• Offbeat Overnights: A Guide to the Most Unusual Places to Stay in California – from solitary monasteries to clothing-optional retreats, this guide will help you pick an offbeat location to stay during your next California adventure!
• Beautiful Homes & Great Estates Season 1 – Beautiful homes right on your TV. This 3-Disc set covers 22 of the most beautiful homes and estates in the entire world.
• Small House, Big Syle – No reason why having limited space should mean minimizing on style. This book shares remodeling overviews throughout the decades, tips for enhancing your limited living space, finding storage, arranging rooms, and more!
• And, actually, if you’re interested in that subject, Studio Apartments: Big Ideas for Small Spaces might be worth checking out too.
• Decorating Kids’ Rooms: Nurseries to Teen Retreats – A great guide for decorating rooms for the kids in your life.
• Also of note for kids’ rooms: Kids’ Rooms: Decorating Ideas Under $50 (because budgets are nice!)

Hope these are helpful!

Post from: Blisstree

Gifts for Home Lovers

Ping Mag referred to Peter Blanc’s beautiful creations as “eco-art” and I really like that term, so I’ll reproduce it here. Patrick Blanc’s talent extends beyond the act of overgrowing plants on the side of buildings and shaping them into gorgeous murals.

Imagine the Hanging Gardens of ancient Babylon but this time on modern concrete buildings. But Patrick is not just simpy putting green on the walls which last for a day or two: set up with a highly scientific background he studies the many ways plants adapt to extreme situations at the CNRS, the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique in Paris since 1982.

Let’s take it a step further. What about plant fashion? Patrick has done that! His ‘Robe Végétale’ appeared in Jean-Paul Gaultier’s 2002 fashion show. Talk about veggie chic!

Back to the world of the indoors, however, Patrick didn’t limit himself to outside murals. He actually grew his organic wallpaper inside his house:

There’s lots more over at Ping Mag, which also includes a very fascinating interview with Patrick Blanc himself. Check it out.

Via | Unusual Life

Post from: Blisstree

Patrick Blanc’s Vertical Gardens

Post from: Blisstree

Homes for the Holidays: Christmas Decorations

FRA-GEE-LE.

“I think that says ‘fragile’, honey.”

“You’ll shoot your eye out!”

I love ‘A Christmas Story’ – and those of you who haven’t seen the movie are like, “Ingrid’s lost her mind.” Well, I have, but that’s not the point!

If you’ve see ‘A Christmas Story’ (a 1000 times or so, like me), undoubtedly you recall the houe that Ralphie and his family lived in. Well, the actual house from the movie went up for aution on eBay, and Jones (a megafan by the sounds of it), paid the owner $150,000 to end the bid early.

The house was his!

He then invested $500,000 in restoring it to look just as it did in he movie!

He put in new windows and replaced the 111-year-old house’s gray aluminum siding with mustard yellow painted wood and green trim that perfectly matches Ralphie’s house.

Although only a couple interior shots were filmed there, Jones has recreated the ’40s feel of Ralphie’s home with a brown-and-white tile kitchen floor, a wide cast-iron sink in the kitchen, a claw-foot bathtub and, of course, a leg lamp in the window.

He also bought the house across the street _ Ralphie runs past it in the film’s opening scene _ to serve as a museum and gift shop. Several original items from the film are on display, including the infamous snowsuit (”I can’t put my arms down!”) worn by Ralphie’s brother, Randy.

The house is now (as of November of this year) open to tourists. So if you’re ever in Cleveland area, make sure to stop in.

More info to be found at its official site here.

Via | Fox News

Post from: Blisstree

A Christmas Story’s House Restored

These days, a bigger police station exists in Carabelle, so the World’s Smallest is no longer operational.

I suppose it would get a little crowded in there.

Post from: Blisstree

Odd Buildings: The World’s Smallest Police Station

Is this over the top? Or have you seen something bigger and better?

Post from: Blisstree

Home Decorated for the Holidays (with a beat!)

Seems logical to me.

Doggie Masions: Real Estates for Man’s Best Friend specialize in finding that special home for your special furry friend.

Every dog has its own style. What’s your doggie’s style?

While all Doggie Mansions are custom built and no two are alike, we are there every step of the way to offer guidance on what colors might look best in your dog’s home, what type of roof and flooring is recommended—both for your climate and the amount of wear and tear expected—and what options you may wish to choose.

Now that’s what I call living in doggie style.

More @ Doggie Mansions

Via | Unusual Life

Post from: Blisstree

Pet Homes: Doggie Mansions

I’m pretty sure this isn’t a real home and was simply photoshopped in. I bet it would have an awesome view, though!

Via | BoreMe

Post from: Blisstree

House Hanging by a String

Ever looked at a double decker bus in London and thought, “Hmm, I wish I could live there?” Well, if you have, now you can thanks to Double Decker Living!

Environmental issues have been at the forefront of our minds during the conception and conversion of these buses. They
are fitted with a solar panel to help lighten the ever growing energy ‘burden’ that we face. Generators and heaters that
the buses are equipped with are of the ‘run quiet’ variety to reduce noise pollution to a negligible level. The WC waste is
rapidly converted to compost and collected on a regular basis, as is the water. Each bus comes with two fold away bicycles
which the occupants will be encouraged to use. Dedicated refuse bins and recycling are also provided and emptied as appropriate.

High Accommodation Standards
Every bus has a communal ‘family’ type area where occupants interact and socialise. Audio and visual facilities
are provided so that quality time together is of whatever nature the residents choose.

The provision of ‘private space’ is also crucial and to this end each bedroom is a comfortable, ventilated and heated
space with its own window to provide light levels far beyond that which most of us experience within a more conventional dwelling.

Safety and Security
The safety of the occupants of the bus is also very important so great care was taken during the design of the bus
conversion to ensure very levels of fire protection including the fitment of interlinked smoke alarms, provision of
extinguishers, and treatment of all soft furnishings. We initiated discussions with the London Fire Service to ensure due diligence and care.

Each occupant has access within their room to a lockable storage area. The buses are fully serviceable from the exterior
which means that only occupants of the buses ever need to enter their residence unless
planned maintenance or repairs are required and agreed.

Each bus is fitted with a Thatcham approved immobiliser/alarm system to maximize security.

Interested? Contact the folk over at DDL! It does look rather cozy.

Post from: Blisstree

Double Decker Living

This building as built back in 1985 and stands at 83 meters in height. It is where the Bank of Asia in Bangkok, Thailand makes its home.

It mainly just makes me think of Short Circuit, though the building was built before the movie so I guess it couldn’t have served as inspiration. Hehe.

Via | Skyscraper City

Post from: Blisstree

Odd Buildings: Bank of Asia “Robot Building”