A soft white wall colors with modern furniture and interior design is very delighting. Interior decorating ideas and inspiration can come from the furnishings you already have appointing your room. The loft includes a guest bedroom, a home entertainment center, an office, an open dining area, numerous cabinets and moving exhibition panels, so there is enough space to accommodate an evolving art collection. With a little creativity, you can decorate your apartment and make it your own home-sweet-home, even on a small budget. (more…)
UNCONVENTIONAL architect Jean mic Perrine has come up with an audacious new idea – ready made, stackable, expandable pod homes.
The sign in the lobby says Perrine Architecture, Level 1. Step out of the lift and it’s not clear where to go next. Directly opposite is a trendy office furniture showroom and to the left, down the corridor is a simple, frosted glass door devoid of any clue as to what is behind it. Try the door and you find a typically stylish, minimalistic architects’ studio. The lack of signage is not a yet to be done job. (more…)
# GARDENING FOR CHILDREN: Join Mulbry the Gardening Bear at one of his educational and fun gardening workshops. Contact Verné on 082-405-4541.
# Broadacres Garden Centre, Fourways. Today (11am-12pm). Tel: 011-540-1501.
# Hecker Nursery, Boksburg. July 15 (11am-12pm). Tel: 011-894-3643.
# Lifestyle Garden Centre, Randburg. July 15 (3pm-4pm). Tel: 011-792-5616.
GARDEN COURSES: Andrew Balfour School of Garden Design hosts courses in July. Domestic Gardeners Course – July 19 & 26, 9am-2.30pm. Cost: R400. Garden Shop, Cnr William Nicol Drive & Monte Casino Boulevard, Fourways. Tel: 011-701-3162 or 083-357-7616. (more…)
The Steinway piano in the foyer has gold curlicues all over it; the “library” has no real books, only cardboard covers; the open hearth fires are fake flames; and, in the lobby, a Mona Lisa oversees chandeliers and ferocious air conditioning.
This heady mix of over-the-top furnishings, ceilings that are 3 meters, or 10 feet, high and lavish decor has made the Da Vinci a stand-out property in central Jakarta. Its features include finger-scan security access, 24-hour concierge and butler service, chefs on call, floors of Italian marble, kitchens by Scavolini, an indoor swimming pool replete with statues of nude nymphets and cupids, topiary and doors, again from Italy, made of stained glass, wood inlay and bronze fittings. (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…)
