venice architecture biennale

two years ago i had the chance to travel to Italy and visit the Venice Biennale (the best of art, architecture and design).  I was studying in London and mid-deep in thesis and a trip to Italy, although would be educational, just wasn't going to happen it my mind.  I should have taken the trip because now i a half way around the world and would give anything to go!

architecture, thanks to my boyfriend, is becoming one of my new favorite things - the following photos were all taken from the Venice Architecture Biennale {via} - and if you thought that the world's largest architecture show would be only about buildings - you are going to be surprised. 

dreaming

one day i will have a room like this

what do you wish for in your dream house?

oval office makeover

The oval office has gotten a makeover and the project was done at no cost to the tax payers - funded completely by the White House Historical Association. President Obama mixed old with new and chose a palette of soft neutrals.

{via}

Some of the new items:

a donated carpet (from Michigan) with the president’s seal

two brown cotton couches (that look like velvet)

an American walnut and mica coffee table

Some of the old items that stayed:

portraits of both Lincoln and Washington

a Grandfather clock

the Resolute desk (which has a very fascinating story)

revolutionary home reborn

DC based builder Tom Glass fell so deeply in love with this abandoned house that he moved it 150 miles and worked for 21 months to restore it and call it his home.  Built in 1797 by Revolutionary War officer (Robert Kelso) the house sat abandoned since 1930.  

How could you ever leave his home abandoned?  Just wait till you see the inside.  I die.

  {via}