Thank goodness I live in a great neighborhood. I was supposed to take pictures of my brothers house for today’s post but it turns out that the house is filled with ticks from their dog (who is now asleep on my floor…) and it’s currently getting fumigated, so I was stuck without a Monday Home Tour! Out came the phone book and called my neighbor Ze’ev, an architect married to an amazing jewelry artist – Ruthie. I said “Ze’ev, I need your help,” and he replied “Do you want me to pick up your kids?”
Um, no. I need to take pictures of your amazing house.
They built their home about 10 years ago now, taking things, like the doors above, from old homes Ze’ev has renovated (in Israel they don’t have architectural scrap yards for some reason – they just throw everything away) and incorporating Ruthie’s pottery.
The floor is terracotta, which is hard to find in Israel and extremely expensive. Carpet tiles are placed strategically throughout the house.
The main area of the ground floor is open plan. The dining room is surrounded by two balconies and the view of the valley behind their home. The paintings on the wall above the window are by my sister-in-law (brothers wife), Nava Abel. Nava is good friends with Ruthie and there’s a lot of her influence (and art) in this house.
This picture was done by Nava Abel as well.
Between the dining area and the kitchen lies the piano niche. As you can see, there’s an amp there as well, perfect for their boys to plug in the guitar and do a duet.
The welcome mirror was done by an artist in Ruthie’s co-op shop located in the center of Zichron Yaakov.
The house has almost no white walls, yet they have several pieces of white furniture – such as the sofas.
This table was painted by Nava Abel. Admittedly, while I think it’s amazing – I don’t think I could have it in my house.
Nava painted this portrait of Ruthie.
I love this carpet. The colors in it are so clear and bright and the pattern is so ornate!
Of course there’s a story behind it. I asked Ze’ev where he bought the carpet… Apparently there was a bizarre in Zichron Yaakov many many years ago and these carpets were brought in by someone who had a relative who was working in Jordan. Long story short, they were smuggled in from Iraq. See why we need peace in the middle east? – I want this carpet!
Another carpet from the same source.
Ruthies daughter from her first marriage, Brit Yudel, also has a strong creative side. She did the painting above.
And the couple.
Going back around to the front you can see the carpet tile in the entryway and kitchen. The painting in the middle looks similar to Nava’s style with the colorful background, but was also done by Ruthie’s daughter, Brit.
Keep in mind – they had no warning that I was coming in order to photo-ready the house. Ruthie loves to cook, and it shows in her kitchen.
The shape of the arch in the window reflects the patterned painted arch above the sliding glass doors in the dining and living areas across the room.
The back-splash is mosaic-ed by Ruthie. She incorporated bowls throughout the wall for extra close storage. It’s a brilliant idea. I especially like the cup attached to the wall that holds all of the wood utensils.
Open shelving rules here – and I love it. If it wasn’t such a nightmare to keep clean (dust) I would have it in my own house. (Sometimes practicality rules over design for me, I know, shocking – but true.)
Look at the top – see the blue bottle bottoms at the top of the wall? How cool is that? And yes, they aren’t afraid of color. The ceiling is periwinkle blue and the walls are a light peach.
Mirrored toy niche above the stove. Why? No clue. I like it though.
White drawers seperate the kitchen from the dining area. Notice that the drawers, curio cabinet in the back of the photo and the sofas are all white in a home where the walls are a peach and the ceiling is periwinkle blue. And it all works.
Charactatures of their kids grace the front hallway leading to the rest of the house.
I’m only featuring the front area today. Part 2 of Ruthie and Ze’ev’s house with the bedrooms and hang out area will be on Wednesday.
Shira Abel is the CEO and founder of Hunter & Bard, an award-winning public relations and design agency that works with scale-ups and enterprises on building their brand, awareness and thought leadership.
As CEO of Hunter & Bard, Shira oversees a team that manages public relations, marketing, design, and brand development for clients across multiple industries. She develops strategies for organically growing companies through sincere digital engagement and the application of behavioral marketing.
Clients include JELD-WEN, Benchling, Sixth Continent, Totango, Folloze, Radix DLT, Axa Tech, Allianz, and many more. Shira is also a sought after corporate speaker and marketing mentor, and has spoken at events such as Confluence and Content Marketing World, and taught at institutions such as Kellogg School of Management and S. P. Jain Institute of Management and Research in Mumbai.
Read more about Shira’s company Hunter & Bard at https://www.hunterandbard.com
What a fab house. Such character and personality. Goes to show you don’t need to spend a fortune on expensive throw cushions and objets d’art to have a home an interior decorator could never create.
OK, it also helps if you’re good friends with the most amazing artist…gd, I LOVE Nava Abel’s work. I feel so honoured as I drive around our town (Zichron Yaakov) that I see her work on nearly every street. Who needs tchockes from Tel Aviv? If I ever have any money (ha!), I’m going straight to her to get me something beautiful.
Suzie
This house is so interesting because it has so much character. There are some things I love here like the blue door and the floor and the art and even the ikea furniture, but I don’t think I would be able to live with so much of it, so many colors, so many things out.
But it looks like it servers it’s inhabitants well and I think that is the most important thing about a house.
The bowls in the wall are ingenious!!! And…if you ever find a rug like that one — pick me up one too!!! 😉
Nick – I’m dying over the rugs, you have no idea. If I ever see them again I’m picking up the WHOLE BUNCH. Davka they come from a country more or less cut off from the western world. *sigh*
I hate wars, they kill design.
This is an amazing house, eclectic madness, love it.