CasaSugar -- Home sweet home.

In the News: Cabins Go Green

casasugar — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 07:00:19 -0800

In a recent New York Times article, "A Cabin Is Not a Shack," writer Louise Tutelian reports on the emerging trend to green second homes, or "cabins" as these houses are identified. One such cabin featured in the article, which is pictured below, was built in Montana using only local and reclaimed materials.

The article maintains that currently, cabin culture is defined by the following:

Ditch the deer heads and moose antlers. Put away the caps with flaps. There is nothing musty, creaky, saggy or squeaky about the new cabin culture. Across the country, cabins are being reimagined in sustainable yet stylish ways. Some combine industrial materials like mesh, oxidized steel and concrete with traditional wood. Others employ reclaimed or recycled material to stay eco-friendly and keep costs down. “Turnkey” models arrive fully constructed, ready to be dropped onto a site. Still other cabins are off the grid, but with the comforts of home. And despite the advances in design, cabin owners want the same thing they always did: a place that provides an escape into the natural world.

To tell me what you think about this trend, and read why I think it's nothing revolutionary,

In the News: Something to Bank On

casasugar — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 08:30:27 -0700

New York magazine's "The 72-Room Bohemian Dream House" unveils what is perhaps "the greatest real-estate coup of all time": 190 Bowery Street. In 1966, thanks to much pressure from his real estate agent, photographer Jay Maisel scrounged up enough money, $102,000 to be exact, to purchase the abandoned 1898 Germania Bank building in Manhattan's Bowery district, which then was largely middle-class and German and by no means a "hot" neighborhood. 42 years, Meisel still lives there with his wife, Linda, and daughter, Amanda. The six-story building, which measures around 35,000 square feet, is now valued upward of $30 million. The first three floors are used as gallery spaces. Although Maisel hasn't let a broker set foot in the building, one agent said, "I would do anything to get that building." The building has undergone no major changes to its interior, and maintains many of its original features including the safe-deposit vault, an ornate copper elevator cage, a verdigris-coated copper roof trim, tin ceiling and wall tiles, and the bank's original kitchen, which was once used by staff who cooked for the bankers. Talk about a good investment! Check out the article for more details and a slideshow of the space.
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In the News: Celebrating the Outdoors in a Manhattan Penthouse

casasugar — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 07:00:49 -0700

What's the first thing you do when you buy a $4 million penthouse in lower Manhattan? If you're Matthew Blesso, you don't move in; instead, you allow two Yale professors to use the space as a giant experimental classroom.
Fred A. Bernstein's recent New York Times article In the Penthouse, a True Garden Apartment, celebrates this collaboration between architect Joel Sanders, landscape architect Diana Balmori, and real estate developer Matthew Blesso. The professors teach a course called Interface that integrates architecture and landscape architecture, the latter of which is often overlooked in projects. And so, with Mr. Blesso’s blessing, the two professors turned his $4 million apartment into an extended classroom. Luckily for all parties involved, the results were more than satisfactory for everyone, with Sanders and Balmori getting their living lab, and Blesso a truly unique living space.

To find out more about this penthouse,

In The News: 60 Years Later, "Temporary" Homes Occupied

casasugar — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 07:45:36 -0700

During a housing shortage in England after World War II, planners turned to prefab to help with the rapidly expanding populace. The Excalibur estates in the town of Catford (located in the borough of Lewisham in greater London) were built to shelter new families temporarily and were only expected to last for 10 years. Now, 60 years later, those houses are still inhabited.

The 185 prefabricated houses are scheduled to be torn down by the Lewisham Council, which owns 80 percent of the houses. According to a spokesperson for the council who was interviewed for the BBC, "These buildings were originally constructed for a temporary life — 10 years or so — and have been standing for over 60 . . . The estate is one of the few areas where refurbishment is unaffordable and achieving modern standards of decent homes is only possible through replacing existing homes with a new build programme."

To see if there's hope for these homes,

In the News: Juxtaposing Days in the Life

casasugar — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 07:45:30 -0700

David Elliot Cohen, the photographer who dreamt up the coffee table book series A Day in the Life has turned his eye to new topics. In an article in the San Francisco Chronicle, he says that "Photography is now wallpaper . . . Great pictures of ordinary events are everywhere you look. You can't avoid them."

So, to remove himself from this endless roll of wallpaper unfurling on Flickr streams across the world, Cohen turned to documenting an area that people didn't want to touch: that of pain, injustice, and environmental devastation.

While this may sound stark, Cohen's new book of photo essays, What Matters ($27.95), is required reading for anyone that cares about the future of this planet.

To hear about the photo essays,

In the News: HGTV's Angelo Surmelis's Before & After Kitchen

casasugar — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 07:45:35 -0700

Design show hosts have gotten used to entering into contestants' homes, but for once the tables are turned. HGTV's Rate My Space host Angelo Surmelis recently played host to the LA Times, who interviewed him about the renovation of his 1920s Los Angeles bungalow. Well aware that "no matter how splendidly you've decorated the rest of your house, guests always end up in the kitchen," Surmelis took three weeks and $20,000 to transform his eyesore of a kitchen ("a jumble of scruffy cupboards, wood paneling, a broken stove and grimy old linoleum," shown here gutted) into a modern-meets-vintage splendor. All it took was a little rearranging, new IKEA cabinets, an antique hutch, Carrara marble counters, and some cork flooring . . . oh yeah, and the fact that he's a design expert might have come in handy. To see the transformation,

In the News: Green Architecture Has a Ways to Go

casasugar — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 06:15:17 -0700

Interested in getting the lowdown about green architecture? Then I suggest you read the Newsweek article, "The Bad News About Green Architecture." For a good while now, the reporting of green architecture practices has been nothing less than greenwashed, and I've been waiting for a mainstream publication to address our country's problem with its perception and definition of "green" architecture. In "The Bad News About Green Architecture," writer Cathleen McGuigan points out that "LEED rating" is an over-trumpeted catch phrase these days ("more than 16,000 projects are now registered with the U.S. Green Building Council as intending to go for a LEED certification"), and LEED isn't stringent enough with its awards — a long-held truth.
But more importantly, she stresses that building green if you're building big (i.e. McMansions), or unnecessarily, isn't green at all. There are various plans to build green resorts in Las Vegas, including the 8.3-million-square-foot Palazzo Resort Hotel and Casino, likely motivated by the tax rebates that come with passing LEED certification. While that makes a great talking point in local papers, it still takes "tons of jet fuel that will be used to deliver millions more tourists to Vegas each year," and countless un-green materials to keep the place up and running once it's built. To hear more of my thoughts,

In the News: Grad Student Bakes Green Power in Pizza Oven

casasugar — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 07:00:48 -0700

One of the main reasons that green power hasn't taken off is its high price tag, but Australian PhD candidate Nicole Kuepper may be changing that. This green-thinking student has discovered a way to produce solar cells using a pizza oven, nail polish, and ink jet printers.

According to the The Sydney Morning Herald:

Ms Kuepper realised a new approach would be needed if affordable cells were to be made on site in poorer countries: "What started off as a brainstorming session has resulted in the iJET cell concept that uses low-cost and low-temperature processes, such as ink-jet printing and pizza ovens, to manufacture solar cells."

While it could take five years to commercialise the patented technology, providing renewable energy to homes in some of the least developed countries would enable people to "read at night, keep informed about the world through radio and television and refrigerate life-saving vaccines". And it would also help reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

The inspiring Kuepper was awarded the British Council Eureka Prize for Young Leaders in Environmental Issues and Climate Change for her solar power development, as well as a $10,000 study tour to Britain. I'm always proud of girl geeks, and since women are underrepresented in the sciences, I am doubly impressed by this young inventor. Congratulations, Nicole!
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In the News: Philippe Starck's Democratic Ecology

casasugar — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 04:30:00 -0700

Back in March, in an interview with German publication Die Ziet, prolific industrial designer Philippe Starck admitted to feeling "ashamed" for being "a producer of materiality," saying, "Everything I have created is absolutely unnecessary." In shock, the design world was buzzing. Would this mean retirement for the can-do-no-wrong designer? What would we blog about? Well, luckily, we haven't yet had to cross that bridge. It turns out, according to a New York Times article, despite his misgivings, Starck has been "advocating environmentalism" for some time in his personal life with his "organic diet, the solar-powered oyster farm he owns in Arcachon Bay in southwestern France, and so forth — ending with 'the least polluting plane on the market,' his private jet." And, more buzzworthy, he has designed a line of products called "Democratic Ecology," which are "relatively cheap, attractive, energy-saving products" meant to “introduce everybody to ecology.” The first is a "miniature rooftop wind turbine, priced between $780 and $1,250, which Mr. Starck said can produce up to 80 percent of a home’s energy." In the works as well is a solar panel film that covers existing windows, a prefab green house, an electric car, an eco-moped, and a solar- and hydrogen-powered boat. As to be expected, these eco products won't be a stitch "granola": Starck says, “It’s very, very important that they’re beautiful, because ecology should be a pleasure, not a punishment." Read more about the line in The New York Times's "And Now, to Try and Catch the Wind."
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In the News: Lance Armstrong's a Champion of Water Wasting

casasugar — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 14:00:16 -0700

Although there are many things to admire about cyclist and activist Lance Armstrong, his blatant water abuse isn't one of them. According to the New York Times, Armstrong's Austin home guzzled down 330,000 gallons of water in July alone! For comparison, most US households only use 120,000 gallons of water in a year. I've told you about Celine Dion's bad water habits in the past, but Armstrong's rate takes the cake, especially since Texas is going through a bad dry spell.

To find out more, and to see photos of Armstrong's house and water-guzzling gardens,

In the News: Political Humor at Home

casasugar — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 12:00:00 -0700

The New York Times has an article and interesting slideshow showcasing the 1830 townhouse of director Roland Emmerich (10,000 BC, Independence Day) in London. When the German-born director moved into stuffy neighborhood Knightsbridge, he asked his interior designer to create a space that was “as nonfrumpy as possible,” that reflected "his predilection for art with a political edge." Especially during a national election, these days, political humor is rampant. But, most of us get our fill flipping through a copy of The Onion or turning on The Daily Show. On a tour through Emmerich's home though, you'll find Chinese propaganda posters, Mao sculptures, a desk made from the wing of a World War II plane, a life-size wax statue of Pope John Paul II reading his own obituary, and even a diorama depicting John F. Kennedy's assassination. Shown here is a bedroom decorated in traditional Brit fashion with "English rose" wallpaper and a chenille bedspread, but the designer took a light-hearted political jab by hanging a portrait of Princess Di giving the middle finger above touristy London statuettes and a pair of Princess Diana and Prince Charles dolls set in the fire place. Next to it is a bird cage shaped like the White House and a statue of Arnold Schwarzenegger inspired by Rodin's "The Thinker." I wouldn't feel at home in this space, but I'm wildly entertained. Are you impressed? Disgusted? Apathetic?
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In the News: Youth Photography Builds Community in Portland

casasugar — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 16:00:00 -0700

When photojournalist Julie Keefe moved into her rapidly changing (and gentrifying) North Portland community, a place that was once "a village raising all the kids," she noticed that as new business grew, streets became safer, and houses were fixed up, the dialogue between community members (and children) took a sharp decline . . . that people weren't saying "Hello" anymore. She wanted to publicly address these changes, that she as a new neighbor was a part of, and spur new conversation. So, she began a yearlong youth photography project called Hello Neighbor. Kids began to approach their new neighbors, of all ages, and ask to interview and photograph them. At the same time the children were learning interviewing skills and photography techniques, they were also saying hello to their neighbors and bridging a gap that had been widening for some time. Keefe chose several of the children's images to be printed in mural size and in black and white, along with text from the interviews, and hung them throughout the community to serve as a simple reminder that "it all begins with a simple hello." Read more about the project in NPR's "A Photo Project's Message: Hello, Neighbor."

In the News: Revisiting a Modern Home

casasugar — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 08:30:01 -0700

Los Angeles is known for its modern architecture and architects, with homes built by the likes of Ralph Rapson, John Lautner, and Pierre Koenig dotting the urban landscape. One such house, which was featured in the LA Times 50 years ago, has just resurfaced in that paper's pages. Dubbed the Times Home Magazine House, it was designed by architect Edward H. Fickett and the interior was designed by Arthur Elrod.

The Encino home, which was built as "a suburban house that embodied forward-thinking design," was, similar to the case study houses, meant to be affordable for a middle-class family. Half a century later, the house still manages to appear private, beautiful, and of the moment. Now owned by Warner Walcott and Jonn Coolidge, whose prior residence was also built by Fickett, the current inhabitants have brought their own sense of coolness to the house while maintaining the home's integrity and original intentions. They also have, as the LA Times article notes, complemented the home's style "with an art and furniture collection that's at once retro yet contemporary — and unmistakably California cool."

While I'm a bit too scattered and cluttered to ever make a modern home like this work to its full advantage, I do admire the "California cool" look of these homes. There's something soothing in their clean lines, placid pools, and deliberate blurring of indoor and outdoor spaces. To see the house in all of its splendid glory, check out the whole article.

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In The News: Where the Sidewalk Ends

casasugar — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 04:30:02 -0700

If you've ever lived in a large city, such as New York or Los Angeles, you know that space is at a premium, especially outdoor space. Yards are virtually unheard of, so what's a gal to do when she wants to dine al fresco? Why, take it outside — out to the sidewalk, that is. In a recent New York Times article, "The Dining Room Takes to the Streets," writer Penelope Green looks at a group of rather atypical rebels who assert their elbow room by dining on the sidewalks outside their homes or even in nooks atop the Brooklyn Bridge.

It turns out that hauling your dining table and chairs onto a sidewalk is actually perfectly legal. Janette Sadik-Khan, commissioner of the Department of Transportation, says, “Public space is the glue that holds our city together and makes it worth living in . . . I always say the streets are the living rooms, so I guess that makes the sidewalks the front porches. We’re trying to remove the barriers to enjoying that space. The D.O.T.’s priority is safety. If someone wants to use the sidewalk for a casual dinner, they just have to be considerate of the neighbors.”

Andrew Henderson for the New York Times

In the News: Granite Gone Bad

casasugar — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 07:45:45 -0700

When reading real estate listings, most of us would associate granite countertops with luxury homes, and consider them a coveted feature. That is, unless you knew they could be emitting elevated levels of radon, a radioactive gas that can cause lung cancer. A recent New York Times article, "What's Lurking in Your Countertop?" chronicled the trials of one homeowner and doctor who found that his radon gas levels were reading 100 picocuries per liter, a far cry from 4 picocuries per liter, which the Environmental Protection Agency (E.P.A.) considers a health risk. Apparently, as the popularity of granite countertops has increased in the last decade, so have reports of potentially hazardous countertops. While most "health physicists and radiation experts agree that most granite countertops emit radiation and radon at extremely low levels," the risk of exposure from "exotic and striated varieties from Brazil and Namibia," has yet to be evaluated. When it comes down to it, "There is no known safe level of radon or radiation," says an E.P.A. program analyst. So, if you can choose a risk-free alternative, why wouldn't you? At the very least, it's a smart idea to have your countertops tested.
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In The News: No One's Immune From Downsizing

casasugar — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 08:30:01 -0700

For most of us, downsizing means foregoing an addition on a home, or selling a vacation home, especially in this uncertain real estate market. If your last name is Spelling, though, downsizing has a slightly different meaning.

As reported in the LA Times, Candy Spelling, widow of Aaron Spelling, has traded in her Holmby Hills home — the largest house in the entire county of Los Angeles with 123(!) rooms and measuring in at 56,500 square feet— for her new $47 million condo, which spans the top two floors of LA's Century City high rise, which is still under construction. You see? No one's immune to downsizing; it just operates on a different scale.

The condo is significantly smaller at around 16,500 square feet. Of course, that's still a massive amount of residential space. Personally I wouldn't want to deal with a house that size, nor the environmental impact that such a big home would incur (not to mention the housecleaning bill). However, Ms. Spelling can obviously do exactly as she pleases, and if this downsizing is her idea of home sweet home — even at the cost of $2,848 per square foot — then more power to her.

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In the News: Observing, Not Doing It Yourself

casasugar — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 07:45:59 -0700

A recent New York TImes article, "If I Had a Hammer, I Wouldn’t Watch TV" by Michael Grimes, looks at the DIY movement through a most passive of pastimes — the television. Grimes spent an entire day watching the DIY Network, which is affiliated with two other get-up-and-do-it stations, the Food Network and HGTV. From the high class of This Old House to the writer's obvious boredom with knitting show Knitty Gritty (all right, yes, how exciting can a show about knitting really be?), a full day of DIY programming was critiqued from the safe confines of Grimes's recliner.

The obvious irony in this is that while do-it-yourself programs and books are meant to inspire ordinary people to pick up a power drill and get cracking, often the books, TV shows, and instructions never make it past the stage of observation. There's also, of course, something very seductive about watching a two-month-long kitchen remodel happen in the space of an hour. It's so much cleaner, cheaper, and less time consuming. On the other hand, it also means that the only home that's going to look any different is the one on your television screen.

To find out more about this article, as well as the DIY Network,

In the News: Sofa Studies

casasugar — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 05:30:38 -0700

Faced with renovating a crumbly brick townhouse in Manhattan's East Village, and building a home for her children that they could participate, ex Kate Spade partner Pamela Bell abandoned the tendency to create a "trophy home" and invited her daughter's 7th grade class to graffiti her John Derian muslin sofa with fabric markers. The result is an example of ideal imperfection, the kind that's engaging because of its flaws, that wins you over because it can't be reproduced. Bell's home is full of furnishings with this laissez-faire attitude towards design — spray-painted bittersweet from the farmers market for a chandelier, a pile of suitcases for a side table, walls embellished with Marimekko stickers, and a chalkboard-covered fridge — and it's all the better for it. Read more about it in The New York Times' "When Perfect Is Not the Goal."
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In the News: Unwanted Heirlooms

casasugar — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 06:15:24 -0700

In the New York Times story "The Tyranny of the Heirloom," writer Joyce Wadler explores the idea of the unwanted family inheritance. Melodie Bryant, a New York composer whom Wadler interviews, for example, inherited a portrait of her Great-Great-Great-Uncle Ivins, even though she had no desire to hang the painting in her tiny Chelsea apartment. Add to this a moving accident, which ripped the canvas and cost Bryant $3,000 in repair costs, and you can understand why this portrait became a wall hanging you'd avert your eyes from.

In the article, Wadler writes,

Ambivalence and guilt, it seems, are central elements of furniture inheritance, the anchoring pieces around which everything is organized, like the sofa in a living room. Barry Lubetkin, a psychologist and the director of the Institute for Behavior Therapy in Manhattan, has observed this in a number of patients living with inherited furniture they hate. It’s an unhealthy setup, in which people become “slaves to inanimate objects,” he says. “Once you’re defining it as something you can’t get rid of, you’re not in control of your life or your home."

Of course, you probably know that my philosophy for decorating and design goes something along the lines of "less is more." That doesn't mean that I'm not living with some inherited pieces, but luckily, thus far, all of the pieces are ones that I love.

Have you been saddled with any unwanted heirlooms? Tell me about it in the comments below.

Chester Higgins Jr./The New York Times

In the News: Cold Storage Living

casasugar — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 08:30:24 -0700

New York's "Warmer When Occupied" is a sneak peek into the TriBeCa home of architect Diana Kellogg and husband writer-director Neil Burger (Interview With the Assassin, The Illusionist). And, when I say "home," I mean a former cold storage warehouse. The couple had their eye on the place for years, "drawn to the mysterious qualities of the street and the house,” and finally jumped on it in 2001. Though a warehouse conversion is not uncommon these days, preserving its history is. In warehouse neighborhoods around the country, especially in New York, historic buildings are being transformed into distant semblances of themselves, looking more like a W Hotel than the remains of yesteryear. In this case, the couple opted to "preserve traces of how the building functioned,” rather than fighting it. They held onto to small details like "the drill holes for the hoist," as well as the open-floor plan of the space, setting kitchen appliances on the walls, rather than centered around an island. And not only did they preserve these features, they also made note of them; play swings for the children hang from hooks welded to the building’s steel support beams.
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In the News: Keeping Cool Without AC

casasugar — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 04:30:03 -0700

The magazine Scientific American recently answered a reader's question about how to turn down the heat without turning on your air conditioner, and I thought it was definitely information worth sharing. You can read the whole article here, but I've summarized most of the major points below.

The key to keeping cool is maintaining air flow over the skin's surface (also known as a breeze). Thus, "Instead of turning on that AC, see which direction the breeze is blowing outside (no matter how minimal it may be), and then open a few windows strategically to try to get it flowing through the house from end-to-end or side-to-side."
Use fans if the breeze isn't doing the job.
Even better, create a wind tunnel effect by positioning one fan near a window, to pull air in, and another by the other end of your house to suck hot air out.
If your house gets a lot of sunlight, keep the curtains and/or blinds closed to cut down on the heat gain that can happen with sunlight beating down on your interior space.
Turn off lights, too! While CFLs give off much less heat than incandescent bulbs, they still produce some heat.

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In the News: Recycling Salvaged Materials Poses a Problem

casasugar — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 04:30:23 -0700

So far during Eco-Chic month, I've given you tons of easy and stylish ways to create an environmentally-friendly home. But sometimes, even when you try, it's not as simple as you'd expect. An SFGate article recently tinkered with an issue we hear little about in these days of "Green is easy! Green is cheap!" Apparently, building codes in some of America's most environmentally progressive cities are preventing architects, builders, and homeowners from reusing building materials that already exist. Durable, salvaged building materials like glass doors, light fixtures, doors, and cabinets clash with safety codes, and restrictions against using materials that may contain lead or asbestos. To top it off, some state energy conservation codes are preventing these homeowners in these eco-conscious cities from reusing traditional incandescent bulbs, which pile high in salvage stock. As the article's author Arrol Gellner writes, this conundrum is "leaving well-intentioned green builders caught in a classic Catch-22[.]" One alternative I see is to find a use for salvaged materials as furnishings, not subject to building codes, like recycled light bulb vases and coffee tables made from salvaged doors.
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In The News: Contain the Excitement

casasugar — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 04:30:37 -0700

Since I'm one of the lucky ladies who benefits from a year-round growing season here in the San Francisco Bay Area, it's easy to forget that other gardeners, especially those in the Midwest, aren't so lucky. Long, harsh winters often kill some perennials, and the six-months-or-less growing season is often spent in a harried planting state, trying to cram in as many plantings and colors as possible. Connie Price writes in her article "Contain Yourself," from the Minneapolis Star Tribune, about ways that gardeners can supplement the color and variety of perennial gardens by using trendier and more colorful plants in their container gardens.

Hanging containers and oversized terra-cotta pots are great ways to add some punch to your back porch or front doorway, but, as Price relates, it's sometimes hard to get the right mix. With this in mind, she enlists the help of three nursery owners to help gardeners get the most bang for their container-garden buck. You'll definitely want to check out the article, especially since there's a video tutorial and slideshow of containers included.
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In The News: A Daring Museum Design

casasugar — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 04:30:54 -0700

On Sunday, San Francisco added another well-designed, eye-catching museum to its roster of cool, well-designed museums (my favorite up to now has been the de Young). The design of the Contemporary Jewish Museum took what was once a power company substation and births something completely different. Architect Daniel Libeskind, who previously built the Jewish Museum Berlin, shows a talent for merging the old and the new in his winning, playful design for San Francisco's Contemporary Jewish Museum.

The San Francisco Chronicle covered the details behind the museum's aesthetic development in a number of articles, and together these pieces tell a fascinating story. An abundance of thought and consideration went into this building's design. Deep grooves across a wall of the lobby, which are lit for emphasis, are an acronym for "orchard" in Hebrew. Interior spaces feature elements such as open staircases, soaring ceilings, playful use of light, and magnetic walls. But of course, these features are just the very beginning. To find out all about this bold new design, read more here.
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In the News: A Home on the Tracks

casasugar — Thu, 15 May 2008 04:30:34 -0700

In the New York Times' Great Homes and Destinations, the feature "In England, at Home in a Railroad Station" caught my eye. The piece describes the remodeling process taken on by an American/British dual citizen, who purchased a former railroad station in dilapidated form and made it family-ready. Steve Sokalsky tried to maintain the sense of history in Lenwade Station, which dates back to before 1882, when transforming it into his two-bedroom, one-bath home. But he also integrated high technology, such as "its own computer server so the family can use an online system to access the heating, lighting, TV, broadband, and closed-circuit television service," and a wireless keyboard controlling a built-in TV, DVD player, or computer monitor screen that can float in the bathtub. Despite these modernizations, looking at the exterior, you can almost still hear the conductor's whistle and the chug of a train passing through. Sokalsky explained, "Our plan now is to extend the house, but all the work we do will be very much in keeping with the old building. It is very important to us that from the outside at least this property still looks very much like a station.”
Jonathan Player for the New York Times

In the News: Biodegradable Products Are Built to Toss

casasugar — Wed, 14 May 2008 11:00:22 -0700

The New York Times "Biodegradable Home Product Lines, Ready to Rot" is a nod to the advent of biodegradability in the home décor world these days. I wouldn't say the biodegradable plastic spoon I ate my turkey chili off of at lunch today is new and noteworthy. But, stylish product lines like Looolo Textiles, which are designed to compost in one year should you deign they're no longer en vogue, certainly qualify as new kids on the block. The Times interviewed Tim Zyto, chief executive of Montauk Sofa (which will soon add biodegradability to its product features), who said, "At first the whole idea was to have as little impact on the environment as possible. . . . Then it was, hey, what if the sofa just disappears when you’re done with it?” The transition from advertising (and creating) products as durable now to biodegradable is said to acknowledge "that we are in a throwaway society, and that one’s furniture may not be an heirloom, to be passed along, but an object of fashion, ultimately destined for the landfill." I can't tell whether this is meant to be a criticism. But, to me, this acknowledgment seems sensible, considering that textiles and upholstered furniture (unlike wooden furniture) are inherently ephemeral when you're talking about the time frame of heirlooms. Whether these products will actually biodegrade under the landfill conditions is another discussion, but you can toss and turn over that when you read the article.
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In the News: An Inspiring Outdoor Space

casasugar — Wed, 07 May 2008 06:15:28 -0700

Since Summer is soon on its way, it's natural to think about creating functional, beautiful outdoor spaces where you can entertain and relax. In a recent LA Times article by Debra Prinzing, a family does just this, using repurposed, recycled, and found objects. Greta and Mike Jarvis, along with their daughter Annika, were tired of the awkward, unused backyard at their Manhattan Beach home, so Greta, an adept flea marketer, decided to transform their 30-x-40-foot backyard into something more family friendly. They started by getting rid of a small, underused grassy area, as well as their unused hot tub. By expanding the doors that led to the backyard, they also made the space more accessible.

To see what materials they used,

In the News: Farms Sprout in Suburbia

casasugar — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 07:00:40 -0700

The Wall Street Journal's "Green Acres II: When Neighbors Become Farmers" reports that a growing number of Americans are "turning grass into edible greens and maybe even greenbacks," by growing food in their front and backyards. Since 2006, in Boulder, CO, school-bus driver Kipp Nash has "uprooted his backyard and the front or backyards of eight of his Boulder neighbors," and spent his afternoons "planting, watering, and tending" these minifarms, growing vegetables like tomatoes, bok choy, garlic, and beets. Although not everyone in the neighborhood finds this suburban farming aesthetically pleasing, particularly not during the Winter months, the locally-grown food market has grown, leaving yard farmers with an opportunity to sell to nearby restaurants and other neighbors. Since land is expensive, and nearly a third of residential water goes to landscaping, the financial advantages of suburban farming are clear. But, environmentalists also support it because it "cuts the distance — and the carbon dioxide — needed to get food from farm to consumer." To see a video on the topic,

In the News: A Richard Neutra in Dire Straits

casasugar — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 05:30:05 -0700

The Los Angeles Times' "The Clock Is Ticking For Richard Neutra's VDL Research House II" is a story about the "fabled glass box on Silver Lake Boulevard in Los Angeles," designed by renowned midcentury modernist architect Richard Neutra and owned by nonprofit Cal Poly Pomona Foundation, and faces sale if upward of $2 million is not raised by supporters by the end of the year. Saturday tours of the landmark have recently begun to raise money for the cause, and awareness of its need for restoration. Visitors can witness firsthand some of its problems, including termite damage, asbestos, cracked and dried reflecting pools, jammed sliding doors, and an electric system that no longer functions. While midcentury modern design is experiencing a boom, and people like Diane Keaton are restoring equally important homes, you wonder why an architectural landmark could be in dire need of preservation. Neutra's son, Dion Neutra, who once worked to rebuild the house after a fire, says, "It’s a result of benign neglect for the 20 years since my family donated the house to Cal Poly." While it's understandable that a home that's been uninhabited for so long could be overlooked, the thought of it selling to a private party, and becoming unavailable to the public, is a glum one.
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In the News: A Debtless DIY

casasugar — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 06:15:00 -0700

The New York Times' "Don’t Hate Me Because I’m Solvent" is a heartwarming story of an Akron, Ohio couple, David and Gina Giffels, who exquisitely renovated a condemned 1913 Tudor house with six fireplaces, a solarium and a billiards room, which they'd purchased for $65,000, bit by bit over 12 years (and counting) without the use of credit cards. Upon closure, the house was in awful condition; it had been inhabited by a slew of neighborhood creatures, and "the roof over the master bedroom leaked so badly that the previous owner had placed 55 aluminum baking pans on the floor to catch the rain." Living on columnist and teacher's salaries, the Giffels never had much to contribute to renovation costs, or construction experience. But, with a lot of devotion, and the ability to endure the stress of it all (and two miscarriages), they have gradually resurrected a piece of history and built a home for their two children, Evan and Lia (12 and 9) — with little help from contractors and a mortgage under $100,000.
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In the News: A Luxury Condo for Fish

casasugar — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 04:30:41 -0700

Although the mortgage crisis may be making real estate exchanges difficult for a lot of people these days, luxury condos are actually coming quite easily to some citizens — fish. That's right, fish. Retired New York City subway cars are being shoved off of a barge off the coast of Delaware, according to The New York Times. The cars, or what Jeff Tinsman, artificial reef program manager for the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control, calls "luxury condominiums for fish," transform "barren stretch of ocean floor into a bountiful oasis, carpeted in sea grasses, walled thick with blue mussels and sponges, and teeming with black sea bass and tautog." While the creation of this artificial reef has spurred "a 400-fold increase in the amount of marine food per square foot in the last seven years," it has also resulted in "theft and sabotage of fishing traps and pots," and competition between other states for the last remaining subway cars, which are limited. Some environmental groups oppose these "fish condos" because they are lined with small levels of asbestos, but state and federal officials have approved their use because, they say, "the asbestos was not a risk for marine life and has to be airborne to pose a threat to humans." What are your thoughts on this housing situation?
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In the News: Ralph Rapson Dies at 93

casasugar — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 07:00:59 -0700

Ralph Rapson, one of the most prolific and oldest practicing architects, died of a heart attack on Saturday at 93. Modernist in style, he was best known for his design of the former Guthrie Theater, which included "a thrusting stage and asymmetrical seating that made the audience seem like part of the dramatic action." In the 1940s, he designed his own line of furniture for Knoll, including a popular rocking chair, the Rapson Rapid Rocker. From 1954 to 1984, Rapson led the architecture
school at the University of Minnesota as dean. Other visible projects of his include US embassies in Stockholm and Copenhagen, as well as several buildings throughout Minnesota. Rapson also took part in the legendary experimental program, the Case Study Houses, which ran from 1945 until 1966, with his Greenbelt House design. The design was never built, but he recently developed a line of prefab modern houses called the Rapson Greenbelt based on the original design. The day prior to his death, Rapson had been in the office, "working on design projects and writing." His son, Toby Rapson said, "He always joked that he would be carried out on his drafting board." Check out some of his designs below, then read the whole story at the New York Times.

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In the News: A Makeover For Phoenix's Botanical Garden

casasugar — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 06:15:06 -0700

The Arizona Republic's article "Drama in the Desert" outlines the Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix's structural transformation, which, for over 50 years, had been housed in an aluminum framework. Now, the gorgeous succulents and cacti are displayed under 28-foot-tall arched canopies.

"We wanted a space that would be interesting — a wow factor — to locals as well as visitors," said Elaine McGinn, the garden's director of planning and exhibits. To find out more about the $825,000, six-month reconstruction project, read the article here.

In the News: TIME's Design 100

casasugar — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 07:45:18 -0700

Convinced that "great design is no longer reserved solely for museum-worthy products," TIME magazine chose 100 people and ideas behind today's most influential design, ranging from biodegradable product lines to blimp hotels in the sky. Check out this slideshow to hear about the "multi-tasking designers" that are making waves in Casa's world. Source

In the News: The Midcentury Anti-Garden

casasugar — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 04:30:29 -0700

LA Times' More Stark Than the Desert Around Them takes an alarming note of the growing trend of "extending the spareness of home interiors into the garden, and wiping out natural habitat in the process," by midcentury modern homeowners in Palm Springs. These midcentury mod enthusiasts have begun to replace the natural and/or traditional landscapes surrounding their homes with minimalist "gardens" made simply of gravel, lawn, or geometrically-shaped arrangements of cacti and grass, or shaved palm trees. This new terrain is quite the departure from those surrounding well-known designs by 1950s architects like Albert Frey and William Krisel.
On one hand, it's nice to see homeowners realizing the relationship between the architecture of their home and their landscaping, and putting extra thought into it rather than accepting what already exists or what's "the norm" for homes of different architectural styles. But it's also sad to hear that "fig and lemon trees planted there 40 years before by the original owner" are being ripped out. I'm all for designing appropriately for architecture and climate, but this type of starkness will lead to erosion and desertification; a little tasteful xeriscaping, much more appropriate and eco-friendly for the Palm Springs climate, seems to be the perfect compromise. To see more images, check out the gallery.

In the News: More Than Four Walls and a Roof

casasugar — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 14:00:45 -0700

The New York Times' "You Might Move Out, but You Can’t Move On", explores the emotional attachments we form with our homes. After selling their 1910 house in Danbury, Connecticut (pictured below), Mr. Schoenfeld experienced "bouts of melancholia [which] grew so acute that Mr. Field had to stash away pictures of the place," or "seller's remorse." Several years after selling, the pair repurchased their beloved home, this time paying $335,000 than they'd paid for in the first place — though $200,000 worth of renovation had been done. The article also shares an anecdote of one man who "insisted on negotiating visiting rights before he was willing to sell" his old home. Another family, after selling and learning that their buyer wouldn't be living in the beach house for some time, moved right back in surreptitiously — that is, until the buyer's relatives showed up for a weekend on the sand. It seems that becoming attached to our homes is not so uncommon; I for one cling to the memories of my childhood home. But who knew the lengths some would go to preserve those precious attachments? Source

In the News: Modern Design Meets Farmhouse

casasugar — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 06:45:19 -0700

Los Angeles Times' "Not a Scrap of Gingham" shares the story of Vanessa Choy and Andrew Wong, a couple from Hong Kong who closed their architecture practice and moved to LA. They bought a lot in Studio City, a neighborhood in the San Fernando Valley in LA that earned its name in the 1920s when a number of picture studios popped up there. Then, they drew up plans for an unmistakably modern farmhouse. The exterior seems a distant relative of the traditional barns we've come to know but its concrete wall, unusual lighting, and lack of ornamentation suggest that its interior deviates from the classic form as well. Inside though, the architect couple balanced unfinished wood and rustic ceiling beams with "Mies van der Rohe Barcelona chairs, a glossy grand piano, and the sleek Poggenpohl kitchen" for what I see as the best of both worlds. Furthermore, what I find interesting is that this melding of architectural types was not a renovation of one of America's veteran barns, but was built from the ground up. For a couple new to the wild, wild West, fresh off the commercial landscape of Hong Kong, this mélange seems impossibly ideal. To see an interior shot,

In the News: A Fiery Fix-Up

casasugar — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 06:45:54 -0700

The New York Times' Light and Space Where Fire Alarms Once Rang visits the Providence, Rhode Island home of artist couple Wendy Edwards and Jerry Mischak, which was originally built in 1931 as a firehouse. The couple, who were living in a mid-19th-century house on Brown University's campus and also renting two separate spaces for their studios, wanted to find a place where they could both live and work. When Mischak saw a sign for a new firehouse going up in East Providence, he stopped into the old headquarters, and spoke to the firemen about the digs. A year later, they'd paid $185,000 for "a hazardous wreck," complete with "lead-base paint and asbestos." An architect helped them to transform the space, removing the fire poles, unearthing gorgeous steel beams, raising the ceilings, creating an open dining and living area, and making two artist studios. Some architectural details were salvaged as evidence of the structure's origins, like French doors, subway tiles, and fire pole openings. But in essence, the building was renewed, instilled with the kind of light and space that only artists could see in a perilous, old structure — the same kind of vision that has transformed ancient cathedrals and chapels and frat-boy dwellings into modern homes.
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In the News: Meet Philippe Starck

casasugar — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 10:30:13 -0700

T magazine, an online publication covering women's and men's fashion, design, food, and travel put out by the New York Times, currently has a fun profile of Philippe Starck, featuring a video of the prolific designer as well as a collage with the tagline, "From underwear to mega-yachts, Philippe Starck knows no boundaries." The video itself is a collage of sorts, showcasing his designs, which do run the spectrum from toothbrushes to hotel interiors, as well as his quirky character. If you've yet to "meet" Starck, T's interactive format is fitting for the playful French designer. The collage is much like one you'd see in a print magazine, but scrolls north, south, east, and west with your mouse, revealing more of Starck's designs, photos of him, captions, and brief editorial portraits — "his design dna," "his eco mania," and "his colorful character." Enchanté Monsieur Starck!

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In The News: Method's Founders Dish the Dirt

casasugar — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 13:00:00 -0700

Since I've been chatting with you this month about ways to clean green, I knew you'd also be interested in hearing from Method's co-founders Eric Ryan and Adam Lowry, who recently gave an in-depth interview to one of my favorite green websites, Grist. In the interview, they discuss their new book Squeaky Green, their newest product (toilet bowl cleaner!), and ways that Method has brought green cleaners into the mainstream.

One of my favorite answers in the interview is when Grist asks the duo what most surprised people about conventional cleaners; Ryan responds, "The light bulb goes off the most [with] things that seem so obvious but you never stop to think about it. [Like] the idea that you clean your tub with toxic cleaner, but then you soak in it afterward." Now that's something to think about. Read the whole interview here.
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This Just In: American Design Needs a Band-Aid

casasugar — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 16:00:41 -0700

The New York Times' Dearth of a Nation: Where Have All the Great American Designers Gone? by Brit Alice Rawsthorn is a column about what's wrong with American design. Ouch. Rawsthorn concedes that "the United States is home to many world-class designers," but furniture designers aren't among them. She writes that the States' "last furniture coup," the Aeron Chair, was in 1994. Yes, the same year Kurt Cobain died, Tonya Harding was banned from figure skating, and O.J. fled from the police in his Ford Bronco — long time ago. Despite thorough media coverage of design, top-notch design fairs and stores, and the mega furniture collection at the Museum of Modern Art, and history to boot, she says, the "companies that once championed the Eameses and their peers are now too big and too nervous about upsetting their shareholders to risk experimenting with design. Today there are few American versions of the small, gutsy European furniture manufacturers," and "being small, independent and daring isn’t valued" or profitable in American corporate culture anymore. This is a sad realization for our star-spangled nation, but I think my shopping list will survive without big-name American designers, and I can always make do with the small designers in the US who are crafting great pieces.

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In the News: A Costly Green Home in Chicago

casasugar — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 06:00:14 -0700

The New York Times' "In Chicago, Tinted Green" chronicles the story of Frances Whitehead and James Elniski's house in Chicago, which was built using a number of green technologies. The house is equipped with corrugated steel-and-zinc siding, radiant heating in the floor, energy-efficient kitchen appliances, solar panels on the roof, wind turbines, and trays of artificial soil which soak up rainwater to prevent flooding the city's storm drainage system. Despite all of these eco technologies, and the high costs of installing them (wind turbines alone cost $40,000), "they estimate that they will probably save only about $500 annually in energy costs." But, Elsinki says, "You’ve got to be doing it for other reasons," and they're committed to "raising the flag" and educating others about environmentalism.
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In the News: A Worker of Ancient Woods

casasugar — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 13:00:17 -0700

Brazilian woodworker Hugo França crafts the type of furniture that makes me crave a bigger house — one that would be big enough to fit his stunning pieces. França's monolithic furniture is inspired from the natural curves of the trees themselves, and often the shape of a trunk or branch will guide França in his use of the particular piece of wood. França, who spent 15 years in self-imposed isolation in northeastern Brazil, has spent the past twenty-odd years learning woodworking and sculpting trees into curvaceous, singular works of livable art. All of his furniture is made out of trees that have naturally fallen or burned in the rain forest. This wood, called pequi, is an important staple and symbol for the indigenous residents of Brazil's Cerrado region. The New York Times has the whole story in Julia Chaplin's article An Old Friend of Ancient Woods.

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In the News: A Renovated Cancer Hospital Chapel

casasugar — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 06:45:44 -0700

Cynthia and Dan Lufkin turned the chapel of New York City's first cancer hospital — New York Cancer Hospital, built in the 1880s — into a three-level Manhattan apartment. The hospital had been in a state of disrepair for 25 years, with "rats, holes in the roof, dust, a wooden ceiling that was falling apart, missing windows, [and] plaster walls that had rotted away to the bricks." Instead of trying to recreate all of the original architectural details, they "tried to preserve a feeling of its history." What that resulted in was a vaulted wood ceiling mimicking one in an old photo of the place, period hanging globe lamps, a new spiral staircase and Gothic-style fireplace, and stenciled plaster walls actually inspired "by a medieval tapestry in a 19th-century British abbey," not original to the house. To see an interior shot of the house, and find out some more interesting details about this couple's story,

In the News: Front Door Tradition, Back Door Innovation

casasugar — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 13:00:10 -0800

Hard as it may be to believe, these two pictures are actually of the same house. This 1890s Federalist home, located in Manhattan, has a traditional facade when you face it from the street, while its backyard view reveals a sleek, modern renovation. Owned by Ellen Weiman and Dubi Silverstein, the couple honored the Landmarks Commission's wishes by remaining faithful to the building's original facade in front, but then let their hair down with the building's back facade and its interior, which is closer to a loft inside. To see more lovely photos of the home's interior (chock full of midcentury furniture) read the whole article at the New York Times.

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In the News: The New York Times Explores the Art of Home

casasugar — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 09:00:45 -0800

What do you do when you've been priced out of your New York apartment? Well, if you're playwright Brooke Berman, you translate the unpleasant experience into artistic expression. Brooke, whose play “Hunting and Gathering” explores the subjects of home, transience, and character, was partially inspired by her experience of living in more than 30 homes in 20 years. Read the whole story — and check out the audio slideshow — here.

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