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Dark Stone and Industrial-Strength Materials Line a Contemplative Australian House

Contemplative is not an adjective you’d normally associate with Australia, but here’s a peaceful stone-lined house that exemplifies the quality.

Dark stone tiles recur throughout the entire house.

You enter an empty space as if walking into the woods.

The entry continues down the broad central stairs, with the two pavilions of the house to each side, with the bedroom upstairs.

Ancient, massive gum trees impose their dignity on the scene. The house is scaled to match.

The reposeful bedroom is high in the giant gum tree forest.

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Very Clever House of Stairs in Hakusan, Japan

A very appealing and inventive interior is hidden inside this plain white box in Ishikawa, Japan by Fujiwarramuro Architects.

The client came up with the idea of ​​arraying spaces around a very generous wide staircase in the center of the house, and the architects wring the maximum interest out of this unusual approach.

The central stairway can be seen as a ‘room’ that leads down to the front door, and up to the kitchen, with the TV watching nook in the middle.

The family study area is both focused and yet brilliantly spacious, despite its very economical use of space along one wall.

Wrapping around the next wall, between their homework shelf-room and their sleeping loft above is a comfy hangout.

Stair rungs in the comfy hangout lead up to a loft in the skylight, where the kids sleep at the top of this very unusual and appealing house.

From the TV nook, the low slung Japanese-style dining table can be seen as the natural extension of the stairs. Read the rest of this entry »

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Design Dilemma: Right-sizing an Extra Large Living Room

There are two types of people in the world: those who have tiny living rooms who wish they had bigger ones and those with massively large living rooms who have no idea what to do with all the space. Which are you?

If you happen to be one of those with a large living room, we’ve got a few tips to help make a cavernous space feel cozy again.

Create zones within your larger room.

So you have a huge den and your couch fills only one small corner of it? Why not create several areas which can accommodate different groups and different activities. You might create two conversation areas, a quiet reading corner, a work station, or even a play zone for the kids.

In the den above, the owners have chosen to create a work/study area that allows members of the family to attend to work while others lounge. The living room below is an example of a room with two conversation areas, one for an intimate tete-a-tete and the other a conversation area for a larger group.

Here’s another room that has been double-purposed. On the far side of the room is a “library” complete with book shelves and a cozy reading area. The other part of this room is a lounging and conversation area.

Here’s another example of the same thing. The owners have cleverly used a table to separate two different conversation areas. This room will be great for parties!

Consider ceiling treatments to create a feeling of intimacy and interest.

A large space can feel more intimate with beamed or cofferred ceilings or even decorative medallions. Take a look:

The decorative moldings help to pull the ceiling in, reducing the scale of the room. Same thing is happening in this room:

Here’s an example of another large room with an elaborate ceiling treatment:

Do you notice how each of these rooms feels intimate, despite the huge dimensions?

Paint the walls a warm color.

As you can see from the last three photos, each bathed in vibrant color, paint can help a large room feel cozier. Sandy and beige tones, yellow greens and periwinkles all help to make the above large spaces feel intimate. And below is another  example of a large room that feels more intimate with the use of wallpaper. (The over-sized floor lamp was another clever way to fill up space).

Make use of area rugs.

In each of our examples of large rooms, you’ll spot area rugs. Area rugs are a great way to create divisions and zones within a space. With something warm underfoot, and with an explosion of pattern and color, rugs instantly make any room feel homey.

Below, a West Village townhouse features two area rugs for two conversation areas:

The large livingroom below makes use of multiple area rugs to create different zones, and even layers area rugs on top of each other for a multi-dimensional effect:

Get the lighting right.

Large, cavernous rooms need lots of different types of lighting for different functions. Generalized ceiling lights may be necessary at times, but even more important are task lights that can help make a space feel warmer. This means lots of table lamps, reading lights and work station lights to flick on when it’s time to make things cozy.

The room below is a great example of a large space with many different task lights. Not only is there diffused general lighting in the form of up wall sconces and down recessed lights, but there are spotlights for paintings and table lamps for intimate conversation:

Accessorize.

In most of the examples you see above, there are a few key elements that also help a large room to feel lived-in. Most of our examples feature bookshelves, which take up visual space and help to bring walls in more closely. It’s hard to feel like your living in a cave if you are surrounded by books!  Other important features include wall art, framed mirrors, decorative screens and throw pillows.  You’ll be amazed at how combining these elements can instantly take a huge, cavernous living room to a cozy, yet spacious setting.