Design Milk: The Beat Boxed 18

Check out my latest Beat Boxed for Design Milk.

Next month will be The Beat Boxed 1st birthday so please send me any suggestions of artists you would love to see.  You can take a look at all of the Beat Boxed posts right here.  Also please share any ideas and comments because I love to hear your thoughts!

 

Five things to know about The Naked and Famous:
1. The first time I heard the song Young Blood on KCRW its pure energy shot through me and shocked me out of my morning trance.
2. They are from Auckland, New Zealand.  One of my favorite places!
3. The Naked and Famous is an awesome name and they took it from the lyrics of a Tricky song.
4. They just won the APRA Silver Scroll, New Zealand’s most prestigious songwriting award, for their number one single Young Blood.
5. Their video for Young Blood rocks and is directed by the über-talented Special Problems. Don’t trust me though…check it out for yourself NOW!
 

The music of The Naked and Famous magically makes me feel carefree and at ease. As it plays, all my favorite things in the world start flashing through my mind. My favorite country in the world is New Zealand, my favorite place to be is outdoors, and an outdoor shower on the mountainside… yeah that’s in my dreams! Oh and music, well it just makes my world go round. So take a look into The Naked and Famous inspired “room” (aka outdoor shower on the mountainside in New Zealand) and see my dreams come true! After you spend just a bit here you’ll feel fresh and rejuvenated just as the music makes you do. 

1. Hills Clubhouse Patterson Architecture 2. Dyno Outdoor Shower by My Your 3. Chameledeon Lights 4. Oil Lamp 5. Tambor Table + Arpa Lounge Chair
“Rock The House” this back-to-the-basics project transcends the simplicity of nature in its most usual forms. This guest house was carefully fabricated on the rocky coastlines of Spain. It blurs the lines between architecture and landscape and appears to be just another mossy colored boulder on the coastline. It’s not that at all. “It’s a piece of nature built with our own hands,” García-Abril says. “A space within a stone that blends with the surroundings. A contemplative space, a little poem.” The music of The Naked and Famous speaks the same way to me. Their latest album Passive Me, Aggressive You isn’t genre-breaking or even genre-defining, but it quickly dives into you, makes you feel all giddy, and carves out its own magical space on the inside.

The Perfect Outdoor Room!

What a fabulous little outdoor room! I am imagining a stream directly outside the front door, the sounds of birds chirping, and an outdoor shower:-) Now this is my kind of camping. I would love waking up to the sunshine and spending the day exploring!

A Little Reminiscing

As I packed my carry on for my flight back to Des Moines, IA today I pulled out some of my old magazines I picked up in New Zealand last fall. Inside Out is one of my favorite magazines and I am so glad I revisited this today! I found some amazing articles, photographs, products, and feel like I met some amazing people.

The home of furniture designer Mark Tuckey and his beautiful family, smiles at you with it's worn-in charm and even invites you to sit down, grab a drink, and enjoy the views. It's filled with functional furniture, artwork from friends, and pure honesty.

Family and career will always be a tough balance. Cristina Rodriguez realized this and needed an escape from the life of a global designer living in Barcelona and Manhattan. She and her two boys set out to find that greater importance in life and ended up in the Carribean where they transformed this former hotel into a private villa. I absolutely love this tranquil wallcolor and the use of the grays, greens, concrete, black, and natural woods. Check out her site for many more beautiful pictures! This life doesn't seem so tough anymore...I think I could handle it:-)

New Zealand fashion designer, Karen Walker, describes her home as Left of Centre, individualistic, rough around the edges, and full of unexpected twists. My objective in design is to "tell the story of each client" and this is exactly what is happening here. Check out the spread and then check out the her Spring/Summer Collections, no surprise here.

"Our home has just the right amount of wrong" -Mikhail

Here's a few more words to inspire:

Homes are a life's work. Every year your lifestyle changes-you use a house differently" -Mikhail

"Always plan from the floor up. Once you've set the foundations you can always create a great look" -Claire Delmar

"The activity of improving things by rearranging them in away that will improve them" -Tom Dixon on Creativity from the INTERIOR WORLD OF TOM DIXON

"Give them what they never knew they wanted" -Albert Hadley

"I appreciate the classics...Eames, Hans Wegner, Verner Panton, but I hate that mentality of walking into a store and buying style..." -Marcus Hay

The Beverly Glen Compound Addition

I just stumbled upon this spread over at Dwell Magazine and fell in love with this Compound Addition. I'm not going to make this post about me, but I have to tell you, I used to live in the canyon on Beverly Glen when I moved out to Los Angeles in college, and this was the most fabulous place I have ever lived! I showered on the deck in the outdoor shower hidden from neighbors by the hillside and was exposed only when the gondola ran to take the neighbors mail up to them...aww the memories. Alright enough about me, but this SCI-Arc love story is definitely continuing happily ever after! Hadley and Peter found the perfect cozy spot on Beverly Glen and were then approached by their neighbor about buying the property directly next door, and they jumped on it. They were then able to have their architecture studio and home side by side. The outdoor space here is just as valuable as the indoors and seamlessly connects the spaces. Take a look and check out the complete story over at Dwell!

WHERE DO I GET THIS CHAIR??

I love this room and the wonderful yard. That gray chair is gorgeous. Do you see that webbing detail on the back? How fabulous is that?!