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Aye, undoubtedly a personal, subjective area of thought, and one you rarely hear in relation to houses unless you are visiting the landscaped gardens of some stately home or hall, yet it could equally be applied to many of the modest gardens, and associated houses in the National Garden Scheme, a very clever charity, mentioned in an earlier blog. The clue really is to do with the setting, relationship of the house to its surroundings and the 'repose'... a term used in several design books, Arthur Martin's the 'Small House and its surroundings', John Stephanidis in 'Atmosphere, Effect and Comfort' and of course mine. It is very much an Arts and Crafts tenet. Incidentally, the former editor of the Architectural Review contributed to a page every month entitled ' Delight'. Generally the subject matter was an intriguing piece of design with special attention to detailing, use of materials, or a special lighting quality...So all is not dead the the professional world! I consider that 'delight' should top every page of your scribbles notes and 'must-haves'. A noble ambition?

I have mentioned in my design guide, that a way of building up a brief, or what you want, is to assemble a file, portfolio of images and references of likes and hates as well as must haves, desires and 'if the budget stretches to it' themes and thoughts, but you could approach the brief making with just descriptions and words. I daresay it depends how your mind works, and this is not the place to explore that, even I knew where to start. I've mentioned where this came from in another blog. Some years ago I was invited to to assist on a degree level Interior Design course, I was confronted with a group of final year students who had effectively been abandoned by a tutor who was stuck abroad and another who was having a nervous breakdown. The approach that had been set up for them was to identify a donor building which they could survey and measure, and decide what interesting and absorbing use they might explore, as a 5 month project...they hadn't achieved much. The new uses ranged from a high class hairdresser, an indoor BMX park with assocaited cafe and shop, a TV reception area, a micro brewery visitor centre, student accommodation with communal gathering spot, bistro/wine bars and so on. However rather than suggest that all retire to the library and select the latest trend, I suggested they grab good dictionaries and select descriptions plus opposites like loud and clangy to soft and calm. artificail lighting to naturally lit, bright to subdued and also to consider textures in the same vein. I know it does sound like 'just another over-the-top student project, but they mostly made huge progress. So you can approach early stages of your design the same way...rustic/modern, bold/receding, on the landscape/of the the landscape, dominant/reposing, brash/calm...make your own list, only with a dictionary! I expressed no opinion, helping with other source material and some detailing...I just enjoyed their enthusiasm and to see the challenge accepted...oh, the all passed, a bonus for all. See cargocollective.com/selfbuildhome for details of guide