Making Tiny Apartments Kid-Friendly: What I Learned About Bringing Nature Into Small Spaces
Okay, I’m definitely not a parent and I don’t claim to be an expert on kid spaces, but something I’ve been thinking about a lot lately is how kids growing…
Real Talk: The Hidden Costs of Making Your Small Space “Nature-Inspired”
Walking into one of those Instagram-worthy biophilic spaces makes me feel some type of way. You know the ones – all that gorgeous reclaimed wood, those smooth stone countertops, plants…
Following Nature’s Lead: How Our Family Learned to Design Spaces That Change with the Seasons
You know what I’ve been obsessing over lately? How our house changes throughout the year. I was sitting in the kitchen this morning, watching my daughter eat breakfast in this…
Trying to Bring Nature Into My Tiny Apartment’s Home Office (Spoiler: Virtual Trees Are Weird But Also Kind of Work?)
When I first started working from home during the pandemic, I literally set up my laptop on my kitchen table facing a brick wall. My one window shows nothing but…
How Indoor-Outdoor Transition Spaces Are Game-Changers for Family Living (And Why Your Kids Need Them)
I never really thought about transition spaces until I started trying to figure out why my kids behaved so differently in different parts of our house. You know how some…
When Math Meets Nature: How I Discovered the Fibonacci Pattern in My Garden and Home
After living in the same house for nearly four decades, you start noticing things about nature that maybe passed you by when you were younger and busier. These days, spending…
The Small Things Matter: Textures, Scents, and Details That Make a Home Feel Right
This morning I was sitting on the back deck I rebuilt two years ago – had to replace the old composite boards with real cedar after my wife complained they…
What I Learned from Visiting Abu Dhabi’s Al Bahar Towers: A Retiree’s Take on Climate-Smart Building Design
Last spring, my wife and I took our first international trip in years – a visit to our son who’s working in the Middle East. While she was content spending…
Why I Started Tracking the “Return on Investment” of Making Our Home More Nature-Connected (And What Other Parents Should Know)
I’ll be honest – when I first stumbled across articles about companies calculating the actual financial returns on making their offices more nature-connected, my initial thought was “typical corporate approach…
What I’ve Learned About Natural Learning Spaces – Lessons for Grandparents and Communities
I never paid much attention to school buildings when I was young – they were just places you went to learn, usually pretty sterile affairs with fluorescent lights and cinder…
How I Learned to Actually Breathe Better in My Tiny Apartment (And Why Your Air Probably Sucks Too)
Okay, so I need to be honest about something. When I first started cramming plants into my tiny, poorly-ventilated apartment, I had no idea I was accidentally working on “air…
Why I Added a Tiny Fountain to My Studio Apartment (And You Should Too)
Okay, so this is going to sound a little ridiculous, but adding a tiny tabletop fountain to my 400-square-foot studio apartment was honestly one of the best decisions I’ve made…
Making Nature Accessible: What I’ve Learned About Inclusive Design While Adapting Our Home
After eight years of modifying our home for my wife’s changing mobility needs, I’ve learned something important: the benefits of being connected to nature shouldn’t be limited to people who…
How I Applied Research on Natural Light to Transform My Home Office (And Why the Data Actually Matters)
I’ve been optimizing my home workspace for about four years now, and natural light was honestly the game-changer that started it all. When I first began tracking my productivity metrics,…
Making My Tiny Rental Feel Like Home: Small Space Biophilic Design That Actually Works
You know what’s funny? Before kids, I used to think creating a connection to nature in small spaces was just about cramming in as many plants as possible. Then we…