Everyone Wants a Bunk Room

10/26/2011 4:03:00 PM

Is it because everyone wants grandkids? Who knows...but what I do know is that most of my clients ask for a bunk room.

My favorite bunk rooms have built-in beds like this charming example I found in a Pottery Barn catalogue:

If you want to go a step further, set each bunk up like its own little room:

Of course, privacy curtains are a must:

And don't forget that each bunk needs good lighting and comfy support pillows for reading in bed. Yes, the grandkids will probably sneak in a good late-night read with a flashlight, but when your adult friends see how cool the bunk room is, they'll want to stay there, too.

I'd certainly want to stay in this bunk room from the HGTV Dream House. You gotta know the party group will be staying in here:

Of course, if you know the bunk room is going to be exclusively for kids, you can add a little whimsey:

Or you could do Swedish style bunk beds:

Maybe modern is your thing:

Or you just love log style:

Me? I want the little red room at the top:

Architect Bobby McAlpine Always Impresses

Every time I run across work by Atlanta architect Bobby McAlpine it just blows my socks off. I have a thick file of magazine tear sheets featuring his work and every single house is fabulous.

Recently I was doing a little sorting in my office and ran across an article I had pulled out of an issue of Southern Accents Magazine called "High Style in Highlands". It features a house McAlpine built for clients in the Blue Ridge Mountains. McAlpine often works with designer Ray Booth who is a partner in his firm. Booth did the interiors on this project.

The interiors in this house manage to mix contemporary and rustic in such a beautiful way. The lines are clean, the materials are mountain-appropriate and the scale is big. As in all the firm's designs, there is an easy elegance to the rooms and great attention has been paid to comfort and livability.

Above, the stunning fireplace on the screened-in porch.

Above, the great room has space for living, dining and even library...walls of bookshelves are behind curtains next to the table. The large table is the perfect place to pull out a laptop or a game of scrabble.

One interior detail I love is the wood siding boards stacked horizontally. This seems so modern and is something you rarely see here in Lake Tahoe where old pickwick pine was traditionally used vertically. We are still using it a lot today and clients often ask to create an "Old Tahoe" look. Also, in Tahoe, beams were stained dark like this in the 60's and 70's and I often get clients asking me how to lighten them up to make them look current. Usually in our 60's interiors, though, the ceilings are clad with wood and the walls are dry wall (and would have been painted white, to match the orange shag carpets and orange formica countertops). I love the way McAlpine has switched up the look...the dark beams actually look fresh and modern here against the white ceiling and horizontal wood walls.

If you look closely at the McAlpine interior furnishings, you'll see that there is a great deal of complexity in the work. In every vignette they've brought in some special object from the past like the church pew serving as a bench for the dining table on this outdoor porch, below. Old meets modern meets rustic, setting up subtle design tension. The rooms these two create together are not just beautiful, they are always intriguing.

The kitchen is just simply stunning. I love the x detailing on the island, and the light grey stain really pops in the midst of an all wood space.

I love this sophisticated breakfast nook, the comfortable but understated pillows, the details on the custom banquette legs, they greyed stain on the wood, the gorgeous table, the use of an ottoman at the head of the table...the whole thing is so inviting, and sooo handsome!

And, finally, the master...

Photography by Tria Giovan 

Clean-lined, Elegant, Contemporary Bedding from Wildcat

6/20/2011 7:26:00 AM

Do you love contemporary design? Are your trips to the mountains intended for Zen simplicity and quiet? Here are some bedding designs that may please your meditative spirit.

Horizon by Wildcat, above.

Lover boy

Natural Attraction

Thea Willow

Wildcat Bedding can be custom ordered through Dragonfly Designs. Email us at dragonflytahoe@att.net or call 530 583-6076.

Adorable Bedding

6/18/2011 1:13:00 PM

A good night's sleep is always important and when you're on vacation isn't the whole point to rest up and restore? Here are a few beds that will help you do just that.

Tasha Polizzi A delicious ice cream sundae of a bed!

I think I could get a good night's sleep in this simple but cozy nest, below.

French Laundry Burlap Collection

And below, mountain handsome but with every need met to the max.

Muriel Collection from Traditions

Sasha's My Agent

There are some great real estate agents in Tahoe, but my favorite is Sasha Spiegel. Sasha knows her stuff.

We're all aware that buying or selling a house pretty much tops the list of stressful events, but Sasha's good at smoothing things over and doing a deal with her minimizes the craziness. I know. I've done six transactions with Sasha to date. If you are looking to buy or sell in Tahoe, I highly recommend her.

Sasha works successfully with buyers and sellers on all kinds of properties. In fact, I see her "Open House" signs most weekends in my Dollar Point neighborhood. She's an on-the-go agent with a busy clientele.

Recently, Sasha admitted to me that she has a secret passion for "Old Tahoe" cabins. If it was built in the first half of the 20th century, Sasha's into it. If it has pine tree cut-outs on the shutters, orange-shellac knotty-pine walls, checkerboard linoleum kitchen floors and 40's green and white bathroom tile, Sasha is diggin' it. Sasha usually knows in exacting detail every Old Tahoe cabin on the market.

I have to confess that I have a fondness for the Old Tahoe charmers, too. This is despite the fact that there have been so many wonderful developments in the last ten years in lodge-style homes. The changing roof lines, the hand-applied aged beams at all angles, one-of-a-kind iron work, the use of interesting aged and patinaed materials like antique barn wood and rusted corrugated. This has been a fabulous decade for mountain architecture.

A modern mountain house built by Olson Construction.

Fabulous. Still....I'm with Sasha, lovin' that Old Tahoe ski cabin style.

Anyway, if you're looking for a good agent, Sasha's your gal. Give her a call and tell her you heard about her from me. She'll do right by you. She always does.

To reach Sasha or for the latest information on Tahoe real estate clickhere.

Casual, Rustic, Elegant!

Here's a beautiful project from an old college friend of mine, Mary Lynne Turner of M. Elle Designs. Mary Lynne designed the house with her two daughters, also partners in her firm. I'm impressed with the way the trio contrasted clean contemporary lines with rustic country comfort. The architectural details are phenomenal, especially the old timbers, antique wide planked flooring and intriguing mushroom stain colors used throughout. Fabulous work, Mary Lynne!

The main structure was adapted from an old barn.

Mary Lynne has a knack for contrasting contemporary elements with the aged. Here, the sleek fireplace surround sets off the antique timbers and rustic stonework.

I love the rustic old trusses. And how about those beautifully designed repeating doors marching down the barn wall, dressed in simple nubby curtains that soar to the sky!

In the den, a perfect dark mushroom stain shade has been selected, giving the room a contemporary feel, somehow working perfectly for mountain living.

Order prevails!

And yet, nothing one could want for a retreat in the mountains has been overlooked.

Where else would you want to be when the wind is howling and the snow is flying?

In the Master, another lighter mushroom stain color contrasts with fresh white linens for a luxury feel. Beautiful curtains!

Have you ever seen a more beautiful home office? Surrounded by pine trees, it is the epitome of rustic chic with those industrial windows and gauzy curtains.

Gorgeous!

And last, simple perfection in the bunk room.