Displaying posts from February, 2011

A few months ago I was dreaming of escaping to paradise or beyond, vacation homes showcased by Welcome Beyond.  Chris from Welcome Beyond has promised to feed my holiday fantasies with new properties soon but in the meantime I’m taking a virtual vacation to berge in Aschau im Chiemgau, Bavaria, Germany. Managed by Nils Holger, a furniture designer, berge is all about the details. “It’s all about designing ‘berge’ not in a classic style, but to penetrate through to every detail. When there was no suitable door handle, we had it crafted by a blacksmith. The towels and bath robes were custom-made for the house, an old man in town turns wood into the bowls we use and for silverware we didn’t buy something just because it was nice or cheap, but only what was best suited.” As a design junkie those words are music to my ears. Raw timber, Glühwein and snow. The perfect trinity for a girl sweltering in cyclonic humidity.

Every once in a while I look around my crowded, disorganized house and crave a little minimalism and modernism. Well, I found some recently in the works of Belgium architecture firm Bruno Erpicum & Partners. AH MAH GAWD a girl can dream can’t she?? And if I were to own any of these homes, I too would need a white Porsche and matching Bentley in my fancy garage. Just cuz.

P.S. Yesterday my twin sister blogged an AMAAAAAZING house tour – check it out here.

Angela sent along the following email to Jo and I about her home:
Six and a half years ago, we bought a bungalow in the suburbs of Chicago, and rehabbed nearly the entire thing. Several months ago, my husband accepted a job in another state, so we will be relocating and just put it up for sale (sad…). I was going through the before and after images, and just shuttered when I looked at the before. I kind of can’t believe the end result, and thought I’d send it your way.
She sent a post from her blog for a peek and I was immediately stunned into silence. I wrote back saying what a HUGE transformation it was. She responded:
Yes, it was huge. And so was I went the transformation took place (I due a month after we started rehabbing) — so we just moved ahead to get it all done, but honestly, it was all kind of a blur. It really just hit me when I was doing the comparison photos. We are very proud of the place. I know people thought we were crazy, but we saw the house, looked past everything and knew exactly what we wanted to do with it. We did have to have an architectural company lay out plans to get it approved by the village — but we used the architect from my family’s company (they are in the cemetery business, so it was a bit of a side track from what they typically do).
It really is shocking how the result is SO much more modern and updated and if she hasn’t already sold this house (after being on the market now about a week) it won’t be long now!

Here are some before photos (the only thing remotely worthy is that dining room wallpaper!)…

And here are a couple of after photos – YES, it’s the SAME HOUSE!!! (Many more after the jump!!!)

Have you noticed how things never stay the same? Like personal taste? I have seen my likes and dislikes change and coalesce, firm and falter over these past few years. I have always admired the work of New York based interiors and landscape firm Rees Roberts + Partners. I think I had a crush on their work way way back (so did Kim even further back). Then I was drawn to their cool, sophisticated urban interiors. All elegance and class. I was revisiting their site the other day and was drawn immediately to this Croatian house. A new work? Must be. I hadn’t noticed it a couple of years ago otherwise I would have remembered. It is so fabulously rugged yet stylish with just the right touches of casual elegance and midcentury classic pieces. But maybe it’s not new. Maybe it was there all along. Maybe I’m just looking at it with new eyes, a new awareness. All I know is I love it!