Despite the happiness of adding a new find to the collection, there is a double excitement of using the personal collection to decorate a home.
Black cobblestones lead our way to this modern cottage style house surrounded by big privacy trees. White bricks on the exterior are beautifully contrast with dark brown wooden door and the volcanic rock walls. A garage is designed to match the house. An American Country style pub, The Garage, also designed to match an existing garage.
The size of this house is over 2,000 square meters. It is filled with favorite collectibles. The homeowner, Dr. Suwin Kraibhubes, CEO of Beauty Community PCL, a brand owner of Beauty Buffet, Beauty Cottage, and Beauty Market, was once dreaming to become an architect. He loves reading books about designing, architecture, and interior decoration. He designed this house using various design references and passed them on to his architect and interior designer.
The challenge for his designers in designing this house is, “I want a house, not just a living place, with touch and feel of a vacation home. It must also be a home in overseas, not a typical house in Thailand. Another challenge I have for my architect is that I want a feel of Khao Yai house because I love Khao Yai, and its surrounding. Back then I did not own any piece of land over there. These are my two major challenges.”
More detail
A composition of organizing collectibles is very important. It has to harmonize overall atmosphere and the theme in each area. A great composition enhances touch and feel of the house to make it look more like a museum filled with precious and treasured collectibles.
A design of this house is inspired by the modern breezy comfortable home. The homeowner also loves vintage cottage style so the designer comes up a high roof with a window on it as if there is an attic. It is a perfect mix and match of two different styles that create a fabulous modern cottage home design. Each quality material used are carefully handpicked such as a modern-style steel gable or the texture of every brick.
For interior design, Dr. Suwin handpicks all of the collectibles and organizes them on the display shelf. Most of his collections are vintage and industrial style which are also different in mood and tone. Interior decorations then change according to the collectibles’ mood and style. As an example, automobile’s equipment and engines are used for decoration in the pub, The Garage, which demonstrate the industrial style. It is developed after the garage extension was completed. The garage itself is decorated with his personal collections such as a gas pump or signages. The appearance is also different from any typical garage by cracking and distorting bricks. The lubricant is painted spottingly on the inside to make the garage looks old.
Green room or the scientist’s room has more than just the doctor’s tools and a human anatomy model. It also features a lot of his collections from exploration around the world. The idea of an indoor garage is inspired by the Japanese garage. It is the idea of parking the vehicles in the house or in the living room. “Car lovers love to look at their cars. I am definitely not an exception as well. After parking, I have to always look at my car at least once or twice before I move on. For instance, whenever I am at the restaurant, I always park my car in the spot that I can view it from the inside and I will pick the table that I can see my car all the time. Not for security purpose or anything but because I just love looking at my car,” he explains his passion in automobile. For this reason, he picks his favorite cars to park inside the house.
There are also built-in cabinet and shelves to store his collectibles in each area. He organizes them to match each zone. As an example, a collection of helmets and trophies are selected to feature in the indoor garage and decorated the area with leather furniture with steel or aluminum base or a collection of musical instruments, radios and movie projectors are featured in the common area to match the mood and tone of relaxation. This area is decorated with marble, counter bar and a pool table on the other end of the room that is prepped for a private party.
“In my opinion, a house is an art and a gallery. I do not define a house as a living space because it is big and there are too many things in it. A house for a living should have only 1 bedroom but a house for a collection gallery is an enjoyment and never get bored to look at. Even when I am outside the house, I can tell my gardener to do something else or move things around. I still add more items to my collections if I find the one I like. So to me, a house is like a museum, not just a simple house. As an owner of this house, I feel as though I am living outside of Bangkok. Especially when the weather is cooler, I can hear the birds sing in the morning. I truly do not feel like I am in Bangkok when I live here,” he concludes the definition of his house.
