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Picturesque beach house getaway in WaterColor
Williams Residence is a dream vacation home for a Houston couple designed by Geoff Chick & Associates in WaterColor, Florida. The three-story house faces a neighborhood park and backs up to the Point Washington State Forest, a huge natural preserve. The homeowner who had collected two decades of notes and magazine clippings interior designed the space herself, with simple and clean design of blues, greens and beiges that seems to be collected right from the beach. The home is comprised of 4,731 square feet of living space, with four beds plus a bunk area, four-and-a-half bathrooms and a spacious apartment above the garage with a kitchen, bedroom and bathroom.
The awe-inspiring exterior has a signature galvanized roof and HardiePlank lap siding with red cedar shingles, all painted a custom soft blue color made to harmonize with all the materials. Gas lanterns, transom windows, exposed rafters on the top tower structure and a detailed railing with a recurring X pattern punctuate Watercolor’s architectural style. With the intense Florida sunshine, the extended eaves help cut down on solar gain in the tower, and since hurricane winds pose a threat to ripping the roof off, a beam and a corbel detail were added.
This landing area connects the main house to the garage apartment. With a Dutch door, a farmhouse sink, antique wood furniture and a color palette of red, black and white, the style is a mild departure from the rest of the house.
This view is from the third floor — which has a home theater and an office space — looking down on the second, which has a bunk room, a master suite and two guest rooms.
Denise Williams has a massive collection of beach sand from all over the world. The antique nautical map wallpaper in the back of the niche is used to display portions of her collection.
The second-floor bunk room is meant to accommodate future grandkids. The bunks were custom made. The green door is a hundred years old and from Romania.
Note the starry night motif in the bunk room with the dark blue ceiling and custom chandeliers.
A sliding, distressed door on the third floor closes the house off to the fourth-floor tower to prevent heat loss.
Photos: Jack Gardner
15
Elegant yet cozy Mill Valley cottage home
This stunning classic cottage home in Mill Valley, California was an addition and architectural renovation by studio Heydt Designs in collaboration with interior designer Benjamin Dhong. The original home, an outdated modern lodge-style home, had not been updated since the 1980’s and only had two bedrooms and two baths. With an addition of only 700 square feet, this home was updated to five bedrooms and three-and-a-half bathrooms, with a total living space of 2,700 square feet. The family of six desired an elegant yet comfortable Craftsman style home with Spanish colonial influences outside and contemporary elements inside. The property did not have much space in the backyard, so the front yard is used as a backyard with an addition to the front porch and a patio off the kitchen.
The entry foyer, the entire family room, part of the living room and the breakfast nook are all part of the new addition on the first floor. The relaxed, light floors throughout the home are an engineered, prefinished product, with the top layer being a real distressed oak. New and old decor is mixed throughout the home to give it a relaxed ambiance. Circular windows were used in place of the old triangular windows to complete the new aesthetic, since they look best in a triangular space. The bedrooms have private balconies to enjoy views of the yard. Although the rooms are very compact, the house feels more spacious than it is due to the high, vaulted ceilings, windows and glass doors. The master bedroom, master bath, kids’ bath and guest bath were all part of the new addition upstairs.
This is the front of the home before the remodel, notice how the architectural elements seem outdated.
The foyer has a spot for sitting down, removing one’s shoes and stashing them under the window seat.
An antiqued mirrored cabinet above the mantel conceals a television.
The blue and white patterned accent wall in the dining room adds a nice focal point to the space.
Bright yellow industrial counter stools add a bold punch of color to the otherwise white kitchen, while the oversize pendant adds a focal point to the space and can be found at Restoration Hardware.
The white subway tile backsplash and glass-fronted cabinets reflect the light, brightening the windowless wall of the kitchen.
The kitchen opens out to the front patio where the family can enjoy outdoor dining.
The cozy family room opens out to the front porch, connecting the home to the landscape.
The powder room features faux-bois wall covering and a view outdoors in place of a mirror.
The girl’s bedroom is a mix of contemporary and Victorian pieces.
This small guest bathroom has been designed to make efficient use of space by resting the vanity on a base, light fixtures are from here.
The master bathroom features a Moravian star pendant light, from here.
Photos: David Duncan Livingston
2
Cozy seaside cottage in the village of Kalvsvik
Spotted on Sotheby’s, is this charming lake house situated in the coveted village of Kalvsvik, Sweden with its own long beach line towards Vindöström. The property consists of both dense forest that smooth cliffs. Just a few meters from the lake is the main building of around 538 square feet (50 square meters), featuring an open kitchen, bedroom, bathroom and bed loft. Patio doors lead out to a large and sunny deck with lovely sea views, native Swedish hot tub and a place for enjoying lunches and dinners in the evening sun. If you want to cool yourself, one can bathe, completely undisturbed by neighbors, both from smooth rock outcrops and the long sandy beach.
12
Playful treehouse refuge in Catalonia
Discovered on Mi Casa, this small cabin in the trees is built as a fun cottage for children in Catalonia, Spain. The refuge has been constructed in a small field that uses nature to construct the little wooden house with a small terrace. The trunk of the tree is the central axis of the cabin and passes through vertically. It is accessed by a staircase and a suspension bridge. In the interior, wood remains the main constructive material. There are no dividing partitions which make the area feel open and spacious.
To avoid insect bites, it was essential to place a light mosquito net around the bed. The hut receives plenty of natural light and beautiful mountain views through the sliding door access. The interiors feature a few cushions on the ground to create a cozy corner chill out style. Light furnishings decorate the small space to keep good traffic flow around the cabin. Cushions with washable fabric covers have been selected to avoid stains. A small bathroom maintains privacy with a shower curtain that hides a natural toilet installed on a wooden structure that adapts to the corner.
7
Adventurous cottage in the forest for children
This fabulous wood cottage spotted on Mi Casa was built by local craftsmen is located in the mountains of Cantabria, Spain. The owners tailored this home to live a thousand adventures day and night. A large chestnut tree gives shade to this summer house, designed as a playground for children. The cottage stands on a few high pillars and is preserved with a special moisture-resistant treatment. The exterior facade features a large glass wall with sliding doors that allows magnificent views across the valley. Under the catwalk that surrounds the facade that serves as the balcony there is a custom built swing. The roof has been coated with an insulating material, to prevent leaking.
The interiors feature rustic decor with two custom designed trundle beds comprised of wood. With a country-style influence, white and raw are the tones chosen for the bedding. The only colorful additions are the cushions and area rugs. As the space is small, the furniture is light and playful to suit the needs of the children. A small table and a couple of chairs make the space sufficient to promote reading, even during the holidays. There are wall and floor lamps placed near the bed, to allow for proper lighting.
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11
Beautiful summer cottage retreat on Skåtøy Island
The Summer House Skåtøy, designed by studio Filter Arkiteketer, consists of a lovely summer cottage located on an island, South coast of Norway. The request of the client was for the architects to create a retreat that opens up towards the archipelago, while maintaining private outdoor areas. Here is a description of the project from the architects, “the starting point was an existing cottage from around 1940, damaged by dry rot. The new project is built on the footprint of this old cottage. The topography of the site is reflected in the section as two volumes; one volume containing a “sleeping cabin” (a sleeping area) cutting into another elongated volume containing the living and dining areas. These volumes create private outdoor space on the upper level connected to private outdoor space on the lower level. The Client wanted a maintenance free summer house. This resulted in a building clad in untreated timber, dry stone walls and sedum on the roof.”
Visit the website of studio Filter Arkiteketer here.
30
Sleek concrete dwelling in the woods
Today we present to you this spectacular concrete house in Mar Azul, a seaside town approximately four hours south of Buenos Aires, Argentina characterized by a large dune beach and leafy coniferous forest. Designed by Bak Architects, the clients chose a field in the forest with a challenging topography, away from the sea and from the most lived zone, to construct a cottage without losing the important presence of the landscape. The 968 square foot (90 square meters) home does not have a main entrance; its flexible construction allows one to enter by anyone of the rooms. Natural light floods the spaces, blackout curtains have been incorporated for privacy and when light is not needed. Furnishings were specially designed for the home, made from recovering Canadian pines wood from packing motor boxes.
The custom built concrete furniture defines the spaces, which can be separated by a curtain wall façade through two “paños fijos†that can be removed or be replaced by doors. With this resource the rooms can be enlarged, visually extending in any one location of the house. The plan of the house (6.90m x 14m) is a reinforced concrete slab that rests in the partition walls of the main façade. The inner partition walls are of composed of hollow bricks and painted with white latex. The heating system, since natural gas in the area does not exist, was solved with a wood burning stove that acclimatizes the main living area, the first bedroom and the corridor. The main bedroom and the baths are heated with electrical plates. Via
Visit the website of Bak Architects here.
Photos: Gustavo Sosa Pinilla and Daniela Mac Adden
23
Beautiful cottage on the Waikato River
Named after the charming Irishman who established Huka Lodge, the Alan Pye Cottage opened in late December 2008. Designed by interior designer Virginia Fisher and Sumich Chaplin Architects, the Cottage takes every advantage of a superb location and sits above lush rolling green lawns and manicured gardens on the banks of the Waikato River, New Zealand where the powerful and hypnotic turquoise green waters surge downstream on their way to the Huka Falls.
Built to exacting standards and utilizing the finest quality heritage materials, cedar, heart timbers, stone and brick, the cottage draws on architectural elements from the 1920s and 1930s with strong reference to the sophisticated elegance of the English Arts & Crafts movement. This influence, in a contemporary re-interpretation, clearly pervades both the exterior and interior design of the cottage.
While very spacious in design, the cottage boasts a cozy and intimate atmosphere due largely to an extraordinary level of attention to detail, combined with a deliberately eclectic style of furnishing and interior direction. Country antique furniture is overlaid museum-quality Maori antiquities, wonderful paintings and textiles rich in texture and design and the color palette draws together stunning combinations of deep teal, lime and turquoise for moments of bold punctuation and excitement. The cottage features an open plan living room, with high ceilings, open fireplace and dining. This room offers decadently comfortable furniture and everything guests will need to feel this is a true “home away from home”. Tall glass doors on both sides of the room face the river on one side and the enclosed courtyard garden and outdoor pavilion on the other. The Cottage boasts two large and stylishly appointed bedrooms, with fireplaces, en-suite bathrooms and generous walk-through dressing rooms.
4
A lovely Swedish summer house
Remember those simple summer holidays where you packed up the car with all the essentials and just a few little luxuries and made the trek to your holiday spot. Year after year your family always stayed at the same cottage or shack; simple and basic but oh so special. Days were spent lazing about, swimming or hiking, winding down and enjoying the slow life. Here is a charming vacation retreat in the woods, located in Sweden. This home is simple but stylish, nothing that isn’t necessary and just enough to enjoy your stay comfortably. This lovely summer house belongs to Swedish stylist Mikael Beckman. Unfortunately it is time for him to say goodbye to it and he is selling. This gorgeous Swedish home is listed for sale here.
20
Mill keeper’s cottage has modern twist
Hunsett Mill is a remote water pumping mill located in the historic Norfolk Broads National Park, situated beside the river and upstream from the Sutton Broads on Chapel Field Road, Stalham, Norfolk, England. The house was a residence for the keeper of the mill until 1900 when the advent of electricity rendered wind powered pumps obsolete. Since the end of its working life, the house has been used as a private residence, but has remained as an important piece of local heritage, standing adjacent to the well-known historic Hunsett Mill.
Since the whole area around the mill constitutes protected conservation land, the aesthetic and sustainable value of the property is and has been of the utmost importance. This is why it has been given a full restoration of the listed windmill and a renovation and extension to the mill keeper’s cottage by architecture firm ACME.
The extension has been made entirely from solid laminated wood, exposed as an interior finish and clad in charred cedar boards externally. The extension overcomes the requirements of appropriate planning restrictions by creating a very open plan floor layout with three double height spaces that creates an impression of spatial generosity and allows for the placement of large windows looking out towards the mill and over the marshes and fields.
A fireplace and changes in the floor level helps to create a distinct kitchen, dining and living area. The first floor contains all of the five bedrooms as well as the two bathrooms, interspersed with the voids created by the double height space. The bedrooms make full use of the space under the roof pitches, with full height mirrors on some walls, large external windows, as well as internal windows into the void and towards the ground floor living rooms creating a feeling of spaciousness.
All internal walls and ceilings consist of the exposed timber structure. Where doors are required in timber walls, they are built to match the thickness and finish to create a continuity of material feel and appearance. Space is optimized by integrating fittings, wardrobes and the fireplace into the timber walls. Limestone tiling for the bathrooms is color-matched to the exposed timber so that there is little visual distinction between them and the rest of the house.
The main staircase was designed to be as light and unobtrusive as possible, manufactured from thin steel plates sunk into slotted recesses in the solid timber wall. The majority of floors are finished with limed, dark baked oak planks to complement the golden hue of the timber walls.