Treetop Living

You must admit there is something very whimsical about tree houses. I am yet to find someone who doesn't respond in an excited, almost childlike way when I bring the subject up. I have been thinking about tree houses a lot lately, even more since my mother has been promising to build one in the garden behind the house for as long as we've had the house, approximately 10 years. As I decided to give into my curiosity and sniff around I came across some pretty cool stuff.

First of all I was delighted to see that there are plenty of options should you decide to stay in a tree house hotel. Don't we all? Below are some lodging examples. Not sure what the comfort level is for adults, but fun is guaranteed for kids (of all ages), it even has a giant zip line!

For more information check out http://www.treehouses.com/treehouse/treesort/prclst.html.

Tree houses have also become restaurants.

This beautiful tree top restaurant in Auckland, New Zealand, was created by Peter Eising and Lucy Gauntlett from Pacific Environments Architects.

And then there is the rest of those crazy creations whose sole purpose is to amuse.

Beach Rock Treehouse, Okinawa, Japan. By Kobayashi Takashi

Germany. By Bauraum Architects

JApan. By Takashi Kobayashi.

Free Spirit Sphere. British Columbia, Canada.

Hotel Concept by Swedish Architects Tham and Videgard Hansson.

Lantern House, Santa Monica, CA. By Roderick Romero

O2 Sustainability Treehouse, by Dustin Feider of O2 Architecture.

Now here's to hoping that one day I'll have my very own treehouse to retire to.

Eco Escape

Having just come back from a sunny getaway I am, of course, in the midst of the winter blues. So what better way to get rid of them than by looking around for more wonderful holiday destinations?
Here are some incredible eco resorts that are begging to be visited.

Alila Villas Uluwatu - Bali. designed by WHOA

This resort aside from being Eco-friendly is also stunningly beautiful, it is a combination of terraces and verandas which blend magnificently with the surrounding areas letting the land do the talking.

Tropical Islands outside Berlin, Germany

This space used to be an airship hangar and is the world's biggest free standing building. Regardless of the cold german weather outside guests can enjoy an ongoing summer temperament in here. It includes 50,000 trees, villages and 5 Olympic sized swimming pools.

Jean -Michel Costeau Fiji Island Resort, Vanua Levu, Fiji

This is a completely energy efficient resort created by the passionate environmentalist and ocean explorer son of the famous Jaques Costeau. The beach activities and recreations give back to the locals through a charity.

Magica Mountain Lodge, Northern Patagonia

In order to reach the entrance of this fantastical hotel, guests board a suspended rope bridge finding themselves looking out at the beautiful land through water cascading in front of the dormer windows. Inside the hotel a sauna, bar and restaurant all add to the magical atmosphere of the resort.

Saffire Resort, built by Circa Architecture. Tasmania, Australia

Inspired by the surrounding waves and beaches of Oyster Bay, the Saffire resort was created by turning a disused caravan park into a manta ray shaped resort. The architects have replenished the eco system restoring the local vegetation for guests to enjoy.

Six Senses Resort, Vietnam

Located on Con Dao island, the Six Senses resort, designed by AW2 Architecture, is built by local sustainable materials including the timber suites and pedestrian bridge which takes guests back to the resort from the beach.

Whitepod, Swiss Alps

The pods are powered by renewable energy. Each pod has a fireplace where guests can relax and warm up after a day of activity on the snow.

Log Cabin

When men say they want a 'man cave' I'm pretty sure they don't think of something like this off the top of their heads. Hans Liberg had his furniture making friend, Piet Hein Eek, put together this fabulous log cabin in the town of Helverson, The Netherlands and which houses Hans' recording studio.

The interior contrasts the stacked log facade with a soothing palette of baby blue and the oversized storage makes the small space feel vast.

I sure wouldn't mind hiding away in this little corner of paradise!

Horses

Having just come back from a sunny getaway I find myself short of new material for a post, so I will take this opportunity to feature yet another artist/friend with great talent. Duke Beardsley is an artist who lives in Colorado and depicts horses, fishermen and landscapes with such ease he makes me believe anyone can do it. Each stroke of his paintbrush has such character and movement it is hard not to fall in love with them. Here are some of my favorites.

Backhand Punch Cast

Sidearm

Cadentes

Comrades

Der Blaue Reiter

Check out his ongoing collection at http://www.dukebeardsleystudio.com/

Photographic Story

Once in a while I come across an installation, piece of art or design that makes me stop in my tracks and really look at it. Then look at it some more and eventually keep thinking about it. Layered Drawings is such an installation and the Japanese artist Nobukiro Nakanishi is such an artist. He photographs the same scene over a period of time, then mounts it onto acrylic and mounts it showing the subtle passing of time. The results are stunning.

A Thing of The Mind

Here is another extremely talented friend of mine, Kristine Moran, a Canadian painter based in Brooklyn, NY. I find her paintings mesmerizing. There is such movement and depth in each stroke of (fabulous, may I add) color that draw me in further the longer I look at each painting. These are some of my favorites.

Samurai Sword Fighter

Elliptical Eccentrcities

Oblique Fissure

Self Efface

Somnambule

The Old Fool and His Spirit (Part 1)

The whole narrative behind each piece is fascinating and unravel a lot more of what is in front of you, so check out her full portfolio as well as the full story of her pieces. http://kristinemoran.com/

ixxi mad

Just when I was running out of ideas for a post, along came ixxi. Ixxi is a modular connecting system made from small panels, x's and i's which you can personalize any way you want. It's a pretty simple idea with a very, very cool impact. http://www.ixxi.nu/

These are just a few examples, as really imagination is the only limit of what you can put up there. Also, it is not limited to a flat surface, you can create spaces with them, as the following, very cool image shows.