In the dead of winter, what better time to dream of cabañas?
If you've ever had the good fortune to visit a tropical paradise then you'll understand it's ability to inspire in life-changing ways. Whatever happens, most likely it'll include making promises to yourself of spending more away from the office and making more hay while your sun still shines.
While such promises are almost always sincere, they're almost never realized. Vows made in torchlight tend to disappear in the glare of office light. But it needn't be so: There are other more doable ways of getting back to the feeling of being under the palms again without having to unplug the iPhone or miss a week's worth of office confabs.
The next best thing: A cabaña of our own. Or, at least one that isn't half way around the world.
Extreme lounging as imagined in Miami, above, and Cabo, below.
Below, a version that abandons the rustic and goes for the more formal, complete with glowing fish aquarium.
Bamboo in the desert: A cabaña appropriation done in that way which Las Vegas is so well-known.
Here, a surrogate built for a back yard in Marin County.
For want of warm nearby beaches, a floating house on a Dutch sea channel.
Tropical it may not be: In fact, this floating house may be drifting on the frigid waters of some Canadian lake where the sun may not show for half the year. No matter: The view and the cocktails can still be breathtaking.
Here, a slightly different approach though the ultimate intentions may be the same: The meditation house on a private pond.
These structures are part of a very long and revered tradition in the orient for chillin'– chillin' with a higher purpose – the teahouse.
Below: An all glass version.
Teahouses available for public use in a park in Jinhua City, China.
Meditation with a fear factor: A teahouse on stilts.
Below are various versions of the jumped up tree house.
And back to the tropical cabaña again: This version a more highly crafted take on its thatched and rustic predecessors, lounging comfortably in the resort of Morerava, Easter Island
