Other people’s homes: always interesting, aren’t they? Following on from Joss’s post below about a very pink house in New York, here’s a video from style magazine dwell about a very black apartment in the same city.

It’s owned by Cindy Gallop, an international advertising consultant.

Cindy, who has enough shoes to put Imelda Marcos to shame, says that when she comes home of an evening after a hard day’s consulting she likes to relax in a place that brings to mind “a Shanghai bar at night”.

Don’t we all Cindy, don’t we all?

She also describes her apartment as “the ultimate bachelorette pad. When any guy walks through the front door I want him to be a sure thing within two minutes.”

Hmmm. Ok guys, time to vote on Cindy’s black walls, floors and ceilings, the goat’s head, the stuffed crocodile covered in gold, and (gulp!) the Gucci branded chain saw.

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I love New York. And I love pink. So how much do I love this NYC townhouse with its fabulously pink bedroom? Very, very much, is the answer.

However, even I’m aware that intensely pink bedrooms with golden angels adorning the walls are likely to be the stuff of nightmares rather than sweet dreams for most people.

But the former owner of this house certainly wasn’t most people: she was the famous-in-the-80s New York clothing designer, Abbijane Schifrin, creator of the one-name ‘Abbijane’ brand.

Following her untimely death earlier this year – sadly, just before her new collection was due to be previewed – her flamboyant five-storey Gramercy Park townhouse was put on the market for a whopping $8.75 million.

While that may seem like a hefty price – particularly if you were planning on a repaint – you have to consider that this property is steeped in New York legend, courtesy of its famous former owner.

Not only that, but East 19th Street, where it’s situated, is recognised as being one of the city’s most delightful residential roads, so much so that it’s actually known as Block Beautiful.

I wonder how the residents of such a prestigious street would feel if pink-loving Paris Hilton were to move in…

(Via Curbed)

As shiny homes go, they don’t get much shinier than this.

Source: Inhabitat

Looking like another escapee from the set from Blade Runner (cf. The Pyramid House), it is in fact the overall winner of the 2009 Solar Decathlon over in Washington D.C. - a competition which seeks to raise awareness about renewable energy whilst encouraging and promoting new techniques for creating zero-energy homes.

Right, that’s the serious bit over, now on to the fun fact that, despite USA fielding 15 teams, the overall winner was Germany. Again.

Vorsprung Durch Technik* as they say in Washington.

More details over at Inhabitat

* roughly translates as: “We’ve Been Green For Years And What We Don’t Know About Renewable Energy You Could Write On A (Recycled) Post-It Note”

Here’s an interesting graph from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors’ last market survey.

It shows the relationship between sales and stock levels.  If the ratio is rising, the market tends to favour sellers and this puts upward pressure on prices.

This is indeed the case: the ratio has risen for nine consecutive months and stands at 29, its highest level since December 2007.

Small wonder, then, that the net balance of surveyors expecting prices to increase rather than decrease pushed up to 25 per cent, from 18 per cent in August.

This reading of the market is borne out by our own House Prices & Affordability Index, the last issue of which shows stock levels on the slide (by 20 per cent year-on-year) and prices edging up.

The beautiful Cornish manor house that featured in the film Saving Grace is for sale with an asking price of £2.75m.

(click on pics for full property details)

The film, if you haven’t seen it, is a wry comedy about a widow who decides to grow top class cannabis in her greenhouse in order to raise the money to avoid repossession.

It starred Brenda Blethyn as the widow, Craig Ferguson as her dope smoking gardener, and Martin Clunes as the local doctor.

Trivia alert: the character played by Clunes later became the basis of the very successful Doc Martin TV series.

And the property? It is, says the agent, a beautiful example of an early 18th Century Queen Anne country house – something of a rarity in this part of the world. And as an added bonus, it’s surrounded by 38 acres of land, gardens and woodland. Nice!

Movie still courtesy of 20th Century Fox

Converted windmills are rare enough – but top-notch conversions that still have a full set of sails are even rarer.

So, my friends, feast your eyes on these two beauties (and check out the awesome wine cellar in the Reigate property!)

(click on pics for full property details)

Battle, East Sussex , £1,495,000

2. Reigate, Surrey, £995,000

Art Deco is quite possibly the architectural equivalent of Marmite, given its tendency to divide people into two distinct camps: lovers or loathers.

I’m on the loving it side, myself, particularly when it comes to properties. I love the blend of gracious curves and crisp lines, the flat roofs, the flurry of windows, and the frequently extravagant designs.

But most of all, I love Art Deco’s ability to transport you to a different era, back to the glamour and elegance of the 1920s and early ’30s - no surprise, then, that these properties are also feted by producers of period TV shows and films.

So, in the spirit of the Roaring Twenties, whip up a Martini, adopt a languid pose on a chaise longue, and peruse our lavish five to view:

(click on pics for full property details)

1. Gerrards Cross, Buckinghamshire
£2,600,000

2. Poole, Dorset
£1,495,000

3. Stanmore, Middlesex
£995,000

4. Newquay, Cornwall
£750,000

5. Stoneleigh, Surrey
£330,000

News reaches us today that Kevin McCloud’s development company HAB (Happiness Architecture Beauty) has been granted planning permission for a 42-unit housing scheme in Swindon.

The Triangle, as it’s called, will be developed in partnership with housing group GreenSquare and should be completed by the end of 2010.

What kind of steel and glass eco-friendly extravaganza will Kev unleash on the good people of Swindon?

Err … well … look … not sure how to tell all you Grand Designs dreamers this, but Kev’s first effort is built around a village green and is based on a terrace of railway cottages in Swindon Old Town (pic below).

I quote:

The scheme consists of two and two-and-a-half storey terraces containing two-, three-, and four-bedroom homes around a central village green.

The architectural expression is deliberately low-key, deriving its character from perfect proportions, carefully-defined details, and high-quality execution.

Hmmmm. If Kev could be cloned and Kev#2 was asked to walk around this development in a hard hat and deliver his thoughts to camera I suspect he’d probably say something like this:

“Contextual sensitivity is admirable and this development, drawing on a very traditional template, is trying very hard indeed to blend in with its surroundings.

“But this project has some big questions to answer. At what point does sensitivity become timidity? At what point does homage become pastiche?

“And is it really possible to pull off this delicate balancing act without ending up with something like … well, Poundbury?”

Cue theme music. Cut to ad break. Await denoument and final judgement.

Think you’re having a bad day? Well, spare a thought for Hollywood heavyweight Nicolas Cage who, we hear, is being forced by the nasty old IRS to sell off his property portfolio.

And what a portfolio it is – a private island in the Bahamas, a Bavarian schloss, an estate on Rhode Island, homes in Las Vegas and New Orleans, and, yes, his castle in Somerset.

Cage bought Midford Castle a couple of years ago, apparently because of its proximity to mystical Glastonbury.

As an added bonus, the gothic folly is built in the shape of the ace of clubs - supposedly as a nod by Henry Disney Roebuck to the card which won him the fortune to build it way back in 1775.

It’s just three miles from Bath, sits in 60 acres of secluded park and woodland and comes with seven bedrooms, two cottages, an orangery, and a former priory.

The actor paid around £5m for the place but with the tax man breathing down his neck he’s had to sell it off – allegedly for a cut-price £3.5m. Ouch!

Are you a security obsessed real ale drinker who just wants to be left alone to brew beer in the middle of the sea?

Maybe you’re a patch-eyed, cat stroking genius who’s in the market for a discrete bomb-proof bolt hole? (This place used to have anti-aircraft guns mounted on the roof so a giant molecule-melting laser should be no problem.)

Then again, perhaps you’re a more traditional business type who sees serious commercial potential in turning a vast military installation into a party and leisure venue?

All of these, my friends, are possible future uses for the behemoth that is Spitbank Fort in the Solent. So, according to the planning documents, are a residential school, a recording studio, a water bottling plant, a casino, and (gulp!) … offices.

The fort has 15ft thick granite walls, more than 50 rooms and comes with a dance hall, restaurant, lighthouse, museum and, apparently, its very own ghost.

And no, I don’t know how the milk is delivered (though there is a helipad).

It’s being auctioned by Clive Emson on 4 Nov 2009 at the Rose Bowl, Southampton. Guide: £700,000 - £800,000.

More about Spitbank Fort