Fireplaces

City View: Minneapolis Design Style

If there’s 1 thing residents of the Twin Cities don’t do, it is hibernate! Minnesotans across the board agree that the biggest misconception in their region is that they don’t have to invest a lot of time outside. “People from different states appear to believe that the weather is cold all the time and that people remain indoors. In reality, the weather in the summer is fantastic, and we’ve got one of the greatest rates of outside living in the nation,” says landscape architect Meg Arnosti of Windsor Companies. Additionally, for example residents of most states in between the coasts, they want to make it clear to people who have a skewed view of the United States that Minneapolis and St. Paul are complicated and filled with culture and fabulous fashion. Behind conventional facades are fresh and updated insides that blur the lines between indoors and out. There is a…

Roofs

Renovation Detail: The Gambrel Roof

As soon as I became a homeowner, I began studying almost every house I passed, taking note of architectural features, landscaping, color palettes, materials and much more. I discovered an quantity of information about architectural elements, such as roofs. A gambrel is usually a symmetrical, two-sided roof with two slopes on either side of the principal ridge beam. The upper slope is positioned at a shallow gable-like angle, while the lower slope is a lot steeper. Its two great benefits are maximized headroom and durability, as the gambrel lends itself to surviving adverse weather conditions. My house has a gable roof, but it does not mean I do not enjoy the gambrel and long for its extra space. Community & Architecture Design, Union Studio This Jamestown home perfectly showcases the symmetrical facade for which gambrels are known. Gus Duffy AIA From within a gambrel, you can see how the four…

Eclectic Homes

Stand-Up Desks Rise to Health Challenges

Trends in work, leisure and technology have conspired to turn us all into sitters. We sit on the job. We sit at college. We sit while at home. And we sit in the car whilst conveying our expanding lifestyles from one sitting place to another. All this sitting is devastating our wellness, creating illness and shortening lives. Sitting is the smoking. There is a persistent myth about ergonomics, which is that sitting pain and injury stems from bad posture. You’ve seen the workplace safety diagrams. The screen should be at eye level. Forearms and wrists should be horizontal. Feet should be elevated. Back should be straight. The reality is there’s no correct sitting position. Sitting injuries are largely “repetitive stress injuries” or due to the atrophy of muscles needed to support the skeleton. Always sitting at the so-called “correct” posture guarantees harm, since you’re always sitting in the same place,…

Decorating Guides

Cantilever

A home that’s cantilevered signifies that it overhangs that the portion of the structure that supports it. The projection is supported at one end. Universal Joint Design Associates This home includes two elements that are cantilevered: the eave above the balcony and the balcony itself. Ian Engberg Structures that are cantilevered seem to hover, defying gravity. Universal Joint Design Associates The component of the home that extends beyond its support is the cantilevered portion. Paul McKean design llc The technology behind this cantilevered home starts to make sense when the steel trusses are exposed under it. Read more cantilever photographs See related

Gardening and Landscaping

6 Steps to Get a Garden Away to a Vibrant Start

Gardening is not for the faint of heart. Beyond the physical labor and hours of care a mature garden requires, there are many decisions that need to be made. Bring home 10 new plants from the nursery and you have 10 choices to make. Where should they proceed? Will they clash with that bush from the side garden? Will the plant’s shape match the irises about it? Will the plant die from a lack of sunlight? One easy article can’t negate the work involved with designing a garden from the bottom up, but now I will offer you a couple of actions to begin. Don’t be overwhelmed; proceed step by step, learn the”sedum secret,” and before you know it, you are going to be starting your garden from the bottom up. Amy Renea 1. Begin with a foundation plant. These aren’t your normal foundation plants as in”three green bushes planted…

Eclectic Homes

Guest Picks: Whimsical Winter Decor

It’s officially the start of winter! What I love most about this year — besides cozy Pendleton blankets and hot cocoa with marshmallows — is the gorgeous white decor which emerges. Here are a couple bright, whimsical and white-washed suggestions to maintain a house fresh and in season. — Morgan from Pepper Design Blog Etsy Snow Bokeh Tree Wall Art by Marianne LoMonaco Photography – $23 I tend to switch out artwork around my house based on this season, and this photo is simply magical. It places me in the mood for fireside hot chocolate, and it would look good framed on the mantle or mixed in with additional wall art. Anthropologie Margherita Serving Papers, Moderate – $18 All these are so creative! Add a gorgeous silver serving paper as a financing for dishes and platters to serve yummy appetizers or desserts. They are a festive way to decorate your…

Decorating Guides

International Textile Icons: Batik

Beloved for their daring patterns by tastemakers such as Diane von Furstenberg, Jonathan Adler and Nate Berkus (and seen all within their spring decoration sets), batik fabrics discuss the cultural textile trifecta with ikats and suzanis. Batik originated in Java, Indonesia, spreading and morphing in design as it reached other countries like India, Malaysia, China and parts of Africa. Even though the designs and application techniques have changed and modernized to integrate block-printed batiks for mass production, the wax-resist way of producing batik cloth has more or less remained the same: Melted wax is painted onto cloth, after which the cloth is dyed, with the components covered in wax resisting the dyes. Because of Indonesia’s important role in global tourism and the prevalence of cultural fabrics in the design world, various iterations of batik cloth have made their way in North America, including unmistakable splashes of pattern, texture and color…

Fireplaces

The Two Faces of Homes

In the superb book Body, Memory, and Architecture — currently 35 years old — authors Kent C. Bloomer and Charles W. Moore discuss Frank Lloyd Wright’s Winslow House (1894) in terms of the contrast between the formal street front and the asymmetrical back. They quote Nathanial Hawthorne: “The greater picturesqueness and reality of backyards … compared to front which is always fitted up for the public eye” A contemporary word for the latter would be “curb appeal,” but the entrance remains public and formal, while the back is private and casual. This ideabook collects varied examples of how the front and back of a house are expressed differently, although not always as discernibly like the Winslow House. The focus is on modern and contemporary dwellings, but the exact same idea can be implemented to residences of any style. CONTENT Architecture This house by the Content Architecture of Houston introduces an…

Color

Design Tastemaker: Amy Butler's Playful Patterns

Amy Butler designs vibrant, playful patterns which adorn everything from cloth to background into scrapbook paper. The core of Butler’s business is sewing and fabrics patterns, but over the years that she has licensed her layouts, so that they are currently available for many areas of the home. Fans of Butler’s designs love her fun routines, which range from abstractions into’70s-style florals into 19th-century-inspired motifs. Each of Butler’s layouts are offered in a unique palette which frequently contains fresh, surprising color combinations (think chopped yellow with a soft blue-gray). Amy Butler’s layouts collected here feature , so go ahead and investigate her vibrant world. Erika Ward – Erika Ward Interiors For this garden-inspired woman’s room, designer Erika Ward upholstered a headboard at Amy Butler’s Love Trumpet Flowers cloth. Atypical Type A A fairly print makes organization decorative. Here Alicia of this blog Atypical Form A has utilized an Amy Butler…