25 October 2009

This small space is brought to you by Houzz

I found a terrific new website for design inspiration and like just about everything I find these days, I found them through Twitter. Houzz is home to 15,000 design photos and what's cool is you can save any of those photos in your own idea book on the site. It's sort of like an electronic clip file. Houzz calls them idea books.

The photos are credited to the designers who created the rooms so from whatever idea book you assemble, you can always tell who designed the room you admire.

Houzz goes through their collection and assembles idea books in advance too. There are idea books that contain only images of small kitchens for example. There are also idea books for color and pattern, or green architecture, or landscaping. Their collection is always growing, and it's a terrific place to go to find inspiration for your next project.

There was a project by Bosworth Hoedemaker in Seattle on Houzz last week and it really got my pulse going. I love older homes and I love clean designs. Bosworth Hoedemaker renovated a kitchen and bathroom in a Mt. Baker bungalow and the results are everything I try to have my designs be. These two renovated rooms honor the architecture of the house in the sense that they use it as a starting point to construct modern spaces. Despite the modern twist on the final designs, they never lose sight of the structure they're surrounded by, nor do they add anything that doesn't belong.

Here's the slide show from Houzz:






This kitchen is perfect.



The sink wall is particularly beautiful. I love the windows and shelf in lieu of wall cabinets. The room is flooded with light and to me at any rate, it seems that standing at this sink and scrubbing pots would be a pleasure.

The side opposite is pretty slick too.



Check out the great use of marble tile on the wall and the niche behind the range. It's clean, efficient and just beautiful. My only criticism is the Viking range. Why not just buy a Hummer and be done with it?

The bathroom is every bit as great as the kitchen though.



This is a case study in how to make a small bath seem downright huge. Hats off the Bosworth Hoedemaker and to Houzz for bringing this great project to my attention.

9 comments:

  1. I especially love that bathroom! Thanks for sharing! Deborah

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  2. Gorgeous kitchen...light and airy to be sure. However, I don't care for the niche behind the stove as everything will get splattered with grease and if not kept immaculately clean, 'hairy' with dust as well!

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  3. Deborah and Anne, thanks for checking in. I appreciate your comments. Keep 'em coming!

    Anne: something tells me that the owners of this home don't have a problem keeping that place immaculately clean. Know what I mean?

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  4. Hi Paul - I recently found this site as well! I am working on a kitchen plan in a recently re-built log home that will need to incorporate alot in a small open space, so was looking for inspiration - and found it at Houzz. I have already set up my idea book.

    Now the problem will be paring it down for the client! There are too many inspiring ideas!

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  6. Donna: I just read your blog post about the cabin. It sounds amazing and Houzz is a terrific resource.

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  7. hh: I deleted you comment. If you want to pimp a commercial interest on my blog you can buy an ad.

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