House on the House in Austria by Looping Architecture

House on the house or Forum Limbach is an old farm house in Limbach im Burgenland, Austria designed by Looping Architecture. The farmyard was expanded by an architecturally exciting chapter; the annex serves as a discussion forum and venue. On top sits the upper storey as “house on the house” with the principal’s private rooms. The new building, fitted into the historically grown farmyard structure, closes the rural square edifice and at the same time opens up the previously enclosed inner yard. This apparently contradictory double function is made possible by the building’s clever horizontal bisection. The “house on the house”, entirely clad in a red polyurethane skin, faces east-west, the necessary rotation out of the original property’s axes emphasizes that it is a newcomer in the conglomerate. It is accessed via a self-supporting stairway quoting the ladders which belong to the farmyard image. In the farmyard’s biography, the annex project marks a visionary new beginning without overwriting the property’s naturalness.

Serene rustic farmhouse retreat in Tuscany

Relax Tra Gli Ulivi is a stunning rustic farmhouse in Tuscany, Italy designed by Claudia Pelizzari Interior Design in 2007. The home showcases cutting-edge design solutions and traditional materials. With exposed wood beams, stone walls and limestone flooring, this cozy family home is the perfect weekend retreat. Colorful furnishings are splashed throughout the home, vintage and modern are mixed to create a lived-in feeling and a welcoming ambiance.

Photos: Giorgio Baroni

Impressive salvaged farmhouse in The Netherlands

This stunning renovated farmhouse is located in Utrecht, Netherlands, designed by interior design firm VIVA VIDA. The farmhouse was quite spacious and the clients wanted it to be designed with salvaged furnishings and materials. They wanted the original atmosphere and function but with any corny interiors. The designers found the perfect match between the original character of the house and contemporary, craft customization, fitting the atmosphere that the clients wanted in the areas and in the way they wanted to live in the house.

“You can spend your time relaxing yourself and you keep surprised and puzzled. All of the spaces are intimate and with its own character. They form entirely original details like the crochet stair parts and (re) use of old materials. The functional design of the kitchen and the special box beds make it personal. Even the wallpaper in our son’s bedroom is made from a photograph of my grandfather as a child around here plays. “

Photos: Courtesy of VIVA VIDA

Modern New York farmhouse infused with warmth

This stunning modern farmhouse is situated in New York, designed by interior designer Betty Wasserman. The family home has been designed in a neutral color palette with a clean and fresh design aesthetic. Betty is an established designer who has made her mark by fusing original art, interior design and home furnishings into a complete and modern approach to lifestyles. Her warm, minimalist design concept allows her to create environments reflective of modern themes, while expressing the lifestyle and needs of the client.

Photos: Eric Striffler Photography

Farmhouse restoration incorporating contemporary elements

This beautiful project focuses on the restoration and expansion of a farmhouse by A2BC Studio on the terraced hillside of Cinque Terre in Liguria, Italy. The main emphasis of the project is on the recovery and emphasis of original materials and construction techniques in a contemporary perspective. The main house has fully retained its structure and distribution while incorporating contemporary elements in substitution for the parts of the building that were not recoverable due to advanced stages of deterioration.

New concrete paving unifies the spaces of the house, white plaster for the interior highlights the stone on the original bearing walls, and the new black window frames create a balanced contrast with the interiors of the house and the framing of the landscape. The furniture is refined yet simple, as it plays on the combination of recovered and modern pieces, using colors that recall those of the surrounding landscape.

The restoration of the main house is complemented by the reconstruction of the adjacent barn, of which only the foundation remained. A simple volume of split stone, typical of Liguria, is hollow to allow for a generous full-height opening towards the sea, whose adjustable brise soleil, the typical Genoese shutters, allow regulation of the light throughout the day. Inside, the smallest spaces, the ‘garden rooms’ (the surface is approximately equal to Le Corbusier’s Cabanon at Cap-Martin) has no more than a bed, water closet, sink, and shower. The scheme is repeated on two floors.

Contemporary farm house retreat in Ontario

The Farm House was designed for a couple who resided in Toronto, Ontario who desired to have a vacation retreat that would provide a contemporary take on country living. After finding a 100-acre property with rolling cornfields and a barn, they asked architecture studio Cindy Rendely Architexture to help them create a comfortable and modern house that would be sensitive to its rural setting. Taking cues from the original barn located at the edge of the property, Rendely designed a new, 3,135-square-foot, rectangular building interrupted along its length by a two-story volume that houses the master bedroom suite above and a second bedroom below.

A one-story artist’s studio completes the bar-like volume on the other side of the two-story structure. This independent volume is playfully rotated 15 degrees and is separated from the continuous bar to create an open courtyard space between the two buildings with views directed toward Lake Ontario. Believing that a visual and spatial calm can be derived from simple proportions and repeated forms, Rendely made the footprint of the studio a perfect six-meter cube.

At the opposite end of the house, another cube of the same proportions “pushes” through the single-story bar building. A private guest suite is clad entirely in tile and is clearly expressed inside and out.

To ensure that the house was truly rural in character, the clients requested a gabled roof, which Rendely exaggerated in pitch and clad with aluminum to complement the neutral tones of the exterior wood.

A consistent and simple material palette of one tile and one wood throughout creates a harmonious backdrop for vintage furnishings and folk art. All of the interior finishes are local, durable, and easy to maintain. The grey porcelain tile echoes the region’s clay and rocky ground.

Douglas fir was specified in an array of forms for the interior window frames, doors, wall and ceiling finishes, and custom built-in millwork throughout.

Quarter-cut and rift-cut veneers and simple plywood sheathing highlight the transformative qualities of the singular material, while maintaining consistent tones.

The plywood ceilings give the interiors a raw, barn-like feeling and the random patchwork quality of the material in its natural and unfinished state reinforces the rural character of this modern farmhouse.

Beautifully adorned farmhouse in Jämtland

Nestled on a remote farm in Jämtland, an historical province in the center of Sweden is this beautifully adorned farmhouse, with a calm, no-frills simplicity. It was in this type of environment that the majority of the population in Sweden lived only 100 years ago. Dressed in casual warmth that one would expect of a Scandinavian home, this cozy country style home was photographed by a company called Norrgavel for their home furnishings and decor catalogue. The fantastic farmhouse also features an inviting bedroom attic with exposed wood beams, hardwood flooring and fabulous linens.

Let us know what you think of this wonderful farmhouse!

Charming Swedish farmhouse with sumptuous interiors

This fabulous residence, spotted on Bovision was built in 1870 and was just recently renovated in Tomelilla, Sweden. The rehabilitation was inspired by California and France, offering a generous living space of 2,658 square feet (247 square meters). The exterior facade appears like a farmhouse, but once entering inside the home, an ambiance of industrial-chic mixed with French nuances takes over. Materials throughout the home include, French tile floors, visible beams, two beautiful fireplaces. The home is entered through a front foyer with a rounded hallway that brings one in through the spacious kitchen and into a grand living room with a beautiful fireplace, concrete flooring, double height ceiling and a rustic concrete stairway to the upper level. The upper level has a separate office area with wonderful views of the large living room. A long hallway leads to the guest bedrooms with separate shower room and common dressing room. A spacious master bedroom has its own en-suite bathroom and an emergency exit. There is a small stairway in the front turret with a beautiful view of the countryside.

Charming and rustic art-filled Ibizan farmhouse

Nestled in the unspoiled St Agnes forests, this art-filled farmhouse dubbed ‘Can Agnes’ is situated in Ibiza, Spain. This fabulous home was re-built in 2008 to impeccable standards, retaining the charm of an Ibizan Finca whilst offering the luxurious spaciousness and light of modern living. Elegantly furnished with Antiques, African sculptures, stunning modern artworks and with sustainable teak woodwork throughout, the house has the feeling of a large, private country home. The large rooms have high ceilings, open fireplaces and polished white cement floors (under-floor heating throughout).

Enormous windows open onto wrap-around terraces with panoramic sea views and you can watch the sun setting into the sea nightly. The traditional finca-style kitchen is picture perfect with its rustic open fireplace, quirky antiques and flea market finds. The sunken sitting room is as appealing in winter as it is for cooling off on summer evenings. There are lots of cozy cushioned corners scattered throughout the villa, inside and out. There are five bedrooms, all different, all appealing with showroom worthy bathrooms and gallery-standard eye candy ensures it’s drop-dead glamorous. The 16 meters swimming pool is flanked by stylish teak decking. There is also a pool house with wraparound bar and outdoor kitchen.

To stay at this fabulous Ibizan home that sleeps 10, rates start at $19,465 per week, from here.

Rustic farmhouse transformed in England

Starfall Farm is a rustic farmhouse that has been transformed by architecture firm Invisible Studio in the city of Bath in England. The original farmhouse was very pretty but had been extended in an unsightly manor that had to be demolished. Materials from the demolition of the barns were preserved and the timber cladding was designed to conceal the proportions of the existing extension, while areas were pulled apart to reveal key views into the landscape. Starfall has a very simple asymmetric section that allows the morning light to penetrate deep into the building and flood it with light.

According to the architects, “the intention was to do a building that performs really well, so it is economical in how and where openings are placed. For example, there’s complete transparency where you cook, with sliding glass screens that disappear into the walls allowing a sense of the valley side to run through the site and allow you to feel as if you are cooking outside (as at moonshine) but then other openings are more selective: a corner window above an insitu concrete bench for reading Sunday papers, a slot window above the bath to allow glimpses of a wild flower bank, roof lights on the east side to allow morning light into the heart of the building as early as possible (hence asymmetric pitch) with the profile of the new extension designed to allow maximum light to penetrate into a contained herb courtyard etc… The thermal mass is ruthlessly exposed internally: concrete floor, bare plastered concrete block walls, concrete kitchen and other built in benches and super insulated around this…”

Photos: Courtesy of Invisible Studio