Dream House Design for the Contemporary living style

The house has a tropical climate with beautiful natural beauty and quiet surroundings no doubt about dreams or fantasies into reality. Khosla associate your dream home with an existing house is clean and comfortable and surrounded by an elegant exit to please all of your aesthetic, romantic and artistic senses that inspire your life.

ground floor, with large glass windows providing views of beautiful scenery to please the eye. spacious terrace house connects to a fantastic outdoor area. Many windows provide more light and air into the living room and bedroom. Tropical house owned value-for-money with a comfortable environment. The walls are treated with warm colors. That wood around the house has been designed and constructed for the purpose of perfection every time the highest specifications. The concept behind the planning and design of home owners to provide self-esteem and realize their ideas and dreams.

Plein Air Painting: Taking Your Paints Outside

Last week I was gifted with a ‘plein air’ watercolor workshop given by Lynn Onley. Plein air painting is a familiar concept today, but in the late 1800s when the Impressionists ventured out of their studios into nature to investigate and capture the effects of sunlight and different times of days on a subject, it was quite revolutionary. We met at Porteau Cove, which is situated overlooking Howe Sound, 38 km north of Vancouver on the Sea-to-Sky Highway on the way to Whistler. Interestingly, I learnt that an old ship has been sunk in the bay, so as well as attracting outdoor enthusiasts, scuba divers and marine biologists come here to explore  the depths of the ocean. A pebble beach slopes gently into Howe Sound in Porteau Cove. On summer days when the tide is low and the sun high, the warm rocks heat the incoming waters, making swimming here a pleasure. Lynn Onley who gave the workshop, is the daughter of Toni Onley, one of Canada’s most celebrated artists. His landscapes have always provided a special significance for Canadians in reviving an appreciation for our surroundings. Lynn Onley following in her father’s footsteps is an accomplished artist herself. I felt very privileged, and excited to have the opportunity to learn the art of watercolor from Lynn Onley as passed down to her from her celebrated father Toni Onley.

  
The view of the scene I painted with instruction from Lynn Onley

Lynn Onley painting Plein Air in Porteau Cove using her father, Toni Onley’s paint box

Lynn Onley painting Plein Air in Porteau Cove using her father, Toni Onley’s paint box and his wood and canvas folding chair.  The first step is to lay in the color washes for the sky, and while still wet take tissue and blot to make the clouds.  The next step is to paint in the mountains, using the ‘soup’ as Lynn calls it, which is the remaining mixture from the sky as the base to add the next colors to.  Lynn showed us how to mix Alizarin Crimson with Sepia, to tone it down, to paint in the slab-like chunks of red granite showing in the mountains.

  
Lynn Onley demonstrates watercolors techniques

Then Lynn added in the ocean, and next the shore, and then trees.  At this point you can continue to add more detail, or take the painting home to finish.  I had to leave at this point with my water color still needing more work.  I took it with me on my trip to Desolation sound and added in more detail, working from memory and being further inspired by the colors and light in the more northern atmosphere of Desolation Sound – Desolation Sound is at the 52nd Parallel, while Porteau Cove is at the 49th Parallel.  Thanks Lynn for the inspiring day!!

 
My finished watercolor of Porteau Cove after a morning of instruction from Lynn Onley.
11” x 15” on 140 lb watercolor paper , Windsor Newton paints

A pebble beach slopes gently into Howe Sound. It was low tide so the green moss on the rocks usually below the water line was showing.  We started painting at 10:00 AM, and the sky, cloud formations, and shadows on the water were constantly changing as the sun and tide line changed.

The dock at Porteau Cove.

The granite mountains above Porteau Cove on the highway to Whistler. 

 

These pictures are of the beautiful tree I sat under while painting at Porteau Cove.  I took these pictures as inspiration – possibly for my next water color.

Van Gogh, in a letter to his brother, claims to
“devour nature ceaselessly,”
and finds himself  
“in surroundings which entirely engross me,
which so order, fix, regulate, renew and enlarge my thoughts
that I am quite wrapped up in them.” 

Toni Onley 1928 – 2004, one of Canada’s most celebrated artists, painting Plein Air.

Map of Porteau Cove

Patricia Gray Inc is an award winning Interior Design firm  in Vancouver, Canada who blogs about Lifestyle and WHAT'S HOT  in the world of Interior Design.
2010 © Patricia Gray | Interior Design Blog™

Luxury Reed House Design in the Grassland

This residence that designed by Sotheby’s Home in 2006 spread on 7000 square foot area located in Santa Ynez Valley. The residence is become one with the savanna proved by the materials inside. The interior dominant with the natural wood, the parquet, ceilings and the terrace such the examples. We can found many kind of painting in all of the room from contemporer to Japanese once. There is sand field with few trees in the middle residence and you’ll surely like to swim in the swimming pool, mean while you were enjoying the sunset.

Slaughterhouse – The Luxury Beach House Design in Maui

Located close to a well-known surfing spot, Slaughterhouse Beach House expands the concept of a traditional surfing hut with three connected huts – general living quarters, guest suites, and a main sleeping area. The structure’s walls are constructed from rammed earth. In this process, different local earth-based mixtures are packed together, and the resulting striated layers are visible both inside and outside the building. The walls blend in with the surroundings, are low maintenance, virtually fireproof, and a strong barrier to sound.

This home, finished in 2009, fuses Hawaiian tradition with some of the latest innovations in sustainable architecture. The house is situated high enough to provide spectacular views, but low enough to blend in with the landscape of pili grass and ironwood trees.

Design Ideas - Make Your Island Special!

This is the first in a new series that I will be starting called "Design Ideas". What I would like to do is illustrate little design ideas that can help to make your home special. So here goes.

The photo below is a Kitchen in a home that I designed at Larson Brenner Architects. This unique house plan - The Lakeland Cape Cod - is currently available for purchase at Simply Elegant Home Designs.

It is a pretty simple kitchen layout but a few things make it special.

• The kitchen cabinetry composition beyond is kept simple and clean. A soffit with crown molding connects the upper cabinets to the ceiling.
• A "mantle" was designed for the range, which serves as a counterpoint to the fireplace mantel on the other side of the room (not seen in photo).
• Under cabinet lighting provides highlights for the tile back splash and counters.
• An upper cabinet extends down to the counter and is fitted with glass to display the china.
• A solid walnut butcher block on the island top adds warmth and richness. This contrasts with the honed granite kitchen counters beyond.
• A special leg detail was designed for the island corners. The leg detail was also adapted for the stairway newel posts.
• Unique eclectic light fixtures hang above the island; highlighting the wood and help to emphasize that the island is the focal point of the room.

All in all a very simple yet elegant kitchen design. This illustrates that attention to the details can make all the difference.

Nice Space, Good House Design2

My better half (Kelley) loves everything that interior designer Candice Olson performs. I just ran across one more example of a family room she designed which I have included directly below.

It seems like all of her work combines architectural and decorating elements in a sophisticated and harmonious way. Here I love the texture of the fireplace wall, the comfortable mixing of old and new (furniture and accessories) and the attention to lighting.

Key point - lighting is one of the most important things that you should not overlook. In this room it highlights the texture in the wall, brings the warmth of the wood media cabinet out and creates subtle reflections on the metal storage boxes. The space would still be nice, but not nearly so dramatic without it.

Casa Familia House, The Luxury House Design in in San Diego, California

Casa Familia is a modern design and luxury homes for private accommodation, located in San Diego, California.The goal of this project is to design and build very efficient homes that will use passive and active strategies to significantly reduce energy, water and resource consumption all while providing a modern, comfortable and livable home for young family of six.

Through joint research, study and measure of good faith at home, that success is 65% less electricity consumption from mandatory state standards, and water is less than 55% of the homes of the same size without sacrificing comfort or aesthetics. From the perspective of architecture is very important to eliminate the public misperception that efficiency and conservation should see the hippies' "or the other.

A reinterpretation of the courtyard houses typical of southern California, this house is much larger population than it actually is as wise to open up to and including especially in the coastal landscape and mild climate. This is the house at the same time look to the future direction (feature-rich technology), given the convenience of low-technology strategy in the past, before there was air conditioning and forced air units.

Luxury Interior and Exterior Design of Seaside Villa by Julia Palmer

Luxury Seaside Villa by Julia Palmer

Quiet and elegant, organic light travels through the south side of the building structure, but the benefits of plant architecture, the arrangement of windows and using soft colors and reflective walls to maintain the intensity of light and very strong, in fact, can also contribute to the efficient use of energy. This interior designer Julia Palmer, 530 square meters overlooking the majestic structure Oceanside Mallorca with the comfort of casual elegance and simplicity. Designed for the accent color of choice in the formation of the lowest tender of art and furniture, the Villa with easy walking on a thin line between the living room, comfortable family living and elegant structural accents designed specifically for home-Mediterranean

Luxury Bedroom Seaside Villa by Julia Palmer

Luxury Living room Seaside Villa by Julia Palmer

Luxury Dining Room Seaside Villa by Julia Palmer

Ipod Kitchen Faucet

For years I have been wondering when someone would come out with a kitchen faucet / ipod - and here it is!

OK - its not an IPOD, but a touch screen. The faucet is produced by Italian manufacturer Fima Carlo Frattini.

The "Nonos" faucet allows the user to adjust water quantity, pressure and temperature. It also alerts the user in case of any malfunction such as leakage. The faucet’s touch-screen and easy-to-read graphic icons help in controlling the flow and temperature of the water stream.

Nice Space, Good House Design

I ran across this photo of a nice modern bedroom space and thought I would pass it on along with a couple of thoughts.

• Obviously the design is all about the connection with the outdoors. Floor to ceiling glass with a patio directly outside bleed the definition between outside and inside. If it was my design I might have extended the roof line outward to create a covered patio zone. This would have created a transitional space between inside and outside.
• The room is nearly void of detail. Why distract from the view?
• A very simple palette of material and color. The decorating takes a back seat to the outdoors.

So what's the moral to this story? If you have a beautiful yard take advantage of it. Spend more money on glass and patio / porch space and spend less by keeping the interiors more minimal.

PS - you can see more photos of this home at http://www.househomedesign.com/residential-home-design/luxury-residence-in-bridgehampton