Unusual Life

Bruce and Melanie Rosenbaum of Sharon, Massachusetts have  remodeled their 1901 Craftsman style Victorian home with an unusual steampunk design aesthetic, and actually have a business where they will give your home it’s own Steampunk Home Design. 

Read the Steampunk Workshop’s wonderful account of their visit to Bruce and Melanie’s home for the detailed description of the artistic and functional updates to this makeover, plus many more detail photos. It looks so intriguing and comfortable that I’m all ready thinking of ways to seriously employ this aesthetic into parts of our 1914 home.

And a Tip-o-th-hat to Cory Doctorow at boingboing.net for the heads-up on this gem!

The official name is Hang Nga Guesthouse and gallery, but all locals refer to it as the crazy house. And when you stand in front of its entrance it is easy to see why: this house is indeed strange.

The house is owned by the daughter of the ex-president of Vietnam, who studied architecture in Moscow.

It does not comply with any convention about house building, has unexpected twists and turns, roofs and rooms. It looks like a fairy tale castle, it has enormous “animals” like a giraffe and a spider, no window is rectangular or round, and it can be visited like a museum.

The Craziest Getaway: Hang Nga Guesthouse from Apartment Therapy

Crazy House from Touristino

Book the Hang Nga Guesthouse

You can in Costa Rica if you book a night in The Fuselage Suite – one of “ten wild places to lay your head” that the London Guardian features on its website. “Bringing a whole new meaning to the term crash pad, The Hotel Costa Verde, overlooking the Pacific beaches of Manuel Antonio National Park, has salvaged a vintage 1965 Boeing 727 airframe from its resting place at San Jose airport and turned it into a two-bed suite for guests to live out their Lost fantasies,” the Guardian writes. The hotel’s website features a full spread of The Fuselage Suite.

Hotel: San Alfonso del Mar, Algarrobo, Chile

Why It’s Cool: You can take small sailboats out on this saltwater pool that Guinness World Records calls the largest in the world. At two thirds of a mile in length, the massive stretch of water has room for several man-made sand beaches. For nighttime swimming, head to the temperature-controlled beach inside the pool’s centrally located glass pyramid—the water and the sand are heated.

Amazing Hotel Pools Slideshow

This is an amazing set of guest residences located in Taiwan. Where Hello Kitty Hell sees pink, I see a charming and unique vacation spot.

Uni-Resort site in Taiwan

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!

Here’s a very red room we stayed in last August at The Madonna Inn in San Luis Obispo, California. They named it the Tack Room. I had red leather wall covering, red leather bedspreads, red stained wood walls, pink marble pedestal sinks, and lots more red stuff.
I wonder who’s staying there this Valentines Day?

See our full set of photos from the extraordinary Madonna Inn

The Madonna Inn has 109 unique theme rooms where you can stay, as well as multiple odd over-the-top dining environments. You can/should see photos of all 109 rooms here.

Click "Tour Our Rooms Online" at the top right, and then the "Next " button under the photos to tour through each room.

The hottest parties in Vegas aren’t at the clubs. They’re by the pools.

Nestled in a corner past the Mirage’s general pool area, beyond the Secret Garden and Dolphin Habitat and down a winding concrete path, is Bare, the hotel’s exclusive, adults-only pool. Shrouded in greenery and teak paneling, the velvet-roped entrance is guarded by an employee who checks IDs.

Pools Gone Wild

If you’re looking for truly off-the-wall accommodations, look no further than Woodlyn Park, in Waitomo, New Zealand, where three different motels thrill vacationers: a 1950s freighter plane (said to be one of the last Allied planes to leave Vietnam); a 1950s rail car that sleeps six; and a hobbit motel (allegedly the world’s first) dot the landscape of a working farm a few minutes from the Waitomo Glow Worm Caves. You can choose to sleep in the plane’s cockpit or tail, the train itself, or the circular-windowed rooms of the hobbit hotel. Woodlyn Park itself is also the beneficiary of some renown, given it hosts the Kiwi Culture Show, a unique New Zealand attraction involving sheep shearing and interaction with native animals.

Hobbit Motel

There’s a hotel out there to satisfy most every curiosity—whether you’re into marine life, wildlife, or Eskimo life—but we’ve narrowed the choices down to ten stand-out properties ranging from low-cost to luxe. So say goodbye to so-so lodging and catch your zzz’s in one of our favorite offbeat hotels. Pick from a 1950s freighter jet, a former prison cell, a treetop lodge, a onetime royal haunt, and more.

Offbeat Hotel Photo Tour

Dog Bark Park Inn is a bed & breakfast guesthouse inside the World’s Biggest Beagle. Guests enter the body of the beagle from a private 2nd story deck. Some of the dog’s decorative furnishings are carvings by Dog Bark Park chainsaw artists Dennis & Frances. Inside and up another level to the head of the dog is a loft room with additional sleeping space plus a cozy alcove in the muzzle.

At Dog Bark Park Inn sleeping in the doghouse is a good thing!

Dog Park Inn

Book a stay at the Dog Park Inn (Video)

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY

Here’s a very red room we stayed in last August at The Madonna Inn in San Luis Obispo, California. They named it the Tack Room. I had red leather wall covering, red leather bedspreads, red stained wood walls, pink marble pedestal sinks, and lots more red stuff.
I wonder who’s staying there this Valentines Day?

See our full set of photos from the extraordinary Madonna Inn

The Madonna Inn has 109 unique theme rooms where you can stay, as well as multiple odd over-the-top dining environments. You can/should see photos of all 109 rooms here.
Click "Tour Our Rooms Online" at the top right, and then the "Next " button under the photos to tour through each room.

No explanation,no location, just pictures of weird hotel rooms.

Via Sellsius:

The Woodpecker Hotel in Vasteras, Sweden is perched 43 feet up a 130 year old oak tree like a lone nest. It’s the creation of Mikael Genberg, who also designed the Otter Inn, a hotel which floats on Lake Malaren.

More strange accommodations on Unusual Hotels of the World.

Eve’s Garden is an organic Bed and Breakfast and Ecology Resource Center, located in the high mountain desert of West Texas, at the gateway to Big Bend National Park, in Marathon, Texas. It features a research level organic gardening demonstration site and an urban hacienda, combining to provide a comfortable Bed and Breakfast environment and a conversational forum to address issues regarding the ecology.

Treehouse lodging slideshow