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Entrance to kitchen. Once again, it was framed in brown wood, which we promptly removed all traces of 
Paper decor item. A Chinese word meaning spring. A soothing sense of spaciousness & colour vastness is created. When the confines of the small space (ceiling, doors, frames, walls etc) are "opened up" in one colour earth-tone of light tan.
Enormous. Organized. Clean. Perfect.
I took this picture from HGTV's website long before I included the links in captions, and I have just found who is responsible for creating this bathroom. It's Artizen Home Renovations, a Canadian-based company.
If you have the room, creating a large office space can be rewarding and help improve productivity. These 2 console tables offer a slightly different look than many modular furniture models on the market today. An office can have some "pizzazz", but it may take some time to find the right furniture pieces to complete the interior design. These console tables can be found at Antoine Proulx here.
Classic retro furniture is always in style and the Boxeo Desk featuring polished stainless steel legs and walnut veneers is timeless. The Boxeo offers ample workspace and plenty of drawer and storage space. Available in custom sizes and finishes from Cliff Young Ltd. of New York.
From Italian furniture maker Ceccotti Collezioni is a simple line of beds that uses clean lines construction to create a stunning visual appeal. The featured product is "Buonanotte Valentina" coming in both a leather upholstered headboard version and a version where wooden slats adorn the headboard. It is constructed of solid American walnut. The wooden slat version in particular creates an interesting shape as the headboard slats combine with the under-workings of the frame for a nice effect. More information: here.
Bathroom tile can be a potent design weapon when used to create a unique look when decorating a bathroom. There are 44 images in this gallery to provide decorative ideas about design possibilities for your bathroom. One feature that I like about the images is that when you follow their source back to the website you can see the individual bathroom tile samples that were used to create a pattern. There are elaborate patterns in the image gallery that create some wonderful decorative themes. Like in mosaics the compilation of many tile styles wind up creating a unique bathroom tile pattern. I hope that you can find as much inspiration as I did from these pictures. Image gallery source: here.
This black lacquered bathtub is from a collection designed by Jaime Hayon in 2005. The styling combines baroque and contemporary design as "modern meets old". The legs provide a bit of the baroque styling whereas the clean lines and play of black and white make it quite contemporary. More information: here.
Here is a lamp shaped like a cereal bowl that will leave many design fans scratching their heads and thinking about the appropriate setting for this product in a home. The lamp turns off and on with a touch to the spoon. The lamp measures 10" x 5" and takes a 14-watt fluorescent bulb. The cereal bowl lamp retails for $180 and is available at Ideaka here. Source - PoshPosh.
I wonder what the remains of a meteor may look like. Designer Arik Levy created these unusual lamps called "Meteor Lights" based on this concept. The lamp shapes resemble meteorite rock remains which can be used as accent lighting in any room. These unusual lamps are not as crazy as the recent "cereal bowl lamp" we covered at Furniture Fashion, but we love them as well. Find it: here.
We all know the story of the Titanic, the great ocean vessel which met a tragic ending. Now meet "Titanic" a modern day lamp interpretation. We have covered some strange lamp shapes at Furniture Fashion and this piece certainly follows those examples. Set on its side, Titanic appears to have fallen over much like a lamp might be knocked over and end up on its side. This product comes from Fluke and is available for $600. Finding it in the U.S. may be a challenge as it is currently discontinued there. Link to product: here.
"Saruyama" is interesting polyurethane foam furniture that was designed by Toshiyuki Kita. It consists of three pieces of furniture that when placed together form a near circle. The furniture set can also be split apart creating three different seating areas that each have matching upholstery which make them tie nicely in a room. The concept for Saruyama is ultra contemporary with each piece having its own unique seating elements. Find Saruyama: here.
Furniture Fashion recently heard from Alno about some of its new kitchen cabinet designs that feature a transitional to contemporary design style.
ALNOPLAN: Thoroughly uncomplicated, ALNOPLAN features a smooth surface with direct coating available with continuous stainless steel or thick edge design. It also features convenient storage space, which works double duty as a seat.
ALNOLOOK: A timeless contemporary kitchen that is low-maintenance and practical. Doors are slightly rounded on all sides for added style and softness. An additional feature to this collection, the ALNO Shelf Framework System gives the look of an open-space kitchen while accommodating extra storage and worktop surface needs.
ALNOSQUARE: Go stylish with oak. The doors feature extra-wide frames and veneered infill panels for a contemporary interpretation of the classic wood look. The surfaces are sealed with an eco-friendly lacquer. Furthermore, wall units with upward-folding doors provide more storage space without restricting headroom. They can be opened and closed gently thanks to modern fitting and damping technology. The Montego is a wonderfully crafted round dining table that is made of solid mahogany wood and some veneers on its table top. The furniture weighs 154 lbs. which speaks to its solid construction. I like the flexibility of dining tables that expand like this model. There is an extra leave which adds another 20" making its overall length at 65". There are 7 choices in wood stains to choose from. For $25 you can request a wood swatch so that you can make a more precise decision about the best color for your dining room. The Montego round dining table is a flexible solution for dining rooms seeking a classic look. Price: $1,599. This product is available at Pottery Barn: HERE.
Tonelli of Italy is all into "less is more" and what better way to appear light and minimal than all glass construction. Here are some of the modern glass TV stands and Hi Fi stands that feature the clean and usually curved and shaped glass that Tonelli is known for. The collection offers so many options for all size TV's and stereo systems some with wheels and swivels for convenience. Visit tonellidesign.com for a great look at all of the stunning modern glass furniture here.
Description
Anora Home presents the Wenge TV Stand, a handsome solution for your TV watching needs. The Wenge TV Stand features a rich combination of materials that epitomizes contemporary elegance. Two slabs of warm wenge wood are attached, creating ample storage space to house a vast number of DVD's and CD's. The television is mounted to the front of the system, which is able to swivel and allow for a wide range of viewing angles. The unit is supported by a sleek aluminum base whose simples lines complement those of the smooth wenge wood. A frosted glass shelf is suspended between the two components to accommodate additional electronic equipment or accessories. At 43"(L) x 43.5"(H) x 16.5"(W), the Wenge TV Hi-Fi Stand would be a great way to satisfy any family's multimedia needs. Anora Home
Using the sun to heat your house has got to be the most economical and ecologically benign way to keep comfortable when the temperatures drop. There are a number of common strategies for doing this. My favorite method is passive solar design, where there are no “active” fans or pumps to contend with. Most passive solar designs are basically invisible, because the room itself is the collector. It performs well because the design of the space and the choice of materials to build it cooperate in keeping the space comfortable.
The basic concept is to use south-facing windows to allow the winter sun to enter the room, and then store the heat from that sunlight in some thermal mass material, so that the heat can be given back at night. Enough solar energy should enter the room on a sunny day in December or January to maintain a temperature of about 70 degrees F. for the 24 hour period. If the space overheats, then there is either too much glass, or too little mass. Or if the space isn't warm enough, then there is either not enough glass or there is too much mass. Slightly oversizing the design can compensate for some overcast weather.
Here are some guidelines for good design: at 8,000 ft. in Colorado use about 35% of the square footage of the floor space in any given room in actual window area. At lower elevations or more southern locations, the percentage of glass should be less. These windows can be oriented up to 25 degrees east or west of true south, and still collect over 90% of the solar energy. Interior walls and floors should have at least 4 inches of masonry material lining them. Use dark colors for the floors, and don't cover them with carpeting. Walls can be any color.
The interior thermal mass (brick, adobe, concrete, tile, rock, etc.) needs to be insulated well from the outside environment, or else that stored heat will just leak out. Straw bales, scoria (crushed volcanic rock), and wool are good natural insulating materials. The floor should be insulated, as well as the walls and ceiling. Glass is a poor insulator, so when it gets cold at night, insulating curtains or panels need to be used in the windows to hold in the heat. Windows on the north, east and west should be minimized to help with insulating the house.
How do you keep the rooms from overheating in the summer? Again, good design will take care of this problem. One approach is to have deciduous trees or vines shade the south side. Architecturally, summer shades can be built into the design. By simply having the eaves of the roof extend far enough beyond the sides of the house, most of the summer sun can be eliminated. This works because the sun is much higher in the sky during the summer. Another approach is to have thick walls. A 20” wall will keep out most summer sunlight. Unfortunately, there is often a lag in the heating of the seasons, so that as Fall approaches and the sun begins to lower again, the earth has absorbed much summer radiation, and it can be quite warm. So to avoid too much sunlight in the Fall, it may be necessary to shade some of the windows during the day.
To read the rest of this article go to this page at
www.greenhomebuilding.com.
Why build and live in a small house? First of all, it is more convenient to have what you need nearby. Life proceeds smoothly when the things you need are close at hand. Also, I might point out that limited space forces you to select only those things that you really need to live with, helping to keep clutter out of your life.
Another fairly obvious point is that a smaller house costs less to build and maintain. Housing represents the greatest expense that most of us face in this life. It is common to take on huge debt to pay for a house, which multiplies the cost even further, and places us in a kind of servitude to both the creditors and the house. Rob Roy, in his book “Mortgage Free!,” points out that the word mortgage comes from old French, and means “death pledge.” In it he describes many ways to build without debt. If you are able to own your house free and clear, all those years of your life that would have gone into paying off the debt can be utilized to positively affect your life and the world.
Obviously, the smaller the house, the fewer resources are consumed in creating it. Since the use of many building materials has a negative impact on our environment, keeping it small lessens the impact. Then there is the environmental cost of heating and cooling a house to consider. The smaller the house, the less this cost will be. Burning fossil fuels, either directly (such as propane heating) or indirectly (such as heating or cooling electrically), consumes these finite resources and contributes to carbon dioxide pollution. It is much easier and more effective to design a solar heated house that is small.
Another impact to consider is aesthetic. Does the house fit in with the landscape? A large, imposing edifice may seem out of scale with the surrounding land, whereas a small abode is more likely to fit in nicely.
To illustrate some of these concepts, Suzanne Frazier has graciously allowed me to use her home as a model “small house.” Built in 1994 by “Cut No Slack” construction of Salida, Colorado, Suzanne's house is more or less conventional in materials used (wood framed, etc.). She wanted it to conform to the Uniform Building Code so that she would be sure of its integrity as a house over time.
To read the rest of this article please visit this page at www.greenhomebuilding.com.
New media systems and TV stands are created more often with the idea that home owners need more flexibility. Each of us has different requirements in our media room or living room and as a result need unique sized storage systems to accommodate our possessions. Q5 is a system from M2L Collection that is designed with the home owner in mind and in particular their need for specialized attention. You can see from the pictures the many variations in TV stands, shelves, and storage cabinets and in particular how the room was put together. I like this product in white and believe that it creates a stunning presence in a contemporary home setting. It is recommended that you seek a personal representative in a showroom to discuss your needs. It is possible to use a series of drawings if there is not one close by to your city of residence.
