Endorsements and Rave Reviews
Over the last decade, many homes have been designed and built using the Truehome approach. Images of those homes are used throughout this website.
Media about Truehome and a few of our clients' success stories are available on the tabs above.
Here’s what clients, real estate agents, architects, psychologists and academics have to say about Truehome:
Real Estate Professionals
Truehome
"I felt like a participant in the process, not just a client. I discovered the true depth of my value for, and attachment to, my home."
Frank Johnston,
Owner Heritage Texas Country Properties (Also Truehome design client)
Truehome
"Selling real estate is about listening and developing trust. Truehome asks all the questions up front that top producers have learned to ask their prospective buyers, because top producing real estate professionals helped develop it. Truehome helps us understand what properties might truly be a match for our clients, even when they are not sure themselves. That saves us time, and helps them understand we are listening and doing our best to serve them."
Sandy Reed,
Sandy Reed & Associates - Past Vice President Houston Board of Real Estate Professionals
Psychologists and Academics
"Truehome is a credible tool that seeks out the design that will prove to be nurturing to our needs, allows us to heal when necessary, to take refuge from the stresses of work and the world at large, and to regain our equilibrium. Clinical intuition supports Travis' work in this regard but, more importantly, the behavioral and brain sciences both lead me to believe it will be effective as a strategy for the design of positive, progressive, healing environments for living."
Cecil Reynolds, Ph.D.,
Internationally known expert in psychological testing and assessment, author of The Handbook of School Psychology, and the Encyclopedia of Special Education, Past President of the National Academy of Neuropsychology and the author of many psychological tests including the Test of Memory and Learning (TOMAL) and the Behavioral Assessment System for Children, one of the most widely used psychological testing tools in the United States. Over two years after endorsing Truehome, Dr. Reynolds became and investor and Advisor to the Company.
"I have been particularly impressed by how Truehome was built with a sophisticated psychological theory at its core to create a set of exercises that are engaging and intuitive without sacrificing rigor or depth. I believe that Truehome, more so than any conventional design process, will help clients create spaces that match their personalities, ultimately resulting in happier, healthier lives."
Sam Gosling, Ph.D.,
University of Texas behavioral psychology Professor, research scientist and internationally known expert on personality. Author of Snoop: What your Stuff Says about Your. Eighteen months after endorsing Truehome, Dr. Gosling became and investor and Advisor to the Company.
"People mostly look upon their homes as structures in which to live. But what if the home was much more, a living extension of the people living in it? What if the home could adapt to the physical, emotional, and physiological needs of its occupants? Wouldn’t we all be happier if our homes served us, rather than the other way around? Truehome is an innovative approach to home design and remodeling that incorporates cutting edge cognitive, ecological, and physiological principles in a way that puts the homeowner in control of the place she inhabits."
J Scott Turner, Ph.D.,
Associate Professor of Biology, SUNY College of Environmental Science & Forestry. Author of The Extended Organism: The Physiology of Animal-Built Structures and The Tinkerer’s Accomplice: How Design Emerges from Life Itself. Find out more about him on his website.
"Chris Travis has uncovered an often overlooked factor in home building and remodeling; that each project is to become the home of a living, breathing, feeling family. A home is not just boards and nails...it cradles a family."
Jack Greeson, Ph.D.,
Clinical Psychologist Jack Greeson & Associates. (Also Truehome Design client).
"The Truehome Workshop and training manual are excellent practical tools."
Oladele A. Ogunseitan, Ph.D., M.P.H.,
Professor, College of Health Sciences and the School of Social Ecology, University of California Irvine. Read more about him on his website.
Architects
"We were the beta testing site for Truehome. It lowered our production costs radically. Our clients love it and it makes our job much easier. It allows you to tailor a home to a family system. Environmental psychologists and practitioners have talked about merging psychology with architecture for decades, but these guys have actually done it. It's a tool that really works!"
Robert Brett Pitt A.I.A.,
Architect, Pitt Architecture. Read more about him on his website.
"As an architectural programmer and planner, I have long thought that a project could be raised to a higher level of success and satisfaction if a client had an awareness of various factors that influence his architectural sensitivities and decision making. I certainly agree with the Truehome Workshop that the resultant design can be enhanced if a client's DREAM can be understood, developed, and reflected in the final programmatic product."
"Via your 'journey,' the client is focused, fully invested, will probably make some interesting discoveries about himself…and the designer will get a magic glimpse inside his cabeza."
Design Clients
"As a 'graduate' of the Truehome Workshop, I can tell you now that we are in the house, the method has worked beautifully for us and we are total believers. Sitting in those window seats is a joy!!! I feel like I know every nook and cranny, and it is all so familiar. The whole process has been so good for us."
Lynn and Ralph Youngblood,
Executive New Home.
"I love my house and the history it represents. Chris instructed me to design a dream home I knew I could not afford…after a while a pattern begins to evolve. To me, it was very relaxing."
Carol Doell,
Historic Restoration, Executive New Home.
"Truehome truly guided us and created a home about who WE are, not someone else's perfect home. We are delighted by our floor plan that would have not been nearly as successful without this program, and look forward to many happy and nurturing years in our home."
Sarah Chisholm,
Executive New Home.
"Only after working through the entire process did we have clarity on our dreams for our home. This house has been in our family for over 60 years. Our home renovation was completed last week and we love the light, the space and the way we feel when we walk in the front door. This is our TRUEHOME!"
Laurence Dempsey,
Major Remodeling Project.
"I am a busy, stay-at-home mom. Our existing home simply did not fit our needs, what with two active young people competing with my husband and I over the use of the same living areas. Our whole family felt a lack of privacy and personal space, which caused us a lot of stress. Truehome allowed our designer to understand our complicated lives and design a remodeling project that fits us like a glove. We all love the result, and I truly think it saved us a lot of time because we didn't have to change almost anything during the process of construction."
Pam Langford,
Executive New Home.
"You made us think about what we wanted before construction began. If you hadn't made us sit down and consider lifestyle, living spaces, furniture etc., we wouldn't have ended up satisfied. By knowing beforehand our personal needs, we were able to reduce future stress."
Harold Yarnold,
Major Remodeling Project, Executive New Home.
"It was smooth from design to building. I was 700 miles away so this was a big advantage. (The greatest benefit was) ...making the lists of what I must have, and what I would like to have if money was no object. Both lists were fulfilled. I got exactly what I wanted and much more. For me, it couldn't have been better."
Mavis Hampton,
Executive New Home.
"Considering that we began by describing our needs as a simple restoration, and ended up redoing everything and adding 2000+ sq. ft., I would describe the benefit of doing all that homework as paramount. Of greatest value was our recognition of our need for large porches…nothing short of a miracle!"
Lynda Adams,
Remodel of farmhouse with additions.
"We participated in Truehome and learned a lot about ourselves. We always expected to realize our dream of wintering in Texas…but we never expected to have that dream include a new home perfectly suited to our needs. Thank you for a thoroughly enjoyable process and for designing a wonderful new retreat perfectly suited to our lifestyle."
John and Linda Dickey,
New Home.
"Your process really saved my life and opened (her husband’s) eyes so that he has begun to work with me on my healing journey instead of against me. How does one say thank you for that?"
Rosemary Burkhard,
Research Client.
"The Truehome experience has taken me back to my childhood roots ---- with a new old farmhouse ---- where old and new memories meet. The house “lives” amongst spreading oaks, wildlife, and running waters. Truly the enchanting retreat exudes the essence of life. Our thanks to Chris and Shiloh Travis and Truehome."
Len and Jerry Hawsey,
New Country Home
"If the client takes the time to participate seriously in the process, they will not be disappointed in the results."
Bruce Frenzel, P.E., R.P.L.S.,
Befco Engineering, The Truehome workshop was used to design an Executive New Home.
Success Stories
(Note: The names of those involved in case studies are changed to protect their privacy.)
Carolyn
Carolyn was a busy advertising executive and professional events manager seeking to build a new home that catered to her tastes and lifestyle. Through her experience with Truehome, Carolyn discovered how some issues from her childhood had greatly affected her feelings and goals for her ideal home - and indeed, her decisions about her life.
Carolyn's father's alcoholism often turned family gatherings around the dinner table into unpleasant experiences. As a child, she deeply resented this intrusion into what was in many ways a pleasant family life and she felt that she had no control over the situation.
Carolyn learned through the Truehome exercises that she had carried forward into her adult life an adaptive strategy that was an unconscious response to the situation. She had become a social butterfly, a polished hostess who put enormous energy into entertaining and creating pleasant social occasions for family and friends. She was essentially trying to control in her adult life what she had been unable to control as a child.
As a result, Carolyn's Truehome was designed for entertaining, which not only fit her lifestyle but also allowed her to feel relaxed and in control of her environment.
Carolyn was raised on the West Coast and had happy memories of her years in California. She was also an extensive traveler who had fond attachments to her experiences in Italy, particularly the relaxed social life that revolved around shared meals. She learned through the Truehome process that she associated those positive experiences with both Italian architecture and local Arts and Crafts architecture. As an adult, she subconsciously saw both as models for the type of dining experiences she had missed as a child.
As a result, Carolyn's Truehome contained architectural elements which reminded her of both California and Italy. This not only suited her conscious aesthetic preferences as an adult, but created a firm foundation for her emotional health.
Mr. and Mrs. Baker
In the process of designing a new home, Mr. and Mrs. Baker were at loggerheads because Mr. Baker had become very attached to a particular design solution that involved a basement.
The building site was on the side of a hill and he wanted the first floor to be partially below grade. Mrs. Baker emphatically disliked this plan. They found themselves at a standstill, unable to resolve their conflict. He thought she was being unreasonable, and she thought he was being stubborn.
Then, through the exercises in Truehome, it became apparent that Mrs. Baker had actually suffered a serious childhood trauma which she associated with enclosed spaces. Her association was so strong that she could not enter any enclosed area without feeling intense anxiety. Her current home had a walk-in closet, and she literally dashed into it to get her clothes while holding her breath, and ran out as soon as she could collect her things.
Upon completing the Truehome process, Mr. and Mrs. Baker had designed their Truehome without walk-in closets or other enclosed spaces like a basement. What it had instead was an expansive back porch that reminded Mr. Baker of loving times with his mother when he was growing up, lots of windows open to the sky so he could see the stars, and architectural cues throughout that Mrs. Baker associated with being safe and secure.
Thanks to Truehome, Mr. and Mrs. Baker were better able to understand each other's needs. They were able to create a home that inspired them and nurtured their marriage.
Anita: Self-Care Breakthrough
Anita was responsible for the care of her disabled husband, who was unable to communicate due to a stroke.
During the design phase of their new home, Anita was completely focused on creating a home that met his needs, while ignoring her own. As a result nothing about the home design was "hers."
Through the Truehome process, Anita realized that her parents' attitudes of martyrdom and condemnation of "selfish" behaviors had been instilled in her. Consequently, as an adult, she was unable to make her own well-being a priority. Truehome helped her to recognize this pattern. As a result, Anita was finally able to work with her design team to create a home that met both her needs and her husband's, nurturing them both.
Mr. and Mrs. Smith
Mr. and Mrs. Smith had hired an architecture firm to build their dream home. However, Mr. Smith had strong aversions to any design element of the home or yard that might possibly involve maintenance.
His aversion was so extreme that he actually planned to cut down a beautiful grove of pecan trees on the property because the trees periodically lost limbs.
Through the Truehome process, it became clear that Mr. Smith's strong reaction to anything requiring maintenance stemmed from attitudes projected by his mother about how a "good and productive man" cared for his property.
Not only had Mr. Smith internalized an aversion to doing household maintenance, he felt inadequate and insecure about it when maintenance chores needed to be done. He couldn’t relax and feel comfortable in his home for fear that something would require his attention.
Learning this information about Mr. Smith was an eye-opening experience for both him and his wife. The new home was moved to a site away from the grove, and the pecan trees were saved. It did wonders for their relationship, and for the Truehome they built, which was designed to be very low maintenance.
Register and Start your Own Success Story!
Media
Truehome, our CEO, his architecture firm and its approach to design have all been the subject of international media attention over the last few years. Other team members, on the leading edge in their field, have also attracted attention in the media. Here are a few examples.
Go Magazine
Truehome and Christopher K. Travis, were flying high with a story in Go Magazine, Airtran Airways in-flight magazine. Here's a quote from that article, viewed by many of AirTran's 2 million passengers a month.
"Are architects and designers really supposed to care about their clients' mental health and well-being when building or decorating their homes? The answer: a resounding 'yes.'"
"When Christopher K. Travis, managing partner of Texas-based Sentient Architecture, begins to design a client's home, the first thing he considers is their "emotional architecture"—the internal system of feelings built by past experiences that make them react to their surroundings in a certain way."
"'How we feel in [childhood homes] during formative events — good and bad — returns in later homes when features within them remind us of those early experiences,' Travis says."
Read the Article
Austin Monthly
"Psychology Meets Architecture" discusses the Truehome Workshop, the workbook used by Travis and his architecture firm, which is available in PDF form on this website.
The Workshop combines psychological testing with architectural programming to help people in the process of home building or remodeling. It uses a range of techniques to assess client's emotional responses to physical features of a home and contains the client interview used by Travis for over a decade in his design firm.
Download the Truehome Workshop Now
Snoop: What Your Stuff Says About You
Sam Gosling, Ph.D.
Dr. Sam Gosling is the winner of the 2008 American Psychological Association's (APA) Distinguished Early Career Contributions to Psychology Award. He is an international expert on personality and its relationship to human environments.
Snoop was his first book for popular audiences and was highly successful. It was chosen as one of the Top Science Books of 2008 by New Scientist Magazine.
Dr. Gosling first met Christopher K. Travis while writing Snoop, and was so impressed after interviewing Travis’s clients, he focused much of his last chapter on Travis and Truehome. Gosling credits Travis with teaching him "how the unique needs we seek to satisfy with our physical spaces are rooted deeply in our past experiences."
Dr. Gosling was been featured on ABC's Nightline and interviewed for USA Today and Psychology Today. He was profiled by The New York Times and featured in Malcolm Gladwell's best-selling book Blink.
A year after the book was published, Dr. Gosling not only endorsed the approach, but became an advisor and investor in the Company.
Learn More About Sam Gosling
Truehome in Greece
Each year, the large Athens daily Imerisia dedicates an issue of their magazine, Homme, to architecture.
Christopher K. Travis was included among other "trendmakers" in the field of architecture because of his unique approach, which puts the feelings of people ahead of design concepts in the mind of the architect.
Truehome in Germany
Travis and Truehome made it into two German magazines. The first was an article in the largest subscription daily in Germany, Sueddeutsche Zeitung Magazine. The article focused on the trials couples face in the process of home improvement.
Travis then joined Dr. Gosling and another eminent British psychologist, Richard Wiseman, in an in-depth article called "The Secret Code of Human Knowledge" in the popular science magazine, Welt der Wunder (World of Wonder).
Learn More
Other Members of the Truehome Team
Sam Gosling, Ph.D.
Something of a rock star in the academic world of psychology, Sam is one of the world's leading experts on personality, particularly as it is expressed in personal living and work spaces.
Dr. Gosling's innovative research was internationally recognized by both the scientific community and the popular media long before he met Christopher Travis and became involved in Truehome. He is known for oft-quoted studies on how personality is expressed in animals, Facebook profiles, personal space and political ideology.
His insightful and humorous popular science book, Snoop: What Your Stuff Says About You introduced the world to snoopology. As Sam puts it, "Snoopology is the science of snooping through people's homes, offices and environments in order to identify clues to their personality and character."
Dr. Gosling is also a highly regarded research scientist. In 2008, he was awarded the prestigious Early Career Contributions to Psychology award by the American Psychological Association (APA). Here are links to media about Sam.
Sam on ABC Nightline
Sam on Youtube
Sam on Social Media
Sam on Psychology Today
Cecil Reynolds, Ph.D.
Dr. Reynolds was the first eminent scientist and academic to endorse the Truehome Workshop. He became interested in Travis' unique approach to architecture in 2005. Years later, Dr. Reynolds bacame an Advisor and investor to our technology Company.
His relationship began when he was introduced to Travis by his wife, clincial psychologist Julia Hickman.
Dr. Hickman was one of two wellness professionals asked to join an anecdotal research project created by Christopher Travis in 2002. The project involved clients of his design firm who were asked to develop criteria for their projects using an earlier version of the Truehome Workshop.
Cecil is a highly respected neuropsychologist & internationally-known expert in psychological testing and assessment, author of The Handbook of School Psychology and the Encyclopedia of Special Education. He is past President of the National Academy of Neuropsychology and the author of many psychological tests, including the Behavioral Assessment System for Children, one of the most widely used testing tools in U.S. public schools.
Cecil on Wikipedia
Cecil at Texas A&M University
Cecil on Amazon.com
Articles and Other Useful Links