Harlech House

These are the gates of a private residence in Dublin, Ireland. If the inside of the house is as fantastic as these gates are, I want a tour. Or let's be honest, I just want to move in. I want to be guarded by dragons. I think the house is currently for sale but I don't have the $2.5 million or so that is the asking price. Still a girl can dream.

Mid Week Image

I'm still working on what to call my Wednesday habit of posting just a picture. So far you guys have mostly let me get away with it. I have almost no time on Wednesday but I figure I've been so irregular about posting that I'll post whenever I think about it. The title Mid Week Image works, at least this week.

This is Karl Lagerfeld's living room. For those of you who don't know, Lagerfeld was the head of the Chanel house of fashion until he started his own design firm. And in my opinion he has exquisite taste in decorating. Those are all books and magazines. That is exactly the kind of wall I want to have in my house. Gorgeous.

Home Plans

I have a bit of an odd stress reliever. When I'm bored or frustrated or stressed, I look at home plans or home listings. I come by it honestly. My mother, although she's never dreamed of building a home, continually brings home blueprints books. You see them in the grocery store or hardware box store. They contain blueprint after blueprint which are available for sale. Neither of us will ever buy a blueprint. But I love to look at those plans.

Jeff used to get frustrated with me that I always took home an Iowa Realty listing from the store. I'd even grab apartment guides. When we finally bought the house I think he assumed that it would be over. That I'd stop looking. What he didn't understand was that it wasn't the buying I was interested in. It was the looking.

Perhaps it is the possibility that I love. I enjoy looking at sites like Realtor.com which offer pictures of houses for sale. I can imagine all the possible ways to make the house my own. This is of course funny because I've done very little to customize our own house. But I'll imagine laying new floors in this one, putting a pool in that backyard, or even just picture my library in one of the rooms. Or I look at the blueprints and imagine what the house would have to look like. What configuration is right for us. Again I'm not really in the market, I just find it soothing.

This week's been a bit odd. I'm just starting to get used to my new nine hour days. Strange that I was easily working 8.5 to 9 hour days before. But now that it's mandatory it's much more draining. So on my lunch hours I've been staying in and looking at houses. I've found a couple in Des Moines that I wouldn't mind owning. I've glanced at homes in Asheville, a city I've become fascinated with. I looked for houses in San Antonio for no reason whatsoever. And in between I've been checking out blueprints on HousePlans.com. I'm much more relaxed and suddenly I'm thinking of fixing up my place. After all, these homes for sale have some good design ideas.

People in Glass Houses....

I have a confession to make. I bought my townhouse for the windows. Yeah the place is nice and the location is mostly quiet but it was the windows that made me fall in love with it. There are only three but they are wide and expansive and look out over a forested area. I remember touring the place, thinking I could possibly live here, until I saw the master bedroom window. And I was in love. We bought in August so it was lush and green outside and the nearby creek was just too pretty. When I open the windows at night I can hear the sound of the brook. 

What got me thinking about all this was a recent article in Dwell magazine. I occasionally pick up home magazines because I love residential architecture. And I particularly love two different (and I mean very different) styles. The first is the cottage. Small, cheerful, warm, and bright. The second is modern. Sparse, cool, simple, and... well bright. I've realized that what I love abut both of these styles is the windows. In fact, in 95% of the pictures I pull out of these magazines, the windows are what captured my eye. The other 5% are outdoor living spaces. I am clearly infatuated with mixing the indoors and the outdoors. 

The article in Dwell was covering Mies van der Rohe's Lafayette Park in Detroit. This was a planned community in Detroit filled with modern apartments, townhomes, and condos. And they're almost all glass. Here is a picture of the townhouses. 

My first introduction to Mies was in college. I went to Drake and started my career in the school of journalism. That was before I realized that intense daily deadlines and I do not get along. But the school of journalism was held in an interesting glass building. Every outer classroom was floor to ceiling windows. I was in heaven. The building, interestingly enough was designed by Mies van der Rohe. It was a source of pride for the school. And a source of happiness for me. 

Meredith Hall-Drake University

So I think I could possibly live in a glass house. I love the remoteness of the houses and the idea of constantly being surrounded by views of trees, animals, and nature. Mies created some of the greatest glass and steel skyscrapers around. But it is his glass house, the Farnsworth House, that I love the most. If price wasn't an issue, I'd live there.  

The same with this goethermal house in North Carolina. 

I'm not sure I could live in the Philip Johnson glass house but that's mostly because it is just for tours. 

But I'd love to live with those windows. I just have to remember not to throw stones.