Not a rhetorical question. This is a hodgepodge sample, for sure, and spans decades, but all of it seems to partake of some form or other of adventurousness. It’s possible I’m projecting, and that my view of Australia is entirely filtered through my childhood fixation on that girl in National Geographic who crossed the outback on camels. But I doubt it. Above are from the National Archives of Australia appearing in the Heide Museum of Modern Art’s exhibit Modern Times: the untold story of modernism in Australia. Top: ‘A modernist vision of Australia: Grant and Mary Featherston’s wing sound chairs were a feature of the Australian Pavilion, designed by architect James Maccormick with exhibits selected by Robin Boyd, at Expo 67 in Montreal, 1967′ and ‘View of the elevated restaurant, Centenary Pool, Brisbane’ by James Birrell. Most images below are from desire to inspire, the half-Australian blog. House directly below is the Wheatsheaf House. House in woods below by Drew Heath; room with screen, photo by Lucas Allen; geometric bedroom by Greg Natale; provenance of last 3 photos is lost, please advise; last photo is room by Marion Hall Best, considered the mother of modern Australian interior design.

In my neighbourhood there’s a heritage program called True Colours wherein you can receive a pat on the back from heritage types and sometimes free paint if you agree to paint your house in the original house colours circa 1901. Unfortunately, most True Colours are the official colours of depressive mood disorder: muddy hunter green, dark drab maroon, watery urine-sample yellow, sickly ivory. Before the creep of drabness extends any further, I’m planting my flag for Untrue Colours and posting these exuberant and adventurous feats of house and door painting. If we can’t have innovations this exciting, maybe we could at least have more true colour. One old heritage neighbourhood in Vancouver is already heading in a more cheerful, anti-rainy-day-blues direction. If you’ve been to Vancouver in February, you’ll know how important some form of cheerful intervention is. Beautiful photo of house in Indiana, above, by i am krisan on Flickr.

Modernist Vancouver house of the painter BC Binning, who painted his own interior and exterior murals. Photo by Arne Haraldsson. See here for more information on this heritage-protected house.

London house decorated by the painter Stanley Donwood, photo by artofthestate.

Painted facade in Sydney, Australia, by loveroni.

Painted house in Basel, by m.a.r.c.

Psychedelic house in Leiden by Karl O’Brien.

Rainbow house on Clipper Street, San Francisco, by jordanpattern.

Old mural on a housing building by the Polish art group TWOŻYWO, which turns 20 this year. “Dom” means house or home. By zorro za trzepakiem on Flickr and see also misiekgreen.

Doors in Soho, NYC, taken last week.

Final note: I’m not against heritage preservation at all. But I’m against slavish, unimaginative heritage preservation. Sarah adds that around 1900 “houses were originally painted those ugly dark colours because the air was so choked with coal pollution it was the only way to hide the dirt and grime. Why continue with an idea based on something that is no longer relevant?” I would also like to add the salient fact that many of the European settlers here were Scots Presbyterian and since that’s my own heritage I know of what I speak concerning its dour aesthetics. To read about San Francisco’s painted houses, see an interesting entry on Wikipedia.

Linda and John Meyers of Wary Meyers Decorative Arts assemble these mod, chic, distinctly 1960s and 70s interiors almost entirely from furniture and objects they find in thrift and vintage sales. They’ve produced some great interior design projects for clients but shown here is their own house in Portland, Maine, which is by now quite well-known. I’m showing it rather than their other excellent projects because here they’re free to be the wildest and the most purely 60s. Their entertaining new blog documents their peripatetic treasure-hunt in what amounts to a decor road movie (photos at bottom are from the blog). There’s something really unerring about their  creative re-use and re-work of the past, their re-introduction of the 60s with its emphasis on pleasure and experience and its occasional psychedelia, and just generally their sense of adventure and adept historical juxtaposition. Much of their material is actually early modernist to midcentury modernist but the ultimate effect is the specific risk-taking quality of the post-50s era. I wish there were more members of this particular design army but it’s gratifying to see that their work is getting plenty of recognition. See the article in the NYT (or click below to read the text). 

Below, from the blog: 

Still life with Dansk salt and pepper shakers.

Above, “Linda walking toward disappointment.” Below, their post says “This worn old Le Corbusier Basculant chair was at a middle school’s sale on Saturday amidst piles of shin guards and Harry Potter books.” Further below, Gerald Thurston lamp. Photo at bottom is just captioned “dreamhouse.”

Lastly, “Waffles grabbed a bee.”

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This gets points for adventurousness and imagination and magic, if not success. It’s another image from The Practical Encyclopedia of Good Decorating and Home Improvement, Greystone Press, 1970.

More far out interiors from The Practical Encyclopedia of Good Decorating and Home Improvement, Greystone Press, 1970.

Bathroom futurism! Excellent circular spaceship shapes, but I’m not sure about shag rugs in the bathroom. I prefer bold ideas better to safe design, and “soft” modernism to a sterile medical environment, but how on earth would you clean this room? The answer is we’re not on earth, and in space, obviously, flokatis stay clean automatically. The photo is from The Practical Encyclopedia of Good Decorating and Home Improvement, Greystone Press, 1970. “Practical”! The caption reads:

The sumptuous luxury of this modern bathroom owes much to the clever lighting which helps to create a mood of splendor. A softly glowing circle of light at one end of the sculptured oval tub sets the circular theme of the room. The cool light provides ample illumination, but has a softness which is flattering and in keeping with the lush white pile of the rug. Spotlights from the horizontal bands at either side of the room supplement the halo of light and the lights set into each of the multi-purpose niches. Lighting under the fat hassock is a safety factor; it can be used as a night light.

By way of contrast, here’s the mod but comfortably domestic living area on the spaceship “Serenity” of Firefly and Serenity fame. The ship’s lounge is some kind of amalgam of midcentury modern and 60s/70s mod. Look at the rya rugs and that brass wall sculpture thing! And does anyone recognize that fantastic yellow lounge set? It’s interesting to see decor from the 60s cropping up in a movie that describes itself as a space western. It’s a mix of frontiers, I guess. Apologies for the fuzzy screenshots.