The Chip house

Have you heard of the CHIP house?

Neither had I until I found it in this feature on Dwell.

What you need to know about the CHIP house:

1. Your instincts are correct: at first glance,Ā it appears to beĀ a giant quilted Chanel handbag:

2. Upon looking inside, we discover innovations in storage and maximizing its bizarre shape:

3. The project is one of the highlights from this year’s Solar Decathlon, an annualĀ program by theĀ US Department of Energy to challenge collegiate teams to “design, build and operate solar-powered houses that are cost-effective, energy efficient and attractive.”

4. The CHIP home arrived to the Washington, DC, event with the help of a team of more than 100 SCI-Arc and Caltech students who designed and built it to promote a new kind of sustainability.

5. CHIP is an acronym for Compact, Hyper-Insulated Prototype.
6. The home is a 750 square foot wonder of tucked-in furniture made of foam for easy wall-lining storage

7. There’s also this great video about the concept and the build.

All images courtesy of Dwell online magazine.

Celebration: The Versatile Blogger Award

This past weekend Tina of The Enchanted Home awarded me the versatile blogger award! Oh happy day!

The deal is to write 7 things about myself and to then pass on the award to 15 other bloggers.

Seven things about Jordana:

1. This past September I began an introductory Spanish course. Me gusta mucho la clase de espaƱol.

2. I love dark chocolate – especially Villars which I have yet to find in Toronto or London.

3. My mom came across the name Jordana in the movie The Pirate with Anne Archer (I’ve never seen the movie). The book of the same name (which I have now read and is on my bookshelf) is by Harold Robbins.

4. I love writing hand-written letters on pretty stationery (often it’s black & white but I do have colourful stationery too!).

5. I’ve only been to three provinces in Canada (Ontario, Quebec & New Brunswick). I really wish flights within Canada were cheaper.

6. I hate pineapple.

7. I love (really, really love) Nutella.

And now I’d like to pass on the award to 15 bloggers who are new to me, who I ready daily, who I’ve met in theĀ  past or who I would like to get to know. In alphabetical order…

8 foot 6
AKA Design
Coriander Girl
Crazy Sweet Life
Eat Live Shop
Eclectic A
Haute Pink Pretty
Interior Groupie
Just a Smidgen
La La Lovely
Little Bits of Lovely
Little Green Notebook
Moth Design
Tea for Joy
What Wilson Wants

Thanks again Tina for giving White Cabana this award!

p.s. If you haven’t checked out what Tina’s been up to – you must – her dream home/castle is unbelievable!