Displaying posts labeled "Windows"

I’ve always loved suspended fireplaces, their fat bulbous bodies hanging in space. Imagine my reaction (a gasp and a happy squeal) when I went virtual real estate strolling scrolling and found one hanging in a glass box, well a glass walled extension anyway. I’m in the Melbourne suburb of Prahran checking out a period home with a modern open-plan addition which spills into a low maintenance garden. You’ll find it here while the link lasts.

Right in the middle of Sydney. Close to the bridge and the Opera House. Well they say it’s all about location, location, location but in this case it’s also about loft living. High ceilings with sleek lines and polished timber floor boards. Walls of windows and mirrored walls to bounce around the urban view. The mezzanine bedroom is a little disappointing, the bathroom needs a spruce up and I’d want to move my own furniture in but when you have those windows  … sigh. Outrageously expensive at $1.55 million but that’s Sydney. Link here while it lasts.

I have always dreamt of having some type of greenery/outdoor space indoors. With cold seasons here lasting about 8 months a year, we Canadians crave some life during these months and having a year round space to grow a tree would be amazing. Whoever lives in this award-winning house in Toronto that has an indoor courtyard is VERY fortunate. Designed by Atelier Sun. Because of the limited lot area with a request of a large scale house, the interior designer immediately thought about an indoor courtyard to bring greenness, light and shadow inside the house. A double height ceiling interior courtyard was at the center of the house with a series of landscapes and bamboo to integrate outdoor nature with indoor dwelling. The kitchen, dining room, living room, tea room and study room were placed and stacked around the central courtyard to give users visual access. Rooms are stacked and arranged around the central courtyard, creating a vertical village like spatial relationship while providing a certain degree of privacy. Stairs were located adjacent to the courtyard, providing access to all floor levels. Family members can communicate across the courtyard and maintain visibility of each other. With large windows placed at four sides of the building, and the skylight on top of the central courtyard, this stacked spatial planning enables light to stream into the entire house.

“The home is a rich layering of textures; the sleek plaster walls of the house are striking against the lush green setting of a Napa vineyard. Clean and modern, the home is given a warmth and depth by a material palette that starts by pairing concrete, still holding in its texture the character of the forms that made it, with soft upholstery and bright pops of color. A tight-grain wood maintains the simplicity of the palette while inviting in more complex warmth and depth, and allowing the more rustic details of the project to stand out without overpowering a project that remains distinctly modern in its feel.”

That’s one way of putting it. The other way is “WOW”.  The Zin House with interiors by Shawback Design, architectural design by Field Architecture and landscape by Surface Design .

Photography by Joe Fletcher

Some people enjoy the winter season and partake in activities like skiing. I on the other hand would prefer to spend my time bundled up in leggings and a big sweater, huddled under a blanket drinking tea next to a roaring fire. This beautiful house next to the ski mountains in Montana would be the perfect place to do that while wishing spring would arrive. Designed by Shawn Henderson.

(in case you missed Shawn’s West Village project from the other day)