This beautiful project is the third in our series of winning projects from the myMarvin Architect’s Challenge.

If you’ve ever been to Europe and visited any of the grand cathedrals there, it is hard not to feel awed by the beautiful structures people built so long ago. People continue to build houses of worship nowadays, but it isn’t often you see the large old-style churches being constructed.

In LaCrosse, Wisc., however, it is estimated that, for the first time in 50 years, a major Catholic church has been built in the classical style. The Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe serves not only as a church, but as a place for a pilgrimage.

Visitors to the church may well think they are in a European cathedral, but this modern church fools the eye. Every element of the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe, from the nave to the fabulously detailed dome, was designed to look as if the church has always been there.

Marvin windows help flood the church with natural light. Light in The Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe is introduced through windows in the side aisles, clerestory windows in the nave, transepts, and sanctuary, and through the dome with its clear windows and oculus. There are twelve different custom window types at The Shrine in all shapes and sizes, each requiring their own details. Marvin’s custom capabilities helped the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe achieve the exact look desired.

The Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe’s exterior was designed by Michael W. Swinghamer of River Architects in LaCrosse and the church’s interior was designed by Duncan Stroik of Duncan G. Stroik Architect in South Bend, Ind.

Down in the Low Country of South Carolina, there’s a beautiful house that looks as if it has seen a lot of Low Country days. However, it is actually a new house, built by Helga Lilley of Gorgeous Green Home Design in Okatie, S.C.

The house is called Oldfield, and it is also Lilley’s home. The house’s traditional look hides its very modern credentials. It was designed to make maximum efficient use of daylight and fit the lifestyle of the occupants. Oldfield also is a green house and achieved EarthCraft House™ Platinum Certification.

One unusual aspect of this house is that it is located in a hurricane zone and therefore must use windows and doors that can help protect it against the storms. Oldfield uses StormPlus products from Marvin to create a beautiful, energy-efficient look that will still meet building code requirements.

Oldfield combines the best of the past and present for a home with Low Country style and green sensibilities.

Ever heard of the Solar Decathlon? No, it’s not some sort of multi-sport athletic event! It is a competition between universities all over the world to build the most energy-efficient house possible. The competition is especially challenging because the winning house has to also be attractive and livable. Houses are judged on five subjective points (architecture, market viability, engineering, lighting design and communications) and five objective points (comfort zone, hot water, appliances, home entertainment and net metering).

Marvin is proud to provide windows for the University of Minnesota Solar Decathlon team. The windows are very large to let as much light as possible in. This is important since the house is only 800 square feet!

The team strived to get building materials from near-by manufacturers and to re-use materials as much as possible.

Since Minnesota is a cold northern state, the house has to collect as much solar heat as possible, even during harsh winters. However, the Solar Decathlon competition will be held in October in Washington, D.C., so the house also has to perform in warm, humid conditions. The team carefully designed the house with features  to work in both.

After the competition is over, the University of Minnesota team plans to sell the house. If you are interested in a truly energy-efficient house with a beautiful look, this could be the home for you!

Our friends at Curbly recently featured some very cool, and very narrow, homes. Since MLuxe is all about people making creative use of their space, we wanted to be sure and share these with you.

Almost everyone is familiar with the classic row house — a way to squeeze a spacious home into a heavily populated urban area. But narrow houses are expanding (figuratively) to be built and renovated by those who want to live in a home with a smaller footprint or have an unusual design space.

Take this house in Boston: it is classic and fits snugly into the busy city. It’s a small house but bigger than it looks at 964 square feet.

One of the most interesting things about narrow houses is when they are built where space is not an issue. This Japanese house is on a lot that goes from 2.5 feet to 10 feet. The house accommodates this challenging size and its cathedral-like styling distracts the eye from its narrowness.

This narrow house is in Big Sky country (Sulphur Springs, MT) probably could be as wide as the homeowners wanted. Instead it is 10 feet wide with 2,400 square feet of living space stretched over three floors and a basement. Definitely not a traditional home, but its contrast with the land surrounding it gives it a sort of space-age glamour.

Past and present, the narrow house offers an interesting and effective form of architecture.

Photos courtesy of Curbly.

Have you ever dreamed of having a tower in your house? What if your whole house was a tower? One homeowner in Utah built a circular house that looks like a silo. Instead of storing grain, two circular metal structures house a cool modern interior.

Located near the Provo River, the house serves as a getaway for a bachelor and his friends. It is environmentally friendly, with a southern exposure to get the maximum amount of light and the metal exterior helps keep the house warm in the winter and cool in the summer.

The interior seems to draw occupants in with its gently curving structure. One of the most interesting rooms is the bedroom with beds built right into the wall. It saves space and looks great.

Surrounded by a beautiful landscape, this silo fits right in. What a great place to relax and enjoy life!

Photos courtesy of Freshome. Thanks to the DIY Maven at Curbly for bringing this find to our attention.

This beautiful room looks like it belongs in an average- to large-sized house, but it’s actually nestled into a 500-square-foot space in Tuscon. The folks at the Tiny House Blog featured this home, which may look little, but it has room for everything the owners need!

When the owners, Richard Steen and Jefferson Bailey, were ready for something new, they moved into this little gem next door to their old house. They’ve discovered that downsizing can be liberating, saying:

It’s hard at first, because you go through a box and go, ‘Remember when . . .?’ and you put it in the ’save’ box. But it got to be really easy after a while, and you could breathe easier with each thing you tossed out.

In keeping with today’s downsizing trend, demonstrated in Sarah Susanka’s “Not So Big House” books, this house may be small, but it is luxurious. A grand piano sits in the living room, there’s a gourmet kitchen, the bathroom has a steam shower and a pool sits in the garden. Lots of built-in shelving and cabinets help keep everything tidy.

This little house packs a big punch! For more small house inspiration, visit the Tiny House Blog.

Photos courtesy of A.E. Araiza and Tiny House Blog

Today’s post in our Built Around You series comes courtesy of Kara, who writes about design and renovation ideas at made 2 cREate. She shared some before-and-after photos of her stunning bathroom remodel project, which took the room from plain and even a little drab to bright, bold and stylish.

She says:

My husband and I gutted everything and came up with a new layout. I chose a sophisticated color palette of black, white, chrome, and slate blue. I used Brazilian black slate and white subway tiles to create a classy look. 2 shower heads and 2 sinks are sure to keep harmony between my husband and I while the stylish and functional floating shelves add to the spa like feel. Lastly the glass shower screen allows this somewhat small bathroom to appear much bigger!

Kara submitted the photos of her remodeling project to the folks at One Project Closer for their 2009 Before and After Contest – and she won (in the second of 14 weeks; grand prize to be awarded later). The contest is pretty simple: Folks send in before and after pictures and a story of a project they completed at home, with one rule — the project must be more than 75 percent do-it-yourself. You can’t win with contractors’ work!

The best part: The winners get prizes and donations made to Habitat for Humanity in their names. The One Project Closer contest is raising money and awareness for a great cause and sharing some inspiring remodeling stories. What more could you ask for? The contest runs from now until Sept. 20, so you still have time to submit your own entry.

Photo courtesy of Kara at made 2 cREate. And thanks to Ethan at One Project Closer for sharing this story.

That’s an 8×18 home, not a room. But after watching the video below, you’ll see it seems more livable than you might initially think.

Today’s post in our Built Around You series comes from the good folks at green home blog Re-Nest, who recently wrote about one of its “hot posts from a year ago,” taking a look back at this great do-it-yourself tiny house project to make housing simple, affordable as efficient (at least with space) as possible.

As Elizabeth Turnbull prepared to begin her studies as grad student in Yale’s School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, she sought to make her living arrangement as affordable and efficient as possible. The home — which is a 144-square-foot room built on a trailer — has a sleeping loft, storage loft, study nook, kitchen area, living area, and a bathroom with a composting toilet.

Today’s Built Around You feature is brought to us by interior designer Abbey Koplovitz, who shares a nice little case study on her site, On Interior Design.

Abbey was tasked with helping the home owner find a way to make this bathroom — original to the 1920s home — more usable and less crowded. She notes that, as is the case with most too-small bathrooms, lack of storage space was the chief complaint.

A vanity wouldn’t fit — with either doors or drawers, there’s not enough space for them to open — and pedestal sinks are better for helping make the room feel bigger, Abbey explains. With a large medicine cabinet and some built-in storage, they were able to make use of every available square inch of space.

The clutter was cleaned up, and the home owner has a fresh start with a new look. More before and after photos on Abbey’s site.

Photo courtesy of Abbey Koplovitz on On Interior Design

Today’s addition to our Built Around You series comes from our friends at Dwell, who write:

While visiting and writing about small homes for our June 2009 “Think Smaller” issue, it quickly became clear that when space is sparse, the best way to get the most bang for your buck is with built-in shelves and cabinetry.

When space is tight, it’s important to make the most of what you have. Heck, even when space is bountiful, why not make the most of it — especially when you can pretty easily get creative with how you use the space?

For this particular project, the architects had a wall knocked out to make the space bigger without actually adding square footage. And to make the space go further — in this kitchen and elsewhere — exposed, built-in storage spaces were added throughout.

Not only are these a great way to put otherwise unused or underused space to work for you, but these open storage spaces can demonstrate a lot more personality than a closed off cupboard or closet.

Photo courtesy of Shed Architects and Dwell