Why not Carisa already? Andrea beat Matt. Goil is fumbling and bumbling.

The task, design a private dining room for a chef. This particular chef likes a mix of Mid-Century Modern and Arts and Crafts. The first client to give a “clean cut” idea of their likes.

Mistake.

Goil I hate to say this, I agreed with the judges; “…you think outside the box, but we wish you would think about a room everyone wants to be in…”

Carisa, terrible and finally someone has noticed her best ability, “blaming someone else”.

…I am from the design school less is more…

A fourteen foot banquette, with shelves above, and eight bottles on them, more like unfinished. Slip covered patio furniture and NO FLATWARE! She blamed the carpenter! Wha?

Michael is delusional.

I believe Matt fell victim to the style definition and didn’t deliver the elegance of “dining” with the chef. The room was beautiful, but you could just see Andrea one upped him.

Andrea’s room was spot on. She had every detail thought out from the texture on the walls to the flatware. The beautiful Kelly said it, “…I could see myself spending a couple of hours in there…”

I’m still hanging in, Goil is still in, I’m in!

Post from: Blisstree

Top Design: Chef

When you hear of a prefab home do you also think custom? That’s right custom, in eight foot increments. Will that be a glass wall, window high, window low, or just solid? The system, Flatpak, developed by architect Charlie Lazor is also a partnership with Dwell Homes and manufactured by Empyrean.

You can pick from predesigned floor plans or create originals. Working with architects to create a modern home with a floor plan and exterior that fits your site. Then your home is delivered and assembled by an experienced contractor in the Empyrean network.

Go to the Lazor Office’s Flatpak House website and find out more details. You can even run through a demo based on their experiences with a past beloved customer.

Post from: Blisstree

Monday Modular: Flatpak

[picture via Treehugger]

This home seems humble, right? Found in Texas, this 4,000 square foot ranch house sits on a concrete slab running East to West. This has to be in order to take advantage of shade. Well, the porches would help with that right? True, but in this case the porches also act as a hallway between rooms. This is an excellent idea considering the climate. It also lets you use all of your square footage for living spaces not halls. Halls in typical ranch home plans can be killers. You can’t see it in the above picture but there is also low stone apron detail around the perimeter of the home. The stone used for this detail is actually recycled. A good alternative and often gives that “old-country cottage” look.

The homes design is pretty eco-friendly but it doesn’t stop there. In fact the home is heated and cooled geo-thermally. There is also 3 cisterns for collecting rain water, grey-water (showers, washer, dishwasher), and black water from the…(jokes flying) toilet. All of which is purified and used for irrigation around the property.

Now what if I told you this home is actually the Crawford Texas Ranch that President Bush retreats to for R-n-R? Yep, that is who owns this eco-friendly home. I found it very interesting that reading the articles about this home, which is environmentally responsible locally and globally, he is constantly criticized for it.

Since I am not the typical “Kool Aid” drinker, registered Independent,(Means I can’t be loyal to someone just because they are a member of a party) let’s take a look at some of the “hypocrits” they support.

[picture via Carolina Journal]

The above is a 28,000 square foot home, worth about $6 million dollars and owned by Democratic Presidential hopeful John Edwards. I believe that property required more deforestation than the Artic National Wildlife Refuge drilling proposed by the Devil (The President).

Al Gore, you have to give him credit for trying. He made a movie that will help get people to think. Although it was disheartening to find out that neither of his (three) homes are using alternative energy. Not that he needs to have solar panels or windmills on the property, but he doesn’t even use alternative energy credits offered by the local power districts.

But according to public records, there is no evidence that Gore has signed up to use green energy in either of his large residences. When contacted Wednesday, Gore’s office confirmed as much but said the Gores were looking into making the switch at both homes. Talk about inconvenient truths. [via USA Today]

Let’s admit it, we are all a little hypocritical. I mean, the article about Al is from August. I just wish I could have learned more about the design of the home and not the anger toward our President.

Post from: Blisstree

An Inconvenient Green Home

Next year, the number will rise to 15. The lucky inhabitants of the first four homes will have the system sponsored by the Malaysian Building-Integrated Photovoltaic project and will get it free of charge.

The houses are all being built in Precinct 16 of Putrajaya, and will feature solar cell-integrated buildings (as opposed to roof-mounted cells).

Developing company, Senadung Budiman Sdn Bhd (SBSB), is already reporting interested buyers.

I can already hear the environment sighing with relief.

Via | The Star

Post from: Blisstree

Solar-Powered Homes in Malaysia

You know, when most folks move, they just take their possessions to a new place; but apparently some people just have to be different.

Ok, I’m kidding. This was actually an old historic home in Bloomington, Illinois that was relocated last year. Dubbed the Mandel-Cohn house, it’s a Queen Anne style that was built in 1894. A church had brought the property, donated the building itself to the local Old House Society who then sold it to the new owners who moved it.

I came across the photo at The Cellar’s Image of the Day site and ironically, the new owner of the house actually made some comments on the post talking about the move. If you scroll down near the bottom of the page, look for a couple of comments from ‘dp73‘. Check it out here.

Post from: Blisstree

Moving Day

The team of ‘eskimo enthusiasts‘ built the village on the frozen Melch Lake in the Jochpass region in the central part of the country. The village measures 200 feet across, has a snow church and central piazza and many of the igloos feature kitchens and fireplaces.

Check it out at igluprojekt.ch. The site is in German, but if you follow the ‘Fotogalerie‘ link on the left side of the page, you’ll find lots of pictures from the day.

[via BoingBoing]

Post from: Blisstree

Swiss Set World Record for Igloos

Owned by Vladimir Deriugin Jr. – a self-described architect, sculptor and cinematographer – the house was recently ordered either repaired or demolished by a county judge who deemed it a dangerous building. Vlad has chosen to sell the property after many years of fighting the city over its numerous building code violations.

From an article in The News Tribune…

The late-1880s-era house, which Deriugin dreamed of encasing in concrete and using as the core for a 500-foot office and condominium tower, will be torn down within the next couple of months, Deriugin said.
[...]
Deriugin, 52, estimates he’s invested $2 million worth of time in “research and development” over the years.

Here’s that article at TheNewsTribune.com and then here’s a full page of photos of the unusual building courtesy of KevinFreitas.net.

[via Aaron at House in Progress]

Post from: Blisstree

Tacoma’s Deriugin House to be Demolished