 

Are we disconnecting ourselves from nature and the things that bring us meaning through the pursuit of the “dream home” ?

To be a healthy human living a reciprocal life with the world around us we need to experience the seasons and weather, see the stars and walk on the earth, appreciate the other beings that are living alongside us and share the earth's gifts.  Whether we live in the bush or in an apartment we can appreciate a breeze through a window, morning sun in the kitchen and a bird on a branch and the changing of seasons. We seem to have forgotten how much meaning these things bring. And wonderfully, all of this doesn't cost us anything.

Let's not forget comfort and pleasure as these things do contribute to our wellbeing and happiness. I am not saying that we must go without, live in a yurt or all be minimalists.  

Enoughness is not minimalism. And you can read a bit into my thoughts on this here. 

A comfortable chair, an efficient source of heat, a pleasant view through a well placed window, quality elements that function well, healthy air, and a right sized bath that holds the same warm water as a luxury one, bring value to our lives.

As does good light, thermal comfort, robust and responsible materials, access to green space, good proportions and well designed storage.

How can our homes provide us with connection to the weather and environment, the stars and our neighbours? There are so many different ways our homes can do this depending on the place, climate and situation and the good thing is that variety will make this all the richer. 

How can our homes support us to rebuild the connections, meaning and belonging that we need? 

Are more bathrooms, butlers pantries, media rooms, home gyms, drive-in garages, and the latest tile trend contributing to these meaningful things? Are they necessary? 

Can we give each other permission to let go of them if they aren't? 

We are experiencing a climate emergency and a design emergency. There are many things we need to do and must, many of them we have already actioned such as the energy efficiency of new homes. But the one thing I think we must act on before we are forced to is to use less stuff, remember what is enough and practice enoughness. 

This one simple act of curbing our consumption requires no extra energy, no new technology and no new skills, it's free and available to everyone in the privileged world. 

Can we support each other to ask new questions that allow us to let go of the unnecessary to make way for the meaningful? 

Can we commit contributing to a movement towards what matters?

Can we embrace the action of not only designing houses but lifestyles that are enough, that have meaning and connection and lessen the impact on others and this wonderful planet. 

Can we take up the opportunity to embrace enough and Just use less. 

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It can be very complicated, trying to do the right thing, trying to lessen your impact and save the planet whilst upholding your way of life, making a living, being relevant, climbing the ladder and finding a position in the world. Then add considerations of operational energy, star ratings, U-values, membranes, carbon life cycle, thermal bridging, air exchanges, heat recovery, offsets. 

It's a lot to consider. I know. 

But pretty quickly I realized that it doesn't need to be that stressful or complicated.  We are just making it hard and complicated because we are trying to change without changing.

We are trying to lessen our impact without changing how we’re living, what we want and what we’re willing to use to get there. We are trying to lessen our impact whilst having more, bigger and better.  

We are trying to change without changing. Here is that quote from Jay Austin again as a reminder:

How about we just consider what's enough? 

It's actually very simple - embrace enoughness and just use less.

But we know - simple is not the same as easy. 

The one most powerful thing we can do to slow the ruining of this planet is to just use less. This action alone reduces energy use and thus carbon emissions. But how do we do this? How do we just use less and be satisfied with enough, when we live in a system that is constantly telling us to want more? 

If we are to transition to a renewable energy system whilst the rate of growth and consumption continues as it is, we are filling a bath without putting in the plug. 

The amount of energy needed to produce the renewables and then produce the stuff we use and buy is still growing despite our transition efforts. 

The problem isn't our carbon emissions. This is a symptom of the problem. 

The real problem is that we consume too much and this consumption uses a heap of energy.

As Jason Hickel says, our way of life and obsession with growth and stuff is “metabolizing the natural world.”  You can delve deeper into what Jason Hickel thinks here:

We are at a point  in time when we need to be thinking about our choices and how this affects others and the planet. And, a way we can do this is by asking new and honest questions.

Our homes are where our lives are centred and where we can start, by considering them as a vessel for creating change. Our homes are where values are formed and held, where we rejuvenate and dream about our life and our future. They shape our habits and affect how we feel, they support us to go out into the world and do great things. 

More energy efficient buildings are necessary. But what we need are people unsubscribing to a consumerist way of living, asking new questions and embracing enoughness, not just in their homes, but everywhere. We need more people living and satisfied with enough. 

When I told the Undercover architect that enoughness is:  

“working out what you need to be happy and healthy without taking more than your fair share”  

That last bit, “fair share” triggered some people. 

Fair enough. I don't want to shame anyone because it's not our fault.  And I'll explain why in a bit. 

The research also shows we’re not getting any happier.

There was a time not that long ago when we spent 90% of our time outside in our natural environment. We were part of it and it was a part of us. Over only a few hundred years we are now spending 90% of our time inside and our relationship with our environment has been broken, fragmented, and the reciprocity has been forgotten. We are taking, not only more than we need or that we can give back, but far more than the earth can replenish. 

Why? 

It's human nature to seek happiness, comfort and freedom. But I would suggest we are looking to find this in the wrong places. 

Who told us that big houses, kitchen appliances and ‘stuff’ was going to make us happy and fulfilled? 

And who is willing to say that this constant striving for more, bigger and better isn't making us happy or healthy? 

If stuff and things and houses are not the things that we need to strive for to bring us happiness and fulfilment then what will? 

Time, connection and relationships are the things that bring us true happiness and fulfilment. The good news is that these are all freely available to the privileged world, and they don’t cost us a cent.

Enoughness can give us more of what we really need for happiness, health and fulfilment and as designers and creators, we can play a significant and inspiring role in bringing this to our work, to our clients and the world.

The other good news is that enoughness  doesn't always mean having less, sometimes it's about having more. And we are at a time where we are craving more. More connection, more time, more nature and more meaning. 

So what is enough? 

The definition of enough is: 

“In or to a degree or quantity that satisfies, or is sufficient or necessary for satisfaction”

And herein lies a problem. Our satisfaction.

We can't seem to be satisfied. Or is it that we are trying to satisfy ourselves with the wrong things? things that are actually taking away our happiness and health and demolishing the planet at the same time.

Do we even know what satisfies us? 

It seems we are trying to satisfy ourselves with things, achievements and wealth, but it now seems clear that it's not working. We don't need these things to be happy and healthy. The things we need to be healthy and happy are free and not things at all. They are connections. Connection to others, nature, our purpose and ourselves. 

And the less things we have in our lives to cling onto, take care of and pay for the more time and space we have for these truly meaningful things that are satisfying our human spirit.

Less financial burden creates space in our lives for time to cultivate our values and tend to our connections and most meaningful actions. 

We seem to be striving to fill the void with things that increase our wealth but also our financial burden and one of these things is often our home.

“The cost of anything is the amount of life we are willing to exchange for it.”

We all know the phrase ‘dream Home’ but what do we really mean by that? 

Images will come to mind, we see them every day in magazines on Instagram and in ads. It seems in our area of work that success is to deliver what looks like the ‘dream home’ We feel this expectation in our bones every damn day.  

But is it really a ‘dream home’ if we are maxed out financially and have to work more and longer hours, if we feel guilty about not spending quality time with our children, if we reduce our time for connection and doing things we like to do? All with an added feeling of having to keep our ‘dream home’ clean and well presented?   

I like to rephrase the ‘dream home’ to the ‘dream lifestyle’. Because when I spend time talking with clients about this, what they really value is an ideal lifestyle that is aligned with their values. After all, it is no good having the ‘dream home’ if you can't have a lifestyle that aligns with who you are.  

Our homes are a good place to start when considering what's enough for us to be happy, connected and well. They are our life base, holding us, providing us with shelter and safety.  

What if we change our perspective and shift the value of our home from a symbol of wealth, status and ‘the ultimate in design’ to being about providing shelter, warmth, a place to eat, connect and carry out the ceremony of life? 

If this were their function would we design them differently? Would, what they look like matter as much as it does right now? 

After all, a home’s true purpose is as a vessel for living.

“A home is meaningless without the moments and memories it holds” 

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My aim was to plant a seed of ‘enoughness’ in an industry that has good intentions to reduce its impact on this planet but still thrives on more, bigger and better. An industry that is yet to understand that to change means, it has to change.

I hope this seed grows in the direction of empowering people to embrace ‘enoughness’ to let go of the unnecessary to make space for the meaningful, and reduce the impact on this one wonderful planet.

Let's start at the beginning…

I'd like you to imagine, getting some feedback from a client that sounds something like this: 

“Thank you so much for designing us a home that is perfectly enough. It's warm and sunny, I can see the veggie garden from the kitchen sink, there's enough storage for the things we need and treasure, the bills are low and we're not financially maxed out, meaning our mortgage is not overly stressful. You've not only designed a home but a whole lifestyle for us … that is low impact and fulfilling. You helped us with questions we didn't even consider asking and feel so good about the decisions we made for our home and life … to just include what we need, the things that align with our values … knowing that this is one small step in reducing the impact on the planet. We are happy, we have time, we're outdoors more, we rest more, we welcome friends and family in for meals, we have found more meaning in our lives. We thought we wanted our dream home, but you delivered our dream lifestyle. 

We can't thank you enough.”

How would that feedback make you feel? Knowing that you not only delivered a building, but also supported a lifestyle and it didn't cost the earth.

“It feels great.”

In wealthy countries (and Australia is one of them) we are using on average 28 tons of raw material and resources per person per year. Now that doesn't mean much on its own.

But, this 28 tons of material we are using means a lot when we consider that ecologists have estimated that 8 tons per person per year is the amount that we can use and stay within safe planetary boundaries. And we are at a point in time where many of this planet's boundaries have been crossed. We are at a tipping point of crossing more that will have serious knock-on effects.

This statistic is from Jason Hickles book - Less is More, how degrowth will save the world.  

It was an alarming read but also gave me fuel and a lot of hope. 

These numbers mean that in Australia, on average, we are using 3.5 times the amount of stuff the planet can safely support each year.

I think, as designers, we have the opportunity to change this. Through how we think, work and what we create.  Through our service we can shift mindsets and pave the way to a new normal. 

High-income, privileged countries are consuming the most raw materials from this earth, building the biggest homes and emitting the most carbon emissions per capita of all the countries on earth. There is a direct correlation. My big question is - do we need to be using this much stuff?     

That's pretty grim,  but sometimes we need to know what we are dealing with in order to take action. And I feel hopeful about the actions we can take for our future. 

What I hope to share with you are the realities … plus ideas and inspiration so we can all start taking action and making a change. So, we can start asking the question of what is enough with more confidence and permission.

For me 

“Enoughness is about working out what you need to be happy and healthy without taking more than your fair share.”

Thinking about ‘enoughness’ requires us to reconsider what we are striving for and what we ideally want. And pondering this may give us permission to live and work in a more achievable, fulfilling and sustainable way.  Antoine de Saint-Exupery put this beautifully when he said that:

“perfection is not achieved when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away”.

If I can reframe this, to say: 

“Enough is not achieved when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away”

So, what I'd like to discuss with you today is: what do we need to take away or let go of and what will be left? 

I'm the Director and founder of Designful and Homeful. We are known for designing humble homes that support the lives our clients wish to lead and being bold enough to design less. 

I'm a building designer but my real work is to create change and I work with people who want to make a change too. 

I initially believed that ‘enoughness’ was good for individuals because it meant that you weren't living beyond your means and that meant you could live a life aligned with your values, a good life! However the real benefit of practicing enoughness is more broad reaching. 

With enoughness we can help others and the planet, all living things in fact!

And right now all other living things need our help. The earth has given us everything we need and we have taken everything we want. It's time to give back. 

Before I started my own practice I worked in architecture firms. I learnt a lot. I saw people moving though the process of renovating or building, getting more and more stressed, clients, architects and designers getting more stressed and it was usually about money and the tension between what people wanted and what they wanted to pay. Everyone had good intentions of being sustainable, creating something beautiful, fulfilling the brief and achieving the dream. 

The buildings were big to achieve the brief, but then the cost was too high to achieve the dream. People were stressed, but hey, we the place had solar panels! I observed, in amongst these varying considerations, that the pursuit of the ‘dream home’ wasn’t making anyone happy. No one seemed to be winning, especially not the earth. 

One of the things I learnt was that the cost of anything is the amount of life you are willing to exchange for it. 

I knew there had to be a different way.  And I was willing to give it a crack.

I’ll share the next part with you soon - how does next week sound?

Also a special mention:

You would have received my mate Nat Mendham’s latest dispatch - “Champion of Enoughness” via Temporarily Not Compost. I owe a lot of my thoughts on enoughness to my time spent with Nat, often wandering, making or just in deep conversation. Many thanks to Nat!

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Share What's Enough?

It is Part 1 of my recent keynote at the Building Designers Association of Australia’s national design festival. I thought this was a great way to introduce this whole idea of ‘enoughness’.

It includes discussion on resource use, never ending growth and the consumerist residential building and lifestyle industry + how this is impacting our health and the planet.

The good news is that I also share my ideas on how we might change this, lessen our impact at a fundamental level + heal our broken connection to those things that truly matter.

I look forward to sending this out to you.

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