In Gil Schafer’s third book, Home at Last: Enduring Design for the New American House, the award-winning architect invites readers into eight gorgeous residences, each with its own unique story and celebration of craftsmanship and creativity. From a shingle-style home to a Colonial Revival to a winter retreat in Florida, Schafer’s work embodies the best in classical design and architectural longevity while remaining adaptive to the ebb and flow of life as it evolves over years, and even generations.
Schafer brings each home to life with illustrated floor and site plans in addition to personal anecdotes and historical details along with practical takeaways, including advice on colors and finishes as well as how to balance formality and informality within a space. He offers readers practical ideas that readers can use in the design of their own home. Schafer also recognizes and embraces the notion that a home, (even in the chaos of life), can be functional, beautiful, and filled with joy.
“Perhaps the most indispensable quality of an enduring home is that it is adaptive to the evolution of life. Sometimes you’re formal, other times relaxed. Sometimes the place overbrims with family, then becomes an empty nest. Sometimes you want to cozy up in a corner, then throw open the doors and windows and invite the landscape in. A home that lasts ‘forever’ makes room for all of these opposing impulses, sometimes simultaneously,” says Schafer.
