Coastal Style

Color and Pattern Make a Manhattan Apartment Sing

Transitioning from a blank canvas to highly personalized style often requires time, cooperation and a little elbow grease. This was the case for New Yorker Amanda Barlow, a marketing manager for the United States Council for International Business, who downsized out of a spacious rental in Queens into a 600-square-foot apartment in Manhattan’s East Village neighborhood. The largest challenge: Barlow had more furniture than she knew what to do with. However, with the help of longtime friend and designer Jeanie Engelbach, she strolled through her eclectic bits to make a well-curated, color- and – pattern-happy flat with sprinkles of punk rock. “I feel like this is the happiest space in New York,” she states. “It’s sophisticated, airy and bright. It’s a good balance from my day job.” at a GlanceWho lives here: Amanda BarlowLocation: East Village neighborhood of New YorkSize: Around 600 square feet; 1 bedroom, 1 bathroom Chris A…

Coastal Style

Art Nouveau Elegance in the Netherlands

After their kids were old enough, art-loving few Carla and Rinus van Lier booked their Saturdays from the Netherlands for visiting museums and browsing nearby Belgian antiques shops and fairs. They fell in love with the art nouveau period and have since curated their house using century-old pieces. In need of more space for their growing collection, the few recently worked with the general contractors at Bouwbedrijf Batentopunch outside their living room by 65 square feet and also add an antiques-filled 377-square-foot sunroom that better connects the home using their well-manicured classical-style backyard. at a GlanceWho lives here: Carla and Rinus van LierLocation: Eindhoven, the NetherlandsSize: 200 square meters (2,150 square feet); 4 bedrooms, two bathrooms in3interieur Wanting to bring more of this backyard, the couple added a large bay window to expand the living room outward, increasing the room by 6 square meters (65 square feet). As for the…

Coastal Style

Personality Radiates

The attractiveness of this Midtown Manhattan apartment is its balance between flow and function — a concept that designer Kate Cummings, who lives here, employs often in her small business, Freestyle Restyle. “When you walk in,” she says of the apartment, “I want you to see that this really is the home of two working professionals in creative fields.” Cummings shares this airy apartment, just a few blocks from Grand Central Terminal, together with spouse Griffin Stenger, creative director and co-owner of the ad agency Concept Farm. Chunky organic pieces, open shelving and personal details highlight a warmth and personality unique to the couple, while creating an inviting environment for family, friends and clients alike. in a GlanceWho resides: Kate Cummings and Griffin StengerLocation: New York CitySize: 1,200 square feet; 1 bedroom, 1 bathroom Chris A Dorsey Photography Cummings’ favorite area is your living room, with its excellent view. “I…

Coastal Style

Home Elements of a Perfect Coastal Florida Home

When it’s that the pueblos of the American Southwest, saltboxes of the Northeast or Midwest Prairie-style homes, a home’s layout is best when it’s harmonious with the surrounding landscape and climate. In an environment such as Florida, where the summers are hot and humid while the winters are cool and dry (often downright cold), a house should block sunlight, allow for lots of air motion and readily shed the rain. Additionally, it needs to have a great deal of thermal mass to absorb solar power during the day and then release all of it at night. And with all the excellent green and blue of the surrounding tropical landscape and warm water, a Floridian house must have large and covered porches, verandas, lanais and other outside spaces to enjoy residing outside. Watch more signature elements of the well-designed Florida dwelling below. Clifford M. Scholz Architects Inc.. Spaces are requisites for…

Coastal Style

The Way to Choose Kitchen Appliances

There are a number of things to consider when setting up your kitchen to accommodate people with different heights and mobility requirements. The placement of appliances should be planned so they’re simple to operate and secure for everyone. Almost every appliance today comes in a number of styles and with myriad features that have real benefits for people looking for a safer cooking environment for everybody without compromising features and aesthetics. GE Profile Slide-In Induction Range PHS925STSS – $2,759.99 Cooktops and RangesInduction cooktops and ranges would be the most powerful cooking appliances to use, as no open flame or hot burner coils are found. Curious littles ones and endangered individuals can not burn themselves by accidentally touching the stovetop. Induction cooking is based on an electrical process that produces a high-frequency electromagnetic field. This method induces the cooking vessel to create heat — perhaps not the cooktop. Once the vessel…

Coastal Style

A Midcentury Gem on a Wooded Acre in Dallas

With a passion for honoring their midcentury house’s background, Mike and Jill Wood decorated it with furniture and color to fit its roots. The home, built in 1962 from Ju-Nel Homes architects Lyle Rowley and Jack Wilson — protégés of Howard Meyer and Frank Lloyd Wright — is one of about 50 that helped to crack the ranch-house mould in Dallas. Open floor plans, exposed rafters, natural materials and expansive windows created for a refreshing change for postwar households, and for the Woods. Using locally sourced classic furniture, both Mike and Jill have successfully paid tribute to the house’s roots. in a GlanceWho lives here: Mike and Jill Wood and brothers Chloe (8 years old) and Devon (4)Size: 2,400 square feet: 4 bedrooms, 3 bathsLocation: DallasThat is intriguing: The previous owners had installed a pet door for Rocky, their domesticated raccoon. Sarah Greenman The previous owners had tastefully upgraded the…

Coastal Style

Two Apartments Enthrall in 2012 Kips Bay Show House

New york is lined with canyons of skyscraper-like apartment buildings, so it’s actually somewhat surprising that this is the very first time in the 40-year history of the Kips Bay Decorator Show House that it’s being held in a high-rise construction on the town’s Upper West Side. Each of those two-story units in the showcase has 6,000 square feet of indoor living space plus a 3,000-square-foot terrace. There were a number of tributes, big and small, into the mythical decorator Albert Hadly and colour, colour everywhere. Come along as we start by opening the door to Apartment 2101. Rikki Snyder Bryant Keller created the foyer. He used red to brighten a place that receives little natural light. The zebra wallpaper, tiger-print cushions (both from Scalamandre) and animal accessories are a tribute to Albert Hadley, who had been a huge animal lover. Keller imagined his client to be a young working…

Coastal Style

Vintage Treasure Trove in Chicago

A self-proclaimed thrifting enthusiast, Dean Fisher picked up 90% of the bits in her house from thrift shops or antique shops, or found or inherited them. “I love owning items using a background,” Fisher says,”and can frequently linger when I pick up something from Craigslist, pressing the seller for any backstory they can give me.” Fisher, that chronicles her apartment decorating experiences on her blog, My Small Apartment, has a flair for an eclectic combination of 1970s and mid-century modern style. in a Glance: Who lives here: Dean Fisher and her corgi-beagle combination, BunnyLocation: Logan Square, ChicagoSize: 2 bedrooms, 1 bathroom That’s interesting: The mirror in the living area is constructed in and was original to the apartment — it’s what ended up completely selling Fisher on the area. Fisher moved to Chicago from Los Angeles, and a lot of her style reflects the laid-back desert vibe of her prior…

Coastal Style

Modern High-Rise Singleton in Austin

Towering 323 feet into the skies, the Monarch building is one of the tallest residential buildings in downtown Austin, Texas. Its prime location only blocks away from beautiful Town Lake makes it among the most coveted places to live in the city, so it is not surprising that it brings young professionals such as 23-year-old Zac Goldman. “I love Austin because of its hip, young and active lifestyle,” Goldman says. The Monarch’s design is modern and modern, and fits right in with Goldman’s personal style. “Everyone in my family has a very clean, modern style. I like things to be very neat,” he states. Goldman embraced the all-white walls of this bare apartment and transformed the area into a minimalist’s dream. in a GlanceWho lives here: Zac GoldmanLocation: Austin, TexasSize: 914 square feet, 1 bedroom, 1 bathroom That’s intriguing: Not merely is your sofa curved, but its three seats recline…

Coastal Style

Early 20th Century Meets Contemporary

The home of the Dutch and Argentinean couple is in Marlot, a residential area on the outskirts of The Hague. It was designed and constructed in 1925 by Dutch architect Co Brandes (Jacobus Johannes Brandes), among the most important architects of this Nieuwe Haagse School, popular between the 1920s and 1950s. Brandes made four other homes in the neighborhood, all constructed in precisely the same style. The façade includes a stripe of black bricks that runs horizontally around the house. This is a normal quality of Brandes’ work and of this period, as is the symmetry of this construction, the large chimney along with the mansard roof. in a GlanceWho lives here: Geert, Cecilia and their one-year-old daughter, IsabelLocation: The Hague, South HollandSize: The home is a 375 sq. meter, three-story detached house, with four bedrooms, two baths and a huge office. There is also a spacious kitchen, a semi-combined…