Displaying posts labeled "Windows"

Rye Colonial-Revival is a three-story, Colonial Revival house originally built in the early 1900’s on the grounds of a historic country club. Elizabeth Roberts Architects reimagined and reorganized the house to create an informal and light-filled home for a family of six. Priority was given to creating a new central kitchen. Vertical and entry circulation was reconsidered throughout the house by creating a new stair leading from the family entrance near the garage through an entryway with ample storage for shoes, backpacks and sports gear. The new stairway leads directly to the new and centrally-located kitchen and then directly to the bedrooms on the upper floors. On the main living floor of the house, ERA relocated the kitchen to a space which had formerly been a formal dining room to create a large eat-in kitchen with a new cooking fireplace and a generous island with bar seating. ERA created a double height conservatory room by removing the floor from a second floor guest bedroom to create a new two-story space overlooking the garden and pool area.
I continue to be in complete awe of how Elizabeth Roberts can merge old with new and create such livable, functional homes that are perfectly classic yet modern. Also, including that wood burning fireplace in the kitchen was brilliant.

Housed at the end of a dead end near the Bastille, the surface, due to the agglomeration of several garages, was dark, low in the ceiling and poorly distributed. But there was this small piece of paved courtyard, abandoned, which gave it a little sense of the countryside in Paris… It became the guideline of the renovation, with in the end, an apartment with a house-like aesthetic, covered with vegetation. The openings have been revised: in the living room, two double glazed doors turn the apartment towards the flowery courtyard. On the street, the old doors have become bay windows filling two bedrooms and the bathroom in light. The floors, none of which were at the same level, were lowered by 20 cm to increase the ceiling height. To allow for more breathing room, and to circulate the through light, all the doors are partially glazed. A wing overlooking the courtyard accommodates two other bedrooms for children, separated by a glass roof, where each has its own unique look. Downstairs, their playground, upstairs, their beds on the mezzanine. A holiday atmosphere, supported by old floor tiles, a farmhouse table, walls with exposed bricks, sinks and an old bathtub, which you would think have always been there.
A unique and very much livable space designed by Camille Hermand. Photos: Agathe Tissier.

This seventeenth-century Venetian palazzo in Campo Santo Stefano, Venice is so beautiful I could cry. Having been stripped of its historic identity over many years, Charles Zana restored the home back to all its fresco, terrazzo and leaded glass window glory and it is magnificent. A contemporary masterpiece it became. (Photos: Matthieu Salvaing)

I am essentially rendered speechless over this absolutely spectacular home designed by Sydney-based Duet. The beautiful colours, shapes, textures, attention to detail and a serious case of marble-itis. Modern art deco-esque interior and a really unique and fun exterior make this home a dream.

I tend to make comments about the lack of inspiration, creativity, attention to detail and being able to step outside the box when it comes to design and architecture in this lovely city of Ottawa in which I have resided for my entire existence. And then I come across something like this and I find myself with a glimmer of hope, and my faith is somewhat restored. Congrats to Shean Architects (whose offices are coincidentally located in the ‘hood adjacent to mine) for creating this little piece of brilliance. (Photos: Doublespace Photography, and art in foyer is by a favourite artist of mine – Whitney Lewis-Smith and the dining room portrait is by Andrew Moncrief)