Carlo Scarpa (1906-1978) is my favorite architect. He was a master of timeless proportion and detail. But he was also an inventor – creating works that are constantly surprising, and seem fresh even decades after his death. It seems he never designed anything the same way twice.
His work was modern in style, but what made him unique among modernists was his reverence for traditional materials and crafsmanship. Born
Falling in love with a log home is easy. Whether you spot your ideal in a magazine, at a home show, or from behind the wheel as you travel, when you see the “perfect” log home it hits you like cupid’s arrow: you must have one. The more complicated part is determining the best way to get one, and that requires some research. In your quest for information, you’ll discover there are many paths to a log home, but the two main roads are kit, and custom.
Kit Log Homes Whether a kit home is a good choice for you depends on your timeframe, budget and how comfortable you are with an unalterable floor plan. Kit log homes are typically quicker to build and cost less than custom log or timber homes because they’re pre-designed and often times pre-cut; the potential down-side is that you can’t tweak the footprint or floor plan. While some k
These days the idea that at any moment an economic, sociological, or natural disaster could devastate our livelihoods is no longer strictly the stuff of conspiracy theories. In a world where media empires are hacking into phones and phones themselves are found to be housing illicit IP address geolocation software, its hard not being a little paranoid and feeling the urge to bury yourself underground. For most of us, these feelings are the inducements of stress and are temporary. But for some people, going underground is more than just liking bands before anyone else, they really want a way to do it if they have to.
Candles are a terrific way to bring a little romance to your patio or porch, but they need protection from wind and dirt. This weekend I’m giving my outdoor candles a little style with former Natural Home & Garden art director Susan Wasinger’s simple, cheap candleholders using inexpensive galvanized metal mending or tie plates, available for less than a dollar from the hardware store. These go together in seconds, and they’ll add a nice little twinkle when we dine al fresco.
When grouped together, the candleholders look like a city skyline. Photo
I drew this tiny playhouse as a potential class project for my daughter’s Waldorf kindergarten. It’s looking like we won’t be building it any time soon, but I figured readers of Tiny House Design would enjoy seeing it.
As you can see it’s very simple and measures just 4′x4′. It’s basically a simple deck with 2×6 floor boards, 4×4 posts at the corners that support a 12/12 pitch roof, and 2x2s and lath filling-in some of the openings. But most of the walls are left open to make it easier to watch the children.
You can download the Google SketchUp file if you’d like to get a closer look. To open the file