Displaying posts from September, 2010

Reader request time. This one comes from Kelly: “I’m looking for inspiring kitchens that feature white appliances. We moved into a home in the suburbs of Chicago and stove in the house was a brand new white stove. When we replaced the refrigerator and dishwasher we also chose the more-economical-than-stainless white. Most inspirational kitchens feature stainless appliances but I would love to see what you come up with. I’ve only seen three good examples: One featuring the new Martha Stewart cabinets at Home Depot (the “Ox Hill” image in the gallery)…and this image from Canadian House & Home…and this image with white appliances and black cabinets.” I was excited to find images of white appliances for Kelly because when I had started thinking about how I wanted to renovate my kitchen, I kept coming back to the idea of white cabinets, countertop and appliances and adding colour simply through a backsplash or accessories. I admit I was nervous at the thought of buying all white appliances because stainless is SO prominant these days. Anyway, here are many examples of kitchens with white appliances (including some all-white-kitchen ones) that hopefully will help Kelly figure out what to do.

Domino	LoftLife Magazine
Martha Stewart	Apartment Therapy
Domino	Jeff Andrews
design*sponge	Cottage Living
Décormag	AT Casa
Apartment Therapy	Eric Roth
Canadian House & Home	Kitka
Canadian House & Home	Studio BFG

Scott Sanders
Jacqueline Glass
design*sponge
Alvhem
Allt i Hemmet
Apartment Therapy
The Selby
The Selby

“We take a holistic approach to each project and, with sustainability always in mind, we consider the building, landscape, function and interior design and employ careful use of scale, proportion and detail to create houses that delight. We love what we do and particularly projects that offer opportunities for designing finely crafted modern buildings in stunning surroundings… ” and it shows. These buildings have soul, have personality, are exquisite. I’m in love with the work of McLean Quinlan Architects. You too?

Jamie Herzlinger has been designing sophisticated and classically modern spaces for over 20 years. With offices in Scottsdale Arizona and New York City, her firm places importance on creating casual and inviting, yet elegant and luxurious environments for clients. Jamie sent along many photos for us to feature here but please do check out her website as there is so much more eye-candy to drool over. (Thanks Jamie!)

Paul and his wife Elsa have recently moved into their new home in Singapore (an 86m2/925 sq ft public housing apartment). Turning to magazines and blogs for inspiration they have created this fabulous minimalist apartment, a perfect respite from Singapore’s hectic pace. Emailing with Paul he came up with an insight into Singapore’s growing design scene.

Things have really started to move design and architecture-wise in Singapore over the past 5-6 years. Lots of interesting stuff now, but I think we are still some way away from finding our own design vernacular. There isn’t a “Singapore” look, in the way that there is an American country-home look, or a Scandinavian aesthetic, or even the modern-Australian feel that so many of the Sydney and Melbourne homes that you have put up on your site have achieved. I guess it is a bit difficult with the cookie-cutter government housing flats that 80% of us live in, where everything is pre-fab. For a long time, the government was just trying to put together as much low-cost housing as possible to meet the demands of population growth. So build quality is alright, and the flats are relatively affordable, but they were absolutely zip in terms of design until recent years. More effort is being put in to the aesthetics of the new built flats now, but the one I just moved in to recently is about 10 years old, and was certainly built for function rather than form. I have always been a fan of mid-century modern and minimalist styles. What I tried to do with the flat is to keep it honest to its pre-fab/concrete/city-space background by taking on an industrial feel and meshing it with what the styles that I liked. It was challenging because neither my wife nor I have any background in design whatsoever, but really great fun. There are many other really interesting interpretations of public housing flats though – everything from modern baroque to faux-country house, and from Balinese resort to French petit-Chateau style. It will be interesting to see if all the different styles somehow converge into a “Singaporean” look in the future!

As I promised on Friday, here is another look at beautifully designed spaces created by the talented Rebecca Du Pont De Bie and Caroline Cobbold of London’s Cobbold Du Pont Interiors. This time it’s a little less rustic and a little more Parisian glam, in a private residence in London that they completed last year. Gorgeous!!