It may have been an overexposure to early Frank Lloyd Wright, or perhaps too much time spent in boats, but when I was young, and until very recently, I was horrified by furniture. I always thought that a perfect domestic architecture would be heavy on the built-ins. Shelves, benches, various seats and berths—these were the things necessary to finish a space, to tune it for living, to show at least that the designer was not entirely ignorant of how and by whom a house would be used. Also to anchor it. An uncle of mine lived for many years in a very cool Anglo-built adobe in Taos, New Mexico. At the center of the main space was a large circular pit, dug out of the ground and contoured for sitting: a brutal sunken living room, it seemed so much more profound than the loose, impermanent wooden furniture orbiting all around it, sliding this way and that, imported things ready to take up any position, or be replaced. (more…)
BOB BEITCHER says he and his wife, Carol, want their newly built home in Santa Monica to be a showcase of sustainable practices “without being granola-y, if you know what I mean.”
Their house off San Vicente Boulevard has been carefully designed by architect Warren Wagner to optimize solar energy and the use of recycled and renewable materials. Yet the modernist dwelling seems more about the panache of architectural possibilities than the virtuousness of green design.
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IF YOU’VE EVER DAYDREAMED of appearing in your own fairytale, the reality isn’t that far away. You’ll need to supply your own Prince Charming or Sleeping Beauty, but the fantasy location is just a phone call or e-mail away. The five-star Enterkine Country House Hotel at Annbank has long been established as an elegant weekend break destination. However, its latest project takes getting away from it all to a different level.
In the mature grounds of the hotel, a small wooden structure is tucked away among the trees. From the outside it looks like something from a children’s storybook. The walls slope and the roof curves and you wouldn’t be terribly surprised if it grew legs and upped and walked away because you were staring at it. It’s quirky, cute and unique.
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Building and moving into a new home can be a stressful experience. Add the presence of a camera crew filming a national television show, and you can multiply the stress by about 1,000. Just ask Sheila Stevens.
The new home of Stevens, 37, and her husband, Tom, 39, of Johnston has been featured the past two weeks on “National Open House,” an HGTV cable network series that compares and contrasts home prices and amenities in different cities across the country. The episode premiered in late September and has been rebroadcast twice. (more…)
You don’t just open a door and wander into a Parade of Homes house.
You travel through custom-designed iron gates and into an expansive courtyard. Or into a room with a wall of windows and a view of the pool.
Then comes the Italian Travertine floors, European cabinets, massive stone fireplaces, coffee bars in the master suite and outdoor kitchens nicer than your actual kitchen.
At the 2006 Parade of Homes in New Braunfels, it’s all about the details.
“Everything is hand-done and custom-ordered,” said Bart Goldblum of the Laredo-based Artison Homes, whose parade home entryway features a cross vault ceiling covered with Travertine in a herringbone pattern.
The Parade of Homes continues through Sunday in the RockWall Ranch neighborhood, a rural, gated community in New Braunfels. (more…)
