Steuler Fliesen has some of the coolest tiles you’ve seen; all sorts of colors, designs, and applications. Following are a few I like, but there’s plenty to choose from if you browse the site.

Beautiful mocha/bronze-metallic floor tiles…

Kid-happy tiles like frogs…

Glas decor indian red…

And much, much more. Visit Steuler Fliesen to see all the imaginative tiles available.

[images via Steuler Fliesen]

Post from: Blisstree

Unique Tiles for Your Unique Home

1. You feel extremely strong: Home building pushes you to the limits of what you can accomplish in a purely physical sense. I had no idea that I could shimmy around a roof three stories up while carrying wood or that I could walk around a lot with a bag of heavy tools hefted over my arm. No clue. Honestly, I’m not the strong type in a physical sense. I was a thin kid; never played sports, and although I like hiking and skating I’ve never pushed myself much physically. House building pushed me. If you’re not strong you can fall off a roof, drop items of importance and fail to hold up your end of the scaffolding. I held up against my partner who was a soccer player and very physically strong and that made me feel amazon-like. Go me!

2. You will learn from doing: I was always into design and building but you can read about building techniques all year long; it’s only when you actually have to put the techniques into action that you get a real feel for what can and should be accomplished in building practices. You also learn quickly which book-learned skills pan out and which were bogus to begin with.

3. You get to create something from scratch: This applies even more if you design and build. I did not design this house but my partner did so I had a lot of say in what went on and got to watch the blueprint portion of home building in action. Anyone can buy a house. A house you build will hopefully be uniquely you. A home you create from the ground up will reflect your decisions both good and bad and there will never be another one quite like it on the entire planet.

4. What you learn from mistakes is invaluable: Number 3 (above) brings up the decisions you make. Some of these decisions may be crazy stupid but the good part is you will never, ever make the same mistakes twice. I joke about hating house building but really I wouldn’t mind eventually building again. If and when I do build again you can bet that this house will rock because I’d never make the same mistakes that we did on the first house. These include things like making sure you work with someone who can plan well, actually hiring help as opposed to doing all the work yourself, and applying better green building techniques.

Our original plan was to use more eco-friendly building techniques but some of them got pushed aside because of time, money, and permits. If I build again I will line all this up before hand. I’ll know which time of year to rent machinery and how to get the best deal on roofing supplies. I’ll know how I want the layout to sit. This is stuff you can learn from research true; but you will learn it better by going through the actual process.

Below is the dining area with lots of windows looking out towards the trees and the master patio from the inside. I don’t like the white doors but I didn’t pick them so… 

5. You gain handy lifelong skills: I could barely hammer a nail when we started the house. Now you would not believe the things I can fix, the tools I can use, and the things I know about home building. Hands on will gain you skills you won’t forget and can use for other things. You can use your skills to volunteer, speak at schools, and help out with community projects. Of course I blog for a living but my partner was able to turn his gained skills from the house building experience into job offers — so home building could even land you work.

6. You can impress people: I’ve had people tell me that they loved aspects of the house which is cool but the best person I impressed was my son Cedar. For some reason he’s really confused about my work. Cedar usually tells people I fix computers, do homework for a living, or that I’m a scientist. I have a science degree and lots of science books — which may be where that last theory comes from. In any case Cedar is mildly excited with my science knowledge but could care less about my real job (writing / blogging). He’s very impressed that his dad builds houses and when I got involved with the house building he got a little impressed with me too; which is cool. House building also makes excellent dinner party conversation if you happen to hang with builder types.

7. House building is great for kids: Obviously if you don’t have kids you won’t care. If you do have kids they will love the whole process. Cedar spent long days at the house site. We let him nail boards, carry items, paint, and clear land. He always wanted to help. House building involves all kinds of topics; eco-topics, math, science, writing, art, colors, accounting and more. Cedar learned bits of all of these topics and he applies what he learned. He’ll discuss aspects of real building when using blocks and when drawing; which is so adorable but also really clever of him. It’s also a great experience because you get to spend lots of time with your kids if they go on site with you.

8. You can save and make money: This really depends. On the positive side we got our land super cheap, did most of the work ourselves or bartered for help, built in a choice area, and were able to choose cost effective materials. The negatives were that we went WAY over our original time line and failed to plan which ran costs up again. One issue that’s important to consider is typical size when you build. We built small because we don’t believe in taking a lot of space from the land. However, in order to sell we should have built a little bigger. We like small and can live with that –not all buyers are willing to give up space. Overall though building can be a cheaper option than buying assuming you do a lot of the work yourself.

9. You can make an eco-difference: You can renovate green or build green. I’m not sure which I think is the better eco-choice. Part of me thinks renovation because there’s often fewer materials used but building can be good too especially if you snag a good plot of land and build on very little of it. I like the idea of preserving space. The land we bought was being targeted for a few home plots which would have destroyed almost all the vegetation on it. Since we bought all the plots and built small we were able to transfer trees and conserve most of the area. Your choices of materials and energy solutions can make a difference in the long run as well.

The view. 

10. It’s fun: It took me a bit to think of a number 10. Sometimes it is fun. you can take a group of friends out and chat while you paint or go have a sleep over in the unfinished rooms. Depending on where you build you can see and enjoy wildlife like deer, birds, and snakes. (NOT spiders). We built high on a mountain and got to watch the fireworks on the fourth of July from the site. You get to have fun choosing paint and tiles. Sometimes I’d just lay on the unfinished patio; look at the view and relax. It can be a good time.

Now, have you built your own house? What were some of the positives and negatives. What would you do differently?

Post from: Blisstree

10 Reasons Why Building Your Own House Rocks

I happen to be a CNET junkie but likely only readers of my office blog know that. Still, if you’ve never been to CNET go visit because they have something for just about everyone. Just wanted to give them some quick props because I heard about this stellar installation from the CNET news blog.

Now, on to the news before any more time goes by.

LivingHomes is a very cool company that builds amazing homes; the structures they design are beautiful and sustainable. I was pretty excited when I first heard about them on Tree Hugger a while back because the homes are so neat to see; prefab, super clean lines, green features, and awesome originality.

CNET reports that right now as we well, type and read WIRED Magazine is promoting the installation of a LivingHomes house in L.A. Now you could jaunt off to L.A. to see the home go up or you could just watch it on your computer! That’s right the building of the home is being broadcast in real time right now.

How cool is that. Starting Wednesday the 5th of September and wrapping up on Friday the 7th (yup folks the house goes up in three days) the 4,200 square foot home will be constructed from 11 modules and you can see it all. I know I’m late. The good news — the whole darn show will be re-shown in time-lapse next week. BUT you can still see some on Friday the 7th and you can even go back to the start and see it from the beginning — I’ve been playing at the site this evening and it is rewindable.

The WIRED LivingHome is designed by Ray Kappe and just to get you thinking here is a photo of the home they’re creating. The home in true WIRED style will be wired to the hilt with gadgets galore I’m guessing while maintaining it’s overall eco-sensibility.

The picture does not do this LivingHome project justice you can visit the LivingHomes homepage to learn more about the availability of their homes, their eco-vision and of course the delicious design ideas or visit the event promo in full swing at WIRED.

It’s not everyday you get to see a home built in three days in live time; I’d hit this chance while it’s available.

Go see the home being built.

[Thanks to the ever clever CNET News for the heads up]

Post from: Blisstree

The WIRED LivingHome Installation

Most creative folks like having their very own place to brainstorm and work. I write and my own little place is called the “one room office with desk.” And although I do have a spiffy chair as well, I’d much rather have a place like this:

This is the Bart Prince Residence and Studio, in Albuquerque, New Mexico. A tad more inspirational than the one-room workspace I’d say.

EDIT NOTE: Dan in our reader comments noticed this, “The first pic above is the 1982 studio in Santa Fe (read caption above Bart’s photo). The interior is of the present studio in Albuquerque, begun in 1983.” ~ Thanks Dan & sorry readers, it’s been a heck of week – my brain’s off. 

From Prince’s site:

“Bart Prince Residence and Studio, Albuquerque, New Mexico 1983-1984

Built on a small lot in an existing neighborhood to provide living and studio workspace. The studio is set into the ground behind an earth berm toward the front of the structure to provide easy access and a buffer from the street for the more private portions of the house. The top level contains the bedrooms with curved south-facing glazing for passive solar benefits. The masonry tower was added in 1990 to provide library and drawing storage space.”

Pretty cool. Here’s an interior shot:

I’ve read various Prince interviews in the past and based on some of his previous quotes, I came up with this whopper of a question for him:

You’ve said that “site, client, materials, and form are associated with what develops…that architecture is the structure that grows out of a situation,” and that you “work from the inside out….letting (the structure) become the final form.” To an outside observer (read Jennifer, the outside non-architect observer) this can sound like you’re completely ‘winging it’ yet your finished structures are always amazing. How is this ‘from the inside out’ method more cohesive than planning from the outside in — i.e Such as architects who try to make the building and client fit their plans, rather than the other way around?

Geez, good (and by good I mean a little nuts) question huh. Still nice fellow that he is, Prince answered:

“When I say that the design ‘responds’ to the site, client, climate, materials etc. and that the design ‘grows’ from this situation, it doesn’t mean these things ‘happen’ by themselves. It’s the mind of the architect that brings these ideas together and synthesizes everything into a final scheme. It’s a very complex process and far from ‘winging it’! In fact it is a much more difficult process that the standard so-called design process used by many. You are dealing with materials, structure, ideas, space while solving complex design programs presented by the client. It takes years of experience to make this process look easy!”

This is a good example of something that looks easy, but likely took great skill. The Price Residence in California was built to provide the owners with privacy as well as, “An integration with the site and close association with the sea,” Prince’s site states.

Here’s a beautiful interior shot of the Price home:

Just amazing. Now what if you’re an architect freshly starting out. I asked Prince if he was ever worried about job security or what others in his field might think of his break from the traditional structure early in his career and what advice he’d give to aspiring architects and designers who want to break away from a basic box architectural style and head into offbeat territory.

“I never worried about ‘breaking away’ from the standard ways of doing things. I didn’t think that any architect worth anything had a choice! You HAD to begin doing work that was more creative and responsive to the modern world in my opinion. Job ’security’ never interested me. I didn’t want any job that was going to make me do things I didn’t think were worth doing.

I don’t think anyone should be trying to be ‘offbeat’. What they should be doing is using their imaginations to bring about creative solutions to the problems they are given. There should be as many kinds/styles of buildings are there are kinds/styles of people. Everything should be ‘offbeat’!”

I agree with Prince… what do you think?

This is the Mead/Penhall Residence in Albuquerque, New Mexico. I used to think of this as a little too contemporary for me. But you know, it’s kind of grown on me. I like the alternating lines and for some reason it reminds me of a waterfall. Would you like to call a place like this home?

This almost concludes our offbeat weekend architect tour. But in case you’re aching for more information I’ve got some extra sites for you to check out.

Bart Prince’s website, the obvious place to start. Prince has a multitude of cool projects to see on his site. I especially enjoy his random models and drawing page. And I highly recommend checking out the Model Skyscraper — very cool.

A book? Why yes there is a book. A very fine book that you will enjoy. You can check it out at Builders Booksource or any other bookstore you frequent.

You can find one of my favorite Prince interviews at Architectural Digest. It’s a video interview; interesting and informative. Go give it a whirl, (or a watch).

Last but absolutely not least, a hearty “thank you!” to Bart Prince for answering my questions, letting me raid his site for great photos, and allowing the Offbeat readers a view into his world.

*As yesterday, all pictures (except book cover) provided courtesy of Bart Prince. (Thanks again Bart!).

Post from: Blisstree

Offbeat Hot: Q&A With Architect Bart Prince (part two)