Simon Sarris writes about what it takes to build something beautiful from nothing, offering great reminder to prioritize beauty and simplicity in life.
In March of 2018, Simplicity and I bought three small former haying fields overrun with pine trees in southern New Hampshire. Our goal was to build a traditional-looking house that we designed. In doing so we wanted to satisfy many aesthetic and functional features that were lacking from the modern homes available, such as proper use of light, space, ventilation, and passive cooling. With an aim towards the things we loved about old houses, it seemed like it should be possible to design something with fewer complications, yet more beautiful and useful, than most modern construction. With some careful choices and by doing some of the finishing ourselves, we thought we could make it relatively inexpensively, too.
