My Dream Home

I’ve spent years blogging about beautiful spaces and saving all types of rooms to my files for the dream home I will surely build one day. I’m sure many of you do the same, keeping images of beautiful homes that inspire you to make changes in your own space or that make you dream of what could be. The other day, I was thumbing through the current issue of House Beautiful and I came across a home designed by Commune Design in Los Angeles. I wanted to see more of their work, so I visited their website in order to check out their profile. The second that I saw this gorgeous house, I thought “that is my dream home! That house is so me!”. Granted, their work is a little too hip and eclectic for my taste, so I thought, what the heck, I’ll take the the house itself and “redesign” the interior. Seeing this gorgeous exterior inspired me to put together some images and create what would ultimately be my dream home. Keep in mind that there are discrepancies here and there. After all, these pictures aren’t from one house, rather they would serve as the inspiration for my dream house.

If this amazing home looks familiar, you most likely recognize it from when the exterior and grounds were featured in Domino a couple of years back. It belonged to LA fashion designer, Yael Alflalo who has since sold the property. Sadly, I was not the buyer.

The gorgeous grounds were designed by Art Luna.

{Stunning!}

{I can picture Tate posing on these steps next to the gorgeous quartz crystals.}

{When I visited Lázaro Rosa Violán’s amazing apartment in Barcelona this summer, I fell in love with virtually every room. The kitchen is massive, features original chevron wood floors, and an amazing gilded screen. What else could a girl need?}

{This dining room is a glamorous study in contrasts, which I absolutely love.}

{I’ve blogged about my love of Katie Lee Joel’s Nate Berkus designed townhouse many times and her kitchen was such a strong contender for my “dream kitchen”. However, I will settle for her amazing breakfast nook. Aren’t the windows beautiful?}

{The JK Florence has been one of my favorite hotel spaces since I first blogged about it a couple of years ago. I adore the clean, black and white palette as well as the sensuous shapes of the furniture, and the touch of zebra. If the living room were one large space, the image above would be one half of the room, while the image below would be the other half.}

{I contemplated selecting a dark, high-gloss study for this room, but I need light in order to feel creative. I love the simplicity of this study along with the fact that there are books for days.}

{The rest of my dream house has a decidedly more formal, glamorous feel, but the family room should be a place to relax, be comfortable, and enjoy the company of family and friends. Deborah Needleman’s family room definitely fits the bill!}

{I am constantly going back to gaze at this amazing bedroom designed by Spanish designer, Thomas Urquijo. I love the crisp linens, abstract art, geometric patterns, and gilded touch. To me, this room is supremely chic and it is neither too masculine nor too feminine. It is sheer perfection.}

{This bathroom by Martensen Jones is glamorous, beautiful, and has so many special touches, like the beautiful sconces and mirrored closet doors. For the sake of my dream house, let’s pretend the mirrored doors are for my husband’s closet…}

{…and this spectacular dressing room by Nate Berkus and Anne Coyle would be ideal as my closet!}

{This iconic bedroom by Miles Redd is one of my all-time favorites. I think it would make a very lovely guest bedroom.}

{Having this gorgeous room as a guest bedroom in my dream home would give me an excuse for being unabashedly feminine with the décor in a room. I will say, the Julian Schnabel art keeps the room balanced.}

{I’ve been in love with this Steven Gambrel-designed bathroom for quite some time. From the turquoise subway tile to the gallery wall, it is gorgeous!}

{This bathroom is at once serene, timeless, and chic.}

{I had to include a child’s room in my dream home and my favorite in recent memory is this lovely little girl’s room by Melissa Warner of Massuco Warner Miller. The colors combination is perfect, the toile adds graphic punch, and it all feels at once classic and fresh.}

{What little girl (or grown woman for that matter) wouldn’t love this pretty bathroom?}

 

So, what did you think? Was I able to capture my taste adequately? If ever I’ve put my design sensibility into a nutshell, I think this would be it. Would you like to see this type of post made into a series featuring some of your favorite bloggers?

 

{Image Credits: 1 Commune Design, 2-5 Domino, 6-7 AD España, 8 Domino, 9-10 JK Florence, 11 Lonny, 12 Domino, 13 Nuevo Estilo, 14 Martensen-Jones Interiors, 15 ELLE DÉCOR, 16 Domino, 17 House Beautiful, 18 ELLE DÉCOR, 19 Splendid Willow, 20 Massuco Warner Miller, 21 Absolutely Beautiful Things}

Fabulous Room Friday 06.25.10

{Violán’s gorgeous kitchen features a vast island, chevron-patterned wood floors original to the building, and a beautiful, antique Chinese screen. Everything is so different, but it works together beautifully.}

In honor of our trip to Barcelona next week, today’s “Fabulous Room” features the gorgeous kitchen and dining room of one of my favorite interior designers, Lázaro Rosa Violán, whose 6,2000 square foot house/studio houses these amazing spaces. Technically, they are two separate rooms, but the kitchen opens onto the dining room. Violan’s gift of being an urban archaeologist of sorts, is evidenced in his amazing, eclectic work. I am beyond excited to be staying in a hotel that he designed and look forward to visiting more of his projects while I am in Barcelona.

{The dining room is separated from the kitchen with French doors that were salvaged from the Ritz Hotel in Barcelona. Violán designed the beautiful white leather chairs and has used them in several of the restaurants he has designed. Notice the Picasso on the mantel and the extraordinary Murano glass chandelier. I love the unexpected whimsy that the floral rug adds.}

{Violán and his beloved dog, Bosco show the rooms off from a different angle. Aren’t the doors magnificent?}

 

To see more of Violán’s amazing work, click here.

 

Image Credit: AD España and Woman Magazine

Style Profile: Lazaro Rosa Violan

Yesterday, I blogged about the beautiful Hotel Pulitzer in Barcelona after having fallen in love with its design. Upon doing a little research, I found out that the hotel was designed by Spanish interior designer, Lázaro Rosa Violán, who has soared to the top of my list of favorite designers. Violán is a self-described “urban archaeologist” and “style hunter”, which I can certainly appreciate. Violán has been designing restaurants and hotels in his native Spain since 1990. His interiors are perfectly layered, with various styles blending together perfectly. Violán’s palettes are typically sophisticated and restrained and he balances masculinity with a touch of glamour nearly every time. In a word, his work is sublime. According to Violán: “The interior designer is an actor. He must dress up and change roles, understand new identities and integrate them with his own.” This personal philosophy of his further concretes my opinion of Violán as a true design visionary.

Hotels:

{Hotel Pulitzer Roma}

{Hotel Market, Barcelona}

{Hotel Praktik Rambla, Barcelona}

Restaurants:

{Big Fish, Barcelona}

We HAVE to go to this restaurant when we visit Barcelona! The design is incredible! I love the rough luxe look of it all. The combination of worn, whiskey-colored chairs, floating capiz chandeliers, industrial pendants, and black and white palette are too good to miss! Let’s just hope the food is half as delicious as the décor!

{Bazaar, Madrid}

{Fishop, Barcelona}

{Miu, Barcelona}

{Flamant Café, Barcelona}

{La Polpa, Barcelona}

{La Rita, Barcelona}

Retail:

{Felix, Barcelona}

Click on the images to enlarge them and see them in their full glory! I keep going back and looking at them in order to take in every detail.

Image Credit: Lázaro Rosa Violán