Home Indulgence: Luxury Bathroom Features to Turn Your Home into a Spa

The idea of living in a tiny house might feel claustrophobic for a few but for many of us it can be well and truly liberating. It teaches you how you can live happily and efficiently with much less and can do so without actually sacrificing a whole lot. This is why we love the […]

You’re reading Experience Living in a Tiny House while Exploring Atlanta’s Very Best, originally posted on Decoist. If you enjoyed this post, be sure to follow Decoist on Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest.

Designer Joyce Downing Pickens of JDP Interiors knows that a neutral palette can be boring when done wrong. So here’s what you need to know in order to do it right.

This single family 2,800 sf house located in West Austin is composed of two refined, minimalist stone-and-glass boxes connected by a glass bridge. The main body of the house sits on the crest of the hill, with the living space opening to a linear pool and exterior deck that captures the surrounding Hill Country views. The bridge links to a studio office that extends into the wooded hillside leading to the creek below.

Conceived with the aim of minimizing its environmental impact, the house features a design that makes…

Jonathan Feldman and his wife Lisa Lougee were determined to create a contemporary, sustainable, and functional home for their family within the building constraints of urban San Francisco. The original structure, built in 1905, was a New England brick and shingle style residence sitting next to an overgrown lot. It was given the tongue-in-cheek name The Farm, due to the rarity of backyards and outdoor living spaces in the city. “We fell in love with the farmhouse charm of the home” says Jonathan, “Lisa and I enjoyed imagining how the house must have looked out in the countryside of San Francisco in the 1900’s; we started joking around and calling it The Farm and it stuck!” To further the play on the home’s name, the Feldman family often lovingly refers to their band of rescue animals as their “flock.” In order to transform the older house into an outstandingly sustainable, modern home, the structure was essentially rebuilt from the inside out. The clients both loved the character and grace of the older home and wanted to preserve its visual continuity; their excitement towards the historic home combined with their conflicting design styles ultimately directed the course of the home’s restoration. Before the ambitious remodel, the house was a closed-off box. The new design opened the floor plan, flooding the interiors with natural light through a new central stair topped with expansive skylights. The basement was also transformed to include what is now a usable rear yard & deck. The house achieved LEED Platinum with an abundance of sustainable features, many of which are subtly hidden. Two types of water re-use systems were implemented on the property; rain water and grey water harvesting, with the tanks concealed below the rear deck. An HRV (Heat Recovery Ventilation) system provides the home with clean air without energy loss. All materials are sustainably sourced and non-toxic and the house also features water and electricity monitoring, easily accessible by panels throughout the home and smartphone technology. By striving for excellence in sustainable architecture while incorporating the design aesthetics of all members involved, the team for The Farm has been able to create an elegant structure perfectly fitting for unique and forward-thinking San Francisco.