Euro Style Home

Having kids doesn't mean having to throw in the towel and become a soccer mom. The modern family homes featured above set out to break the stereotype of family living. I personally love the idea of living in a modern home with a handful of kids running around. Growing up in a stylish enviroment exposes children to fashion, design, architecture, and other creative arts.

Designing the main areas in a modern home can can sometimes be easier than decorating kid's rooms and spaces. When designing a modern nursery or kid's room there is a balance between modern furnishings and a kid-friendly, functional design.

Need a few directional ideas for designing your modern nursery or kid's room?

• Choose a classic or modern theme
• A few different options for color schemes included neutrals, white and black with bright accents, and an all white space
• Select furnishings that don't shout baby

The light fixtures you select for the kid's space can make a big impact on the overall design. Below are a few modern table lamps for the kid's room or nursery. The lamps are modern and fun and will easily transition into a more grown up space as the child ages.

Lite Source Kito Blue Table Lamp (left), Chrome Stack Set of Two Table Lamps (right)

* Post Update 10/24/12: Our Chrome Stack Table Lamps has been discontinued.

Possini White Flower Acrylic Shade Table Lamp (left), Jonathan Adler Carlyle Slide Table Lamp (right)

* Post Update 10/24/12: Our Jonathan Adler Carlyle Table Lmap has been discontinued.

Images: emmas designblogg, Family Living, Apartment Therapy, Apartment Therapy

Responding to the modern dream for clean sophisticated design and bright open spaces.

The Mima House is a 387 square foot prefabricated house in Portugal. Designed by Mima Architects, it has a modular structure and can be divided into rooms with a grid of removable partitions. Each side of internal and external walls can have a different color/finishing, which allows a dramatic change through a simple wall rotation.

It costs about the same price to manufacture as a family car. Mima architects researched for years to be able to put together a single home that was fast to produce, flexible, light and inexpensive, yet was a good quality product wrapped up with a pleasant clean design. Fundamentally inspired on the traditional Japanese house, the perfect paradigm for lightness, flexibility, comfort and pleasing lines.

Plywood panels transform the windows into walls to create privacy where necessary.

Despite its standardized construction methods, these houses can be customized in so many parameters, that you’ll hardly see two equal houses.

Fundamentally inspired on the traditional Japanese house, the perfect paradigm for lightness, flexibility, comfort and pleasing lines.

The restrained order of its standardized building parts appealed to MIMA architects as the hallmark of a deeply rooted culture, confirmed over centuries and easily adaptable to any new development.

Images: Jose Campos

Andrew Geller, the innovative architect behind many a modernist Hampton beach house, including iconic A-Frame designs, recently passed away. Ever hear of the Bra, the Box Kite, the Cat, the Milk Carton, or the Reclining Picasso? These were all nicknames given to his visually striking and remarkable homes.

He was also the designer of a line of prefabricated cottages sold under the name of Leisurama. Back in the 1950s, you could march into Macy’s in New York and, for a down payment of $490 and monthly payments of $73, get the house and all the modern furniture and furnishings. It was just such a house that se-off the infamous “Kitchen Debate” between Vice President Richard M. Nixon and Soviet Premier Nikita S. Khrushchev over the affluence of American and Soviet consumers.

To celebrate Mr. Geller’s life and work, we’ve assembled a photo gallery of some of his more eye-popping home designs, along with a YouTube video clip from a documentary about the Leisurama houses, and a clip from Geller’s grandson, who is behind the Andrew Geller archive preservation project.

The Levitas House, 1963.

The Pearlroth House (aka "The Bra"), 1959.

The Hunt House, 1959.

The Elkin House, 1966.

Photos from the Andrew Geller website

Click below to view the video on Geller's Leisurama designs.

With winter coming on in full force, we thought you would enjoy a little greenery.

This modern cabin seamlessly blends in with its Northern California forest setting. Upright wood siding echoes the surrounding redwood and pine tree trunks. Planted roofs evoke the forest canopy and help to protect the roof against sun damage.

And we love the way they used cylindrical and modern outdoor lighting to subtly illuminate the entryways and a small seating area.

Photos thanks to Builder Online

A pair of Rudolph M. Schindler houses in the Inglewood suburb of Los Angeles have been remodeled and brought into the 21st century. Schindler, of course, is one of the icons of California Mid-Century Modernism, with well-documented homes such as the Kings Road House in West Hollywood.

These gems are off the beaten path a bit and it's wonderful to see them brought back to life in a way that respects the line and form of the original plans.

Each has a prim two-bedroom, one-bath floor layout, with an open, airy look that makes the modern furniture look right at home.

The house profiled in this LA Times article had changed hands but twice in 70 years and still had the original doors and windows and contemporary lighting fixtures.

What's neat is that both houses sit side by side, right next to each other. In addition to the pair of homes, there is another Schindler house just down the street!

Images: The Los Angeles Times