Let’s be honest: buying bespoke is relatively expensive. Just as you pay for the privilege of a made-to-measure suit, so custom-built furniture will cost you.
So why is it worth contemplat-ing? Well, for starters, you’ll get a piece of furniture that is absolutely right for your space and just what you want. You’ll also get a very high-spec, handmade piece, something that can’t be compared to the average high-street product.
It would be misleading to compare the cost of a bespoke item of furniture with something from Ikea, for example, but set it against some of the price tags of top design firms and you’ll be surprised at how well it compares. (more…)
ARCHITECTURE students have sparked an Elgin Marbles- style row over an art collection worth millions of pounds.
They have shown how a derelict industrial building in Barry could be turned into a smaller version of the Tate Modern gallery in London to house some of the Davies Collection of paintings, drawings and sculpture.
But while the row over the Elgin Marbles involves two countries – Britain and Greece – at opposite ends of Europe, a dispute over the Davies Collection would involve places just nine miles apart. (more…)
What better symbols to conjure up nostalgia for a bygone day? But you never lived on a farm or had a garden. Maybe Mom couldn’t even cook.
When a wave of nostalgia for a slower, gentler, rural way of life washes over you, head out to the St. Joe Co.’s newest development off U.S. 27 at Williams Road and pretend the buggy’s pulling into White Fence Farms.
Planter’s Retreat, a 3,320-square-foot prototype home that incorporates rustic architectural ideas with the latest in high-tech convenience, is the 2006 Idea Home sponsored by St. Joe and Southern Living and Progressive Farmer magazines.
It is situated on Benjamin Chaires’ 1830s Verdura Plantation land, along with more than 50 other 3- to 15-acre homesites.
Frank Paris, development manager for St. Joe, says, “it’s all about the ‘new ruralism.’ We understand the folks who will live at White Fence Farms aren’t really going to grow crops and breed cattle; but they will love nature and being near to the land.” (more…)
