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TEN HOUSES: DESIGN ON STEROIDS
Discovering the WOW factor!
The perennial question – what makes some house interiors stand out as more than the sum of their parts?
What are the special qualities that see them rise to the top above their contemporaries? The Ten Houses 2023* exhibit exceptional qualities, at once unique, worthy, coherent and captivating.
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However, answering the above question is difficult because without doubt, there are many more impressive houses than those highlighted here! Follow liberal eclectic on Instagram to discover some of them.
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Studio Kim Kneipp
Hutchinson Street*, Melbourne
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Hutchinson Street stands out for many reasons, including the fact that the palette and direction are tailored to a distinct Japanese ethos, alongside the history and location of the home.
a japanese wabi design philosophy explored through the lens of jun’ichiro tanizki’s book ‘in praise of shadows’ where large eaves and internal courtyards provide the home with a soft, more diffuse light that gently track the sun’s movements throughout the day.
A style emerges based essentially upon Japanese aesthetic references, albeit not entirely. With that in mind, an urban sanctuary evolves in which discrete areas manage the immediate world outside – manipulated according to the principles of wabi design. By recourse to the above quote the home is likely cosy in winter and cool in summer because light is strategically manoeuvred to bring about those conditions.
Wabi-sabi…shuns lavishness and opulence while embracing imperfection and authenticity.
Moreover, the Japanese design philosophy (including sustainable practice) is, in subtle ways, set against the historic values of the location. Discreetly the joinery, furniture and fittings span both the history of the house and contemporary design sensibilities within sight of natural materials and the artisan. Present architectural times call for sensitivity to historic restoration, renovation and recycling. In this context part of the impetus undoubtedly lies with the Victorian terrace’s inner Melbourne location and the related duality of embodied and extended history. Generally, such terraces were the 19th century homes of local industrial workers. Furthermore, Hutchinson Street received an addition from ARKit prefab sustainable homes. The designer’s vision ensures the addition smoothly dovetails with the existing home by skillfully merging two diverse yet related resources. Given the complexity of the combined adaption a significant design coup has occurred.
The designer has subtly tapped into the broad sense of built history, and reinvigorated it, whilst attending to the design spirit of both 21st century life and the influence of wabi-sabi. A literal oasis in the city, as much warm and welcoming, as it is singular.
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Click on images for greater definition!
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Midland Architecture
Belmont County Cottage, Ohio
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Simple rural bliss characterises Belmont County Cottage – a factor that immediately captured my attention!
That position says so much about the conceptual synthesis between the inhabitants and the architects, especially the motivation behind the restoration and renovation of this idyllic 1920’s bungalow.
You don’t need big and glamorous, or bottomless pockets to evolve impressive, cohesive design. What Midland has done is allow the idea of the cottage and the location to naturally drive the design scheme, undoubtedly in conjunction with the requirements of the clients. They have played up the cottage’s original timber attributes in essential yet effective ways: the ceilings (and ceiling details), shiplap walls and floors all relate harmoniously, making it easy for the furniture and fittings to find their place in contemporary life.
The gentle palette echos the local landscape, and is an important element uniting the interiors. While the interiors reinforce the location and the sense of place, they additionally enhance and embrace the lifestyle and well being of the inhabitants being durable and understated. These important ingredients are synchronised to a homely life and the surrounding landscape in equal measure.
Midland’s sensitivity to place, the architecture and interiors means the cottage redesign is timeless: it will never date because it is both functional and neutral in a humble yet refined and stylish manner. And the house exemplifies what is important in life, not the construction and design itself but in how it improves, amplifies and conforms to the client’s lifestyle.
Sitting comfortably between trends and tradition, this is what great architecture is all about!
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Pepe Leal
Apartamento en Jorge Juan, Madrid
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Jorge Juan is one of the most exquisite, mesmerising and adventurous interior design projects viewed in the last 12 months!
It encompasses a plethora of ideas, textures, psychologies, spatial definition and design flexibility. A free-spirited inclination arriving at idiosyncratic beauty. Myriad details are fed into a refinement process from which not only a new and exciting design language appears but also a master in design alchemy.
Leal has put everything on the table and instinctively reduced until the very essence of individual design has emerged and yet the interiors are neither forced nor pretentious.
Apartemento Jorge Juan is unlike any other and yet seamlessly slots into a design continuum reaching far into the future because it is at once eclectic, cinematic, complex and yet eminently livable.
Click on images for greater definition!
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Kylee Shintaffer
Bigfork, Montana
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Bigfork speaks effortlessly to considered, polished and integrated design. I look at thousands of interiors and few create the frisson of excitement that Bigfork immediately evokes!
As the rooms unfold each tells a little more of the home’s unique story within the surrounding landscape (and location) to which it has a significant design connection. At the same time each room hints at the general personalities and values of the residents: family, privacy, identity, comfort and practicality. To that broad embodiment, a preference for superior materials and aesthetic finishes can be added.
The success of the design relies on balance (indicated above). It is at once rustic and sophisticated (in terms of concept, fittings and finishes), it displays warm and cool palettes, it provides private and familial spaces and the home is not overburdened with rustic elements or heavy furnishings. Flourishes of genius can be found throughout: the dual floor colour in the niched eating area (colour and pattern). In the dining alcove, the pendant light, leather back rests and pale ticking on the bench seats lightens and defines the diminutive area. The ‘white’ bedhead in the double bedroom and the curtaining throughout echo the reflected exterior tones. The designer has ensured that the client’s admiration for tradition has been balanced with contemporary ideas and elements.
Bigfork has a lot to say – it speaks to the past, the present and the future because in the main it is authentic enduring design.
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Royal Roulotte
Ste Lucy Porto-Vecchio, Pinarello, Corsica
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I typically love everything that comes out of this studio! The reasons are manifold, not least, cohesion of concept, values and design. In this case, the finished schema is an open book liberally celebrating a European vibe, lifestyle and subdued sophistication.
Those three indicators can be seen in all aspects of the design and include general milieu, palette, furniture, fittings and art. Ditto the architecture. Overwhelmingly nature and lifestyle provide the impetus for Ste Lucy Porto-Vecchio, here natural means relaxed within an elegant and quasi tropical ambience. The emphasis on stone and natural materials – timber, water reeds, rattan and cane.
The predominance of white is a ubiquitous European accompaniment: white epitomises a carefree philosophy. The value of white in this context is gently enforced inside by pale timber doors, rattan bedheads, cane chairs and the artwork: the totality endorses an urbane view en vacances.
Additionally, the presence of the above characteristics beautifully tap into the Romance of this style: free to adventure in mind, body and soul. The artworks and accouterments affirm voyaging (the image rather than the actuality), discovery and holidaying. From within a contemporary mindset, Ste Lucy Porto-Vecchio adeptly buys into the romance, history and unknown of the ‘south seas’ (with which France has a significant history): the ocean as alluring paradise, providore and participant.
A sedate utopian vision unfolds for cultivated cosmopolitan recipients.
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Studio Gutow
Emerald Bay, California
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Emerald Bay is high quality and plush, with part of the allure in the original details of the 1930’s home – in particular the solid and beguiling constructed ceiling. On top of that is the picturesque outlook. With that history in mind the interiors are quietly suggestive and inviting.
This house is a home in every sense – imagine walking in the front door each day – the home communicates as a transporting and vitalising haven from the outside world: peaceful and enfolding. Rich fabrics and colours (albeit modest) team with neutrals to build a fluent unique style. The style incorporates a combination of vintage, mid-century and contemporary aesthetics, distilled into a precise vision.
The material layers are taken from nature: complementary textures and tones successively in fabrics, rugs and lamps. Add in the rich ‘oak’ veneer found in the joinery – these aspects represent warm livable interiors without sacrificing style and creativity.
The interiors exude the personal touch, not least in the bedroom where the style is distinct yet compatible. Overall, the design casts an enveloping textured ambiance with immaculate attention to detail.
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Alexander Doherty Design
150 Charles Street II, New York
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150 Charles Street II emanates excitement, boldness and a plethora of textures: it celebrates contrast and aesthetic exuberance!
There are manifold contexts at play embracing the residents’ expansive interests and preoccupations, a view reinforced by the diverse art collection. The designer has mined the home owner’s enthusiasm for creative upbeat solutions from within a focus on refined selections. A fine aesthetic milieu reverberates throughout articulated by rich fabrics and furnishings in colourful patterns and intermixes. Whilst the ‘spontaneous salade de fruits’ is coherent and methodical in the central areas, the vibrancy is assuaged by buff or pale spatial tints, floors, veneers and isolated fittings and furnishings.
Luxurious, colourful, dramatic and playful – what’s not to love!
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Folistudio
Lisbon House, Lisbon, Portugal
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Spartan, careful design! While acknowledging that the interiors are arresting, they are arresting because Foli Studio has applied circumspection to the overall composition of Lisbon House.
Manifestly the interiors are distinguished and integrated, and yet with a qualification that less is more. The designer has taken an enduring position, and by tweaking it left of centre has included insightful and memorable appurtenances, like the red bedside table, the mustard contemporary chaise and the kitchen pendant. The entirety honours quiet, selective and unconventional concepts: art, furniture and accessories.
Take the master bedroom – while essentially low key, disparate materials ensure it exhibits a powerful presence: starting with a ‘single’ colour (or closely related tones) for the walls and ceiling. Thus the bed and surrounding objects stand in strong relief against the smokey sumptuous colour. Like a stark cinematic set it is simple and yet uniformly compelling. Your eye wanders over all items to ‘read’ the story succinctly woven by the designer – both discriminating and highly distinctive.
The end game is almost a contradiction: perhaps the reason the interiors are immediately intriguing. A dignified flamboyance intersects with a laid back (or unassuming) connoisseurship – where shrewd choices spotlight charismatic interior design.
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Maddux Creative
Primrose Hill Family House
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We have always been committed to creating interiors which have longevity, and this is best illustrated in our most recent project, a Grade II five-bedroom listed house in Primrose Hill…
The various palettes and impressive vintage pieces generate not only a romantic evocation but also a discrete revealing narrative.
The interiors broadly reference British Colonial style from within a contemporary ethos: one that is eclectic, and authentic. The combined projection of these aspects come across as at once intuitive, definitive and restrained.
In particular an inquisitive and comprehensive attitude emerges with a little eccentricity thrown in to round out the individual milieu. These traits can be seen throughout: the aforementioned and varied colours, the vitrine, the sense of voyaging and the south seas (vintage cane, palm tree lamp, large palms in planters), the art, the kitchen joinery, the cowhide otterman and the light shades. The design is both stimulating and finessed, imbued with a quasi-nostalgic vibe.
A perception of weaving cultural threads together exists: a sedate injection of ‘Out of Africa’ and Asian-esque exoticism folds into contemporary timelessness. Each room or space promotes a unique tale as part of a complete and integrated interior design scheme.
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Katie Hodges Design
Maravilla, Los Angeles
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Maravilla Los Angeles captures everything I value in design: connections, stories, creativity, standards and history. The dreamy interiors promote quietness, slowing down and reflection. No need to leave home because the surroundings are beautifully atmospheric; encouraging relaxation. Plus they represent a collectors haven both actually and in spirit. Here is a home to escape the rat race.
The style is unpretentious and although considered, it is considered with a caveat: if it feels right – it is. Contemplating, the inspiration seems to have come from a combination of flea markets (rare artiste treasures) and significant historic rooms saturated with design exemplars and tales. Or gathering special fabrics, textures and objet d’art from travels across the globe.
Great design has a mysterious quality that evades easy definition. The interiors appear complete and whole whilst seeming open-ended and evolving. Impressive design promotes flexiblity – interiors can be added to or changed on-going. I guess that is a feature of eclecticism in which old and new co-habitate seamlessly.
Maravella identifies with and reveres the artisan, design, the imperfect and the unusual yet from a starting point of quality.
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Kim Kneipp : Melbourne Victoria / *Featured image: Hutchinson St
Kylee Shintaffer : Seattle
Maddux Creative : London
Midland Architecture : Pennsylvania and Ohio
Pepe Leal : Apartamento en Jorge Juan
Royal Roulotte : Porto Vecchio
Studio Gutow : Laguna Beach California
Foliostudio : Istanbul & Lisbon
Katie Hodges Design : Los Angeles
Alexander Doherty Design : New York
*Disclaimer: These houses were not necessarily constructed in 2023: it is merely when le came across them. The chosen ten do not necessarily have anything in common beyond being ‘in liberal eclectic’s opinion’ – special. Moreover, there are many, many more that could have been added but in the interests of economy it is only possible to consider a few.
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