Customer Reviews

The Barefoot Home: Dressed-Down Design for Casual Living

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I stumbled across this book after reading a review in Coastal Living, and I haven't looked back. I am neither a designer nor an architect, but with carefully chosen text and clear, descriptive pictures, Marc Vassallo really opened my eyes and mind what it is that I am looking in a home. I've been trying to create my perfect (for me and my family) home for years, and while I realize that is a process, not a goal, all the elements that are key for me were captured here beautifully. While so many books and magazines about US homes and designs feature mostly homes on the East Coast or in the Midwest, this one refreshinly was not limited by geography and the West and Pacific Northwest were well represented. I loved that fact that the homes were not huge palatial estates but, with creativity, had elements that were attainable for most people who are willing to take a few risks and even do some of the work themselves. This book really validated what I believe my home should and can be and reenergized me to continue to move forward. As a big fan of the Taunton Press books and Sarah Susanka's The Not So Big House, this was an immediate purchase for my home library and still is out where I reach for it at least once a day to look at and think about how to apply some of the principles to my home. As a public librarian, I know these types of books are very popular with our customers and Barefoot Home is no exception - all our copies have been borrowed since I ask the book selector to order it and it was put on the shelves. The Barefoot Home website is a great resource, too. Have fun dreaming!

The Barefoot Home: Dressed-Down Design For Casual Living is a lavishly photographed interior design and decorating guide, with an eye for the laid-back lifestyle. Emphasis on openness, lack of clutter, serenity, ventilation, and ease distinguish these suggestions for everything from kitchens to studios to bedroom. Full-color photographs on every page, diagrams, and extensive writing not only about specific suggestions but also general themes to promote a relaxed atmosphere fill The Barefoot Home cover-to-cover. The perfect interior design antidote to the pressures and stresses of a fast-paced world, The Barefoot Home is written in a tone akin to its subject matter - easygoing and thoroughly accessible to amateur and professional designers alike. Very highly recommended and informative reading.

This is an excellent house design book. It's a very functional book ,you'll probably examine your house plans in a new light after reading this.
I appreciated the content of the book; excellent pictures, floor plans for every house (you would think every design book would include this, but no)and a range of house sites from coast to coast and urban to country. The author developed his topic (relaxed house) well throughout the book, I found that the text was concise and interesting. Vassallo demonstrated again and again in various contexts his themes for a "barefoot house"-light, open spaces, texture, durable surfaces, great connectivity to the outside, and every inch of space useful and used.

On first glance I agreed with many of the other reviewers: 'the book was slick', 'it was disingenuous', 'sure, if you live in a sunny climate, most, if not all, of the time'.

Then I went back and looked at the book again, and read the opening passage: he does not strive to be disingenuous, he tells us he himself doesn't live in a barefoot home, nor a barefoot neighborhood, but he is trying and the manifesto of the book is to entreat all of us to be more informal in our primary living space -- our homes.

Open the house up as soon as you can, get rid of all the stuff you don't need, make your home as casual as you can, and then enjoy it.
Think informal thoughts, and live in all the spaces available to you: the patio, the deck and never forget how good it feels to have sand between your toes!

He provides blue prints to the homes and he even lists the architects. Enjoy and live well!

Marc Vassallo delivers practical ideas on realizing one's fuzzy notions about downsizing, settling into a more informal and comfortable lifestyle, and doing it well. An architect as well as a former magazine editor and writer, Marc knows what it takes to grab our attention: Clear no-nonsense prose, fabulous images, and solid information. He zeroes unerringly in on America's fatigue of fussy decorating, unused rooms, clutter, and never ending maintenance. Then he shows us how to go about creating an easier, more laidback lifestyle...and he makes it OK to do so. Whew! I could feel myself relaxing as I thoughtfully turned the pages. Thanks, Marc. And everyone else: Crawl over broken glass to buy this book! It has the power to change your life for the better! I'm buying copies for all of our kids! Darlene White

Don't let the beautiful photography fool you, this is more than just a 'coffee table book' you'll look at once and forget. Sampling houses from a broad range of architectural styles that are set in a wide variety of environments Marc Vassallo pulls out the elements that make each a "Barefoot Home". It's an attitude and the thought that your house should be a sanctuary from the "big box sameness" that has crept into so many aspects of our lives today.

If you are looking for houses that are casually elegant, quirky, fun, and full of life this book is for you. If you are looking for ideas to help design a house, or ways to make your existing home more sanctuary than simply shelter, this books is full of ideas. As someone who is on the process of thinking through the design of a house I can tell you this is a great resource.

While I concur with everything I've read in the other Barefoot Home book reviews, I want to say something more pointed about the author. I've met Mr. Vassello and was astounded at his passion for and understanding of this subject matter. Vassello was trained as an architect and well along the road to becoming one when he caved in to his lifelong obsession to write. Writing took Vassello to places his architecture never could. Beyond exclusive access into thousands of very special houses, writing gave him audience with some of the brightest minds of his time.
Vassello has always been fascinated with the relationships developed between people and place. Initially he wrote about farmers and agrarian lifestyles. Here he learned about the patterns developed by people who work the land over long periods of time. Then, writing for years with Taunton Press, he explored residential landscapes and home gardeners. These were much shorter, more complicated configurations. But through it all, his true gift has always been the ability to see sophistocated patterns in everyday lifestyles. Vassello sees what others miss.

In The Barefoot Home he has tracked and bagged an elusive quality found only in the best residential architecture - life! While this book provides endless descriptions and detailed examples, it's all in pursuit of a lifestyle - a special way of living. Incredibly, through mature writing and superb photos, he has rendered the ephemeral palpable. Readers will FEEL what the barefoot lifestyle is, even if they have never removed even a single grain of sand from their sandels. And what's more, they will understand how to create their own even if they live thousands of miles from the nearest beach.

Vassallo puts into words the kind of home we all want: casual, bright, a place that feels good to call home. The BFH introduces the idea of the easy feeling you get when you're away on a summer vacation, renting a cabin in the woods or a house on the beach. The book provides the recipe for maintaining this feeling year-round, not just one or two weeks a year but every day in your own house.

We live in temperate Australia and hesitated long before buying this book. We have shelves of excellent architecture reference books from around the world and have been owner builders. Was it going to be just glam coffee table eye candy? The architect has worked with Sarah Susanka (Not So Big House etc), so we decided to take the plunge. This is a very good book. There is so much to look at, contemplate, re-visit. Brilliant resolution of details, houses that flow, small exquisite spaces, sound materials. We have had hours of enjoyment from this book and have been happy to share it with others to extend their knowledge of good architecture. Enjoy!

This book is beautiful, the writing lyric and inviting.

But in looking for ideas for building our coastal home, I found that the windows and outdoor living areas were meant for homes in secluded or tree-sheltered locations, not on a city lot as our will be.

I highly recommend this book for those with more remote building sites.