Welcome to the Summer 2012 update. This is our first newsletter since last fall, so for many of you this will be your first mailing from us. Welcome new subscribers and current subscribers alike. For the new comers, in our Updates we like to review what is new in our offerings, what we are working on, and what you our customers are building. So lets get into it, shall we?

The first news as always is new house designs and new plan sets. Since our last report we have introduced a new Lagom House variation - the 2 Story Lagom House. This shares the efficient floor plan of the original Lagom House and actually gains a little floor space in the bedrooms since they are no longer in dormers. Construction Prints are complete and available through the catalog web page.

Also available now are the Construction Prints for the Northside Lagom House, the counterpart to the original Lagom House design, but intended for lots on the north sides of streets. Like the original the Northside Lagom is a 1.5 story house with the upstairs bedrooms under dormers and the prominent sloping roof oriented for solar collectors.

In the works is another Lagom variation which for now we are referring to as the Lagom Square. This will be a design of similar size and appearance, but with a footprint that is closer to a square which will allow the house to fit on narrow lots than the original Lagom plan. I anticipate it will be offered in both 1.5 story and 2 story configurations.

As with the original Lagom House, these new Construction Prints integrate our advanced energy efficient wall and framing systems into the plan sets. And what of our other house plans? The advanced wall systems we designed for the Lagom House plans are easily adapted to the other houses in our catalog. We can update any of our plan sets for you if you desire, or you can work with your builder to adapt them using the extensive detailed information we've published.

You can find detailed information on this advanced construction method on our blog divided into two sections: Wall systems which we call the USA New Wall; and Framing systems which we call Swedish Platform Framing. We have also created a video series to give a brief overview of all of the work contained here. The series is in three parts: Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3; a good way to get oriented to this. These wall system designs have gained some attention on the internet among green builders and architects. Look for interest in these systems to grow.

This is great stuff if you are at all concerned about energy efficiency in your home. But note, as is in Sweden, these wall systems are designed for heating climates, typically the northern reaches of the USA. Southern states and cooling climates need different strategies. We've not formalized any work towards the southern regions yet, but it is on our agenda. We would be happy to work through this with you for your house if that is where you are located.

So what is happening with you, our customers and followers? The past half year has seen a return to building, and a return to looking forward to building. More of you are calling and emailing me, telling me about your plans to build a house soon. While we can not say things have bounced back to pre-2008 levels, we have seen a return of Design Print sales, and several customers who have purchased Construction Prints and are at different stages of building their homes. All in all its been a very positive sign and one that we hope continues.

We are excited to be following a Plat House build in Maine, a first in that state! We've been posting photos shared by the owner on Flickr and announcing new photos on the blog.

We hope this is to be soon followed by a customer in Arkansas, and one in Hawaii if all goes well. Other Design Prints have gone out to Washington state, Oregon, Texas, California, and Georgia. We are looking forward to these progressing to Construction Prints and sharing the houses with you.

If you are at all able I have to encourage you to get your project started. While lending continues to be conservative, everybody else in the house building business is eager to see you build your house. Prices are down all around, and if you can get the financing behind you this will be an outstanding time to build. Get your Design Prints, start talking to builders about costs, and lenders about rates.

Ok, we've taken enough of your time. We've introduced a new House design, announced two new sets of Construction Prints and one new design in the works, looked at one customer building and two more soon to start. A good update, thank you for reading.

Here are our social media outlet links for you. Follow along for daily news on modern house plan things and get a direct channel to chat about your project.
If you are a Twitter user then follow lamidesign on Twitter:
http://twitter.com/lamidesign
FaceBook users can become a Fan of LamiDesign Modern House Plans:
http://www.facebook.com/lamidesignplans
And last, Flickr users can follow photos of customer's houses in the LamiDesign Modern House Plan Group:
http://www.flickr.com/groups/lamidesignplans/
And new since the last update is Google+. We are not sure how we will use this new platform, so please join us there and open a dialog:
LamiDesign Modern House Plans on Google+

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I am very grateful for the encouragement and enthusiasm so many of you have expressed to me in support of this venture. The idea was born out of the desires expressed long ago on the Dwell Magazine messageboard and is our contribution to the collective effort to create more modern options for housing in our country.

If you are receiving this it is because we have corresponded about modern houses, or my stock plans, or modern design, and you may have said to me "keep me up on your progress", or "let me know how it goes" or maybe I just plucked you out of my address book because I thought you would be interested. In any case, if you don't care to hear about this, or you just don't care, then simply click this unsubscribe link, and "poof" you're off the mail list. Now, don't get me wrong, I don't plan on making a career out of this spam thing, and if every last one of you said forget it I would be happy as a clam because it would be one less thing that I think I have to do! So don't expect a message from me more often than few times per year, ok?)