CasaSugar

Would You Like to Live in a Gingerbread House?

CasaSugar — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 13:00:00 -0800

This Victorian home in Bouldin Creek, TX, one of Austin's oldest neighborhoods, is what you might call a gingerbread house: dripping with candylike ornate moldings and a very decorative picket fence, its style is straight out of a fairytale book. I love it, and I'd kill to live in it. That gorgeous front porch alone had me sold! But architecture this elaborate certainly doesn't please everyone's tastes. How about you?

Have You Entered Michelle Kaufmann's Eco Gingerbread Contest?

CasaSugar — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 16:00:15 -0800

One of my eco heroes, Michelle Kaufmann is sponsoring a Green Guru Gingerbread Challenge. You have two more days to enter the contest, and I know that CasaSugar readers are a creative bunch, so I thought you should rally to make your own design!

Check out this house, for example, which is powered by chocolate solar panels and features clerestory windows, a deep roof overhang, low-E glazed windows, a frosting water catchment system, and green roofs planted with native flora. Sustainable and delicious!

Are you going to enter the Green Guru Gingerbread Challenge?

Source

Love It or Hate It? Eco Gingerbread House

CasaSugar — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 09:15:31 -0800

You know that I'm a fan of green building, and that means my enthusiasm also extends to the world of gingerbread houses. Are you a fan of eco-oriented gingerbread houses? Or do you prefer the traditional models?

Nancy Wegard for The New York Times

Which Sugar Gingerbread House Is Your Favorite?

CasaSugar — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 08:30:00 -0800

For some imperceptible reason, a few weeks ago I decided to challenge my office to a gingerbread house-making challenge, a "Gingerbread-Off," if you will. Turns out getting my walls and roof to stand on their own was not an easy feat, and suddenly memories of disastrous gingerbread houses from my youth rushed back to me. It was a fun weekend activity though, and I was excited to see what my coworkers had come up with. To be honest, I have to admit that I definitely had my butt kicked.

To find out which house truly takes the cake, please let us know which is your favorite. From top left, I went for a New Orleans style shot-gun house; PartySugar created a snowy log-cabin; PopSugar replicated Britney Spears' estate; BuzzSugar channeled Dr. House; and YumSugar fashioned a mid-century modern ranch.

Deck the Haus: KMD Architects Has a Sweet Tooth

CasaSugar — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 14:15:55 -0800

KMD Architects, a San Francisco-based architecture firm with an award-winning international practice in architecture planning and urban design, has abandoned its seasoned mediums of glass and steel for child's play and sugar (something I'm a big fan of). That's right, KMD recently constructed Chinese New Year, a dynamic gingerbread version of San Francisco's famed Chinatown Gate, for Seattle's Gingerbread Village, a gingerbread collective meant to raise awareness about juvenile diabetes.

The Stranger, a Seattle newspaper, calls the details of this sugary Chinatown Gate impressive:

"The scales of the dragon are made from chocolate coins; the spines on its back are a line of Hershey's Kisses; the roof of the Chinatown gate is tiled with dark-green jelly beans."

I'm both impressed and intimidated, because I'm about to embark on my own gingerbread-house-making adventurel. YumSugar is hosting a Gingerbread House Challenge through Dec. 18. If you're up for it, I'd love to see what sweet skills all you Casa readers have up your sleeves. Get on over there and show us your goodies.

Source

Crave Worthy: Beach House by Mary Bloch

CasaSugar — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 08:30:08 -0700

You may not be the owner of an actual beach house, but you can still getaway from it all with the Beach House by Mary Bloch ($2,097- $4,474), designed in 1962. That is, if you've got nearly seven grand to drop on this little, woven cabin and its stool. The petite lounge-chair-like hut will give you a bit of privacy from the neighbors, and its waterproof canvas roof will keep you dry. I love its gingerbread house-like cutout, roll-up windows and its guillemet-esque shape. But, we all know I'm a dreamer (and a sucker for Summer style) . . . what do you think?

Before and After: Pirouettes Redux

CasaSugar — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 08:15:33 -0700

With a Pirouttes tin left over from my gingerbread house project, and decorative paper left over from my Ikea hack, as well as some scissors and rubber cement, I revived something with a brief shelf life. To see my cookie jar redux, read more.

Storage for my cooking utensils! Just like my Ikea hack, all it required was a few strokes of rubber cement and paper cut to size. And, I cut a strip of another piece of paper for the rim, to make it a little more interesting. Do you have any tins, containers, or furniture you can makeover with a little paper love?

Etsy Find: Sweet Home Kitchen Towel

CasaSugar — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 13:00:00 -0800

If your home didn't get enough lovin' from my Hearts Dishtowel, try this Pata Pri Sweet Home Kitchen Towel ($14). The limited-edition design is printed with a gingerbread-like house, steaming with hearts — a cute, modern cloth to perk up your Love Shack. If pinks and reds aren't your thing, it also comes in subdued blues and greens, or you can pick up a pillow cover ($30) in vivid orange and turquoise.