An odd house in Notting Hill

Here is another project by architect Annabel Karim Kassar I wanted to share. This time while also eclectic, it is much more....random. While I don't understand most of this, I admire the creativity. At first glance, Notting Hill House's interior is a project in which we employed an architectural reading with regard to the structure of the space. Starting at the entrance, an architectural language, almost a line, is felt and perceived. It travels through the space and guides the eye, commencing from the kohl parquet flooring of the ground floor, to the simple contour of the balustrade lining the staircase, to a single window with an intricately worked out wooden frame overlooking a spectacular London view. A closer look reveals details or elements that are characteristic of Annabel Karim Kassar’s trademark style, which is to combine different material, patterns, textures and textiles. Notting Hill house's interior is a blend of North African and modern design and is also influenced by Victorian interiors in which one can find collections of trinkets and travel items picked up on trips, the house gathers eclectic furniture pieces rendering the spaces both spectacular and bold. (Photos: Ray Main)

Click to read more ...

Villa Gemmayze

Colour, modern furnishings and patterned tile makes this 500 m² home in Beirut, Lebanon designed by architect Annabel Karim Kassar pretty spectacular. The starting point for the interior of the color-rich home in Beirut was inspired from a palm tree standing in front of the house, its orange dates and its very green leaves. In the midst of Gemmayze, an old, traditional quarter of the city, full of Venetian style buildings, where bars and restaurants are all buzz at night, the heart of the house is vibrant and dramatic. Pink, orange, green and checkered, the walls are a statement that shouts color as they are transformed into "designer pieces" themselves. Furniture carefully designed and picked out, oversize lampshades and geometric patterned flooring all stand strong enough and hold their own against all that color, where anything quieter would have been drowned out.(Photos: Ray Main)

BMID latest

Can I admit to playing favourites? Sydney-based interior designer Brett Mickan inspires me every time. Love his strong sense of colour, his contemporary with a twist designs always with a vintage touch, his stylish but family friendly spaces. So of course I'm smitten with his latest design. Haberfield House by Brett Mickan Interior Design.

Click to read more ...

House Amanda

For those who are into black and white with pops of colour, this house in Hout Bay, Cape Town, South Africa is for you. House Amanda by Inhouse. The brief was to design a house that would celebrate local contemporary art and allow the owners to entertain guests frequently. The house had to accommodate a mature family and be equally livable by day and night. It was important for the house to embrace the area in which it was located, so a sensitive architectural design was one of the criteria. The house needed to embrace the exterior with its beautiful views of the Hout Bay valley and surrounding mountains.

Click to read more ...

Westhampton beach playhouse

The New York based design team of Chango & Co. continue to blow me away with their spectacular spaces. This home is by far one of my favourites. It helps that it is a beach house. You can pretty much get away with anything at a client's second home - like pineapple wallpaper and REALLY bright yellow paint. The tricky part is having "fun" designing a giant five bedroom beach house that needs a major overhaul (and a lot of minor construction) on a ten-week timeline. So with complete creative freedom, but very little time, we set out to design a home that would serve as an escape from the city and the restraints of apartment living for this young couple and their three beautiful (and very playful) children. From the front porch, this home looks like any other house in the quiet family neighborhood that surrounds it. When the door you enter reveals a banana yellow interior, the foyer leads to a formal dining room with pineapple patterned walls, then into a candy-colored kitchen… you know you’re in the midst of people who know how to have fun. Each room was crafted around the vividly colorful personalities in the family to encourage as much unrestrained joy & unconfined playtime as possible and the end result is a celebration of whimsy & lightness of spirit… a true playhouse for kids, big and small alike. (Photos: Sean Litchfield)

Click to read more ...