Nestled atop Cortez Hill stands the historic ‘El Cortez’, San Diego’s leading landmark since its grand opening in 1927. From its opening through the 1950s, it was the most glamorous apartment-hotel in San Diego, hosting multiple U.S. Presidents such as Dwight D. Eisenhower, Lyndon B. Johnson, and Gerald Ford, as well as entertainers like Bing Crosby and Elvis Presley. Today, the historically significant ‘El Cortez’ combines a contemporary high-rise lifestyle with the lure and attraction of old world charm.

While the building’s exterior is Spanish Renaissance style, owner Sasha Favelukis of Sequoian Investment Inc. considered modern Australian design team Pauly De Bartolo and Ivan Rimanic of De Bartolo + Rimanic Design Studio (DBRDS) a natural choice for the remodel of his 600 square foot condominium. To maximize space in the 1 bedroom, 1 bathroom small home, an ‘Australian-inspired’ custom kitchen was designed to provide additional depth of storage as well as a linear bench which runs the length of the kitchen, dining and living area to maximize storage and provide window seating.

The kitchen is clad in white oak to impart a textural balance between the dark wood floors and the white walls and features. A white modern interior allows the space to evolve from bright and clean during the day to evocative and golden in the evening, capturing the dynamic view of the San Diego skyline at night.

To reflect upon the history of the space in an otherwise modern interior, a wall featuring period-style moulding and a soft grey color was designed for the bedroom.  All of the design elements were hand selected to provide a cohesive, relaxing and unique feel for this modern living space. The only original elements are the bathtub and bathroom floor. To make his design vision a reality, De Bartolo reached out to the team at Hold It Contemporary Home to supply all of the furniture, artwork and accessories.

Through minor, non-load bearing interior modifications to the converted hotel rooms, DBRDS transformed the feel of the condominium into an open floor plan, allowing for flowing space and more natural light. The General Contractor on the project was Alan Loghman of Pacific Design & Construction. Read more …

Is it a radiator, or is it artwork? These cool modern radiators by Caleido are both! The elongated rectangular shape is easy to incorporate among your existing artwork, or let it steal the spotlight and feature it as an art piece all on its own. These cool radiators are by Karim Rashid, who stayed true to his signature funky style. These new radiators made their debut at Salone Internazionale del Mobile 2010.

Source: Trendir

The City of Yiwu in China houses the world’s biggest small goods market. Having seemingly arisen over night, it is now the center of trading for small goods in the world. The city strongly encourages young entrepreneurs, and with that in mind, the Lahas Zone was idealistically conceived and designed, centering a green environment that can incorporate services, offices, and exhibitions all into living comfortably. Lahas Zone was comprehensively renovated from an old factory building instead of built a new on the Lahas Zone site in accordance to maintaining green.

Source: ArchDaily Read more …

Who said a bed is a bed? What about a great living space? This is what ENSEMBLE is all about. Thanks to its ingenuous steel channels system, you can move backs and night shelves all around the bed perimeter to create a tête-à-tête, a chaise or a nice corner to isolate yourself. All this in the wink of an eye. Playing Scrabble will never be the same! No more closed doors, the bedroom comes back on stage.

Oradaria Design came up with the Blandito®, a transformable pad for lazy living. It folds and twists into a ton of different positions that will, without a doubt, help you get your relax on.

Source: Design Milk Read more …

Among the rows of identical houses that line the ups and downs of San Francisco streets, there is one that is not quite like the others. 20^th Street Residence’s black front façade is only the first of many surprises, which include a vertical extension to the house’s original two stories, a catwalk bridge that extends from the backyard, the motley assortment of materials in the house’s interior design.

Design firm SF-OSL introduces multiple layers of light in the residence, whether through skylights, hanging pendant lights, large panels of glazing, or even the perforations in a window screen.

The Sonnet Dining Table features a tempered glass top and polished stainless steel legs. This unique modern table is sure to garner attention as you and your guests gather and converse around it! A functional work of art, the Sonnet adjusts to meet the height of just about any dining chair.

Open plan offices and public buildings, CCTV, online profile sharing, cameras built into our laptops; never has it been easier for humans to connect, but what about when we want to withdraw?

By creating an enclosed space HUSH provides a personal retreat, an escape into a dark, quiet, natural space, or state of mind. HUSH can also be transformed to provide more traditional open seating.

If you stop and think about it, the extension of houseboat plans to encompass multi-unit housing construction was only a matter of time. Still, it seems fitting that the Netherlands would be the first to give more extensive water-based residences a try given their tumultuous nautical history and ever-rising tide lines.

Though the idea is incredible, it remains to be seen whether or not this creative floating housing complex by WaterStudio will become the wave of the future and give rise to a whole new approach to residential construction in flood zones.

Source: dornob

Read more …

Come visit the store and check out our new styles of luxurious natural cowhides from Saddleman’s!

Saddleman’s of Sante Fe is considered the industry leader in premium quality cowhide rugs.