Nerds Republic

There are tons of tiny apartments in big cities, and even more people who can’t really afford to live in anything larger. While these small living spaces are cozy and affordable, they can feel a bit claustrophobic.

That’s something that one Argentinian architect figured out in 2012 when she moved to Brooklyn. Because she’s such an accomplished designer, she never lingers in one place for too long, but living in a small space eventually inspired her to create something amazing.

She decided to design something that would add space to small apartments without actually taking up any space itself. Her solution? The MoreSky window niche.

Garcia noticed that similar designs didn’t hold up when it came to giving users an awesome view with the support they’d need to stay safe.

TheMoreSky niche, however, offers users plenty of support, and leaves them with gorgeous views from inside their small apartments.

After nailing down the initial design, Garcia came up with a few more options.

This one is more of a seat than a lounge. It all depends on what different users want!

Her mission was to provide people with “access to sunlight and fresh air in small apartments,” and to “respond to current needs in densely populated cities.”

(via Bored Panda)

Judging by these photos, Aldana Ferrer Garcia has accomplished her goal. Living in tiny spaces can be a great experience with a few simple tweaks, and designs like this are what offer apartment dwellers the luxury of a larger space without driving costs through the roof.

To see more of this amazing architect’s work, check out her website.

Want to get out into the peacefulness of nature without sleeping in a tent? Want to stay in a beautiful hotel, but would rather avoid the stress of a city? Thanks to this stunning getaway, now you can.

Hotel Robins Nest, located in a forest in Hesse, Germany, is a serene little place where you can relax in the beauty of nature.

Each room is a tree house.

Because these rooms are all perched in trees, they allow you to see the beautiful surroundings from a high vantage point.

Every single tree house is totally unique!

There’s even this geodesic dome tree house.

While they have electricity and heat, they don’t have plumbing. Visitors use communal bathrooms and showers.

Robins Nest was dreamed up by Peter Becker. After working in Berlin for years, Becker grew tired of city life and decided to move out to the woods. With a few friends, he built some tree houses and decided to open for business. Today, he runs the place alone, but a little solitude doesn’t bother him. But now that this unique hotel is becoming more popular, he always has company.

The rooms are beautifully decorated inside, and they have plenty of rustic charm.

The furniture is all made from wildwood.

This is definitely a place you should check out if nature is your thing!

(via My Modern Met)

In true form, Robins Nest has no Wi-Fi service, so guests can truly get away from the demands of modern society. It allows them to slow down and appreciate the beauty of nature, and more importantly, each other’s company.

For more information, check out their website. They’re also on Facebook.

If the Halloween season has inspired you to finally live out that fantasy of being the neighborhood’s resident creep (just me?), then you might want to check this place out. But consider yourself warned. This faux castle in Woodstock, Connecticut, actually does have a lurid past.

It’s less about murder and mayhem than it is about general weirdness and discomfort, which is probably a good thing. It’s still pretty disturbing, though.

The castle was built in 2009 by Christopher W. Mark. He’s the great-grandson of a wealthy Chicago industrialist.

He’s also living proof that inheritance can be a really, really bad thing.

Christopher Mark is a strange guy.

He describes himself as an importer of antiques, and he’s been described by others as being “colorful.” In this case, that’s not a good thing.

One of Mark’s business endeavors, for example, was a modeling agency, which posted its photos on a now-defunct website, complete with the models’ measurements. This was the description on the site itself:

“Just one look at the shapely form of beautiful women brings about physiological changes that our senses will not allow our minds to deceive.”

Um, gross.

Upon touring the house and finding several “massage” rooms — and a shower large enough for a whole party — a local politician said that the place was “just weird.”

Mark was cited by the town because his “business” was unlicensed, and he got into further spats when he wanted to make the castle larger than was actually allowed by city zoning laws.

Oh, and there was also an exotic animal refuge on the property, featuring a zebra, an emu, and an ill-fated camel. When Mark and his now ex-wife were divorcing, each blamed the other for the negligence that led to the poor creature’s death by starvation.

Inside, the house is expectedly grand.

No castle is complete without a sarcophagus, am I right?

Or a made-up coat of arms!

If that sounds appealing to you, this place is now on the market.

It’s listed as an eight-bedroom home, and it’s going for a cool $45 million.

(via Curbed)

So if you want a really sad haunted castle to call your own, this might be the one for you. It has a moat and everything. Just watch out for the ghost of that dead camel.

If you’re ever walking around in the woods near Crossville, Tennessee, you might notice a strange, rustic-looking structure peering over the treetops. It looks like your average treehouse at first, but get closer, and you’ll see that it’s so much more.

This is Horace Burgess’ Treehouse, also known as the Minister’s Treehouse — a sprawling church built into the trees by one man. According to Burgess, he was on a divine mission.

Construction began on the treehouse church in 1993, after Burgess — a local minister — claimed to receive a message from God telling him to start building.

Burgess did most of the construction himself, and by 2013, the treehouse stood 97 feet tall, with multiple stories and a bell tower at the top.

It spans about 32,000 square feet in total.

From a distance, you can see the bell tower over the trees.

The treehouse has become a local attraction in Tennessee.

It leans on an 80-foot-tall white oak tree, as well as six other oak trees for support.

Burgess didn’t exactly plan out his structure. He just gathered some wood and went for it.

As a result, the treehouse is a bit…irregular.

It has a lot of quirky features, like spiral staircases and hidden rooms.

There’s even a swing!

And there are some life-sized statues of people praying….which look a bit menacing.

Some of the rooms in this treehouse have served as both places of worship and basketball courts.

Burgess just has some eclectic interests.

(via Lost At E Minor, Little Things, Wikipedia)

Although there’s no official record in the Guinness Book of World Records, it’s believed that Burgess’ creation is the largest treehouse in the world. It continues to fascinate locals, who regularly trek out into the woods to climb around on it, but it’s no longer technically open to the public. It was closed in 2012 by the state for not following fire codes. Of course, that doesn’t stop the most adventurous explorers!

Angelo Mastropietro worked in business, had a high-flying (and high-stress) career, and was working hard to make money when he was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS) at the age of 29. The diagnosis made him realize that he needed to rethink his life if he was going to be healthy and happy.

Carving out a cave to turn it into a house might not seem like the typical way of going about this, but that’s exactly what Mastropietro did.

The project involved moving about 70 tons of stone.

The house was eventually featured on an English TV show called Grand Designs.

Everything looks pretty natural from the outside.

The home in question is believed to date back about 800 years, and is part of one of the oldest complexes of cave homes in England, located in the Wyre Forest in Worcestershire.

The cave homes in this area, which have been more or less continually occupied, are said to be the inspiration for the Shire in Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings trilogy. Mastropietro’s home was last occupied in the 1940s, so it was in need of a serious upgrade.

Inside, Mastropietro painted the sandstone walls white, which kept it from feeling too dark and heavy.

Mastropietro expanded the home and carved out some extra closet space. Oh, and he did it all by himself. His form of MS manifests in a series of flare-ups, which means that he’s still capable of demanding labor at other times.

Although MS can be debilitating, the condition has inspired him to reach his goals.

Not only did the home get a facelift, but it was also fitted with modern technology, including WiFi, radiant underfloor heating, and a fully-equipped kitchen.

In all, Mastropietro spent about 100,000 pounds on the project.

But to him, the chance to live a more peaceful life was worth it.

The excavation was grueling. Mastropietro spent hundreds of hours carving out sandstone.

Here, the host of Grand Designs helps out with renovations.

Watch some of the incredible labor that went into turning this cave into a home:

video-player-present

Channel 4 / Grand Designs

So the next time you think “man-cave” and envision a dark, dank, beer-soaked hovel full of sports paraphernalia, remember that some cave dwellers actually have a pretty great sense of style!

(via AOL UK, Daily Mail)