As our personal and professional lives become more demanding and hectic, people have reacted with a more casual, relaxed, and open way of living at home. Kitchens are no longer just for cooking but serve as entertainment hubs; barbeques on the grill have replaced formal dinners. As our lives at home have become increasingly informal, the "barefoot living" lifestyle has emerged and there is increased demand to carry this attitude over into home design. Relaxed, open, filled with light, and intimately connected to the outdoors, barefoot houses make living at home feel like being on vacation 365 days a year. The 24 houses featured in "The Barefoot Home" reflect today's barefoot times. From a long, low house on the Kansas prairie to an adobe home in New Mexico and a New England cottage by the sea, these homes capture the essence of barefoot living. Marc Vassallo's The Barefoot Home should come with a warning label: "This Book May Cause You to Sell, Buy, or Remodel a House within Hours of Reading." Gorgeous photographs fill this book to the brim, and every page that is not covered with photos and mini house plans called "footprints" is full of smart, helpful, inspirational text. Vassallo wants you to read The Barefoot Home as much as he wants to enjoy the stunning layout. He lays out the ground rules in the first few pages in his chapter called "barefoot dreams," in which he asks readers to "Pour yourself a tall glass of something cool, sit back, flip off your shoes, put your feet up, and dream with you eyes wide open." If that doesn't convince you to check out The Barefoot Home , our guest review from the beloved architect, author, and "cultural visionary" Sarah Susanka surely will. --Daphne Durham Guest Reviewer: Sarah Susanka Almost 10 years after The Not So Big House came out, it's reassuring to see that houses really are starting to get smaller. Over the past year I've been interviewed time and again for articles describing a growing backlash against the mega-houses that have been built across the country in recent decades. Houses aren't only getting smaller, they're also becoming less formal, a trend picked up by my good friend and coauthor (of Inside the Not So Big House ) Marc Vassallo in his new book, The Barefoot Home . Marc hits the nail on the head when he says that we no longer need formal living and dining rooms--it just doesn't fit the way we live anymore. And were spending just as much time enjoying the outside of our homes as we are the inside. In a barefoot home, you can feel like youre on vacation 365 days a year, a lifestyle that's much more in tune with the way we REALLY live today--at least when we're not at work. I was lucky enough to be one of the very first readers to receive a copy of The Barefoot Home and as I leafed through it, I could almost feel the sand between my toes. Marc has assembled and described, in his inimitable style, 20 excellent examples of houses that are both Not So Big in form, and decidedly Not So Formal in function. As Marc recommends in his "barefoot manifesto," it's time to kick off your shoes, open up, embrace the sun, live outside as well as in, and adopt a barefoot state of mind. The lessons these homes have to offer are much needed by all who are disenchanted with "too bigness" in house design; and best of all, they're easy to implement, and often less expensive to boot. Anyone who is a fan of the Not So Big House series will almost certainly enjoy this book as well. Beach-house living - wherever you reside - now has a manual. Mark the end of a sun-kissed summer with "The Barefoot Home" (Taunton Press), a sumptuous coffee-table book by Marc Vassallo celebrating "unfussy," informal home design that emphasizes natural light; hardwood; and clean, open spaces. "Christian Science Monitor " Author Marc Vassallo says we can have that feeling year-round - and it doesn't require bankrolling a second home. His new book, "The Barefoot Home: Dressed-Down Design for Casual Living" explores the design decisions that can give any house that vacation feeling 365 days a year. With case studies and copious photographs of 23 serenely beautiful homes across the country, Vassallo - who cowrote "Inside the Not So Big House" with architect Sarah Susanka - breaks down into some key categories what makes a home "barefoot." Eils Lotozo, "The Philadelphia Inquirer "Homes that feel like a beach cottage Homes are getting more casual all the time. Home-design writer Marc Vassallo looks at the extreme of that trend in "The Barefoot Home: Dressed Down Design for Casual Living." Vassallo's book explores the concept of incorporating vacation living into everyday life. The 24 homes he features have the laid-back appeal of a beach house, yet they're designed for year-round use. Common features include big windows that wash the homes in sunlight, easy access to the outdoors, great views and open floor plans - and, of course, decor that's fuss-free and put-your