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The first pic is the one that I would like to own, Love the design and colors used.
10 peculiarly colorful homes
By John Giuffo of Forbes
Shelter Island Pavilion
Long Island, New York
Nestled between the North and South Forks at the eastern end of Long Island, Shelter Island is often called a quiet respite from the winery-touring crowds to the north and the rich partying to the south. But quiet doesn't mean drab.
The Shelter Island Pavilion is a multisection home built by Stamberg Aferiat Architecture. Slabs of bright neon and light, almost-weightless purple lean against each other in unexpected ways.
"In addition to striving to create exciting space, we also want to create joyful, optimistic space," says Peter Stamberg, who lives in the house from September to June with his partner, Paul Aferiat, and rents it out for the summer.
"What is more joyful and optimistic than great color?" he says, adding that the house's inspirations were Isaac Newton, Henri Matisse and David Hockney.
See more amazingly colorful homes on Forbes.com.
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10 peculiarly colorful homes
Whimzeyland, the 'bowling ball house'
Safety Harbor, Fla.
Most artists have a preferred medium. Jackson Pollock had paint cans and issues. Richard Serra builds walls out of giant sheets of steel. Florida artists Todd Ramquist and Kiaralinda work with bowling balls — more than a hundred of them, everywhere.
They painted colorful patterns or figures on some, and they asked artist friends to contribute their own painted balls. Those included portraits, alien heads and other unexpected additions to the collection.
But Whimzeyland isn't just about bowling balls.
"The house is painted in bright tropical tones — tile and found objects are cemented into the walls, walkways and foliage-crowded yard," says Doug Kirby, publisher of RoadsideAmerica.com. "Hundreds of plastic toys are glued to the bathroom ceiling."
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10 peculiarly colorful homes
Armour-Stiner Octagon House
Irvington, N.Y.
Because dramatic sepias and blacks of photographs from the Victorian era have dimmed with time, it can be easy to forget that this was a colorful period a. No Victorian home likely reminds us of that love of color more than the Armour-Stiner Octagon House in upstate New York.
Lovingly restored by architect and preservationist Joseph Lombardi, every inch of the exterior is covered in one of 10 different, dignified colors.
Originally owned by a tea merchant, the home was built as the center of a sort of playground for adults. As a testament to its uniqueness, it boasts the only octagonal domed roof in the world. The whimsy that is visible everywhere outside is also reflected in the original owner's interior-design choices, which have also been restored.
"It's neo-Roman, and that design is carried through almost all of the house — all except for one room, which is decorated in an Egyptian revival style," Lombardi says.
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10 peculiarly colorful homes
Dick and Jane's Spot
Ellensburg, Wash.
There are folk-art environments and homes all over the country. But few of them come close to the impressiveness of Dick and Jane's Spot, which is chock-a-block with sculpture, carvings and decorations. All reflect the aesthetic sensibilities of artists Dick Elliot and Jane Orleman.
They bought the then-dilapidated house in 1978 and quickly added whimsical additions to the yard and home. Their project continued over the decades despite initial local opposition that, as often happens with these folk-art homes, softened into outright support when the town realized the home's popularity.
Elliot died in 2008, but Orleman is still maintaining the environment and adding to the art project that she and her husband started 34 years ago.
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10 peculiarly colorful homes
Indoor color explosion
Kävlinge, Sweden
Impressively colorful homes usually boast their palettes outdoors first. The indoor color scheme, if there is one, is either an extension of the outdoor theme or is at least muted by comparison.
This home takes the opposite approach. From the outside, it's a rather unremarkable, an almost drab collection of beiges and browns. But inside, there's an assault of color that is bold in its liberal application — a bright collection of Moroccan-style pillows, a blue light and a pink chair anchor a white-and-black living room, for instance — and reserved in the way that we traditionally think of Scandinavian design.
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The Heidelberg Project
Detroit
Can art transform urban blight? Can color help make a dying neighborhood seem alive and vital?
Artist Tyree Guyton started the Heidelberg Project in 1986 with help from his grandfather when he became fed up with the decay, the dangers and the drug dealers. Abandoned homes were festooned with whatever whimsical objects Guyton could find.
Some of the two-story wood-frame homes are painted in polka dots, and others are covered with nailed-on stuffed-animal toys, Kirby says.
Conflicts with Detroit's mayors and other politicians in the early 1990s led to the demolition of some of the homes on Heidelberg Street, but the city has since come to see the project as a way to help reinvigorate blighted areas. The project has inspired politicians, artists and architects from around the world to think of new ways to fight the old problem of urban decay.
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10 peculiarly colorful homes
Nely Galán House
Los Angeles
Earning the distinction as the most colorful home that lines the canals of L.A.'s Venice district isn't easy. And neither was constructing this multibuilding, multilevel, multicolored mansion.
Former Telemundo President Nely Galán purchased the main building and the two cottages on either side, joined the buildings to form one giant home and hired artist Patssi Valdez to choose the yellows, oranges and purples that help pull all three buildings together. It took eight coats of hand-chosen paint to achieve the intensity of the color. But thanks to Galán's and Valdez's studies of homes in Greece, Cuba and Italy, it never overreaches.
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10 peculiarly colorful homes
Rainbow garage house
Fairfield, Ala.
If you're going to move into the garage, this is the way to do it.
Spotted by Flickr user Dystopos, this house is not what you'd expect to see while driving down the Richard M. Scrushy Parkway in Fairfield — or almost anywhere else, for that matter.
There are other rainbow houses in the country, and many of them are impressive, but it's the small touches that make this home special. They include the creative recycling of existing architecture, the possibility that painters ran out of various colors near the top and relied on just orange (why did they buy more orange?) and the gates on the doors, which indicate that it's either in a rough neighborhood or that the owner is a leprechaun and is hoarding gold inside.
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10 peculiarly colorful homes
Zebra house
Bassett, Neb.
Similar to the rainbow garage house, this home is one of those "lucky finds" that people who drive past are compelled to photograph. In this case, Offbeat Home editor Cat Rocketship drove past this house on Clark Street in Bassett and was inspired to take a photo and write a post about similarly painted homes. The unknown owners also seem to benefit from the eye-catching paint job as a sort of advertisement for their home business, Here's Your Sign, which offers custom embroidery, hats and T-shirts.
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10 peculiarly colorful homes
Yellow house
New Orleans
Many colorful homes line the streets of New Orleans neighborhoods such as the French Quarter and Faubourg Marigny, but there's something about this home's commitment to a theme of almost-overwhelming yellow that separates it from the pack. There's an intensity to the yellow of the shutters and stairs that the pale yellow behind them barely contains.
Strolling through New Orleans' colorful historic districts is a popular pastime for visitors, and admittedly, it's hard to pick just one home that stands out for its vibrant colors. But there's just something about that yellow. Include it in your stroll down Burgundy Street and see if you don't agree.
See more amazingly colorful homes on Forbes.com.
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