Hounat – Page 22 – AAFUNKY

Refresh Your Mudroom

November 22, 2018

Time to clean out the winter equipment that’s been cluttering up your entryway and make space for new spring finds. Join us this week as we explore eight approaches to freshen up that hardest working of chambers, the mudroom. Whether it is a complete room or a sliver of wall from the doorway, this space must greet you warmly, offer storage for your belongings and set the tone for the remainder of your home. Let’s dig in.

Jennifer Grey Interiors Design & Color Specialist

1. List your requirements. Next time you are home, take note of what you’re carrying, as this can point you toward the furniture and accessories that can best serve you. For example, silky scarves might beg for a drawer or basket, while luggage would succeed on shelves or hooks. You might need:
HooksBoot trayShelvingChest of drawers
RugMirrorBasketsClockTray for mailRecycling bin

Warmington & North

2. Think creatively about furniture. When you’ve got the room, you might be able to repurpose something you own instead of buying a new piece. Who says you want a tough wood seat from the mudroom? A loveseat or a armchair are a magical addition (throw onto a slipcover if you’re worried about stains), along with an old dresser can discover new life as an ample storage unit.

Jeanette Lunde

3. Brighten up with colour and art. A small can of paint can do miracles. Paint the walls, stencil a pattern on the flooring, or repaint your furniture for a whole new appearance. A bracing light mint green looks especially fresh when paired with white, and it yells spring.

Artwork is one other way to make a fast change, and there is no need to devote a whole lot of money to acquire a fantastic appearance. Here are a few ideas for inexpensive wall art.

• Cut a vintage book of botanical illustrations.
• Frame pages by a gorgeous calendar.
• Press leaves and blossoms from your own backyard and frame them.
• Cover a corkboard in burlap and utilize it like a inspiration board.
• Fill embroidery hoops from the craft shop with swatches of vibrant cloth.

Tim Cuppett Architects

4. Take advantage of a small area. Simply because you do not have a mudroom doesn’t mean you can’t have an attractive and orderly region to corral your possessions when you stumble in the doorway. A simple built-in or floating shelf and a few hooks are all you actually need.

If you want to earn this zone feel like its own miniroom, try painting or wallpapering a accent wall to frame the region. Want it to blend in instead? Paint the shelving and wall to coordinate with the colour of the surrounding area to get a smooth transition.

Mark English Architects, AIA

5. Consider flooring choices. The mudroom is a high traffic zone, often handling mud, dirt and snow, so think carefully about what you place on the ground. If you’re starting from scratch, consider a weatherproof material such as stone or tile. Otherwise, cover existing flooring with a challenging natural-fiber rug or perhaps one meant for outside.

LDa Architecture & Interiors

6. Make order for the whole household. If you share the space, it is critical to carve out an area for each individual. A basket, shelf and pair of hooks for each man, woman and child will maintain possessions off the ground and somewhat contained. Be absolutely certain everyone is responsible for draining those baskets until they float, or you’re back to square one.

Rethink Design Studio

7. Insert a command centre. Because it is often the last place we look before leaving the home, the mudroom is a great location for a command centre. Like a miniature office, the command centre acts as an organizational hub for the whole family. Here are a Couple of things you might want to include in yours:
ChalkboardWall calendarChairSmall deskFloating shelfFile basket

Just a Girl

8. Locate additional space. Not enough room indoors? Make your garagedoor or rear deck work by setting up an exterior mudroom close to the doorway. If you live in an apartment building, you might even be able to put a small locked cupboard close to your door.

Set the Landscape: Cottage Garden Style

November 19, 2018

Mention the term “cottage garden” and most of us imagine a vibrant, fragrant garden full of billowing perennials, all surrounded by a picket fence. Ornaments, trellises, arbors and seats are nestled among the plants, and also a very simple route leads to a charming entryway.

That is the typical cottage garden nowadays, but what many admirers do not see is that the cottage garden began its life as a purely functional space for growing herbs and vegetables for regular usage. If the single space you have is facing your front door, then that’s where you will grow the food you need. As for the fence, it’s a practical way to keep fleas out (both human and animal).

Throughout the centuries, the cottage garden has become less functional and more cosmetic. It has also been adapted to match different climates and architectural designs, from traditional to contemporary. Just like any garden design, however, there are a number of guidelines which will help ensure that your cottage garden appears pleasing and hauled together, not simply enjoy a hodgepodge of plants which have been placed haphazardly.

Maria Hickey & Associates Landscapes

Start with the layout. Traditionally, the main route would lead directly to the front door, with plants billowing over on each side. That is still suitable, but you could also cause a winding route that leads you on a trip through the backyard.

Inside Out- Exterior & Interior Design

Keep it informal. A specific informality defines cottage garden plants, of course, but in addition, it applies to a hardscape. Gravel, pebbles or bark create great options for avenues, as an example. Rather than bricks set exactly in mortar, look for discolored older bricks with a few cracked edges, and place them so that the distance is not just even between each paver. Stepping stones also offer a cottagey look. Local substances are the ideal option if you’re able to locate them.

Design suggestion:While imperfections in a walkway look charming, have the effect by changing the width between different pavers and keep the walking surface even. No one would like to travel within an irregular rock, particularly at night.

Minglewood Designs

Reduce the yard. At a true cottage garden, a yard is seldom the focus. If you do want a little bit of green, then consider using bud as your route substance. A low-mow fescue will keep your maintenance levels down while adding to the informal feel.

Maria Hickey & Associates Landscapes

Plant for colour. A cottage garden is, most importantly, vibrant. You can use an exuberant mix of colors, choose something bold or stick to softer shades. A color wheel may be a great guide for choosing colors, if you want them to complement or contrast each other.

Design suggestion: If you are new to design with colour, select a motif color or colors, such as pinks, blues or purples, much as you would for colors inside a house. The different shapes of the plants you select will give you variety; the repetition of colour will have a calming and harmonious effect. Since you get bolder, add a pop of contrasting color — yellow nasturtiums blended in with blue pansies and delphiniums, bright red lupine nestled among white Shasta daisies and pink echinacea or some glowing orange black-eyed Susan scattered about in a sea of lavender.

WA Design Architects

Plant the unexpected. Bright purple allium, standing tall, adds colour. Artemisia and santolina are both good filler plants; their tender foliage and inconspicuous flowers function as a backdrop for more colorful plantings.

Liquidscapes

Enclose your own space. A white picket fence is the epitome of a cottage garden look. Here, the fence itself is simple, however, the bright white color helps it hold its own against the yellows and greens which front it. Additionally, a birdbath is always a welcome touch.

Archer & Buchanan Architecture, Ltd..

Stone and unpainted timber are equally authentic options for fencing, and also this fence artfully combines both. You may even use hedges to make a border. Maintain the substances simple; for instance, a rock wall ought to be brief and look dry place, not like a huge construction bit.

HOPE DESIGNS

Include gates, arbors and trellises. This really is a traditional mix, complete with a climbing rose, but you can also scatter structures which support climbing plants throughout the space. You may even add extra gates, if to enclose a smaller place or as decoration.

Insert the finishing touches. Cottage gardens call for individual details, and also this birdbath is a stunning example of taking a very simple detail and making it your very own. Constructed of a very simple bathing jar, it provides colour and creativity to the backyard when providing a spa for birds. In turn, the birds offer plenty of amusement for those homeowners.

Paradise Restored Landscaping & Exterior Design

Water features are common in a cottage garden. If you plan to add one, keep it simple. Ponds should be relatively small and natural in appearance. Fountains should also be low-key affairs, for example simple urns.

What’s a cottage garden with no birdhouse or two? They may be only decorative, of course, but it doesn’t take much to make one into a cozy home for a nest. Different birds have different nesting requirements, so opt for a birdhouse style which will attract birds indigenous to your region and keep them safe from predators. Check with a local pet store or birding group to find out more about what will work best for you.

Designs by Shellene

You have to be able to enjoy your backyard. A seat placed somewhere inside the space will allow you to look out over your backyard creation. You’ll likely discover that butterflies and birds will enjoy the garden as well.

If you are going to sit for a while, you will want a comfortable spot to do this. Fortunately, thrift store finds and older favorites will match right into a cottage space, so you don’t have to spend a great deal of cash. However, if your space is exposed to sunlight and rain, then you might choose to search for furniture and fabrics which seem weathered but are really designed to resist the components.

Between Naps on the Porch

Obviously, you’re going to need a place to work, whether it’s starting seedlings or arranging fresh-picked flowers. This seat is practical, and the green colour blends in with the plantings about it.

Arcadia Gardens, LLC

Produce a cottage garden that’s right for you. It is sensible to work with the distance and the climate you have. If you reside in the Pacific Northwest, amazing; you have a similar climate to England and you can probably recreate a Cotswold backyard. In other climates, you ought to be creative. At the upper Midwest, plants such as hostas function well as anchors in a cottage garden space.

Jeffrey Gordon Smith Landscape Architecture

Just inland from the central coast of California, a Mediterranean climate and lack of summer rain implies plants must be more drought tolerant. While this backyard proves, that doesn’t mean you need to give up about the cottage look, simply select grasses and perennials that could handle the climatic problems.

Peter A. Sellar – Architectural Photographer

While cottage gardens are unusually adaptable, somehow a fluffy yard of roses doesn’t necessarily operate with a more modern architectural design. Grasses, especially those with a mix of colors in their own flower heads, create a great, slightly more contemporary substitute.

You might not be prepared for a complete loss of yard and permanent paving, and that’s fine. Instead, make a cottage feel in a large garden bed, and allow the plants billow around on the pavement to soften the distance.

Troy Rhone Garden Design

This advantage of a sloping driveway offers the ideal spot for a contained cottage look which also brightens the edge of the driveway. In cases like this, the picket fence is keeping the cottage garden out of the yard, rather than in it.

Call it cottage. The containers have an urban appearance, but they’re full of spilling plants which evoke images of a cottage-inspired front yard.

jenny_hardgrave

If you are really restricted for space, then a cottage container may work very well. Place it on a patio or in an entryway to get the appearance, even in the event that you don’t have the property.

Design suggestion: You can also use containers inside your current cottage garden. They’re a terrific way to bring a decorative component, and easy to swap out if the plants start to look shabby.

Tom Meaney Architect, AIA

Of course, sometimes your house will seem like a cottage even with the minimum amount of landscaping. This house would state cottage even in the center of a town. Nevertheless, you may see the basic cabin components, from irregularly placed paving materials to climbing plants and a wooden seat.

See related

Kitchen of the Week: Exposed Brick Arches in Illinois

November 17, 2018

Most homeowners need a kitchen using more light and an open connection to main living spaces. Since the kitchen has become the main hub of action in modern homes, many households gravitate toward centrally located spaces which are easy to access from the rest of the house. The issue is, creating this installment is not always easy.

This Wilmette, Illinois, kitchen was originally completely closed off from the rest of the house. The homeowners wanted to connect it to the adjacent living space, but a thick wall obstructed off the distance. Great Rooms Designers & Builders pared down the warmth from the wall, exposing beautiful brick, and reworked the wall to an open and one of a kind design.

Great Rooms Builders & Designers

This wall between the kitchen and the family room was an exterior wall in the home’s unique layout. The family room was added later on (before this kitchen remodel), and the brick was furred out and drywalled.

Great Rooms’ Heath Siebert and his team realized that this once-brick wall could include a distinctive textural component, so that they restored it and additional arches and pillars.

Cabinetry: Monarch; backsplash: white crackle tile, Chadwicks; countertop: Brazilian soapstone; floors: refinished red oak hardwood; sink: Rohl Shaws Apron; faucet: Franke Triflow

Great Rooms Builders & Designers

To connect the kitchen with the living room, Siebert and his team removed the drywall, framing and old brick from the previous wall. They washed the brick and used it with some fitting new bricks to create the new wall and pillars.

The soapstone countertop was pulled out through the largest arch to get a casual eat-in bar.

Great Rooms Builders & Designers

Classic white subway tile in a crackle finish was installed in a herringbone pattern for a backsplash. Pieces of soapstone frame it.

Pot filler: Danze Opulence; lighting: homeowner’s; hood: Savona, Zephyr; range: Wolf 36-inch

Great Rooms Builders & Designers

Storage was a priority, so Siebert and his team integrated shelving into each nook and cranny. Integrated wine shelving, a display case for china, tall cabinetry for pantry items and spacious cabinetry around the island are a couple of of the solutions.

Great Rooms Builders & Designers

A window at the far end of the kitchen and an open door to the rest of the house retains the room casual, connected and full of natural light. “Before we began the job, the brick wall was only a door from the living room into the kitchen,” says Siebert. “The homeowner never understood that this might be opened and that we can use an outside element with interior components seamlessly.”

Refrigerator: Sub-Zero; dishwasher: Bosch

More Kitchens of the Week:
A Fresh Combination of New and Old
Vintage Elegance, Pocket Size
Warm Luxury in San Francisco

See related

Luxurious Contemporary Apartment in Poland

November 14, 2018

Exotic artwork; Chinese, Japanese and Spanish influences; and luxury materials such as backlit onyx make this Central Warsaw flat a stunner. The customers, a couple in finance, traveling often and wanted their residence, which overlooks Łazienki Park, to reflect their love of the Orient and Spain. Working together with them “gave me the most joy,” says interior designer Pawel Sókol. “I heard from and was inspired by their own enthusiasm for layout — down to the most minute details.”

in a Glance
Location: Warsaw, Poland
Size: 2,583 square feet
Designer’s question: Sókol’s customers insisted on integrating onyx, marble, metal and wood –and design changes from the East and West — under a single roof.

EXIT Interior Design Studio

A reddish, flowerlike chandelier adds drama to a space where the ceilings are not very high. Paired together with the neutral, warm and earthy tones of the space, the headboard enhances the decoration and can be admired by the adjacent living room space.

Chandelier: Flower of Life, Willow Lamps

EXIT Interior Design Studio

A luxe custom drapery track is hidden underneath a header and glows from panel lighting; silk drapes breaking at the floor give a puddled appearance and some motion to the draperies.

In the front end of this space is an Alhambra carved-wood divider, one of the select pieces brought home to Poland from the customers’ journeys to Spain.

EXIT Interior Design Studio

Silver velvet sofas and an armchair contrast against the warm wood tones of the side tables, coffee table and floors. The metallic impact of this draperies and upholstery up the glam factor of this living room tastefully; the metallic motif extends to the circular centerpiece, silver frog figure and die-cast brass lampshade trio (the third lamp is not visible in this picture).

Lamps: Pasha, Luminara by Ceccotti

EXIT Interior Design Studio

The study has a serene view of the foliage from nearby Łazienki Park, which is home to many classical-style gardens and palaces.

EXIT Interior Design Studio

The customers’ love of Eastern layout is evident in this chinoiserie-inspired vignette: a pair of guardian lions, a Chinese porcelain plate and an altar table adjacent to a wood divider produced by a Polish carpenter employing a Japanese blossom print.

How to Insert Touches of Chinoiserie

EXIT Interior Design Studio

The Eastern influence extends itself into the restroom. A white lantern hovers over a vessel sink; red and white glass panels are placed between black iron frames with a Chinese geometric pattern.

EXIT Interior Design Studio

Sókol points out that the absence of cabinets, shelves and cabinets in the bedroom. “The bedroom is used for rest and sleep. Clothes, accessories, additional possessions have their place in the wardrobe in another room.”

EXIT Interior Design Studio

Sókol’s clients especially requested to integrate onyx to the interior layout. This picture shows backlit onyx panels at the ceiling, which include a visual richness that is preferred by luxury hospitality and commercial spaces. A small nook next to a center pillar with modular closets is used for coffee and afternoon tea.

EXIT Interior Design Studio

This shiny kitchen sink area looks like it could also belong within a luxury suite.

EXIT Interior Design Studio

This stunning receiving area by the flat elevator would be fitting at a contemporary hotel. It reflects the customers’ need for the same sleek look they enjoy while traveling abroad.

See related

5 Smashing White and Black Homes

November 12, 2018

By now everybody knows that it is fairly simple and cheap to change up the look of a space by changing out throw pillow covers, a lamp or two, artwork along with a rug. However, to pull this off you want a foundation that is versatile. Using black and white as a foundation makes these switch-ups really simple and can be visually striking. Get ideas on how to do this by these five houses that use black and white as a starting point.

LDa Interiors & Architecture

1. An home in Massachusetts. Upon entering this stunning oceanside home north of Boston, one immediately knows that LDA Architecture and Interiors hasn’t designed a typical beach home.

LDa Interiors & Architecture

This equilibrium of the two colors even retains an TV looking glossy.

LDa Interiors & Architecture

Not all the rooms are white with black accents; others, such as this kitchen, allow black dominate and attract big drama.

Watch the rest of this home

Stephanie Sabbe

2. A daring Manhattan apartment. Interior designer Stephanie Sabbe made a wowing look by using black, white and shades in between (for example, the light grey sofa). This complex home begins with a strong black and white chevron rug on the floor, and picture touches abound in the floor up to the ceiling.

Stephanie Sabbe

Another black and white rug creates continuity between the rooms; this time it’s left in a zebra print. Electric orange dazzles as part of this palette, while boldly coloured prints are anchored by black and white framing. Any of the artwork’s colors would work on the dining chair slipcovers.

Watch the rest of this home

Stephanie Sabbe

Out on the terrace, black woven furniture may take on a bevy of bold hues and geometric prints.

Watch the rest of this home

Susan Duane

3. A nation charmer in western New York. Susan Duane, blogger of Hometown Girl, has maintained the traditional look of her classic home through major renovations. Using black and white brings a traditional look.

Turquoise chairs stick out on the otherwise only black and white screened-in porch.

Susan Duane

White and black tiles on the floor and a traditional floral print on the walls and windows provide this bathroom a classic feel.

Watch the rest of this home | Add classic touches to your bathroom

SchappacherWhite Architecture D.P.C.

4. A Shelter Island cottage. For this enchanting cottage on Shelter Island, New York, Steve Schappacher and Rhea White chose a common beachy farmhouse aesthetic and changed it up by making it in black and white.

SchappacherWhite Architecture D.P.C.

Maintaining a strict color palette ties with an eclectic mix of seating and decorating styles.

SchappacherWhite Architecture D.P.C.

Paint provides the cottage kitchen with an ever-changing background.

Watch the rest of this home

Vanessa De Vargas

5. A modern box at Venice Beach. In this modern home, interior designer Vanessa De Vargas conveys substantial black and white pieces throughout the home, frequently in chevron designs. This gave her the freedom to blend in shots of bold color in every room while keeping a cohesive look throughout the whole first floor.

Vanessa De Vargas

The black and white bits in the area work nicely with chrome and glass. An ornate gold mirror along with a natural fiber rug keep things from becoming too matchy-matchy and warm up the otherwise stark colour.

Vanessa De Vargas

Pops of yellow add cheer to the breakfast nook that is white and black.

Watch the rest of this home

More:
Home Designs: New Traditional Style
5 Inspiring Homes in the Chilly North
Dream Spaces: Seriously Glamorous Homes

See related

5 Weed-Smothering Ground Covers

November 8, 2018

So many anglers profess their love of weeding. “It’s therapeutic,” they say, and I see their point. Spending some time in the garden can be good therapy. However, I have a confession: I hate weeding. I’d rather have a stroll or sit with a book in my garden, enjoying the crops I’ve endeavored to develop. I wholeheartedly resent the time suck of eliminating those I have not.

As such, I am a big fan of earth covers that choke out weeds. Sure, if you would rather mild-mannered plants, you may consider them weeds within their own right, but for anglers like me, they help keep the “bad” weeds.

If it’s odor you’re after, look no farther than soda-scented ‘Walker’s Low’ catmint (Nepeta x faassenii ‘Walker’s Low’, zones 4 to 8). Brushing its foliage releases a beautiful bouquet into the air, and it flowers lavender early to midsummer. I shear mine a little with a hedge trimmer as it flowers for a new flush of foliage and blossom. This cool cat thrives in sun and lean, dry soil, and you will be amazed by how far one little clump will stretch. It divides readily in spring should you discover you want to help it together.

Creeping raspberry (Rubus pentalobus) is a little locomotive of a plant, with crushed-velvet leaves that turn a beautiful bronze color in zones where the weather gets cold but not cold it melts. It’s hardy in zones 6 to 9, grows well in sun or shade and even reasonably dry conditions, in typical soil. You may also find it under the name Rubus calycinoides and the very similar cultivar ‘Emerald Carpet’.

Photo by J.smith via Wikimedia Commons

Terra Nova® Nurseries, Inc

Asian jasmine (Trachelospermum asiaticum) has been a popular evergreen ground cover in the South for decades, and when we say weed smothering, we mean it with this one. It’s for people who want an extremely low, very compact hedge. If you’re in the market for that with a little additional pizzazz, have a look at these fabulous variegated cultivars: ‘ ‘Gold Brocade’ (shown here) features wild and mad gold foliage with reddish new growth, whilst ‘Tricolor’ (next photo) is much more demure in mottled white with pink new growth.

This brand of vanilla has been grown mostly for foliage and seldom blooms. All these cultivars thrive in average conditions in sun or shade. They are solidly hardy in zones 8 to 10 but definitely worth a shot in zone 7. Their unvariegated parent grows just fine well into warmer parts of zone 6, even though it’s less known there. All are playful, glossy-leafed garden additions that send weeds packing.

Terra Nova® Nurseries

I recently extolled the virtues of plumbago (Ceratostigma plumbaginoides, zones 5 to 9) here, and I think that it’s worth mentioning twice, simply to drive the point home: This plant grows well in sun and part shade in all sorts of states all around the U.S.. It chokes out weeds, blossoms in a clear blue that reflects the summer sky and tops it off with fantastic fall color. What more can you ask for?

Last but not least is a sumac. No, not the poison kind — this is ‘Gro-Low’ sumac (Rhus aromatica ‘Gro-Low’, zones 3 to 9), and it is not poisonous in the least. Grow it for its shiny blue-green leaves, buttery-yellow spring blossoms, fuzzy red fruit in late summer and fire-engine-crimson fall color. This plant is one tough cookie and grows great in color, but it picks up steam faster with sun and warmth — the first place I found it had been a parking lot. And as if all that weren’t enough, its parent plant is native to the whole eastern half of North America.

Great layout grasses:
Black Mondo Grass | Cape Rush | Feather Reed Grass | New Zealand Wind Grass

Great layout crops:
Blue Chalk Sticks | Hens-and-Chicks | Redtwig Dogwood | Toyon

See related

Get the Most out of a Small Garden

November 4, 2018

Forget grand gardens, expansive rolling hills and giant ranches. A serene or functional backyard can match in any sort of space. Here are typical living spaces with gardens that are anything but ordinary. They might be tiny and spartan, but they are fascinating. Care to take a look?

Westover Landscape Design, Inc..

Fences, gates and other structures can break up a smaller backyard into sections. This gives the garden a sense of being bigger and permits you to create different experiences within one space.

Mark Brand Architecture

Terracing is among the most significant tools in a small space. It allows the gardener to add fresh land in raised beds onto a concrete foundation, gives varying lighting to several kinds of plants and adds dimension to a small backyard. Adding terraces visually assembles a small plot into different, different spaces.

Arterra Landscape Architects

This space might be small, but it lives big with a seating area, a charming water feature plus a multitude of plantings. Water provides a sense of movement, along with also the lime-color plants include brightness into a shadowed corner.

Jesse Im/bugonmyleaf

A bonsai garden is a great option for a deck. The plants grow very slowly and seem charming in a shelved screen. The best part? This whole backyard takes up just a few feet.

Bill Fry Construction – Wm. H. Fry Const. Co..

Do you have an open space without soil? Do you live in an apartment with plenty of hardscaping but no available planting space? Think pots, and think large pots. You may plant just about anything if the pot is large enough (at least 16 inches across), including small fruit trees and other edibles. Choose one finish to unify the pots as a backyard.

Maybe you’ve got space for just one long bed of plants. One species implanted throughout the bed creates a sleek, contemporary look that gives life and movement to a blank wall.

Elemental Design Group

Is the cabin look more your style? Cottage gardens are ideal in a small space. Cluster 10 to 15 plants round your doorstep for a charming look. Go for plants with odor to create an experience each time you come home. Plants that operate nicely in a cottage garden similar to this include catmint, Russian sage, rosemary, lavender and rose.

20 Ways to Get the Cottage Garden Look

Another classic cabin plant is the charming hollyhock. Situate this plant in the back of a small border to add height to a garden. When you grow hollyhocks from seed, expect to see your first blooms in the next year.

Beertje Vonk Artist

Maybe you wish to use your outdoor space to grow edibles. Grow garden vegetables and herbaceous plants in a bed. The square-foot gardening system allows you to grow the most produce in the smallest amount of space.

More about potagers

The Garden Route Company

Think up when you are in a small space. Trellises, arbors and pergolas are great for producing more growing space.

Design Calendar: Feb. 17-March 9, 2012

November 1, 2018

Soak in style and sun as you lace up your shoes with this year’s Venice Modern Home Tour at Los Angeles. Admire the architectural beauty and interiors of nine Westside homes. Learn ways to find that ideal interior layout shot from photographer David Livingston. And when winter weather gets you down, have a look at the terrarium exhibit at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden or half of a million flowers in bloom at the Dallas Arboretum. Continue reading for 5 selections of what to do and watch now.

David Duncan Livingston

WORKSHOP — Feb. 29, 2012, 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Photography Workshop: Interior Vignettes on La Cienega
716 North La Cienega Blvd., Los Angeles

Calling all interior photography shutterbugs! Internationally recognized interiors photographer David Duncan Livingston will direct a hands on workshop showing how to take and write better interior photographs. You’ll find out how to block out a photograph composition, how to look for the ideal light and how to operate with natural light. Through a mix of brief discussions and live demos you may remove straightforward, practical tips about item placement, photo cropping, when to use which lens, and camera angles and height will enhance your shot. Photoshop, Lightroom, meta tagging, rights and utilization issues will also be covered.

This workshop is geared to photographers of all levels — from iPhone into DSLR shooters. The workshop will begin at the Therien showroom, then move on to Hollywood at Home.

Cost: $175, such as lunch

Julius Shulman

HOME TOUR — Feb. 18, 2012, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Venice Modern Home Tour, Venice and Mar Vista, California

Go on a self-guided tour of nine architecturally progressive homes on Los Angeles’ Westside. Featuring the work of Tighe Architecture, Ortiz Mexia Projects, Carson Architects, Glen Irani and others, the tour allows you peek inside these amazing homes and come away motivated. The homes were selected by Ingrid Spencer, contributing editor for Architectural Record.

Cost: $30 advance online purchase, $40 day of; free to children 12 and younger

Jae Hi Ahn

EXHIBIT — Through Feb. 26
Terrarium
Brooklyn Botanical Garden
900 Washington Ave., Brooklyn, New York

The chilly gloom can frequently inspire indoor gardens to blossom. On display at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden’s Steinhardt Conservatory is a imaginative exhibition pairing delicate terrariums with art installations by Brooklyn artist Jae Hi Ahn. Ahn uses easy artificial materials such as plastic tubes and wires to pay tribute to the organic forms of the natural world. Extended rows of terrariums housed in a variety of vessels exhibit unique miniature plant worlds on tables, even though some of Ahn’s advanced sculptures hang from skylights.

The backyard is available until 4:30 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday before March 11 and until 6 p.m. from March 13 to November 4; weekday entry is free.

dallasarboretum.org

TULIP SHOW — March 3-April 8, 2012
Dallas Blooms, Dallas Arboretum, 8525 Garland Rd., Dallas

For an instant mood lifter, head to the Dallas Arboretum to admire an impressive display of more than 500,000 colorful flower types, such as tulips, daffodils, Dutch iris and hyacinths, pansies, violas, poppies and tens of thousands of other spring-blooming annuals and perennials. In this flower festival, cherry blossom trees may also blossom for a 10-day period.

Whilst soaking from the blooming extravaganza, check out the exhibition Small Houses of Great Artists, built and created by Bob Hoebeke of Hoebeke Builders and other Dallas architects. It will open to the general public through Dallas Blooms and will run through Dec. 31, 2012. A fine art show and sale named ArtScape will also occur in the backyard March 16-18, including the works of 100 artists from around the nation.

Joe Woolhead

LECTURE — March 6, 2012, 6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.
The Butler-VanderLinden Lecture on Architecture comprising Craig Dykers of Snøhetta
Art Institute of Chicago, Rubloff Auditorium
111 South Michigan Ave., Chicago

Join Craig Dykers, cofounder and principal of Snøhetta, for an engaging lecture highlighting his recent endeavors. Dykers conducts an integrated architecture, landscape, and interior design practice in Oslo and New York. In recent years, the company has won international competitions for major American jobs, such as an expansion of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the redesign of Times Square, and the National September 11 Memorial Museum Pavilion at the site of the World Trade Center (photograph ). Dykers is a fellow of the Institute for Urban Design in New York.

Cost: $5 students, $10 A&D members, $15 public. Register online here.

More 2012 design occasions: Feb. 4-24, Feb. 6-Mar. 2, 2012

What’s on your calendar? Let us know in the Comments!

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Cool, Calm Edwardian Gets Another Update

October 29, 2018

Recall Lucy McLintic’s cool, Serene Edwardian at San Francisco? She’s just completed a remodel of her kitchen, dining area, family room and powder room in a build that took three months and was in preparation for nearly nine.

The intent to redesign was in place because they moved into five years back and this was finally the right time.The design had two major issues: a narrow corridor leading from the kitchen to a small one-quarter bathroom (only a toilet, no sink). The bathroom was so tiny the door knocked the toilet bowl once it opened. And more space was required for 2 boys to playwith. Some crafty rearrangement was obligated to prevent major structural work or another addition. Read on to find the glowing, natural and modern haven now.

Lucy McLintic

Lucy has dreamed of the kitchen for ages! She knew the countertops and cabinets had to be whitened. That required darker shades for the tile and flooring, and some pattern. She chose herringbone floor tiles to echo the zigzag rug that could be reused in the family room. Silver travertine wall tiles added a touch of luxury and texture, while staying within the modern, clean-lined look.

Lucy McLintic

The old kitchen was badly organized (with four entry doors), and falling to bits. The issues were solved by blocking up a door between the kitchen and bathroom, creating more counter space for the kitchen and room for a sink in the bathroom. The doors have been eliminated between other rooms.

The countertops have a strange border profile: a reverse bevel, or’sharknose’. Lucy noticed that as an emerging fashion in Europe and wanted to give it a shot. It was hard to describe, but her builder knew what she meant and got it just perfect.

Lucy McLintic

Open walnut shelves and toe kicks warm up the area. A white kitchen can be so clinical, but open shelving lets you bring some character to the room. The shelves are full of a mixture of old items, gifts and products by a local restaurant supply store.

Lucy McLintic

The dining area and family room were swapped, making the dining room currently visible from the kitchen so that it seems just like a kitchen-diner. It all feels like one area, though no major structural changes were made.

The small dining area is the best size for the household. Attention is focused on the dining table from Room and Board. The neutral palette is in shades of java, latte and milky white but intriguing shapes and textures have been added, such as the hyperlink suspension pendant by LZF. It’s made from wood veneer and can be rather the statement bit.

See the preceding arrangement in this earlier house tour

Lucy McLintic

The inlay mirror was the beginning point for the powder room. Lucy didn’t need the overall effect to be traditional, therefore she paired it with modern minimal glass tiles and a floating walnut vanity with square-edge countertops at the same Caesarstone as the kitchen. The dressing table is habit but from the same shop as the kitchen cabinets. The paint is Benjamin Moore’s Iron Mountain. Wall-mounted taps were selected as a result of limited space.

Lucy McLintic

The family room is used all the time. It’s the middle of the house physically, so there is a natural gravitational pull toward this area. Now the dining area transferred to the rear of the house, the space feels more open and inviting. Most of the items in the area — the sideboard, mirror, rug and end table — were reused. The sofa and the Cherner chair were the only new developments.

Lucy McLintic

The area was intentionally kept sparse to book the floor area for the kids to play. The deeper wall color (Benjamin Moore Wiemeraner) and patterned carpet prevent it from feeling empty.

More:
A Little Cottage Grows Up
A Kitchen to Family and the Joy of Cooking
New Style With Old-World Warmth

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Hilltop Palace in San Francisco

October 25, 2018

Unparalleled views of the city and bay were what drew Geoffrey De Sousa to this San Francisco house, but it’s his stunning mixture of natural materials and exquisite product selections that truly sets it apart. An interior designer and one of the owners of this showroom De Sousa Hughes, De Sousa was residing in a Victorian home in the city when he discovered the perfect location for his dream house. Perched on top of the greatest of San Francisco’s hills in Clarendon Heights, his new house has views of the city in virtually every direction.

De Sousa opened up the home to benefit from their views and natural lighting, working with architect Mark English to double the square footage and create a clean and crisp appearance. He then outfitted the house with impeccable product choices to flaunt its clean architecture and comparison the surrounding fog.