Fabulous Tree House

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In childhood almost each of us was dreaming to built a house on a tree where you could spend time with your friends. Nine years ago, residents of Dallas Steve and Jeri Wakefield decided to build such a house on a tree for their grandchildren. But not a small house – a whole cottage. They invited a family friend, a professional architect James Curvan. As a result, a fabulous tree house was built around the tree. It was equipped with air conditioning, ventilation and electricity. In fact it’s not just a house but entertainment center for children of all ages. The grandchildren have grown up, and the house on the tree became uninteresting. Steve and Jeri invite children from all neighborhoods for entertainment and leisure. Kids are happy to come to visit them and play at home on a tree.

 

http://www.beautifullife.info/urban-design/fabulous-tree-house/

the built-ins {part one}

When designing the family room section of the basement I knew I wanted a wall of bookcases, storage and media storage. We decided that at some point we were going to bite the bullet and purchase a wall mounted television so I made space for that as well. I wanted built-ins, I just didn't want the built in price. I went to the IKEA site to see what I could find. I knew I wanted wood pieces that could be customized. The Hemnes line at IKEA is just that. This series is made of pine and painted either white, black or a lovely shade of greige (yes, that is a word).

I knew that I was going to have about 17 feet of wall space to work with so I picked the pieces I wanted and added up the dimensions. This took a little bit of figuring out. I went under 17 feet and decided that I would just add wall on either end. I chose a total of five pieces, a tv unit, two glass door cabinets with drawers and two bookcases. They totaled about 14 feet in width. 

Once the pieces came in and were put together we decided to space them out instead of building walls on either side. We were putting wood to cover the joints between each unit so those pieces of wood just became a little wider. 

The tv unit was also deeper in depth so the 4 units on the sides were bumped out a bit so they all sit flush in the front. Some pieces were added behind each of those pieces and then the sides were covered with more wood. The top of the tv unit was removed since the original width did not cover the strips of wood added in between each unit.  

Above the tv unit section are pieces to match the board and batten in the rest of the room. The tv will be mounted in the center of all that. The wires necessary for the television, cable, and whatever other things we will have like Wii, etc, will all run within the wall and come out from behind the tv unit. I didn't want all that woodwork to be ruined by wires hanging down!

A soffit was built across the top, completing the built-in look. This is hiding all those wires and pipes. One long piece of wood was also added along the entire bottom, hiding the legs and cleaning up the entire look.

Everything will be painted with a coat of white semi gloss paint. That should be happening soon. After that it is just flooring and some finishing touches. I'm drooling just looking at this next picture. The entire built-in unit will hold books, board games, some decorative touches, dvd's, and so much more! If I had actually had someone create a built-in I would have paid about 3 to 4 times what it cost for some well constructed IKEA pieces and wood strips! 

http://www.no29design.com/2012/04/built-ins-part-one.html

Summerhouse by Architect Irene Sævik

Secluded yet open. Just a stone’s throw away from the ocean and situated amidst a plethora of summer houses and cottages, Irene Sævik’s zen-like summer house manages the impossible: a private and peaceful ambience only forty minutes outside of the busy capitol of Oslo and a mere three minute walk from the shores of the Oslo fjord. The house is a renovation and expansion of a smaller-scale cabin built by seminal modernist painter Irma Sahlo Jæger in 1963.
Architect Irene Sævik picked up on the original building’s asceticism and upgraded it to a contemporary contemplative hideout. Drawing from Japanese architecture, the yard is surrounded by a slender gallery enabling one to freely circulate—and enter—between the adjacent rooms. The living room, kitchen, dining room, bathroom, sauna, restroom, study and two bedrooms all follow one another. Due to the rooms being separate the retreat can harbor a larger number of people and yet allow for quiet activities such as writing, reading, painting, as well as listening to music, preparing foods in the spacious kitchen, and conversing. A large terrace is ideal for soaking in the sun and the view encompassing both treetops and the fjord arms surrounding the narrow peninsula. The Architect metamorphosed a traditional Norwegian summer retreat into a vivid, comfortable and yet contemplative, in which we sure would like to spend our holidays, too.

All images © Ivan Brodey | Via: archdaily

http://www.ignant.de/2013/11/04/summerhouse-by-architect-irene-saevik/

These two young artists quit their jobs to build this glass house for $500

“The house is an experience at night,” Nick Olson said. “The fireflies start at the ground and merge to the stars …Plenty of natural sunlight isn't an unusual quality of a dream home. But what about a home built completely of glass so the light would never be hidden? For a pair of young artists, a beautiful sunset and a thoughtful conversation led to the construction of a breathtaking retreat in mountainous West Virginia.

Photographer Nick Olson, 27, who works with old-fashioned labor-intensive photographic processes, and designer Lilah Horwitz, 23, who makes "site-specific clothing," met at an artist’s residency in Pennsylvania. Early on in their relationship, Olson invited Horwitz to join him on a trip to his family’s property in southern West Virginia. One evening, the two went on a walk in the woods that resulted in an artistic vision.

[Click here or on a photo to go to a slideshow of the glass cabin.]
As the sun sank behind a hill, the couple began talking about how amazing the light appeared at that moment. What if, they pondered, there could be a living space where light changed based on the time of day?
“Light is so different in the morning, at noon and at dusk. We wanted to somehow build a house so that change happened in our living space,” Olson said. “It’s about being closer to living with the elements.”
Both Olson and Horwitz had summer plans to work at their current jobs, but agreed they had suddenly discovered a project worth pursuing.
In what Olson calls a “spur-of-the-moment decision,” the new couple quit their jobs, rented a U-Haul and began driving state to state to find the right windows for their retreat.


The couple's unique cabin was featured in "Half Cut Tea," a Web video series that explores artists and their works. (Their episode is at the bottom of this blog post.) Olson is friends with one of the series creators, Jordan Wayne Long, a performance artist originally from Bald Knob, Arkansas, who interviewed the couple and showcased their cabin.
Most of the windows the couple collected were found or scavenged, Olson said. Some were purchased, but not many. The first the couple found was in a big stack of old windows at an abandoned barn in Pennsylvania. Horwitz describes finding that window as “serendipitous.”
When they had collected enough glass, the two began constructing the cabin on the family land near New River Gorge National River park. The closest town to the property is Hinton, West Virginia, Olson said.
The building process was sometimes frustrating, Horwitz said. The two built the entire structure themselves – their only audience was the occasional curious deer, rabbit or fox. The home’s front window wall is about 16 feet high, but the base of the structure is another 4 feet off the ground, Horwitz said.
“It was just the two of us trying to put up these gigantic posts. It was scary and hard,” she said. “Looking at it now, it’s just totally insane. It’s huge. I realize now that’s what makes it so amazing.”
Olson credits an artistic vision and frugality with their success. While living on a diet of rice and beans, the two used nails, wood and anything salvageable from an old barn on the property to piece their structure together. They estimate they spent $500 in total on the project.


“Even the roofing we took from the abandoned barn,” Olson said. “We were able to make it a reality because we are first artists and creators. We had to be resourceful to do it cheaply.”
After months of work, the home was completed in December. On what was once a pile of old windows and a patch of wooded land stood a beautiful glass-faced building. Though there is no plumbing or electricity, the two artists said they enjoy the space as an escape.
Horwitz described her favorite time of day inside the home as the “nighttime sun” – just as dusk falls.
“That’s when everything inside is on fire,” she said.
Olson said he’s awestruck after the sun goes down.
“The house is an experience at night,” Olson said. “The fireflies start at the ground and merge to the stars up above. It’s really like you’re sleeping under the stars.”
Someday Olson and Horwitz hope to build onto the home and add an outdoor kitchen, solar power and a wood-burning stove, they said. But for now, the Milwaukee-based couple said, they’ll enjoy the home as a picturesque retreat.



Ilyce Glink is an award-winning, nationally syndicated real estate columnist, blogger and radio talk show host, and managing editor of the Equifax Finance Blog. Follow her on Twitter @Glink. 

http://homes.yahoo.com/blogs/spaces/young-couple-quit-jobs-build-glass-house-500-204553074.html
http://homes.yahoo.com/blogs/spaces/young-couple-quit-jobs-build-glass-house-500-204553074.html

Ikea Creates Platform for Customers to Sell Their Second-Hand Furniture

Norwegian Campaign via SMFB, Oslo, Promotes Brand's Sustainability Efforts

Ikea goods aren't exactly the sturdiest known to man, but the retailer recently set up a platform through which its customers could find a new home for the Besta, Hemnes, Malm or other pieces they're ready to part ways with. Working with SMFB, Oslo -- known for its unusual campaigns for the client (like one that engaged customers to help the brand when it was moving a store and another that let shoppers choose the type of ad they wanted to see via a web banner) -- the retailer launched "The Second Hand Campaign," an integrated effort that advertised customers' used Ikea products through outdoor, print, broadcast and web banners.
The agency and Ikea put a call out to its patrons, asking if they needed help selling their used goods. Many people responded and 50 were chosen for the campaign. Ikea gathered their used pieces and produced real ads using those goods. Alongside pictures of the second-hand items were printed the owners' actual phone numbers for potential buyers to call. Outside of the ads, Ikea's Facebook page became a digital flea market where sellers and buyers could do business every Sunday.
The effort ran for eight weeks, resulting in the sale of every used product.