The House Is Valuable Because It Is the House

Ethan Marcotte writes about redesigning his personal website by paring it back, trading blues that felt too cold and distant for reds, yellows, and creams, and finding something calmer and more open in what remains. He takes his title from Susanna Clarke's novel Piranesi ("the house is valuable because it is the house; it is enough in and of itself; it is not the means to an end") and uses it to argue that a personal site can be worth making for its own sake, not as a funnel or a growth lever. It is a quiet defense of the web as a place to keep something you love.