Top 10 World’s Most Awesome Living Spaces
It’s a real shame that ‘awesome’ has become such an over-used word, because when it
comes to living spaces like this one, words like ‘amazing’ and ‘unbelievable’ just don’t cut it.
comes to living spaces like this one, words like ‘amazing’ and ‘unbelievable’ just don’t cut it.
#10: Chalet Brickell in the Rhone-Alpes, France
Yes, we like this house. The timber panelling with exposed grain make it perfect for its alpine setting. But let’s face it, it’s not that different from many other houses in similar settings, including New Zealand. Except for one thing. The chair. Isn’t that the most delicious chair you’ve ever seen? If it was in your house, it would have made it into our Top 10!
We have to admit we liked the polar bears in the bedroom, too … seriously!
#9: Firefly ski chalet in Zermatt, Switzerland
#8: The Over Water Bungalow at Le Meridien in Bora Bora
No, this bungalow does not come with staff who swim up to give you service. That’s the guest. Or it could be an over-enthusiastic peeping tom. The see-through floor really gives you a sense of being at-one with your surroundings.
#7: Converted Church in Utrecht, Netherlands
Take one old disused church complete with gorgeous stained glass windows. Then take a modern minimalist architectural firm called Zecc. Mix. Here’s what you get, a wonderful combination of old and new that somehow seems to work. Except maybe the guy picking his nose in the painting below.
Photo courtesy
#6: Hand-Built Earth Shelter in Wales
This earth shelter made completely from found materials may be about as far away from Hobbiton (near Matamata) as it is possible to get, but it would have made Bilbo proud. A Welsh family took four months and spent just $6,000 to build this hobbit house for themselves. “There are just a couple of solar panels—just enough for lighting, music, and computing,” they said. “It’s a simple life.” They’re not kidding!
#5: The Tree House in Costa Rica
#4: The Igloo Village in Kakslauttanen, Finland
Like the Firefly chalet in Switzerland, the most awesome feature of this collection of glass dome houses is the view – but not of a mountain, of the sky. Hmmm, you can look at the sky anytime? Not like this you can’t. From this far north, you get a spectacular showing of the Northern Lights – see below to see what we mean.
#3: The Royal Loft Suite aboard the Oasis of the Seas
Apart from the grand piano, the coolest thing about this living space is that it’s on a ship.
#2: The Underwater bedroom in the Maldives
This would be like a sleepover at Kelly Tarlton’s Underwater World in Auckland (yes, they have them for school groups) except this is actually under the sea. We’re not sure that we’d ever be able to go to sleep with sharks and rays circling overhead, but who needs to sleep?
#1: The Clock Tower Apartment in Brooklyn, New York
The main floor of this triplex apartment (meaning it takes up three floors, we looked it up) features four working clocks housed in four 4-metre-high round windows providing unobstructed views (except for the clock faces) of New York Harbour and the Brooklyn Bridge.
The owners recently decided it was time to sell (geddit?) and put it on the market for $US25 million. Their reason for selling? The ticking was driving them nuts. Just kidding!
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