Freshome.com - Interior Design & Architecture Newsletter

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• How to Choose a Complementing Color Palette for your Home
• Especially Design For a Retired Couple: Olympic View House
• Zinc and Cedar Cladding For Green Contemporary Home in Connecticut
• Enchanted, Magical Furniture by Laskowscy Design
• Building Reduced To Its Essence: Void House in Belgium
• Soft Colored New York Apartment: Central Park Home
• Modern Residence With a Clean Design in Mexico: Casa del Tec
• Practical Layout For 4 Loft Style Family Homes: The Broadway Residences
• Ingenious Japanese Design: Minimalist House of Kashiba

How to Choose a Complementing Color Palette for your Home Posted: 28 Oct 2011 06:53 AM PDT The colors in your home that bring you joy, evokes drama, or plays with the emotions of guests who visit your home, are largely due to the color palette you choose. Color palettes help you choose colors based on how you'd like to feel in your space, and what ambiance you want to create for inhabitants in your home. Whether you choose colors based from nature, or you choose high contrast colors that make your home feel cosmopolitan and modern, there is a complementing palette for your home. Look at these color ideas to help you decide what best describes you and your family home, you may be surprised what you are attracted to. Atmosphere inspired color palette: Designers have different techniques for choosing colors for your home, and the idea behind them varies with the designer. Many like to use color palettes that remind you of a specific atmosphere in which you enjoy. Light blues, greens and neutrals remind humans of nature, and the outdoors. While an atmosphere of rich plums, reds, and purples can remind you of deep emotion such as love, intense feelings and cultural backgrounds. Choose a color palette that you can relate with its atmospheric qualities. Try bringing a paint fan deck home and holding the colors up to your wall, you may like how a playful tangerine and yellow combination makes you feel happy and jubilant! Experience inspired color palette: Remember that backpacking hike you took last fall as the trees were changing from deep hunter green to golden yellows and bright reds? The accent wall in your dining room may look beautiful with yellow and red combo. Infusing your home with inspiring color palettes that remind you of past vacations, like combining aqua blues and Caribbean coral accents, maybe just the color palette combination to transport you back to the experience.  Consider adding a third color as a neutral to balance the bold colors, or to enhance soft color palette pairings.  Not sure what experience to choose from? Go through pictures of your last vacation, nature hike, or family get-together to help the memories of color flood back to your senses. Color palettes for the undecided:  While a blast of color maybe up your alley, for others, defining a set color palette is difficult. How about using neutral colors in tones of brown, gray, white, black, and variations of all of these? A neutral color palette helps your home look timeless, plus it usually makes your space look larger without chopping up what the eye sees.  When using neutral colors, also consider pairing up color with varying patterns, textures, and mix and match saturation of neutral colors. While bold color may not be for you, neutral colors are a great alternative to boring white. Neutral colors are perfect for trying to sell your home, as well as multiple roommates that can't decide on one design style. Creating interiors with complementing colors can often be a challenge. Some colors you may like in someone else's home, but don't fit yours. Consider looking around your home and see where your interests are. Perusing through your closets may give you a sense of what colors look good on you, and what colors you like to see around you. Take a look out the windows of your home; color palettes that blend well with your immediate surroundings may take the guesswork out of choosing. Deep greens, blues, and brown may work beautiful in a mountain home, or bold reds, blacks, and whites may contrast a high-rise urban loft beautifully. Find your personal connection with your interiors with these ideas, and find a complimenting color palette that matches seamlessly. Freshome readers what color palettes do you enjoy in your home?

Especially Design For a Retired Couple: Olympic View House Posted: 28 Oct 2011 05:29 AM PDT Olympic View House is a contemporary 2,700 square-foot, two-story home designed by BC&J Architecture and located in Bainbridge Island, Washington State. Especially designed for a retired couple with academic careers, the residence features spacious and welcoming interiors, perfectly suited for relaxation. Here is more information on its structure from the architects: “A thoughtful use of both exotic materials such as Ipe and clear hemlock as cladding and ceilings respectively and more cost effective choices such as Hardi Artisan and Hardi Panel bring together a blended palette. This articulation of this material palette simultaneously proves to be both warm and substantially grounded. The strength of the center core of the building is emphasized by a framework of battered bases on each corner. The tops of the bases are held short of the roof plane by two feet allowing the roof to appear to float above the body of the house. The roof then acts as more of a canopy allowing light to penetrate the building at all times during the day and be a lantern for the street-scape at night“. Find its design original?

Zinc and Cedar Cladding For Green Contemporary Home in Connecticut Posted: 28 Oct 2011 04:34 AM PDT 173 Park Street Residence is an impressive three level home designed by Greenwich-based studio Joeb Moore + Partners and located in New Canaan, Connecticut, United States. The project occupies an area of 5,300 square feet and is structured on three levels. According to the architects, the goal was to “construct a state of the art building, incorporating contemporary and green technologies and products directed by world-class design. This project has a modern, flexible floor plan with all the amenities.  There is a large, multifunctional lower level with a zoned apartment.  Amenities include three fireplaces, central vacuum and high-performance appliances, and a spa master bath including a steam sauna and a whirlpool.  This project also has an extensive roof top lifestyle program including an exterior deck with a hot tub, cookout center and a fireplace.  There is an elevator encouraging this program which travels from the lower level to roof top.” Sustainable features of this home include  solar-assisted electric power and hot-water heater. Find its design interesting? [Photos by: Michael Biondo]

Enchanted, Magical Furniture by Laskowscy Design Posted: 28 Oct 2011 03:35 AM PDT Award-winning Polish artist and designer Remigiusz Laskowski is the man behind the Polish furniture brand Laskowscy Design. Each of his beautifully designed and crafted pieces are unique and blur the lines between art and design. The collection centres around a range of tables, coffee tables, mirrors, shelves, hangers, wall clocks and lighting, all crafted in powder-coated steel and designed in Laskowski’s distinct visual style. His main source of inspiration is nature and many of the products that he designs are adorned with delicate floral motifs or intricate designs featuring butterflies, birds and cats. He is also inspired by the folk aesthetic, which has seen a resurgence in popularity in recent years. The fun and playful interiors products have an enchanted and magical feel to them and help to turn homes into a sanctuary that offers escapism and positivity through the bright and vibrant colours and the delicate design features that bring the collection to life.

Building Reduced To Its Essence: Void House in Belgium Posted: 28 Oct 2011 02:29 AM PDT The Void House was designed by Gon Zifroni (Metahaven) assisted by POM-Archi for the construction and is located in Brussels, Belgium. The interior of the residence is highly original and, according to the architects, its aesthetics is given by the structure itself: “This design choice, linked to the creation of a continuous space and the absence of a ground floor, gives this project a resolutely modern character. The internal minimalism is the fruit of a pragmatic approach, which involved proceeding by elimination, thereby reducing the building to its essence. This minimalism can also be seen in the limited recurrence of structural elements (the stairs, which form a common thread throughout the internal design) and materials: aluminium, brushed metal and wood panelling on supporting walls and floors, which is made from natural bamboo slats processed without using any treatments or toxic adhesives“. We find this design approach fascinating, but not something that everyone would go for. What is your standpoint? [Photographer: Filip Dujardin]

Soft Colored New York Apartment: Central Park Home Posted: 28 Oct 2011 01:20 AM PDT New York City is one of the world’s most exciting place to own an apartment. All the agitation, the background noise, the excitement of living in Big Apple should be doubled by a quiet, comfortable place to come home to. This Central Park Home hovering above the city’s skyline could be the answer. A distinct contemporary elegance is what defines this New York residential space. The apartment offers its inhabitants a relaxed lifestyle, surrounded by soft, warm colors, extensive use of wood and always linking the interiors to the city through large windows in every room. The children’s room features insertions of a bold green, but the rest of the spaces display a relaxing color palette. Shawn Henderson Interior Design is behind this beautiful project, helping the owners construct the perfect dream home. Designed to correspond to the client’s needs and wishes, the apartment relates to the city through large floor-to-ceiling windows that bring the external dynamism inside and allows natural light to flood the interiors.

Modern Residence With a Clean Design in Mexico: Casa del Tec Posted: 27 Oct 2011 10:12 AM PDT Casa del Tec 167 was designed by GLR Arquitectos and is a modern residence located in San Pedro Garza García, Nuevo León, México. The project occupies an area of 600 square meters, on a site that is double in surface. Featuring enormous windows, the design of the Casa del Tec takes full advantage of its beautiful surrounding garden and mountain views, while allowing a high amount of natural light to enter the actual living space. The volcanic rock used for the exterior finish of the building contrasts the white painting and complements the metallic window blinds. Once inside, visitors are overwhelmed by an incredible ceiling- in the living room, its height reaches 7 meters !- and inspiring modern arrangements. The overall appearance is that of an elegant, opulent, sober, yet inviting home. Do you find this design approach practical?

Practical Layout For 4 Loft Style Family Homes: The Broadway Residences Posted: 27 Oct 2011 09:12 AM PDT The Broadway Residences is a building complex designed by Stephen Vitalich Architects and located in Venice, California. With an appearance that is both contemporary and inviting, the project truly stands out. Here is a short description from the architects: “The projects program called for four loft style single family residences developed as a small lot subdivision. The program consists of an open plan first level with double height living space, large kitchen, dining area, powder room and service porch. The second level consists of a master bedroom suite and two smaller bedrooms with a bathroom and office/study. The design features an open plan feel featuring lots of natural light. All topped by a 500 square foot roof deck with outdoor fireplace”. This architecture approach is not exactly common, which is why we are curious to see your reactions.

Ingenious Japanese Design: Minimalist House of Kashiba Posted: 27 Oct 2011 08:03 AM PDT House of Kashiba is a delightful Japanese home designed by the architects from Horibe Naoko Architect Office in a minimalist manner. The building is located in Kashiba-Shi, Japan and the total living surface is  85.58 square meters. Here is more information from the project developers: “The clients for this project requested a bath from which they could gaze out on a courtyard. We planted a symbol tree in the courtyard and designed the bathroom to look out over it.The courtyard brings light and breezes into the bathroom and kitchen/living/dining room while maintaining privacy for those inside. The exterior is a black box with square windows on the southern side. The windows provide an accent to the facade while also smoothly linking the exterior and interior of the house.” We really appreciate the design of this ingenious “black box” that manages to make the most out of a tight site. How do you find it?

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