Float Homes
An Orange County, California, couple with four boys use the home as a weekend getaway Location: Rancho Mirage, California Size: About 3,200 square feet (297 square meters) on a nearly half-acre lot. The home has four bedrooms, three bathrooms, a great room (living, dining, kitchen) and a wine cellar Designers: Interior design by Brittany Stiles Design, architecture by Eric Olsen Design
. Mobile and Multifunctional Island Designer: Jamie Crawley of HA Architecture Location: Austin, Texas Homeowners’ request: A full kitchen inside a 550-square-foot home that capitalizes on natural light and views of a large heritage tree. Storage trick: Mobile island with folding step stool to reach upper cabinets. Stackable stools provide extra seating without taking up too much space.
Great Barrier Reef Ingredients Wooden cabinetry Bamboo elements in the form of lighting and furniture Textural backsplash. Try grasscloth wallpaper protected by glass. Splashes of color inspired by the sea and surrounds Method: The colors are bright on the Great Barrier Reef. To reflect this, take inspiration from coral, the ocean and marine life and bring them together in and around your kitchen through soft furnishings.
Modern Ocean Views Ingredients Materials and finishes in a limited color palette Light wood tones to create a beachy vibe Workstations such as the sink and stove facing any views Built-in outdoor dining table. This is a clever way of creating virtually seamless lines, allowing the view to take center stage Method: Take inspiration from nature. Go for a beach walk to draw in the colors of bleached driftwood and white sand. Implement these into your mixture with a dash of contrasting colors such as ironstone to ground the palette.
Patricia Lockwood of Design Vision Studio Making the houseboat’s first-floor great room brighter and more contemporary was the top priority for Lockwood. All of the interior walls were given a fresh coat of white paint. “I love how the white walls frame the views of the water,” Lockwood says. “I wanted the interior to be stylish and casual, but the views had to be the superstar.”
The Numi features a night light, a heated seat, an integrated bidet with temperature-controlled water, an air dryer, a deodorizer (a fan pulls air from inside the bowl, runs it through a charcoal filter and releases exhaust out the back of the unit), music (Champley has his set to classical) and feet warmers (yes, warm air blows from under the toilet bowl onto your feet). And it even washes itself. All this is controlled from a touchpad screen.
There are other ways to help prevent heat flow, such as radiant barriers that reflect the heat away from the building envelope. Pictured here is a ventilated metal roof over a system that includes a radiant barrier. This ventilation strip along the ridge of the roof is important for releasing the reflected heat from the space underneath. Often a system like this will be used in combination with a well-insulated building envelope to help curb summer heat from invading the home and sending air conditioning bills through the roof.
Whether or not a Passive House is valid without official certification is an ongoing discussion. Some professionals believe that certification is an added and redundant expense. Others say it adds transparency and verification to the whole process, keeping everyone accountable to goals. Some homeowners find it a necessary part of adding market value to their house. Others don’t see the point, especially if they are not intending to sell.
The R-value can change in a material due to varying thickness. You may have heard your architect say that the goal is to reach a certain R-value for the wall section, for example. This means the thermal resistance of the entire series of products that make up the wall section — all of them together — plus the internal and external layers of air surrounding the wall. When you purchase insulation, you should have access to a fact sheet telling you exactly what the R-value per inch is, with a table showing any change in the R-value over varying thicknesses of the material.
Which plants can you bring indoors? In climates with cold winters, you can successfully keep potted citrus trees, ferns, succulents and perennial herbs (like rosemary) alive by bringing them in once nighttime temperatures dip into the 50s. Some plants can stay out longer than others; check with your local nursery to get advice specific to your climate and the plants you keep.
It looks like the private screened-in porch triumphed over the classic front porch in this year’s popularity contest. This Bluffton, South Carolina, porch has a substantial fireplace for chilly days and two ceiling fans for hot ones. It also has loads of comfortable spots to lounge, relax, visit and, best of all, nap.
This Austin, Texas, porch offers the homeowners a great way to enjoy the surrounding nature preserve all year round. A commanding fireplace serves as a focal point, keeps things toasty through the winter and brings in a Texas Hill Country vernacular via its limestone surround. The tongue-and-groove ceiling and timber framing give it a strong architectural presence, while the large ceiling fan helps cool things down during sticky summers.
Use fixtures that are designed to decrease light pollution. This image shows another type of downlight fixture. The light is spread onto the wall and patio below. Additionally, these lights are well-placed because they are under the porch overhang, which helps prevent more light from escaping into the sky. Fixtures with hoods and shields help to direct light onto the surfaces where it’s needed and to eliminate light from being cast where it’s not necessary.
She removed the cabinet doors over the bed and painted what remained an electric cobalt blue, punching up the room even more with the hottest pink she could find. She didn’t like the sofa, but she solved that problem by simple keeping it folded out as a bed at all times, covered in an Ikea duvet. When she and her friends and family gather here after a night out, everyone loves to hang out on it. McMullin’s dachshund, Watson, inspired her to buy the so-bad-it’s-good thrift store painting for $21. “I actually saw it and didn’t buy it because I was so stuck on the idea of keeping to a budget, but then I realized my mistake and had to drive an hour to go back and get it,” she says. A glimpse of the bedroom shows another clever touch. She loved the blue Ikea fabric you see on the duvet cover but it had been discontinued; all she could find were a few drapery panels. Her mother sewed them into a duvet cover for her.
AFTER: “I just wanted it to feel kitschy, bright and over-the-top,” she says. The result is a lively small space that serves as a true getaway. Including the porch, the square footage is about 400 square feet. “It’s spacious by Manhattan apartment standards,” McMullin notes. She removed the cabinet doors over the bed and painted what remained an electric cobalt blue, punching up the room even more with the hottest pink she could find. She didn’t like the sofa, but she solved that problem by simple keeping it folded out as a bed at all times, covered in an Ikea duvet. When she and her friends and family gather here after a night out, everyone loves to hang out on it.
Houzz at a Glance Who lives here: A family of five Location: Lake Minnetonka, Minnesota Designer: Brooke Voss Design After scoring a desirable lakeside lot, an energetic family of five craved a modern, open home that felt very connected to its natural surroundings. Voss worked closely with Rehkamp Larson Architects and general contractor Kraemer & Sons to help design a striking, durable home. In the rear, each floor maximizes windows to face the lake for “an absolute focus on outdoor living,” Voss says.
“The fireplace was also most certainly our ‘problem child,’” Wood says. “We had a very specific aesthetic we were aiming for, and needless to say, there were some hiccups in getting to this final result. Despite the drawings, the theme photos and the contractors’ clear understanding of what we intended designwise, somehow the stonemasons ended up with a first rendition that was far from this final fireplace. And we mean far. As much as we tried to make it work, in the end, it was a no-go. It was an important design feature and the first thing you see when you walk into the home; we could not compromise the integrity of the overall design. We stood next to the contractor and client and finally made the call no one wants to make when something is already done and installed: Rip it out.”
When the owners of this family home in Ireland’s County Wicklow contacted Noel Dempsey Design about creating a kitchen for their newly built addition, they had a clear idea of what they wanted to achieve. “The clients desired a hard-working kitchen that would provide them with ample storage and [counter] space,” designer David Dempsey says. “They needed a layout that was conducive to their busy family life.”
The new kitchen is a showstopper, with Carrara marble countertops, an iridescent-glass backsplash and custom-made cabinets painted in Benjamin Moore’s creamy Collingwood. For contrasting texture, the designer added leather bucket-seat stools with brass legs. Sleek and functional cabinet panels cover the dishwasher and refrigerator. An appliance cabinet discreetly houses the coffeemaker, toaster and
Incorporated SaveEmail Because less material is required for a smaller bathroom, you may be able to upgrade your finishes, since you are buying less. This smart and sexy bath if filled with sumptuous marble tiles, and the beauty of the veining defines the character of the room. The airy floating vanity and white fixtures have clean and precise lines. Despite the modest dimensions of this space, the custom-designed medicine cabinet stretches over the toilet, providing generous storage. Note that the lighting built into the cabinet is a tall and narrow strip. Lighting fixtures placed on both sides of mirrors are ideal. You want even illumination from each side when grooming, and this arrangement is a good solution.
Stepped-up style. In a long, narrow bathroom like this one in London, adding furniture instead of built-in cabinets is a great way to gain storage. Not only is this leaning bookshelf more affordable than built-in cabinets, but it also creates a homey, relaxed vibe.
Moody accent wall. Interior designer Yanic Simard writes in his article on energizing your bathroom: “If your bathroom has a large amount of wall space eaten up by tile, windows or mirrors, try a dark color on the remaining plain walls. This helps the more interesting features to advance and the plain walls to recede, for a more dynamic look and lots of rich character.”
What makes it cozy? Soft textiles, buttermilk-colored walls, fluffy bedding, it’s a shepherd’s hut. Originally, shepherd’s huts were rolling wagon shelters used by shepherds so they could stay with the herd. In my mind, the shrewd homeowners here rolled one into their backyard to use as an escape pod.
Off the counter, onto the wall. Wall-mount as many fixtures as possible to use vertical space and clear counter space. This goes for every room in the house. In the bathroom, consider a sink rather than a full vanity, and build cabinets and shelves along the walls or install a mirror-fronted cabinet above the basin to compensate for the missing vanity storage. Some mirrored cabinets can also be recessed into the wall cavity behind. Accessories such as toothbrush holders and hair dryer docks can also be wall-mounted.
Corson shares a few energy conservation tips she learned from her off-grid, solar-powered home: Use one appliance at a time. At breakfast this means things move a little slower if you need the coffeemaker, toaster and blender. Don’t leave chargers plugged in after you use them. Use switchable power bars for multiple outlets, so you eliminate phantom loads — the standby power that appliances use even when they’re turned off. Use large appliances like the dishwasher and washing machine in the daylight hours. This way the photovoltaic panels can top up the batteries after the appliances have run. Shower in the afternoon, when hot water is most abundant from the day’s solar gain. Cook with propane if you are accustomed to an electric range. Use a woodstove as part of your heating system. Light the fire as a first option instead of turning up the thermostat. Open and close windows often, allowing nighttime cooling and passive ventilation.
Obtain a sun path diagram for your site’s location. This will help you determine the orientation of your home by giving a visual of where the sun travels in the sky throughout the day. Make note also of any obstructions surrounding the site (buildings, trees, telephone poles etc.) and potential obstructions (for instance, a vacant lot that could be developed) that might block potential passive solar gain. A wind rose notes the direction and frequency of prevailing winds. The United States Department of Commerce has wind data collected from many airport locations, so you may be able to find one close to your site. This is key in determining the effectiveness of a windmill to help produce electricity. It’s also important to be aware of your predominant sky conditions throughout the year:
“In terms of going off-grid, the importance of reducing electrical demand can’t be overstated,” Moffitt says. “Photovoltaics and other microrenewables generate fairly small amounts of electricity, so it is essential that consumption is minimized first.” This is achieved through home orientation and window placement, the use of energy-efficient appliances and keeping the home’s footprint small. “Once these measures have been considered, going off-grid is fairly straightforward,” Moffitt says. “The technologies are reliable, and there is something very satisfying about knowing that your home is running in a way that is attuned to larger natural cycles.”
If sustainability is a priority of yours, engineered wood floors tend to be a more sustainable option. This is especially true if you're considering an exotic wood. The exotic trees that need to be harvested to make, say, a Rosewood floor go a lot further if only a 6mm-thick veneer is going on each board. There's a lot of sustainability innovation that applies to the sublayers too, so do your homework and look for those FSC and SFI logos on anything you buy.
Armstrong SaveEmail The newest, thinnest engineered floors use an advanced tongue-and-groove system that locks them in place. These thin floors (usually called floating floors) can be placed over a cork underlayment or directly over an older floor. Though it does take some skill, floating floors are the easiest to install. But before you attempt to do this on your own, be sure you have access to a table saw and chop saw — and know how to use them.
One of the biggest challenges of the project was achieving the right composition of marble tiles. “They are a natural product, so there’s a wide variation in finish between the tiles,” says the architect. “The overall effect had to be varied and natural, but not to such an extent that any one area jumped out or felt out of place. It was a balancing act, as any random pattern always is, but the contractor’s tiler was excellent and achieved the level of craftsmanship required, particularly with great cutting work around the drains.”
“With views of the river like this, it seemed mandatory to add a large soaking tub and fireplace,” Hanlen says. The cold-rolled-steel gas fireplace is set at a level that’s even with the lip of the bathtub.
Another space-saving device is the single tap that cleverly pivots between the bathroom and the kitchen next door. (McMurdo is in the process of re cladding the surround.)
A full-sized Rayburn range is an unexpected feature in the kitchen; it creates a warm and homey feel. McMurdo found it on an online classifieds site for $1,300 and uses it to power the underfloor heating and heat all the water in the house, as well as for cooking. It had to be positioned dead center in the container for weight distribution reasons. “Everything in the container had to be taken into consideration when we were planning the weight distribution,” McMurdo says, “even the weight of clothes in the bedroom.”
A full-sized Rayburn range is an unexpected feature in the kitchen; it creates a warm and homey feel. McMurdo found it on an online classifieds site for $1,300 and uses it to power the underfloor heating and heat all the water in the house, as well as for cooking. It had to be positioned dead center in the container for weight distribution reasons. “Everything in the container had to be taken into consideration when we were planning the weight distribution,” McMurdo says, “even the weight of clothes in the bedroom.”
Location: Just outside Bolzano, in South Tyrol, northern Italy Size: 860 square feet (80 square meters) total, each unit is 430 square feet (40 square meters) in area; each house has a bedroom, a kitchen and a bathroom Year built: 2014 Architect: Peter Pichler Architecture Pichler’s past work includes collaborations with noted contemporary architects such as Zaha Hadid and Rem Koolhaas. The houses he designed for this project are a beautiful example of how modern architecture can blend perfectly with the surrounding environment. Mirrored facades reflect the landscape. The houses’ orientation prevents the mirrors from overheating surrounding buildings. They are also good for the birds: They are covered in an ultraviolet coating that, though invisible to humans, allows birds to see the glass and avoid it.
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