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A Mexican-Mediterranean Idyll on Emerald Bay

Here’s a home that demands to be lived and loved in!

Set on the glorious sea coast – this is a home for the good life.

The casual house takes its inspiration from the coastal regions along both the Mediterranean and Mexican Riviera.

Here; a hand rounded sink that just happens to perfectly accommodate three straw baskets underneath suggests Mexico.

Here the pure bliss of an idyllic built-in Mediterranean sunporch enjoying the sea, and the softened white curves of whitewashed earth echoed by plumply fluffy white pillows, suggests Greece.

Here, the inspiration seems more Mexican than Mediterranean.

While you’d swear you were in Europe….

But actually, this Mexican-Mediterranean meld from  Kirkpatrick Architects is sited at Emerald Bay.

Perhaps this blend is California’s unique approach to enjoying its own heavenly setting.

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A Pavilion-Style Studio Home that Welcomes Guests

A gabion stone wall forms the central support for this compact studio home.

Ana Paula Barros designed Loft Bauhaus, sited  in Brazil.

While it is neither a loft, nor particularly Bauhaus, the small studio is an extremely well designed and compact home for a single person or a couple – that also comfortably houses six or seven dinner guests.

By contrast with the earthiness of the textural solidity of the stone wall at the heart of the home, the exterior wall is simply glazing from ceiling to floor.

So the effect is that of a pavilion, utterly open on all sides.

The public half of the house comprises a living room and dining room displayed in front of the stone wall.

Huge industrial lamps hang over the dining table which comfortably seats eight.

Behind the central gabion stone wall at the dining end is the kitchen.

A similar opening at the other end of the gabion wall accesses the bedroom and bathroom.

While the house is intended for a single occupant – or a couple, the entertaining front area is well designed to accommodate eight.

And this is done comfortably and graciously despite the compact space.

But one flaw is that guests can only access the toilet (behind the white sliding doors) by traveling deep into the client’s private bedroom, past the sunken bath with its sliding glass wall to the private garden.

Other than this – which maybe is of no consequence to the client – the house is a very sweet small house, with its inspiration the famous Farnsworth House of Mies Van der Rohe.

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1890s Swedish Barn Becomes Loft-Stylish Family Home

Buero Philipp Moeller  architects have designed a charming revitalisation of a farmhouse in Moorenweis, Germany.

The old farmhouse was built in the Fürstenfeldbruck district built in the 1890s.

Now it brings a very special loft-style living experience for a lucky family of four.

The industrial modern style works perfectly with the equally straightforward 1890s barn construction techniques.

Huge sturdy timbers are completely exposed, revealing their system of construction.

Appealing parallels between the 19th and 21st century are offered in the steam punk ironwork chosen to make chandeliers, the elegant yet practical chairs and the super wide floor planks.

A farmhouse kitchen is perfectly executed, neither cloyingly sentimental nor brutally at odds with the old barn’s history.

These rooms on the ground floor were retained in their original layout, just opening up some interior walls to let more light in.

Where the decidedly modern fixtures like these sinks are employed, they are balanced on aged timbers for a perfect meld between old and new.

The many rooms on the ground floor offer a variety of living spaces.

The old painted chest forms a charming complement to the huge farmhouse table, the exposed trusses, and the sensitively chosen industrial lighting.

Outside, little is altered.

The vintage trellis that was the height of style in the 1890s is retained.

Likewise, an old painted door with its antique fittings is simply left as is.

The ample proportions of an old AGA fire oven is perfect for the super-wide cooktops available in the 21st century.

This really has to be the most beautiful renovation ever seen by Homedesignfind.