Palette finder

Whether you're looking to redecorate your apartment or find a matching outfit to wear, this cool website can help you out. The palette search tool helps you find matching colors by searching just one color or a theme. It uses images from art and nature to put together a comprehensive palette. I definitely had some fun playing around with it.

The cat house

State side prints

Show some pride in your home state with these prints from fab.com.

Homes with bizarre bedrooms

The subterranean $3.15M mansion in Bowdon, Cheshire packs some James Bond wizardry into its master bedroom, but the craziest part of the design might be the absolute lack of windows. Okay, so the jacuzzi atrium features a skylight, but without the morning sun, it's a good thing the owner can splash more than a little water on their face in the AM.

In Russia, a luxury bedroom isn't complete without some neon green lighting to illuminate the crown molding. At least that's the impression we got from this master bedroom, part of an extravagant $24M offering outside of Moscow.

When model Agyness Deyn did up her Brooklyn bedroom, she took things "under the sea" with a coral mural, seashell light fixtures, and a blue ceiling. Surprisingly, this might be the most sedate room in Deyn's loft, currently listed for $2.5M, but in contract to sell.

Faux stone finishing and black leather are the keys to failure in this truly Texas-sized bachelor pad of a bedroom. Part of a $9.8M "contemporary" mansion, this place missed the modern boat back in the early 1990s.

What to do as a young software millionaire? Deck out an L.A. mansion in a very dated, tacky form of luxury then try to cash in on the $6.5M resale. The trouble is, this opulent master bedroom is located in Woodland Hills, where comps are selling for a third the price per square foot. Location, location, location probably drove the owner to pull it from the market.

Source

Going Underground

These are awesome posters that detail the train routes from cities around the globe. Fab.com is having a sale on them so if you're interested then I would sign up!

Chicago

Washington DC

Los Angeles

London

San Francisco

Boston

Seattle

Homes with awesome fireplaces

There is no better feeling than sitting by a fireplace on a cold night. Here are some homes with incredible fireplaces.

Aspen, CO

This contemporary house on the Ridge of Red Mountain was designed by architect Frank D. Welch, and built in 1984.

Guests at this estate can gather and warm up at either side of the centrally located island-style fireplace. Another unusual feature of the house is the enormous pink-marbled bathroom with Hollywood dressing room-inspired vanities. The property also has a media room, elevator, caretaker’s quarters, security system, spa, pool and a hot tub.

Montecito, CA

This gated Mediterranean house has multiple fireplaces in the traditional places like master bedroom, dining room and study. But there’s also a huge fireplace with ocean, harbor and mountain views outside on the covered terrace.

Also on the 11.18 acre property are a one-bedroom guesthouse with separate gated drive and garages for up to five cars.

Ridgefield, CT

This minimalist modern mansion sprung from the design table of Uruguayan architect Rafael Viñoly, part of the THINK team who competed to design the new World Trade Center. It has 50-mile views, with the highest views reserved for the kings of the castle: The master bedroom is located in a tower.

The art gallery-esque residence has a bold inverted-pyramid fireplace design reminiscent of Aztec architecture. This estate has been on and off the market several times since 2008, when it had a starting price of $10 million.

Irvine, CA

The dreamy and fairy tale-like setting created by the Ambrosia Home is packed with details like hardwood floors, custom paint, moldings, and window treatments.

The house’s collection of four fireplaces includes a rounded corner fireplace in the family room and another rounded marble corner fireplace in the master bedroom. Outdoors contains much of interest as well, including a kitchen with marble countertops and a plasma TV, a huge pool, and olive trees along stone pathways … and another fireplace.

Canet de Mar, Spain

How about a historic castle in Spain? Castillo de Santa Florentina — Casa Nova, named by Architectural Digest of one of the “Most Beautiful Homes in the World,” has been on the market for over a year. This country retreat is located by the sea and beaches, yet is just 22 miles from Barcelona. Although price is not included on the current listing, Luxist cited it as $24.8 million in 2010.

The foundations of the castle were laid in Roman times, but the estate has been much expanded to include a private chapel, grand salon, formal dining room, caretaker’s house, stables and a vineyard. Fireplaces include one in the massive sitting room and the top-heavy, wedding-cake-esque bedroom fireplace that pairs well with an equally top-heavy canopied bed (furnishings are included in the sale).

Source

Homes with amazing staircases

The Cells
Location: France
One of Geoffrey Packer’s favorite sculptural staircases is Cells®, which EeStairs manufactured and installed in 2011. The staircase is located in a modern house overlooking the sea in Le Havre, France. “The client had seen some of our previous designs and although liked them, felt that the stair was too open and wished for a more closed balustrade structure,” Packer said. “EeStairs was challenged to design a stair with an organic feel that was open, but still felt enclosed.” Using specialist software EeStairs came up with Cells®, Packer said. “It is both geometric and organic simultaneously, allowing both a solid feel that is also pleasing to the eye. The Cells pattern appears many times naturally, from a microscopic level to bee-hives.”

Bookcase Staircase
Location: England
Space saving is the inspiration for a bookcase staircase in an attic apartment that occupies part of the top floor of an existing Victorian mansion in London. “We created a ‘secret’ staircase, hidden from the main reception room, to access a new loft bedroom lit by roof lights,” states the Web site of Levitate, a London based architecture and design studio, which designed it. “Limited by space, we melded the idea of a staircase with our client’s desire for a library to form a ‘library staircase’ in which English oak stair treads and shelves are both completely lined with books on three sides.” People are essentially surrounded by books as they ascend or descend the stairs. A skylight above illuminates the staircase, making it “the perfect place to stop and browse a tome.”

Staircase Slide
Location: England
Some staircases are visually appealing and fun, allowing people to get from point A to point B playfully, like this one that has a slide alongside the staircase. This one was designed by Alex Michaelis of Michaelis Boyd Associates, based in London, and was built in an environmentally sustainable, detached 5 bedroom two-storey townhouse built underground, complete with indoor pool and children’s play area. But the fun is not reserved just for kids. Some adults can not resist the temptation to slide down, Michaelis said. "We’ve been known after a big dinner party to use the slide," the architect told Cookie Magazine.

Spelling Manor Stairs
Location: Los Angeles
The 56,500-square foot mansion bought by heiress Petra Ecclestone touts a grand set of steps resembling the famous stairs from Hollywood classic, Gone With The Wind. The sweeping double staircase frames an opulent chandelier and features gold-colored detailing on the face of each step. The home, which has its own dog grooming room, movie theater and salon was on the market for $150 million dollars before being sold to Ecclestone.

Ribbon Staircase
Location: Prague, Czech Republic
This modern staircase, resembling a delicate rippling ribbon, is in the main living area of a house in Liben, Prague, in the Czech Republic. It is constructed from 10mm thick sheet metal, and pairs of adjoining steps connect with an external side joist that forms a bracket anchored to the wall, according to HSH Architects, the Czech based architectural firm that designed it. It looks fragile, but each bracket is constructed as a rigid frame, the firm noted on its Web Site, and the higher steps bear most of the weight, while pressure is transmitted through the lower steps.

Source

I want a porch and then I want this

Skull wall art