More stories

  • in

    Ali Budd Interiors transforms Muskoka log cabin into art-filled cottage

    Toronto studio Ali Budd Interiors has transformed a dated wooden log cabin into a comfortable Canadian holiday home, with a wood-lined sunroom, vintage rugs and art by Andy Warhol.The studio was asked to renovate the cottage in Muskoka, Ontario and turn it into a neutral but comfortable backdrop for its owners’ extensive art collection.
    “As the clients are big art collectors, we wanted to not only design the perfect space for the family to enjoy the surrounding nature, but create the perfect canvas to showcase their artwork,” founder Ali Budd told Dezeen.

    Top: monochrome furniture in the Great Room. Above: a crumpled newspaper artwork by Paul Rousso

    In each of the cottage’s rooms, fabrics designed to withstand an “indoor-outdoor” lifestyle are chosen for their practical but chic appearance.
    Mindful of Ontario’s extreme climate and the many visitors who are invited to enjoy a family’s second home, the studio made sure to choose materials that will endure considerable wear and tear.
    “While maintaining the charm of a cottage, we modernised the space by mixing textures, incorporating custom furniture designed by Ali Budd Interiors, and adding hints of black to give it that contemporary look,” explained Budd.

    Ali Budd Interiors chose materials for their ability to withstand wear and tear
    Ali Budd Interiors’ design choices balance this practical need with its clients’ love of both white interiors and natural wood.

    Mjölk Architekti updates Czech cottage with burnt-wood cladding and revamped interior

    In the cottage’s Great Room, the main living room, these design elements include neutral-coloured armchairs and a sofa by Ali Budd Interiors that have been fabricated by Cooper Brothers.

    Monochrome furniture surrounds a bespoke coffee table
    A pair of plush shearling ottomans from Luxe Pour Maison sits nearby, complemented by a bespoke Ali Budd white oak coffee table topped with a white Corian surface. A newspaper artwork by Paul Rousso adds colour to the room.
    The cottage also has a Muskoka room, a type of screened-in porch that acts as a sunroom. In this instance, it acts as an open-plan living room attached to the property’s dining area.

    Patterned Moroccan poufs add colour to The Muskoka Room
    The dining area is complete with a custom-made white Ali Budd dining table, and an iconic Campbell’s soup artwork by Andy Warhol. Black and white chairs from Restoration Hardware are positioned around the monochrome table.
    The Muskoka room’s panoramic windows give guests the feeling of being outside while they lounge on a custom curved grey sofa that hugs the room’s curved walls.
    “There is so much beauty outside this property, and we wanted to ensure that all of those elements shone through,” said Budd.
    Other interior highlights in the Muskoka room include a central round coffee table by Garcia Group, and vintage rugs and colourful Moroccan pous from Mellah Rugs.

    An iconic piece by Andy Warhol hangs in the dining room
    Throughout the house, colourful accents such as these poufs add bright texture to an otherwise white and minimal backdrop.
    “As we were working with a monochromatic palette, we were able to layer different finishes and textiles to create something part eclectic and part chic,” continued Budd.

    Porcelain countertops are seen throughout the sleek kitchen
    This monochrome theme is particularly emphasised in the black and white kitchen. Perhaps the most pared-back and modern of the cottage’s rooms, exposed natural beams are the kitchen’s only hint of the former log cabin.
    Durable porcelain forms the room’s countertops, and a Sonneman pendant light is suspended over the sleek kitchen island.

    An original artwork by Douglas Copeland fits between the staircase’s wooden beams
    More exposed beams above the cottage’s wooden staircase perfectly frame an original painting by Douglas Copeland, its bright colours offsetting the plain white walls on which it hangs.

    Derek Jarman’s Prospect Cottage saved by Art Fund campaign

    Upstairs in the main bedroom, a black woven bed from American brand CB2 continues the cottage’s overall monochrome theme, while wiggly Graffito-print cushions by Kelly Wearstler soften the room’s clean lines.

    Graffito-print cushions add pattern to an otherwise minimal bedroom
    A final standout feature is the cottage’s renovated powder room. Originally one of the most dated-looking parts of the property, Ali Budd Interiors redesigned the room with bespoke millwork and an elegant custom-made mirror.
    Ali Budd Interiors is a female-led Toronto-based firm founded in 2010.
    More cosy cottages include this off-grid cabin in upstate New York and another log cabin renovation for a lake house in Quebec.
    Photography is by Ali Budd Interiors.

    Read more: More

  • in

    Archipelago House by Norm Architects is a minimal family getaway in Sweden

    Norm Architects has completed Archipelago House, a pine-clad holiday home on the coast of Sweden that’s designed to embody both Scandinavian and Japanese aesthetics.Copenhagen-based practice Norm Architects created Archipelago House, which is located just north of Gothenburg, for a couple and their four children.
    It’s a stone’s throw away from a holiday home that the mother of the family frequented when she was younger.

    Top image: the interior of Archipelago House. Above: the exterior of the home is lined with pine wood

    Archipelago House comprises a quartet of pine-wood volumes that stagger in line with the site’s rocky terrain.
    Each of the volumes features gabled roofs, subtly mimicking the form of the boathouses which appear along the nearby seashore.

    The kitchen features oakwood cabinetry
    “We like to consider the spirit of a place and integrate a new building structure more or less flawlessly into its surroundings,”  partner at Norm Architects Frederik Werner told Dezeen.
    “The building should look natural to the site and put the focus on the beautiful surroundings and the life unfolding in the place rather than the building itself,” he continued.
    “It is important for us that architecture does not feel alien to a site – especially in a place like this where there is a perfectly harmonised small village on the shore with other wooden houses around.”

    At the heart of the floor plan is a double-height lounge
    Inside, the practice has used natural materials to devise a sequence of muted, pared-back living spaces that nod to traditional Scandinavian and Japanese aesthetics.
    Handleless oak cupboards feature in the home’s kitchen, at the centre of which is a jet-black breakfast island with in-built drawers. Stone tiles have then been used to line surfaces in the bathrooms, which have been finished with dark-wood vanity cabinets.

    Furnishings in the lounge were designed by Norm Architects and Karimoku Case Study
    The influence of Japanese design can be observed most clearly in the home’s double-height lounge, which is dressed with furniture that Norm Architects has produced in collaboration with Karimoku Case Study – the sister brand of Japanese manufacturer Karimoku.
    This includes a pebble-grey sofa, stone-topped coffee table and pair of armchairs that boast arching backrests upholstered in creamy fabric.
    Archipelago House is the third project that the brand has worked on since its launch in 2019, joining the Kinuta Terrace apartment block in Tokyo and the Blue Bottle Coffee cafe in Yokohama.

    Japanese lanterns appear throughout the holiday home
    The home’s living area also has a delicate cone-shaped lantern that was created bespoke for the project by Kojima Shouten, a Japanese brand that has been making lanterns for over 230 years.
    Crafted from washi paper, the lantern’s peaked form is meant to act as another reference to the architectural form of Archipelago House.

    Johan Sundberg builds Swedish holiday home that takes cues from Japanese architecture

    More squat lanterns that balance on four-legged stands appear in the home’s tranquil sleeping quarters. Here there are also book-like storage boxes that Norm Architects designed alongside Danish brand August Sandgren, where inhabitants can tuck away their personal trinkets.

    Book-style storage boxes hide the inhabitant’s belongings
    Beyond the home’s dining room lies an expansive outdoor deck where the family can play games or enjoy alfresco dinners with views of the adjacent sea and small, rugged islands.
    “Nature plays an important role in our soft minimalist approach, where we believe that buildings should be a functional backdrop and structure for human engagement,” added Werner.
    “It might be a romantic relationship with nature – but after all, that is why we want to escape the city once in a while and reconnect with nature in our holiday homes.”

    The home includes an outdoor deck
    Norm Architects was established in 2008 by Kasper Rønn Von Lotzbeck and Jonas Bjerre-Poulsen.
    The practice’s Archipelago House joins a number of getaway homes in scenic Sweden – others include Summerhouse Solviken by Johan Sundberg Arkitektur, which is raised up on steel stilts, and Villa Vassdal by Studio Holmberg, which boasts minimal plywood interiors.
    Photography is courtesy of Jonas Bjerre-Poulsen of Norm Architects.

    Read more: More

  • Minimal Fantasy holiday apartment in Madrid is almost completely pink

    Patricia Bustos Studio channelled “aesthetic madness” to create the striking bright-pink interior of this rentable apartment at the heart of Madrid, Spain.Locally-based Patricia Bustos Studio applied 12 different shades of pink throughout the Minimal Fantasy apartment, which is meant to offer a bolder take on the typical holiday rental.
    “We wanted to do something eye-catching and not go unnoticed, since in Madrid the offer of vacation rentals is enormous and you have to differentiate yourself if you want to have a recurrence in the rentals,” the studio told Dezeen.

    Surfaces throughout the apartment are bright pink
    The 55-square-metre apartment is set inside a 1950s residential building that’s a stone’s throw away from Madrid’s lively Puerta del Sol square.

    It formerly played host to just one bedroom and one bathroom, but Patricia Bustos Studio reconfigured the floor plan so that it can comfortably accommodate slightly larger groups of holiday goers.

    An arched doorway looks through to the kitchen
    There are now two bedrooms and an additional bathroom. The kitchen has also been separated from the living area so that, if necessary, it can sleep another two guests.
    With structural changes out the way, the studio set about creating the apartment’s stand-out interior – which is almost exclusively pink.

    Cabinetry in the kitchen is a mix of blue, pink and gold
    “Except for the distribution, which had to be practical, the rest of the project has been an aesthetic madness to take the visitor out of their comfort zone and make them dream,” explained the studio.
    “Pink is already the colour of a whole generation… the generation of the brave, those who are not afraid of change,” it continued.
    “Pink vindicates the fall of stereotypes – everything is possible, nothing is planned or established and that’s the beauty of it. There are no rules, or rather that everyone has their own.”

    Pink cushions and faux-fur throws dress the beds
    In the living area, bubblegum-pink paint has been applied across the walls and ceiling. A flecked pink laminate covers the floor and a chunky L-shaped plinth that winds around the corner of the room, topped with plush pink sofa cushions.
    Guests can gather for meals around the oval-shaped pink dining table, which is surrounded by dining chairs upholstered in metallic pink fabric with an iridescent finish.

    One of the beds is supported by a pink-tile platform
    The monochromatic colour scheme is interrupted in the adjacent kitchen, where the cabinets are covered in a mixture of blue, pink and gold geometric shapes.
    Worktops are lined with glazed, blush-pink tiles.

    Child Studio looks to worker’s cafes for pink interiors of London’s Humble Pizza

    These same tiles have been used to clad the side tables and supporting mattress base in one of the apartment’s bedrooms.
    In the other bedroom, the mattress is pushed up against a scalloped pink headboard. Textural interest is added throughout by baby-pink lamé soft cushions and faux-fur throws.
    Arched sliding doors can be drawn back to reveal pink-tile bathrooms, complete with pink-frame vanity mirrors and shiny pink shower curtains.

    Bathrooms lie behind arched sliding screens
    Other than a few spherical pendant lights, trailing ivy plants and neon art piece, Patricia Bustos Studio hasn’t incorporated a lot of decoration in the apartment.
    Some elements, like the stepped blocks which display books and other trinkets, are meant to riff off La Muralla Roja – a housing development designed by Spanish architect Ricardo Bofill in 1968, distinguished by its maze of interlocking stairways.
    “[Bofill] creates a mysterious and infinite space with the perfect transformation between 2D and 3D, and with several elements that play with the optical illusion,” added the studio.

    Shiny pink curtains and pink-frame mirrors complete the bathrooms
    Several other architects and designers haven’t shied away from making extensive use of the colour pink – last year, Child Studio covered the interior of a vegan pizza restaurant in London with candy-pink Formica.
    Mar Plus Ask also washed the walls of a cave-like guesthouse in Spain with blush-pink stucco.
    Photography is by JC de Marcos.

    Read more: More

  • White stucco Casa Mami by Working Holiday Studio contrasts California desert landscape

    Los Angeles design firm Working Holiday Studio has transformed a property in the California desert into a shoppable holiday home that “stands out” against its desolate landscape Casa Mami is located in Pioneertown, California, an unincorporated community outside of Joshua Tree National Park in Southern California.
    After visiting the area Carlos Naude and Whitney Brown of Working Holiday Studio wanted to purchase a house of their own to spend holidays in and to rent out to overnight guests.

    The 92-square-metre stucco house has an adobe-style construction and is situated on five acres (1.6 hectares) overlooking the barren desert landscape.

    To make the tiny building “stand out” against its surroundings a black portico contrasts the updated white exterior and light-coloured gravel around the property juxtaposes the sandy ground.

    “Most houses around the desert in that area try to blend in with the environment through earthy and brown tones, we wanted the opposite, we wanted our house to stand out which is why we chose to surround the house with white gravel to create a separation between the desert ground and house and painted it white and black, which not only made it really stand out but also brought a Mediterranean feel to it which is a good contrast to the dry hot desert,” Naude told Dezeen.

    For the interiors, the designers took cues from Scandinavian and Japanese design styles. This was coupled with bright colours found in work by Mexican architect Luis Barragán and a mix of pattern and shape used by French interior designer Jacques Granges and British designer Terence Conran.

    “I would say that we borrowed Luis Barragán’s use of colour – like the monochromatic yellow hallway, Jacques Grange’s ability to mix styles – between Scandinavian and Japanese, and Terence Conran’s incorporation of playful shapes and silhouettes,” he added.

    An Aesthetic Pursuit designs shoppable Airbnb in Maine

    Beige walls are paired with white moulding and painted grey floors throughout the house. In the kitchen the cabinets and drawers are punctured with a tiny hole to form a handle instead of with a traditional metal knob.

    A set of translucent glass doors with black trim is situated between the open-plan kitchen and living space frames the desert landscape, which is speckled with vegetation. Another pair is located in the master bedroom furnished with two semicircular nightstands and black light fixtures.

    In the living there is blue couch with rounded cushions and a circular coffee table topped with a terrazzo surface. The furnishings face a white, sphere-shaped fireplace installed to heat the tiny home.

    Photograph is by Candida Wohlgemuth
    The studio worked with over 30 brands to decorate the space with furniture, appliances and houseware items that guests can purchase online, forming part a new trend to design “shoppable stays”.
    Others include a holiday house in Maine designed by An Aesthetic Pursuit to showcase its new furniture collection and a rental property in Long Island Studio Robert McKinley has decorated to double as a showroom.

    Other details of Casa Mami are a hallway with bright yellow walls, decorative potted plants and an outdoor patio nestled into a corner of the structure.
    It is also powered by solar panels and a hauled water system, so the homeowners and guests are more conscious about their energy and water usage.

    Casa Mami has been longlisted in the hotel and short stay interior project category of Dezeen Awards 2020, with shortlists set to be announced at the start of September.
    Working Holiday Studio is a Los Angeles design studio led by husband and wife duo Carlos Naude and Whitney Brown. It worked with Francesca de la Fuente on the renovation of The Ruby Street co-working space in Los Angeles.
    Photography is by Carlos Naude, unless noted otherwise.

    Read more: More

  • Island Rest is a black-timber holiday home on the English coast

    British practice Ström Architects has completed Island Rest, a low-lying holiday home in the Isle of Wight that is clad in beams of blackened larch wood.Island Rest has been designed by Ström Architects as a “home away from home” for a family of four, who wanted a place where they could spend quality time together.
    The house is nestled in a creek that looks out across The Solent, a 20-mile-long stretch of water that separates the Isle of Wight from mainland England.

    First revealed in a series of renderings in 2018, the now-complete Island Rest house comprises a single-storey rectilinear volume clad with beams of black-stained larch wood.

    A low-lying structure was specifically chosen so as not to compromise views of the surrounding natural landscape.

    “We wanted the house to sit quietly against the backdrop of trees, while feeling like it embraced the views when looking out,” said the practice.
    “Our clients asked for an architecturally timeless building, drawing on the very best modern architectural concepts to create a whole – no frivolous moves; rigour must flow through every space and every detail that the building is.”

    As the area surrounding Island Rest is prone to flooding, it has been positioned to sit at the highest point of the site.
    At one end the house is supported by a grassy hill, but as this gradually slopes away, slim metal poles are instead used to elevate the structure.

    Magnus Ström models gabled annex for Hampshire home on “rustic boutique hotel”

    Expansive panels of glazing have also been fitted on both sides of the home to maximise sightlines and natural light.

    Inside lies an open-plan living and dining area, complete with a jet-black kitchen suite. This leads off to a fleet of bedrooms for the owners’ three young children.
    Each room has been given a largely simple fit-out to make them “places to sleep and not places to stay”, in a bid to encourage the children to spend more time playing outdoors.

    To give the parents a greater sense of privacy, their bedroom has been placed on the opposite side of the house.
    It has ensuite bathroom facilities and access to a small deck that leads down to the swimming pool and verdant garden.
    “Landscaping was a consideration from the outset and has a very natural and organic feel, with mowed paths through wildflowers leading to and defining areas of different function and interest,” added the practice.

    Ström Architects was established in 2010 and is based in the New Forest, a district of Hampshire, England.
    Other homes on the picturesque Isle of Wight include The Sett by Dow Jones Architects, which takes design cues from black-painted fishermen sheds seen dotted along the island’s beaches.
    There’s also House for a Yachtsman by The Manser Practice, which is punctuated by several glazed openings.
    Photography is by Nick Hufton of Hufton + Crow.

    Read more: More

  • Black shutters and concrete wall conceal Te Pakeke retreat in New Zealand

    This holiday home in New Zealand by Fearon Hay Architects hides from neighbouring properties while having uninterrupted views of the mountainous landscape.Te Pakeke house is situated north of the popular resort town Wanaka, surrounded by mountains and looking out across the waters of a vast lake.
    Its owners had tasked Fearon Hay Architects with creating a winter holiday retreat that had the feel of a secluded cabin.

    However, as the site was positioned on the corner of an arterial road, it meant the house would be visible to neighbouring properties and passersby.

    With this in mind, the practice worked to create a series of layers around Te Pakeke that can provide the owners with a sense of privacy.

    An L-shaped concrete wall wraps around the front of the house, obscuring it from view. It also offers protection from chilly prevailing winds.
    Beyond the wall is a gravelled courtyard where inhabitants can sit and relax throughout the day.

    A series of perforated black screens that are each edged with brass have then been made to wrap around the Te Pakeke’s facade.

    House in New Zealand sits on a concrete plinth surrounded by trees

    These can be pushed back concertina-style to open up the interiors to the surrounding landscape – when closed, they almost completely black-out the interior and give a shadowy look to living spaces.

    Inside, the house has been finished with moody concrete walls. Concrete has also been used for elements such as the breakfast island and countertops in the kitchen.
    Textural interest is added by a boxy mirrored volume that conceals laundry facilities. The practice specifically selected a reflective material so that this part of the home would appear to “dissolve” within the interior.

    In a nod to the materiality of traditional cabins, beams of timber have been used to line the house’s ceiling.
    Tree stump-like side tables also appear in the living room, which has a plump grey sofa and metal-frame armchair arranged around a wood burner.

    Fearon Hay Architects was founded in 1998 by Tim Hay and Jeff Fearon. The practice was exclusively based in Auckland, New Zealand until 2018 when they opened a studio in Los Angeles.
    Other residential projects that, like Te Pakeke, benefit from views of New Zealand’s impressive landscape include Kawakawa House by Herbst Architects, which perches on a concrete plinth overlooking a dense canopy of pōhutukawa trees, and Avalanche House by Intuitive Architects, which frames dramatic vistas of a mountain range.
    Photography is by Simon Wilson.

    Read more: More

  • Holiday home in Tuscany decked out with Italian stone and marble

    Alberese stones and Carrara marble are some of the Italian materials architects Emanuela Frattini Magnusson and Pietro Todeschini used for the interiors of this Tuscan holiday home. The one-storey house is situated in the small city of Grosseto, set on a hillside that overlooks rolling vineyards and olive groves. It belongs to a US-based couple […] More

  • K916 and K907 are a pair of pared-back holiday apartments in Warsaw

    Boxy timber volumes tuck away the beds and bathrooms of these minimal holiday apartments designed by Thisispaper Studio, which lie at the heart of the Polish capital. The two flats – named K916 and K907 – are set within an old print warehouse in Warsaw’s Praga district that was originally built in 1903, but has […] More