Social distancing. I don’t even know if the term existed before this year, but — for good reason — it’s foremost in our minds as a method of staying healthy and slowing the spread of a life-threatening virus that clearly is not going to just fade away.

I need to ask you to help me overcome these new and necessary lifestyle changes.

Every week I receive several emails and calls from prospective clients with one bottom-line concern: “what does a Lindal cost?”

Lindal clients are intelligent folk. They understand that without discussing design, material specifications, or site preparation, I can only offer a general ballpark response. What they need to know is before they invest time and emotion planning their dream, is it a financial possibility?

And we think they are due an answer.

At Lindal, the five Ps — product, personalization, price, process, predictability — are the essentials of a building system that enables the creation of one-of-a-kind houses for varied climates, terrains, client preferences, and budgets. The possibilities are quite literally limitless.

There have been periods when the most significant trends in home design have been copper-colored refrigerators and oversized acrylic whirlpool bathtubs. Those have generally been times of relative economic and political calm.

Today in the face of a worldwide pandemic, sheltering in place steadily growing concern over the natural environment are the basis for more meaningful trends in the homes we create for clients.

For most of us, home has recently become a 24/7 location for work and play, with omni-present family. Days- and nights- notably offer fewer opportunities for private moments and places to enjoy them. And the increasing frequency of on-site wetlands and unstable steep slopes have further confined our activities.

Read about emerging home design trends you may want to consider when planning your next home…

This warmmodern living original design recently appeared on dwell.com. Read on to see an innovative solution to a difficult site that thrilled the client…

When the project was first described to me, I thought it was a little whacky: a site on a private island in Puget Sound with no roads and no other houses in view. Accessible only by private craft at high tide (unless you go to shore in a row boat). And then a half-mile trek through salt marsh with weekend supplies in wheelbarrows. Electricity, but no well water or toilets.

The project is to replace the termite-eaten rodent-sheltering log home on the site, a 600 square-foot cabin that has housed family weekends and vacations for nearly forty years.

The day of my site visit was sunny. The trip across the Sound in my client’s 23 foot landing craft warmed my bones, until it was time to climb into the row boat for a short trip to the shore. The footing on the wet rocky beach was unsteady, and I think my client was enjoying this city slicker’s awkwardness.