Stylishly designed contemporary home in London

Blake House is a spectacular property in London, England that boasts a spacious open floor plan, high ceilings and bright spaces. With a loft-like feel, the apartment features a master bedroom retreat with a staircase that leads down into the voluminous space, with a two-story ceiling height, en-suite bathroom, and private home office. The apartment is perfect for entertaining, with a wall of glass paned windows that separates the living room from the fully equipped kitchen with breakfast nook. The home is decorated with a predominately neutral color palette with bold pops of red color scattered throughout.

Enjoy this inspirational home and be sure to leave us a comment of what you think of the decor!

Photos: Courtesy of 1st Option

Beautiful mid-century modern home in Lakewood

This mid-century modern home is situated in the community of Lakewood, just outside of Seattle, Washington. Designed by DeForest Architects, this family home has been completely remodeled into a beautiful property. The design objective was to create a ‘kid-friendly’ home with plenty of grown-up style. There is a large expanse of sliding glass doors that blurs the boundaries between the interior and exterior of the home as well as bringing in plenty of natural light.  The flooring is a decorative concrete topping material called Deco Pour. It is about 1/2″ thick and comes in many colors and aggregates. It is a lot like traditional terrazzo in appearance. The ceiling has been clad with wood throughout all the main living spaces to add warmth to the interiors.

Photos: Ben Benschneider

Contemporary lake house filled with light and art

DeForest Architects transformed this existing lakeside residence in Seattle, Washington from a house full of heavy stone and beams into a light-filled place for enjoying art, food and family. The clients, Mark and Mattie, are an entrepreneur and artist, mom and dad, this creative couple asked the architects to transform their home on Lake Washington into an elegant, family-friendly house filled with light and art. The staircase design received a Grand Award from Residential Architect and a Citation from the Washington AIA Honor Awards.

Photos: John Granen, Ben Benschneider (stairs)

Charming tiny bungalow house overlooking Puget Sound

The Bayside Bungalow is a cozy micro-cabin located in Olympia, Washington overlooking the Puget Sound. This tiny house was built on an 18 foot flatbed trailer based on a slightly modified Tumbleweed Fencl plan. The interior has 100 square feet of space on the main floor with an additional 60 square foot loft. The sleeping loft, accessed by a ladder, is above the kitchen, closet and bathroom, which has a small shower. Two skylights and 11 windows allow plenty of natural light into the house. A window seat is built in for cozying up with a blanket and good book while watching birds play in the garden. A stainless steel fireplace warms the house. The cathedral ceiling makes the tiny home feel quite spacious. A tiny 2’ x 2’ porch faces the Puget Sound, covering the entrance to a beautiful, cedar door.

If you want to experience this tiny house for yourself, prices range from $65 – $95/night, or $395 – $495 weekly, from here.

Photos: The Bayside Bungalow

Modern glass and steel home perched hillside

Perched on a hilltop in a suburban neighborhood of Bellevue, Washington, DeForest Architects designed this ground-up remodel to take full advantage of light and views while maintaining privacy from close-in neighbors. Transplants from Scotland by way of the east coast, these empty nesters loved the location of their home and its great views… but not the wasted space and dark awkward rooms. They boldly chose to downsize their existing home, making it friendlier for simplifying life and welcoming family from near and far. Timeless materials like oak, walnut, glass and steel combine with modern details to frame simple volumes filled with natural light.

 Photos: © Benjamin Benschneider

Spacious contemporary home with light-filled interiors

The Vineyard house is situated far away from Hong Kong’s business district in Yuen Long, with bright open spaces and a garden area surrounded by lush foliage. Designed by interior design firm S.I.D. Ltd., the clients, a couple with two sons, wished to minimize the division of indoors and out by keeping the balcony doors open as often as the weather permits. The design team customized a raised platform in the outdoor area, creating a resort feel and allowing the homeowners to enjoy a bit of sunshine. The total living space of this contemporary home is 3,458 square feet which includes the house and garden, a luxury in a high-rise-saturated Hong Kong.

The customized wall-to-wall shelving unit is a feature wall that links the living area, dining area and open kitchen. The varied orientations of the cubbies have a puzzle-like effect and provide visual interest to the room. The stairs maximize the clients’ living and common areas — always a priority in space-hungry Hong Kong, even in Yuen Long.

If you look closer at the items displayed in each cubby and you will see hints of coastal design: a starfish, a sea urchin, a shell.

Floor-to-ceiling drapes, a textured rug and vibrant blue throw pillows warm up the space.

Figurines of monks with their begging bowls occupy the floor; most other accessories are displayed higher up.

A strip of grass cloth wallpaper and a wooden plank dining table add warmth to the largely black and white space.

The grayish-brown grain of the bar countertop and stool legs contrasts with the stark white shelving and cabinetry.

Space is saved by flush mounting the appliances, allowing the homeowners to have more surface area to devote to food preparation

The bedside lanterns in the master bedroom reflect the Far Eastern context of this largely contemporary home. The light cast by the lanterns highlights the textural appeal of the grass cloth panel behind the bed. The headboard and bed frame have been custom designed by S.I.D.

The designer reinforces the strong horizontal lines of the basement in the bookshelves, desk shelves, staircase and floor panels. The oak desk has been customized for two, with plentiful drawers, shelves and leg space.

LED lights provide both mood and practical lighting in the bathroom.

Rustic and uber stylish Finnish country home

Cement, wood and glass comprise this simple yet stylish Finnish home as spotted on Nuevo Estilo, created by two designers, Ulla Koskinen and Sameli Rantanen as a prototype for construction company Kannustalo. The home, whose model name is called Lato (which means ‘barn’ in English), is now their own residence and center of operations. Ulla has designed from known Finnish companies, Marimekko and Artek, among other firms. Her husband is a graphic designer and photographer who lives and works in this house, just outside of the city of Helsinki. The 5,758 square foot (535 square meters) home has been portioned between study, housing and store to create an environment full of peace and quiet.

The home was been designed on the estate of Sameli’s parents, conceived as a cross between farm and country house to merge with the environment. Almost half of the total area corresponds to the seating area, open-plan, where areas intended for kitchen, dining room and lounge flow without barriers while maintaining their independence. This great atmosphere shares space in the lower part with the master bedroom and the office, while the first floor is destined to the nurseries. “Distribution offers a strong sense of union and peace of mind, and open space is sufficiently large so that all functions are developed without interfering,” says Ulla. The building, which resembles the old farms of quadrangular structure and central courtyard, is notable for the large windows, which draws in natural light and invites you to enjoy a natural setting that is part of the decoration.

The materials selected for the exterior are simple and rustic: wood, cement and glass, while the colors of the decoration follow this same simplicity. Black and gray combine with natural elements in shades that are well adapted to the location. Much of the wood used in the construction comes from trees felled on the ground where the house stands. Load-bearing walls are made of the same material and have been plastered with a cast that looks like cement. Inside, the contrasts attracts everywhere and every detail has been carefully chosen. “The best of living here is the amplitude of spaces, peace and quiet of the views. And that we are now more aware and sensitive to seasonal changes,” stresses the owner.

Open span allows access from the living room to the master bedroom, where other similar opening gives way to the dressing room.

Natural light penetrates the dining room from the courtyard.

Wall plaster treated to resemble cement provides insulation to the kitchen. In addition, it acts as support for a great module that houses the cooking zone, which it has attached a practical bar created with a simple envelope of untreated wood and simple legs of steel.

Conceived as a suite, the views from the bed are spectacular. The headboard rests on a wall painted in blue that is in tune with the quilt, a Danish design.

On the dresser, Muurame signature, a picture painted by the owner and several vases collected over the years. The lamp was bought at a flea market in Paris.

The en-suite bathroom, with access from the bedroom and also from the dining room, has a large window that introduces the landscape inside.

For their views, a terrace, covered in wood, like the facade, runs around the front of the House.

Stylish mews house in Knightsbridge Village

11RMS is a mews house located in the heart of Knightsbridge village, London. Designed by Elips Design, the internal planning responds to particular needs of the occupants. The design concept is driven by the willing to connect with one staircase the 3 floors to maximize the space. The living spaces were designed as open space to allow the natural light to enter, as well as through skylights. The ground floor can be used as a studio, for this reason the staircase, the fulcrum of the project, has a sliding panel created into the structure to divide the space between office and living, if required. Light is a dominant theme, both the natural one and the artificial one, designed in collaboration with Viabizzuno. The facade is left to preserve the visual integrity of the mews as a street.

Striking rural dwelling: Paso Robles Residence

This rural home is nestled on an 80-acre agricultural site in California’s Central Coast wine region of Paso Robles. Paso Robles Residence is a 2,667 square foot weekend home that will eventually become the owner’s full-time residence, designed by San Francisco-based studio Aidlin Darling Design. The design directly responds to the wide diurnal temperature fluctuations of its arid climate. The architecture firm had to figure out how to create a building that cools itself naturally, even in 115-desgree temperatures. Masonry walls anchor the building to the earth and structure the primary living spaces, centering activity around a covered outdoor living room. The design integrates the use of thermal mass, night cooling, orientation, shading, deep overhangs, passive ventilation, photovoltaic electricity, solar hot water and radiant heat, thus helping to meet the clients’ goal of living in harmony with the local climate.

The home’s reliance on thermal mass, night cooling, passive solar orientation, shading, and natural ventilation enabled the clients to forgo an active cooling system.

A covered terrace with a fireplace links the home’s public wing with the pool area, facilitating outdoor dining throughout the year.

Sandblasted concrete block becomes both an interior and exterior finish material.

Strong axial relationships establish a connection to the site from every point inside the house.

Aidlin Darling Design used windows to promote cross-ventilation and to frame carefully chosen views.

Weathering steel picks up on the landscape’s darker hues.

Photos: Matthew Millman Photography

Cylindrical house reminiscent of a yurt in Japan

Reminiscent of a yurt, a white cylindrical house in Chiharada, Japan leans towards the traditional Japanese vernacular (light minimalist spaces) but replaces the more customary straight lines with curves. Japan-based architects Studio Velocity were instructed to design a house for a couple and their two children on a unique site in Japan – next to the children’s grandmother who lives in a more mature dwelling adjacent to the new house.

In a space that was previously used for storage and a garage, the new house challenges traditional housing conventions – having the bedrooms on the ground floor and lifting the living areas to the first. What’s more is that this compact house has not one, but four stairwells which emerge at different heights within the rounded form. These box-shaped insertions divide the spaces and create different levels and areas.

Multiple stairways are a unique component to the house, extending the architect’s appeal towards continuous living spaces: ‘By eliminating the discontinuity between multiple floors, you can create a continuous living environment,’ states the architects. Windows are placed at different heights within the stairwells, creating opportunities for light and visual connectivity to other spaces. The curvaceous exterior assists the spread of light inside through its reflective persona, promoted by skylights which allow light to drop into the double height living spaces on the upper floor.

In order to gain space from the the old building architects have opted for a round form, arranging it atop an irregular hill. The terrain creates little gardens around the curved perimeter of the house that can be directly accessed from each of the small rooms on the ground floor.

The only large room, the living room, overlooks the entire house from the first floor. The ground floor and the first floor are relatively close, with a low ceiling that divides the two levels. When the central staircase is open, the gardens can also be seen from the top level.

“The intention behind this project,” state the architects, “has been to make people able to perceive the earth and the sky at the same time and from anywhere, even if it is a multi-story building.”

Photos: Courtesy of Studio Velocity