Nothing adds instant character and age to a new home than natural interior stone flooring - after all, Mother Earth worked on it for centuries. These examples of interior stone flooring also happen to be reclaimed Jerusalem limestone, so thousands of footsteps helped add patina. Time worn materials laid in a formal pattern don't come off as fussy. Adding to the relaxed feel … [Read more...]
Modern Mountain Kitchen
Red base cabinets made a strong design statement in a a kitchen space with complex aesthetics. Designer John Oetgen and kitchen designer Sally Ann Sullivan put a modern twist on a mountain aesthetics by using vibrant red base cabinets in the kitchen of a contemporary but rustic home. As it happens, the kitchen was the darkest room in the house. To brighten things, the lipstick … [Read more...]
White Oak Cottage Kitchen
The starting point of this elegant cottage kitchen was the idea of living simply. The desire to keep it simple led interior designer Melanie Pounds and her husband to purchase a small 1920's cottage. Then Pounds designed the kitchen around their first joint purchase -- an antique worktable the couple planned to use as an island. The room is full of visually heavy pieces, yet … [Read more...]
Decorative Interior Barn Doors
Decorative interior barn doors can become masterpieces when embellished with artwork and trim. Decorative interior barn doors are currently trendy. They are everywhere. But when this collection first caught my eye wasn't the hardware or vivid color that drew me. In the case of the theatrical horse with Siamese cat at his back leg it was the charming subject matter. This … [Read more...]
Hand Painted Tiles
What do a French kitchen, Mexican restaurant and Malibu home have in common? Hand painted tiles. Don't get me wrong, I love the heart of our home, but whenever I see an elaborate kitchen with hand painted tiles I find myself thinking "next house." I've had this scanned copy of a European kitchen for the longest time. After I had decided on today's post subject matter, I … [Read more...]
Cozy Bed Alcove
In a cozy bed alcove, well planned details come together to create a restful sanctuary. Rainy days make me want to stay in bed, but this cozy bed alcove would be hard to leave on any given day. Details of this tiny room were well thought out. Soft butter color paneling envelopes the room and niche, including the ceilings of both. Even the ceiling fan motor housing appears … [Read more...]
Elaborate Tiled Kitchen Ceiling
A tiled kitchen ceiling is an over the top design element that need not overpower a room. An elaborate coffered tiled kitchen ceiling is an over the top design element in this kitchen addition to a Wallace Neff house but by keeping the rest of the room light it doesn't over power the space. For the ceiling, glazed geometric tiles are done in varied patterns within the same … [Read more...]
Timeless Modern Master Bath
The modern egg-shaped tub in a master bath creates a perfect sanctuary for a long soak. In this luxurious master bath, washed horizontal wooden planks wrap the tub alcove and continue beyond. Set against that background is a freestanding Waterworks .25 tub, with sensuous curves said by the homeowner to be remarkably comfortable -- a tub everyone should experience at least … [Read more...]
Salie House China Room
Something of a glass box, this unique china room sparkles as sunlight enters through walls of windows. 11 Bonita, formerly known as the Salie House, is a magically renovated home where no detail was overlooked and every turn takes your breath away. The rear entrance from the driveway is no exception. One of the owners, who is also a designer, requested a large closet to … [Read more...]
White Pine Beach House Kitchen
Eastern white pine brings the color of sand into a beach house kitchen. Simplistic and rustic are usually not the first words that come to mind when I'm asked to describe a white pine beach house kitchen. But that is exactly what the owners of this timber-frame home received from their architect. It is located in Seaside, Florida, a "new urbanist" town that began development … [Read more...]
Warm White Kitchens
In warm white kitchens, opposites are mixed for a custom look and feel. Everyone has heard the phrase "opposites attract," but can that be applied to warm white kitchens? It can, indeed. Mixing the old with the new, the sleek with the chic, the hard with the soft, the dark with the light... well, you get the idea. In this kitchen, a chic custom island was crafted from an … [Read more...]
Alabama Stone Cottage Details
A closer look at stone cottage details in the Alabama home of home our blogging partner Allison. Our two-part virtual walk-through of Allison’s house was designed to highlight highly original living spaces she has worked so hard to create. This one will focus on her stone cottage details. If you haven’t yet toured the main rooms in part one, or explored her elegant French Gray … [Read more...]
Alabama Stone Cottage II
Our room-by-room walk through of Allison's Alabama stone cottage continues. Our tour of Allison’s lovely stone house on a lake in Alabama continues with a walk through some of the private spaces in the 5-bedroom home that our blogging partner and her husband built on 4-1/2 acres. If you missed part one of the tour, you might want to start there — a good deal of background is … [Read more...]
Alabama Stone Cottage
Tour our Allison's idyllic Alabama stone cottage lakeside home. Calling a five bedroom four-and-a-half bathroom home sitting on 4-1/2 acres an Alabama stone cottage is a way of describing the style of the house our Allison and her husband lovingly built on an Alabama lakefront lot. Designed by Tulsa architect Jack Arnold – who the couple has never actually met – the house … [Read more...]
