Open house, insert pool.

Hello blogsters!

*not Designers' Brew*

I am beyond honored to be hosting guest blogging Design Crisis while Karly is surfing the slopes and getting spanked on spiked hot cider out in Vail; I've got a great post lined up for you this morning, complete with a very special musical guest:

They're maniacs on the kazoo.

But before we get to that, let me give you the obligatory self-promotion plug: I'm a recovering English major, shoe addict, and NYC interior designer, and I blog over at Designers' Brew, where I thrash out all the good, bad and hilarious that the design world has to offer. Hope to see you there!

There's only one thing left to say: LIVE FROM NEW YORK, IT'S SPRINGTIME AT DESIGN CRISIS!!!

I know it's only March 12, but don't care what the calendar says; we've had our first two warm days here in New York, thus officially kicking off an awkward month and a half of denial wherein I dress way too lightly for the weather and clatter around the city in bare legs and heels, shivering uncontrollably and acting offended by the cold.

Yep, I'm done with winter, and am already dreaming about warm summer days, long weekends away, and visits to friends with pools and rivers to splash in, so I've pulled together a sampling of all of those things to get your engines revving.

First up, one of the most breathtaking houses I've seen in a long time: Vancouver-based Patkau Architects' Shaw House.

That is a pool. Floating over the entrance to the house, casting dancing, flickering, transparent shadows over the walkway below.

The interior's not half-bad, either:

Full of restless, shifting shapes that are subtly evocative of the shadowy water play outside:

And lest you think that this spectacular piece of architecture is shuffled away in some sightless suburb, never fear--here is the view.

Should you get a yearning to stretch your fins beyond the confines of the glass-bottomed pool, you have an entire bay to conquer--so get swimming!

Here are some other houses where the transition between water and structure is almost erased, creating a sophisticated play of transparency and reflection:

Jacob Termansen photography

Jacob Termansen photography

Inside Out

Mads Mogensen photography

Marmol Radziner

Olson Sundberg Kundig Allen

Roger Davies photography

Inside Out

Or, if turn-of-the-century Belle Epoque grandeur is more your vibe, you can't do better than the indoor pool at Hearst Castle:

The walls are covered with a king's ransom in mosaic tiles, many of them containing actual gold:

Here it is at night; can't you just imagine languidly splashing back and forth in the semi-darkness, the lamplight glinting off the brilliant, faceted tile, turning the pool into a magical Aladdin's cave for you and the companion of your choice (I don't know, do the words "pool" and "gold" bring anyone to mind for you?).

Sigh. Oh, sigh. Only two more months till the weather turns warm for real. I will be counting the days...

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!

Holidays Gone Wild

For the most part, my neighborhood is tastefully decorated for the holidays in restrained strands of white lights and only the occasional fauxflake. (I wanted to take a picture of our front yard for the blog, but yesterday I had the sudden realization that Austin is a small town of distinct neighborhoods, and I don't really want any cyber stalking psycho killers to sneak in and chop me up into little bits while I'm sleeping. Perhaps I have been watching too much Dexter. ) I like that our house looks neat and tidy, but I was hoping one of our neighbors would go insane with the colored lights set to induce epileptic seizures, animatronic reindeer, and inflatable snow globes with Santas trapped inside for all eternity like Superman's dad on Kal-el. Or whatever. I just wanted some drama, you know? So today I am jettisoning all semblance of taste to bring you some tacky Christmas bling blung. You can always count on me to klass up your morning. If I lived in the swank neighborhood of Dyker Heights in Brooklyn, I could hire these folks to jazz up my yard.

The tree is pretty rad, actually, but I am not feeling the creepy creche. Plus it must cost a boatload to have your house done up like so. Like, enough to buy two Wiis. It's obviously a case of keeping up with the Joneses, though, because the entire neighborhood looks like Santa got a little airsick and made a few special deliveries.

Or maybe he just had a bit too much of the spiked nog?

A reminder that there are bigger, bolder forces than Santa at work here: perhaps we should lay the blame for this one squarely on the mouse.

I think the reindeer has plans to take the Grinch out... for the greater good, of course.

Meanwhile, in Ft. Lauderdale, this family is "putting Christ back in Christmas" by setting their 60,000 LED lights to DANCE to Emerson, Lake and Palmer's, "Nutrocker."

Last year, The NY Times reported that this billionaire hedge fund manager's home attracted countless visitors with its extensive light display. Due to the massive hit the financial sector -- and hedge fund managers in particular -- have taken, his display has probably been downgraded to something along these lines this year:

Hopefully he can rustle up the liquid assets to purchase enough electricity to power this baby.

I don't know about you, but where I come from, "fancy" holiday decorations look less like shining examples of wealth and more like this picture from here:

You know -- completely random small ornaments tacked on at completely random places with no sense of an overall scheme. It appeals to my sense of homeyness much more than the Dyker Heights hood, quite frankly. So does this one.

Ah, yes. Whither the humble plastic statue, lit from underneath to spotlight evil Santa who just wants to have a little holiday fun? My advice: keep to the lit path, friends. You don't want to lose a leg in a Christmas "accident."

Some people accrue so many decorations over the years that they have to build a corral to keep them from escaping. This beauty was featured in Park Cities People, which is a local paper that also serves the Preston Hollow neighborhood in Dallas, future home to one George W. Bush. Wouldn't it be hilarious if G Dub's neighbor was responsible for this? The power drain on the local grid alone might compromise security. Oh deer.

If you're feeling the recession pinch and don't have the cash to purchase 500,000 lights, or if you are even vaguely eco conscious, you could just dial the holiday fervor down a notch.

I really hope that reindeer sings siren songs about ice cream and cookies. With a display like that, homeboy best be serving up some treats from the hatchback.

Still not cheap enough for you? How about this:

What is there to say about this gorgeous green Grinch sweater the sweet picture itself cannot tell you? Only that it's available on Ebay and already has 11 bids on it. I know what I'll be making next year...

Well, dear readers, Karly and I will be taking next week off to indulge in holiday shopping, eating and general gluttony, but we'll be running some super sweet vintage posts sure to dazzle all but the 5 of you who have been reading DC since the verrrrry beginning.

In the meantime, have a fantastic holiday break full of animatronic deer and inflatable Santas!!!