The Nautilus House is a cartoon-like combination of bright vibrant colors and a gigantic shell-shaped design. It's a real house, located in Mexico City and occupied by a young couple and their two small children. Not only does the Nautilus House look like a giant work of art, but because it's built from a mix of chicken wire and concrete (among other things) and takes cues from a Nautilus shell (hence the name) it's also an earthquake-proof and maintenance-free structure. And that's always handy.
The inside decor is all about smooth rounded surfaces, rich colors, and greenery all over the place. And although the home is surrounded by Mexico City on 3 sides, the West side has most of the windows and faces out to a beautiful view of the mountains.
I really like it, but for anything other than a vacation home it might get old -- living in this house must make a person feel like they're in a tropical version of Whoville.
One of the advantages of being a homeowner is the fact that you can change and upgrade things to however you want them. Whether you're upgrading things for your own personal pleasure, looking to increase the price tag when you sell someday, or you're just dreaming and drooling, these home improvements are something to take a look at. From luxury custom-made garage doors to smart door locks that can be changed everyday to custom wall wine racks, you're neighbors will definitely be jealous.
Last week I mentioned Nature's Dryer, a tree-shaped sculpture that serves as an outdoor clothes drying system. But what do you do when the weather isn't right for drying outside? The BreezeDry is an ambient air drying cabinet that dries without heat You can dry and entire load of laundry using less air than a conventional dryer and it also promises the fresh clean scent of drying outdoors. This green product will also cost you a lot of green, it sells for $3,750.
I'm all about silver accessories, in fact I can pretty much say that I never wear anything gold (unless it's white-gold) and I rarely have gold items displayed in the house. I also love organic, earthy designs, which means that I'm a pretty big fan of Jill Platner's collection of fashion and home accessories. There's so much to choose from it was hard to decide what to highlight in this post, but I went with her silver (there's also bronze) homeware collection. My favorite (shown) is the Tide Pool Salt Dish, because it looks so natural and elemental. $820
She also has jewelry and fashion accessories (like an awesome collection of belts) for women, men, and babies.
Kelly Wearstler's collection of home decor items available from Bergdorf Goodman includes quite the interesting set of goodies. Her taste is contemporary, classic, and simple, done in basic shapes and even more basic colors (everything is in shades of black, white, gold, and silver). Her creations are open to many different moods but there's a definite cheerfulness present, especially in pieces like the Kaleidoscope, Confetti Bowl, and Deco Dots Box. My favorite is the Large Golden Egg, I think because it's just a little lumpy looking and slight off-kilter. What can I say, I always love the oddballs!
Need a last minute gift that will last a lifetime? Consider a Gift from the Heart supporting Habitat for Humanity. With a minimum donation of $10 your gift to honor or memorialize another will provide a decent, safe home for someone in need. This purchase which supports the supplies, materials and time to make a home for a family is definitely money well spent. This holiday season consider your own blessings and put a roof over another's head.
Think about it....who really has a second kitchen? A full second kitchen? They're rare indeed, but the new trend in luxury housing is to start changing that.
People with money to spend want kitchens for both themselves and for their personal chefs and caterers, and they don't want to be bumping around together in the same space. But it's not just about whether or not you can afford it, as the building has to be approved and depending on the rules and regulations in the area an additional full kitchen may or may not be allowed. But in the areas where it does work houses generally run in the $5 million range and higher when they include 2 kitchens.
When money is no object it's always interesting to see what people choose as far as living arrangements go, and obviously money is no object for Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt. So what did they choose? According to The New York Post they've landed at The Waldorf Towers in New York City. The 6,000 sq ft luxury apartment includes 6 bedrooms, an enormous kitchen, multiple terraces with sweeping views of the city, room service, maid service, and a 24hr concierge.
And perhaps more valuable to the couple than anything is the fact that the new $100,000 per month pad is close to both the United Nations (where Jolie is a goodwill ambassador) and their son Maddox's private French school.
Now here's a trend in luxury home design that I really get: observatories. For some people a beautiful view of the stars is becoming just as important (if not more so) than a view of the ocean or the beach. And thanks to technology observatories are more fun in places they never used to be, and people are putting them in as additions to their home and taking up astronomy as a regular hobby. But they aren't cheap, obviously, because in addition to the space involved the telescope alone can cost several hundred thousand dollars.
I would love to have an observatory in my home! Forget waiting for the weatherman to say there's a certain star or planet that might be visible at 3am on a random Monday, I'll just pop upstairs and see the stars whenever the mood strikes.
True taste and design is all in the details. It's the small things that come together to create the big picture, and these Richard Neutra inspired house numbers could be the final touch you've been looking for to make your home's curb-appeal complete. Based on the letters Neutra specified for his buildings back in the 1930's to 1950's, the numbers weigh 1/2 pound each and are designed to "float" slightly off the surface and cast subtle shadows. Made of stainless steel they're resistant to corrosion, tarnishing and discoloration, and are always easily visible. Usually $75 each, but currently on sale for $67.50.
Manly men who love to cook: here comes the kitchen of your dreams. That's the idea anyway behind Porsche Design Group and Poggenpohl's new "man's kitchen" (there's no official name yet). It's been created and crafted with the male cook in mind, which apparently means modern and sleek monochromatic stying complete with details like no-handle cabinets, high-tech audiovisual system and aluminum-finished everything. It will be available starting sometime next year.
I think it looks sleek and manly, but what do I know? Guys: did they get it right?
Try to say "Loopty Loopy Loopita" ten times fast -- it'll put your tongue in a twist that looks something like this chair I bet. Every so often a design puts off a vibe that's pure happiness, and to me this is one of those designs. The name obviously inspires laughter, but the chair itself looks like a big orange peel to me -- which inspires more laughter. What does it look like to you?
Designed by Victor Aleman, it's flexible as far as how many "loops" you want and how far apart they're spaced, and it's made from a single piece of red oak coated in high-density foam. Talk about interesting seating arrangement possibilities by mixing and matching several Loopty Loopy Loopitas together in the same room! Definitely not for the serious at heart.
Many of the people who indulge in rented luxury villas don't always get what they bargained for. You'd think, compared to a hotel, that a villa would be a nicer, better experience -- but most of the time it isn't. So Christian Jagodzinski decided to fix that by starting his own company of luxury villas that would deliver as he expected they should: Villazzo was born.
With most everything pre-arranged, Jagodzinski thinks of Villazzo as more of a hotel-type service than villas. He even makes a point to offer the same services as top hotels, such as porters and maids, strawberries and champagne, and even a helicopter in the France location to help guests avoid pesky traffic when traveling to nearby retreats -- there are 35 specific luxury services offered altogether.
So if you've been frustrated in the past and haven't yet tried Villazzo, maybe you should consider it. There are six locations around the world, with prices around $2000 per night/$14000 per week.
For the home theater buffs out there, here comes the ultimate in big screen gadgets: a screen and projector that let you view the image from both sides.
Harmony Interiors of Asheville, N.C., originally created this reversible-image home theater system for a "golf dream home" in a prestigious Asheville community. Once they modified the screen and projector appropriately (both which, by the way, retract into the ceiling when not in use) they set it up so the image could either be viewed from inside the house in the cozy enclosed porch, or from the putting green outside with the simple push of a button.
Care to go outside and putt a few in while we watch the movie on the bigscreen? Sure!
Kelly Wearstler's collection
When money is no object it's always interesting to see what people choose as far as living arrangements go, and obviously money is no object for Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt. So what did they choose? According to 
