Ok, You Got Me, It's Officially Spring

Welcome to the first day of Spring, everyone.  I know I was Debbie Downer mid week with all my talk of snow fall and icy slopes.  But I got my fix and I'm ready to admit what the calendar tells me is true:  it is officially spring.  The Southern California-esque weather here in Austin is absolute perfection and I'm not so mad to see my plants coming back to life.  Of course, I would be really, really not mad if my yard looked a thing like I want it to.  While I am blessed with a lush layer of deeply saturated green grass, and have a few trees to hold up my hammock, my yard is light years away from the landscaped wonder of my dreams. While I have confidence in my interior design choices, landscaping is an entirely different story:  plants and yard layouts are magical beasts that I can't quite figure out how to tame.  Whenever I talk with one of my plant-friendly pals I simply say "I want my yard to look like the Hotel San Jose"

The San Jose is an adorable hotel made up of several bungalows here in Austin.  The cocktail patio outback is open to all, not just hotel guests and is one of my favorite spots to get a drink (psst, try the champassion, it will rock your face off).  Cool cocktails on hot summer nights are just a front:  I really go to this place to admire the landscaping.

None of these photos do the space the justice it deserves, but trust me when I say:  it is freekin awesome.  Until now, I did not know who the genius was behind the landscaping, I didn't even think to look it up.  I suppose I assumed that grounds so lovely just magically appeared after the Gods waved their hands over the land or something.  I guess I was wrong.  There is a designer, and he has a name:

Meet Mark Word.  While I had never heard of him before today, almost every outdoor space in Austin that I adore can be traced back to him.  His mix of wild grasses, over sized agave, and invasive (but stunning!!) ivy have me week at the knees.  

Uhhhh!!! My dream front yard.  My house is on a small hill, so this vision isn't totally unreasonable.  Well, unless you factor in the whole Karly doesn't understand how to layout plants thing.  I think it's a fair guess to assume that Mark's services are out of my price range, but what if I were to ply him with vodka? 

I tore this image out of a magazine ages ago, not realizing that it was even in Austin, much less the work of my new yard hero.  I would love to have a little cubby bench surrounding loose gravel behind my house.

Or, maybe a little grassy platform is right for me?  I love how he mixes structured spaces with wild growth.

While several of you may be able to attest to my dislike for water features, especially when they involve fish or loud motors, but I find his custom metal pieces quite charming.  Ok, I'm starting to see a formula surface:  rusted industrial + minimal structure + some wild native Texas crap= Karly's heart literally bleeds.  Maybe I can try to pull this off on my own?

Ok, maybe I can't do this myself.  This is another picture I tore out ages ago, from a different magazine than the last one I pointed out.  Seriously, how did I not figure out who this guy was?  Oh, and just incase you're wondering, here's what the front of the house pictured above looks like:

Funny story:  I actually made the final decision to buy the house I live in now because my entry walkway is not unlike the one pictured above.  Just a thousand times less cool.

This seems a bit more attainable, but still light years beyond my landscaping ability.  So if any of you readers out there happen to know Mr. Word, and, if, by chance he owes you a favor, how about you go ahead and hook a sister up?

I think that I shall never see a home as lovely as a tree

Swiss Family Robinson attraction at Disney World

Hi ya Design Crisis fans!  I'm Raina and I'll be filling in for Karly today while she's drunkenly heckling Pottery Barn shoppers on vacation.  My days are spent chasing my two-year-old daughter around and writing a couple of little interior design blogs, "If The Lamp Shade Fits" and "The Daily Bed."  I've worked in design and retail since my teen years and previously owned an interiors shop and a clothing boutique for nearly a decade.  Enough about me, let's get to today's topic...

Who doesn't love a tree house?  Given the worldwide economic bloodletting and skyrocketing home foreclosure rate, les cabanes dans un arbre (it's sexier in French) may soon become the shelter of choice if not necessity.  Let's take a tour through some superlative examples of the genre.

Stockholm-based architects Tham + Videgard Hansson Arkitekter have designed a hotel with individual rooms to be suspended in trees and accessed by rope ladders and bridges.

The suites will be clad in mirrored glass so as to give the structures a Harry Potter-esque cloak of invisibility.

Each unit will sleep two people and include a living room, double bed, small kitchen, bathroom and roof terrace.  The hotel is due to start construction in 2010.

Continuing with the box-in-a-tree theme, Canadian architects StudioLukaszkos designed this award-winning 410-square-foot lakeside project called "4treehouse."  The first floor contains a sheltered bedroom with the two upper floors open to the elements.

British builder Amazon Tree Houses creates "inspirational bespoke retreats for inspired locations."  Budgets for these more traditional fairy tale tree houses start at $7500 and head upwards of $150,000 (and beyond).

Lest you think tree houses can only be built in mighty oaks, I give you the "Palm-Fiction" designed by German builder BaumRaum.

BaumRaum (translation "tree room") combines "the creative and constructive expertise of an architect with the long-standing experience of a landscape architect, a tree expert, and established, reputable craftsmen."  Working internationally, the design firm specializes in modern shapes and luxe interiors.

As part of a recent marketing campaign for the New Zealand Yellow Pages, a tree house restaurant was built in a giant redwood (all suppliers to the project were Yellow Pages advertisers).  The restaurant, located north of Auckland on a privately-owned redwood plantation, was a limited-run engagement open from January 9th to February 9th. The structure, now available for private parties, seats 18 people on split levels with service provided from a kitchen located on the ground.

If you prefer to live out your tree house dreams in the safety and warmth of your own home, you may want to think about one of these fantasy beds.

"Under the Apple Tree" canopy bed from Attila Design.

"Tree Bed" from Shawn Lovell Metalworks.

"Tree House" loft bed from VIP Kids.

For further inspiration, check out the tree house porn coffee table book "Treehouse Living: 50 Innovative Designs."

See thee in the canopy!

Spring has NOT Sprung, Damnit!

While you dudes are blissfully watching the snow melt off of branches and ushering in the coming of spring, I am fighting it off tooth and nail.  It's a balmy 82 degrees here in austin and the only ice I've seen for the last few months came out of my fridge.  This is why, my friends, I will be spending the next 5 fun-filled days on the slopes in Vail, Colorado.  Holla! I wanted to bring you a ski cabin related post today but most of my searches ended with pictures like this:

This from a site that promises to show you how to "create your own ski lodge look."  Let's get this straight, this chair should not ever be seen near a ski slope, much less in some living room in the Carolina suburbs.  I'm not giving you a link because no one should ever learn to do this. The madness doesn't stop there, google roulette fed me all of this:

This is in Vail!  That mural is not ironic!  Knock out a hole in the wall where that mural is and enjoy the view that you most certainly have.  And why for the umbrella?

Look!  Eddie Veddar inspired seating, how quaint.

For a modern twist on the ski chalet, try ignoring the space you're working with.  Oh, and don't bother with making your curtains reach the floor.

If your constantly concerned that you won't feel like royalty while relaxing in your cabin, you could rent this pad:

Seriously, What is going on here?

I searched high and low for some good pictures for you folks.  Even my tried and true design hotel resources couldn't save me this time.  However, I didn't want to leave you with BOTH of your eyes bleeding, so I'll spare your souls with a few shots from every blog on earth's fave, Suzy Hoodless.  Hey it's not a ski resort, but the place had "lodge" in the name, so I'm going with it:

Ok, you caught me:  Erin posted some of those pictures before.  But, hey, I'm about to go on vacation, what do you expect?

Thankfully, I'll be staying with my aunt, who is an interior designer with impeccable taste, so my digs should more closely resemble the latter rather than the former.

While I'm gone I've got some badassical guest blogging posts lined up for you:  Erin will be rockin her usual days next week, but Raina, from If the Lampshade Fits will be giving you a shoutout on Tuesday and NerF from Designer's Brew will be bringin it home on Thursday.  Stay Tuned!

Peace out Bitches!