Let's talk about combining indoor/outdoor living spaces and the use of more natural lighting are popular and common-sense trends. In this video, Matt Risinger, master builder, interviews James T. LaRue, architect, in a recently completed home. In the contemporary-style home, LaRue indicates that natural lighting was important to connect spaces. For example, there are high, north-facing windows to provide beautiful indirect sunlight all day long, but it's the patio with a large fireplace that's central to the design. The patio is a planned extension of the living space, so the two areas, indoors and out, flow together for use on a year-round basis. There's a movement in the U.S. following a series of books by Sarah Susanka's called, The Not So Big House, highlighting the need to design high quality spaces over quantity spaces. That philosophy is obvious in this home, which allows the view of two big trees on the property to dictate the design," a connection between indoors and outside. There is also use of rich materials that complement the design's execution.