Tag Archives: Homes

Gardens, Home Design, Homes, Living, Travel

English Country Homes: ’16th Century Chocolate Box’ In Bedfordshire

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This lovely house — Grade II-listed — was built four centuries ago, when (no doubt) all around was rolling fields and endless Bedfordshire skies. Today, it’s a couple of hundred yards up a country lane, that comes straight off the main A505 heading from Hitchin to Luton, with a large cemetery just along the road.

So not quite a countryside idyll, then, but at least you know the neighbours will be dead quiet.

Balancing the house and the location is always part of the fun with any property, of course. And if you’re after a place truly in the country, then a thatched cottage such as this one at the other end of the county — a delightful two-bedroom beauty at £435,000 — is really in the middle of nowhere.

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Architecture, Books, Home Design, Homes, Uncategorized

1960’s New Zealand Homes: ‘I never met a straight line I didn’t like’ (Book review)

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During the 1960s, Christchurch, New Zealand exploded with a creative force which developed into a distinct style of architecture that was widely admired and imitated and remains influential today.

This is a book about a modern architectural movement that bubbled up in a small, conservative city at the bottom of the world.

For a decade Christchurch architects worked with a potent energy and urgency, creating hundreds of homes (and many of New Zealand’s best public and commercial buildings) in a regional style that is arguably the closest thing the country has to a modern indigenous style of architecture. 

The 12 homes illustrated in the book are just a small representation of the style and architects of the period. They remain as intact examples of the ideas, materials and optimism of the time.

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Architecture, Home Design, Homes, Reviews

Floating Home Tour: Seattle, Washington

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2017 Seattle Magazine & AIA Home of Distinction Award: A refined minimalist sculptural statement by Vandeventer + Carlander Architects. This exquisite floating home is located in an outside condo-owned slip in Roanoke Reef with west views to Gasworks Park.

A reverse plan allows light to pour in from all sides while maintaining privacy & capturing its amazing views. Open living, dining room+kitchen with Afromosa wood cabinets. 2 outdoor decks & a rooftop deck marry the home with its surroundings.

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Homes, Living, Travel

English Country Homes: ‘Morley Manor’, Hamlet Of Shermanbury, West Sussex

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According to its Historic England listing, the present Grade II-listed manor house dates from the 17th century or earlier, although the original manor of Morley was one of three Shermanbury manors listed in the Domesday survey.

Restored, enlarged and partly rebuilt over the years, Morley Manor stands in 14¼ acres of pristine gardens, grounds and post-and-railed paddocks, with southerly views to the South Downs.

It offers more than 6,900sq ft of sumptuously refurbished living space, including a large reception hall and four reception rooms.

The equestrian facility includes a stable courtyard with 11 stables, a heated rug room, a horse wash-down bay with hot and cold water, a heated tack room (what bliss!), a separate oak tack room and two first-floor apartments.

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Economics, Environment, Homes, Living, Videos

Housing: Flood Insurance Is Spurring Buyers To Live In Dangerous Areas (CNBC)

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2020 is officially the busiest hurricane season on record and flooding is one of a storm’s most devastating consequences. FEMA estimates one inch of flood water can cause up to $25,000 in damage. The U.S. began offering nationalize flood insurance in 1968 but the program, called the NFIP, is now over $20 billion in debt. Private companies are starting to offer flood insurance as well. However, flood insurance is more complicated than it may appear. Watch the video to better understand how flood insurance works, and doesn’t work, in the U.S.

Architecture, Books, Home Design, Homes

Top Architecture Books: ‘Scott Mitchell Houses’

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The first volume on his work, Scott Mitchell Houses is an exploration of the architectural designer’s impressive portfolio of projects. Mitchell’s houses are studies in space, materiality, and light. Emphasizing an elegant economy of space, his projects respond to the natural appeal of their locations, be they bucolic retreats on Long Island or resplendent beach houses overlooking the Pacific Ocean. The utilization of  monolithic concrete, glass and steel curtain walls, and  cantilevered roof planes reduces each building to its essential elements, cultivating a sense of balance and repose.

Merging formalist spatial logic and an atmosphere of calm, the work bridges disparate architectural typologies to create places that are both poetic and profound.

Mitchell’s monolithic forms draw on the surrounding environment via floor to ceiling windows that open onto vistas so cinematic that Tom Ford utilized one of Mitchell’s homes in his neo-noir drama Nocturnal Animals. Through previously unpublished photographs, readers are given an exclusive view into eight pivotal projects that span the globe from the Hamptons to Melbourne, featuring images by  Ross Bleckner,  Scott Frances,  Trevor Mein  and  Steve Shaw.

A foreword by Pulitzer Prize-winning architecture critic  Paul Goldberger, contribution by fashion designer Calvin Klein, and essay by architecture and design writer and author  Michael Webb  further highlight the seductive style of Mitchell’s work.

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Design, Home Design, Homes, Travel, Videos

Design Tour: Interior Designer Alidad’s London Mayfair Home (Video 2020)

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Join us in London for a behind the scenes visit with interior designer Alidad in his sophisticated Mayfair home. With a passion for textiles, antiques and history, Alidad has created timeless spaces that are a testament to his wide ranging interests and tastes. See how his love of opulent color and pattern translates to a different effect in every room. Learn how he segued from his position at Sotheby’s as the youngest departmental director for Islamic works of art and textiles to opening his own studio.

Alidad is an award winning interior designer, world renowned for his opulent yet supremely comfortable interiors.

Alidad first decided to establish his interior design studio whilst working at Sotheby’s where he was the youngest departmental director for Islamic works of art and textiles. Whilst there, he realised that his interest lay more in styling the space than the actual objects within.

Alidad’s design style is inspired by an idyllic childhood spent in the ancient, rich and mysterious land of Persia. His deep appreciation for history means that he can completely immerse himself in any true design aesthetic from Baroque to Neo-Classicism, Chinoiserie to Art Deco.

Architecture, Gardens, Homes, Travel

English Country Homes: ‘Adshead Park’ – 136 Acres In The West Berkshires

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…Adshead Park, a striking Arts-and-Crafts-style country house set in 136 acres of formal gardens, woods and farmland in the hills above the west Berkshire village of Lower Basildon, three miles from Pangbourne and eight miles from Reading.

Adshead was the realisation of a dream for its owner, the charismatic businessman Sir John Madejski, whose ability to see ‘the bigger picture’ led to the foundation of a diverse business empire. It started with the motor classifieds magazine Auto Trader —launched with £2,000 in the 1970s and sold for £260 million in 1998 — but went on to span publishing, hotels, restaurants, radio, a top flight football team (Reading FC) and property.

Dealing with business is one thing; dealing with planning applications is another matter entirely, and it took all of Sir John’s legendary skills to negotiate the labyrinthine process required to build a new country house on virgin farmland in one of the most heavily protected areas of the Home Counties.

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Home Design, Homes, Leisure, Travel, Videos

Home Tour Videos: ‘Villa Vedramar’ – Ibiza, Spain

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VILLA VEDRAMAR is located at the south west coast, one of the most protected nature reserves of Ibiza where the magical rock Es Vedrá rises out of the sea like a majestic sculpture. Cala Carbó beach offers two restaurants with great fish specialities. It’s one of the most relaxing beaches of Ibiza, with comfortable sun loungers and palm leaf parasols. On entering Cala Carbó, you will find our HARISSA office, a supermarket and our tapas bar LA SARDINA LOCA for food and drinks.

Ibiza is one of the Balearic islands, an archipelago of Spain in the Mediterranean Sea. It’s well known for the lively nightlife in Ibiza Town and Sant Antoni, where major European nightclubs have summer outposts. It’s also home to quiet villages, yoga retreats and beaches, from Platja d’en Bossa, lined with hotels, bars and shops, to quieter sandy coves backed by pine-clad hills found all around the coast. 

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Architecture, Home Design, Homes, Technology, Videos

Innovative Architecture: ‘Single-Story’ High-Tech Concrete Home In East Sussex, England (Video)

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Professional deep-sea diver Adrian Corrigall and his wife Megan plan to build their new family home in rural East Sussex almost entirely out of concrete, with construction involving cutting-edge technologies conceived in Switzerland and never used to build a house before. However, the perils of being a pioneer soon become evident, and with both schedule and budget under strain, Adrian is forced to resume work as a diver, taking him away from the project for a month at a time.