Silo House

Check out this reformed silo set up in Gruene, Texas...









You can stay in it! Summertime is a'commin and I want some river. If I have work off this Friday, I'm headed to San Marcos with BF. I dream of visiting the Root Cellar, Zen's pizza and the Tap Room.

Small Houses X9

The 2009 Rice Design Alliance Architecture Tour will highlight innovative examples of small houses, under 2,000 square feet. This year's tour will be held Saturday and Sunday, March 28-29, 2009 from 1:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m

Sin Agua

These photos are from a series named Absence of Water. I can't imagine why in the World (or London) anyone would stop visiting these decadent pools. They look as if they should be in a Wes Anderson film.

Genius.

Storage Stairs!

2007 San Miguel Interiors

I should be in San Miguel. I don't know if I'll be blogging from Mexico, but I set up a few posts for the this week. Here's a peek from my trip to SMA last year...



I went to San Miguel for Spring Break with two of good friends from college. My grandmother, who dabbles in real estate down there, was asked by friend if she could house sit while she was in the states. It was great timing, because the week this lady needed a house sitter, three poor college students arrived by bus and saved the day. We got to stay at this amazing casita for free:) TRES ANGELITAS!

I'm going to try to walk you through the house.. Here's the front.... We pretty much died when we fund out our house was green and purple.


Walk into a nice outdoor courtyard, loved the cobalt blue chairs.


Looking up from the courtyard...


Step inside the first room: view to courtyard & fireplace...


Look to the other side of the room and see the interior courtyard with fountain...


Next room: adorable, tiled kitchen...


Kitchen table with skylights...



Going upstairs with cheerful walls...


Master bedroom, where we all slept and sometimes watched weird television ....



View from the roof...



and there you have it! I'm going to try to get some good pictures of my gramndmother's house. It's much more muted and mature, without losing its Mexican flavor. Adios chicos.

The Menger Hotel

My favorite stop in San Antonio was the Menger Hotel (1859) located downtown, next to the Alamo. In 1898, Teddy Roosevelt used the bar to recruit Rough Riders which fought in Cuba in the Spanish-American War.

The first picture is from the bar, an exact replica of the House of Lords Pub in London. We had a couple of drinks there and chatted with the bartender, who dispelled the rumors we had heard about bullet holes in the wall from Teddy Roosevelt. The hotel also holds the unofficial title of "The Most Haunted Hotel in Texas" and claims to host 32 different spirits including Richard King of the King Ranch.

The second two pictures are of the lobby:

1.My feets and the tile.
2.My pixelated face and the lobby. Kinda creepy, right?

Click on the lobby picture and you might get an idea of how fabulous the wallpaper is. Reminded me of the movie Atonement.

Paris Interiors

Sigh.. back in Texas for less than a week and we're being "evacuated" due to hurricane Ike. We still haven't completely unpacked from Paris and we're already getting a change of venue. These pictures are from our "homes" in France.

The first four pictures are from the house in Paris. Arthur's mom lives in a suburb in Paris. It's a former orphanage from built in 1880. Arthur's Mom reupholsters furniture and collects art so there was fabulousness everywhere.

The last four pictures are some interiors of the castle-like country home in Champagne. This place was amazingly huge, old and enchanting. Arthur's Dad bought it a few years ago in poor condition and began renovating with the efforts of their entire family. Parts of the house date back to the 12th century. I loved all the little collections all over the house. His step-mother had dozens of espresso and tea sets stacked up in the kitchen (sorry the picture is dark). My favorite was the Christian Lacroix pastel ones we had the morning we left.

We are so grateful to have stayed in both of these homes. Much thanks to Arthur for both of these accommodations.

Okay.. I'm avoiding packing for Ike. Adios.er--- Aur revoir!

Parking in The Numbers

When was the last time you saw a parking garage that wasn't an eyesore for your city? This Stockholm garage is a reminder that not all necessary evils have to be ugly.

Each floor has a distinct numeric pattern for those of us who are scatterbrained and spend 20 minutes finding their car. That would be me, thanks. I mean, who could resist the sexy patterns the light will kiss upon your car?

Remembering the Dorm....

I found this OLD picture of a college dorm on shorpy.com. It's from 1911. Not too much different from my Texas State University Arnold Hall dorm circa May 2005.


I was packing my things up to return home for the summer and I took this picture thinking, "I might want to remember this for some reason.."

It wasn't to remember how much space I didn't have. If you look closely you can see that I'm on instant messenger-- Does anyone use that anymore? I find it ironic that my room is decorated with Eiffel Towers and I'm going to Paris (for the first time) in nine days. I'm hoping to visit a fabulous flea market and bring home some authentic Parisian decor to replace the fake fake fake stuff that I've gotten rid of over the past few years.



And here's a picture of a beautiful, modern dorm from Swathmore College:

We've Made it to the Future

I found this 1956 image of the future from Plan59.com, a website with a bank of retro images. A quick evaluation of what they got right:
-flat screen TV panel
-iChat
-bio-engineered fruit (can we give this one back?)
-natural light makes people HAPPY.

Click on the image above to get full size.

If this kitchen was materialized for today, it might look like this mid-century modern space...

Habitat 67

I just love this...
Habitat 67 is a housing complex and landmark located on the Marc-Drouin Quay on the Saint Lawrence River at 2600, Pierre Dupuy Avenue in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Its design was created by architect Moshe Safdie based on his master's thesis at McGill University