journal

Five years ago, if you had told Priscilla Carpenter Witte that one day she’d be painting a mural in a bathroom at a boutique hotel in Bali, she never would have believed you. The New York State native moved to Venice, Los Angeles in search of sunnier pastures but found so much more. She became […]

We’re delighted to announce the opening of our brand new store in Los Angeles. Come by and see what’s on offer! BoutiqueHomes Marketplace is a showroom for products and works of art by members of our community, and we’ve got some great items we think you’ll love. Pride of place goes to our striking multicolored pendant […]

Somewhere in a clean-lined office in Milan, a group of young designers are working to create the world they want to live in. And they have no intention of keeping it to themselves. They are Mandalaki Studio, and we encountered them when their minimalist prefab Rhodes Monocabin joined our collection earlier this year. Since then, Mandalaki have […]

What is it about the A-frame that inspires so much devotion? A little triangular cabin, hidden away in the forest or perched on a mountainside, this cool structure has an enduring popularity that defies time and place. It may be the simplicity of its lines. Or the fact that it’s all roof. Or the sheer […]

After eight years hunting for architectural gems, we recently teamed up with Cool Escapes and collaborated with architecture and design publisher Avedition to create a book that sets the design standards for vacation rentals. BoutiqueHomes – Handpicked Vacation Rentals (published October 2017) is a collection of more than 60 uniquely designed vacation homes, and we are delighted to announce that it […]

Introducing a new way to reward our members… BoutiqueHomes Marketplace Staying with BoutiqueHomes has always been rewarding. We handpick amazing properties we know you’ll love, and we never charge booking fees. But now we are adding one more benefit: a rewards program. Every time you stay with us, you’ll earn reward points. After your stay, you can […]

The best travel books make you want to hit the road. For those of us who love books almost as much as we love travel, we’re always interested in recommendations. So we were delighted to discover The Telegraph’s list of the top 20 best travel books of all time. It starts with Jack Kerouac’s On The Road, and […]

Filmmaker Federico Fellini, many of whose movies were filmed on location in Rome, once said of the Italian capital: “Rome does not need to make culture. It is culture. Prehistoric, classical, Etruscan, Renaissance, Baroque, modern. Every corner of the city is a chapter in an imaginary universal history of culture. “Culture in Rome,” he continued, […]

After finding out how many times the futuristic homes of architect John Lautner have appeared in movies, we decided to see if we could find some films featuring the works of his mentor. Surprisingly, given his remarkable legacy, there aren’t as many Frank Lloyd Wright houses in movies. And only one – the Ennis House – […]

With its year-round sunshine, diverse landscapes and wild-west sensibilities, Los Angeles was a natural choice to become the center of the movie industry. In the early 20th century, movies were made not only in the newly-built studios and in its backlots, but also on the streets of the city – streets that have changed a […]

If, like us, you’re fans of the legendary 20th-century architect John Lautner, you’ll know his space-age designs are bold, beautiful and like nothing else on the planet. And, rather impressively, five or six decades after they were built, they still manage to look futuristic. We couldn’t help noticing the frequency of John Lautner houses in movies, […]

For our new series of Movie Atlas articles, we’re taking a journey around the world using classic films made on location. In our last article, we traveled back in time to the California coastline of the mid-20th century. For this article, we’re staying on the west coast and visiting our favorite movie town. It’s Oscar […]