8/25/14 The Morning Coffee: Houses as Art

A Good Morning to you—

A friend and loyal TOP reader also recently bought himself a house. It's an architectural creation so famous it has its own website—called "Boxhead," it was designed and built by Jim Burton of Carter + Burton Architecture and Interior Design.

The house is a lovely creation. Dramatic and beautiful. For me it brings up the question of how to live inside a work of art—a very interesting topic.

I’m actually feeling kind of glad that the kitchen and bathrooms in my new house were remodeled in 2004 without much thought to 1950s style—I think otherwise I might be tempted to begin curating the house as a Midcentury Modern museum, which as you can imagine could go through several iterations, from more approximate to more rigorously true to the period. I think I have the capacity, buried deep within me, to get pretty fanatical about something like that. I mean, you start off thinking that a faux-'50s style couch might look nice, and before you know it you’re researching specific colors of paint and getting rid of a bottle opener because the design didn’t exist until 1983.

(Model railroaders can be like that. One of them once told me about walking mile after mile of track in Kansas or Nebraska or some such until he found the overgrown foundation of an old station that he had modeled in his basement…and he was able to measure the exact angle the original had been relative to the track. Came home and changed the orientation of his model on his layout. He described being completely exultant about acquiring this prized bit of information. Come to think of it, I think that was Tony Koester, who's well known in model railroading circles and was a guy I liked a lot when I knew him.)

This restored mid-century modern Italian settee would be period-
appropriate for my new house. Easy, boy.

Boxhead's website still features Jim Burton's art collection—my friend plans to re-do the photos when he gets his own art on the walls. That goes under the heading of something else I have to look forward to.

Meanwhile, we're heading over to the new house this morning with Linda the organizer, tape measures in hand, to figure out what's going to fit where.

Hope you have a fine day, wherever in the world you're spending your Monday.

Mike

"Morning Coffee" is auto-published weekdays at 3:30 a.m. Central Time today to be in time for morning coffee breaks in the UK and Europe. For those who rise later, it will be there. The feature is a month-long experiment to give people something to check in with while I'm busy moving. This is not permanent.

I'll write about anything. Want to suggest a topic or ask a question? Leave it as a comment.

Original contents copyright 2014 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved. Links in this post may be to our affiliates; sales through affiliate links may benefit this site.

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Comments

[Tony Collins]

Midcentury... hmmm not a descriptor I've come across in the UK. My own late 30s archetypal semi-detached house is furnished with "mid-century" Ercol furniture. Unfortunately my little blog about it, Ercolholics Unanimous,

http://ercolholics.blogspot.co.uk/

is difficult to find by Googling which tries to direct you to Alcoholics Anonymous. Does Google think that drinkers can't type straight?

I draw the line at having a completely mid-century kitchen, (though I'm sat at a little Ercol Café table writing this.)

[MM]

Good idea re: the mid-century decor. You could even pretend you were a prescient collector of photographs long before the market was there, putting on your walls various (copies) of the Edward Weston and Ansel Adams prints that you scored for $5-25 back in the 1950s!

[Lubo]

Please tell Linda there are now at least two TOP readers who encourage you to set up your work space upstairs in the daylight with the magnificent quiet views.

[Speed]

We shouldn't forget that a house is above all a place to live. A historically important automobile (for example) is used as a daily driver only by people who don't require economical, reliable and comfortable transportation -- or XM Radio.

Being a slave to period furniture, mechanicals and appliances can be a substantial sacrifice.

[Steven Willard]

I think you would really like my friend George's shop. Check it out here-
www.georgechampion.com Be sure to visit his modern shop.

[Dennis]

I can understand the temptation. Fortunately, we bought a house that offers no such tempation. After looking at what seemed like countless houses, including a pre-1800 salt box in a historic district (which would have brought with it restrictions on what we could do in the way of repairs/upgrades), we ended up with a dutch colonial built in 1979 with vinyl siding, hollow core lauan doors and a carpeted kitchen; there's nothing authentic about it. That's very liberating, even if it lacks charm.

[Jim Roelofs]

Hi, Mike!

Best wishes for you in your new digs. Just as an aside, your Monday coffee post is being read by us downuderers on, um, Tuesday. I guess we like to be ahead of your curve.

[Michael Matthews]

Your new house looks a good bit more livable / enjoyable. Congratulations on holding out for a place that clearly fits your needs and taste, and which is quite a good bargain to boot.

[Mark Seal]

Great house, and wonderful things on the architect's website but, when I see photo essays of such architecture, it begs the question of who the current-day Lucien Herve might be....

[Winsor]

The "settee" is pretty clearly "Danish Modern". An Italian copy?