house

Smoke detectors are a necessary, but sometimes unsightly, part of the home. As a general rule, you only notice them if there is an emergency or if the battery needs to be replaced, but if there is a way to make them even less visible, why not take it? The Modern Smoke Detector was developed to sit flush with the wall or ceiling, attracting minimal notice and, even when you look at it, what it is is not immediately obvious. It has not yet been released, but each detector should be about $129.

[via ATNY]

The Golden House is a new tourist attraction in Hong Kong. Apparently, it is modeled after an ancient palace, or perhaps is meant to be a composite of a variety of estates, but the most notable thing about it is that it was built from 2 tons of gold. The structure is gilded from its high ceilings and door frames right down to tableware and toilet seats. It cost about $38 million dollars to construct and is also available to be used for weddings.

Click past the jump for more photos.

Now here is an area of design that I have not previously given much thought to, though we certainly spend a fair amount of time looking at outside decor here. Sunset has picked the nine best house numbers to help guide people (or, perhaps, the mailman) to your home. Their choices run from low-end to high and include the Optima Semi Bold in bronze ($57), Sausalito in zinc ($16), which might be better suited to an apartment door due to its relatively small size, and Neutraface Display Light Alt in stainless steel ($40). Is a house number worth sleepless nights trying to find the perfect font? Perhaps not, but matching your numbers to your style of house can bring together its look in an appealing way.

The most popular way to furnish a luxury home? Nordstrom topped the most-shopped-at list, but other frequented stores were Neiman Marcus, Saks, Macy's, Lord & Taylor, Talbots and Pottery Barn.

Ultra-luxury items, like heated floors, tennis courts and backyard putting greens were found in significantly fewer homes, since the homeowners were likely (35%) to own a second home for recreational purposes.

Paris Hilton just purchased a Tuscan-style home in the Hollywood Hills for roughly $3.1 million. The house, in a gated community not too far from Cameron Diaz's pad, is loaded with posh extras, including a $43,000 Baccarat crystal chandelier in the lounge, a very classy $20,000 mirrored, four-poster bed and a 400-sq foot closet for her vast wardrobe.

The most unusual part of the home is actually the pets' living area. There is a special gated section inside the house where Paris's dogs will sit on pink pillows and drink from pink bowls. Each dog has its own personal crown, as well. Not one to exclude any of her pets, Paris has also commissioned a custom cage for her monkey, though the last time we heard about the monkey, it was supposedly being confiscated by Los Angeles officials.

Frank Pritt, founder of software company Attachmate Corp, is selling his custom-built Corona Del Mar estate and if it hit its list price of $75 million, it would set a record as the most expensive residential home sold in the United States. The 30,000-sq. foot home, interestingly named the "Portabello Estate," stretches to all the property lines on its 1/2 acre lot, adding the additional square footage (1/2 acre = 21,780-sq. feet) in additional floors. It boasts 8 bedrooms, 10 bathrooms, multiple pools and a private grotto, though the beach that it sits on is not private. Most realtors don't think that the Orange County house is likely to make its asking price not only because it is far more expensive than any neighboring properties, but the house is right on a main road and offers virtually no privacy.

Full details are listed at the website of the realtor, John McMonigle.

Tonight is the season finale - possibly the series finale - of Bravo's The Real Housewives of Orange County, a show set in the heart of Orange County, California, in a development called Coto de Caza. Since the show is ending, it's only fitting that our estate of the day is from the area. Coto de Caza is a large development with approximately 4,200 homes. It has a private golf club, with a course that has been rated one of the best in the country, a tennis club, an equestrian center and a nearly 500 acre wildlife park.  Homes start around $500,000 and go up to multi-million dollar estates. This Tudor-style equestrian estate is one of the multi-million dollar homes.

Jordan, a.k.a Katie Price, is getting a mansion. Her husband, Peter Andre, just paid £3.5 million to have a palace built for his wife on the island of Cyprus, where his family is originally from. The holiday house will be pink, both inside and out , just like their wedding was last year. The couple met on the reality show "I'm A Celebrity ... Get Me Out Of Here."

Parallels were drawn between Jordan and Barbie at her wedding, so the mansion is likely to be tagged as the real-life Barbie Dream House when it is complete.

Oprah's $50 million mansion just outside Santa Barbara in Montecito, California, has been nicknamed Oprah's Hearst Castle, due to its size and luxury. The property covers some 42 acres and the house itself is 23,000 square feet. It has 6 bedrooms, 14 bathrooms and, as you might imagine, just about everything else. Some of the improvements Oprah has made since purchasing the house in 2001 include the installation of a massive home theater, building a man-made lake with rare fish and having Montecito sandstone bricks hand-laid in the quarter-mile long driveway. She has also put in a closet the size of an ordinary master bedroom, not for her, but for Stedman to keep what must be a large suit collection.

With the sleek, dark shape of a stingray, the Mark Robson Fly Seat could very well be the perfect beach chair. Not only does it look exceedingly cool, as though it is floating on the sand, but its carbon-fiber frame and lightweight cotton seat make it surprisingly movable. The big chair's seat is flexible and yielding and can fit two people or one very comfortably reclining person.  At $10,000, this isn't a chair for using in your backyard, though. It's the kind of chair that you buy for your beach house and relax in ostentatiously, making your neighbors jealous.