Saturday, April 11th, 2009
These are all, as usual, from The Practical Encyclopedia of Good Decorating and Home Improvement, Greystone Press, 1970. I love the photo of the little garden house with the abstract geometric painting, above, and the book actually includes plans for it (click at bottom). One of the things that is so great about 1960s and 70s decor books is that many of the best ideas come with DIY instructions or are just simple to make, like the cedar privacy wall below.
“A screen is often more than a screen. When properly designed and placed, it can become an important part of the design of a home – as illustrated convincingly here. This rather Oriental redwood-slat screen acts as a noise-and-weather baffle and masks a view of neighboring houses. The screen solves several problems unobtrusively because it has been planned to blend with the character and construction of the house it serves.”
Bicycle wheel potato chip cart! Happy Spring.
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Tags: 1970, baffle, cabana, cedar, Easter, exterior, garden, Happy spring, landscape, outdoors, outside, pagoda, Passover, patio, screen, The Practical Encyclopedia of Good Decorating and Home Improvement, Vaisakhi, wall, wood, wooden
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Sunday, March 15th, 2009
I first saw these amazing buildings, almost all of which have now either had their facades removed or have actually been demolished, in the November 2007 issue of Wallpaper. The BEST Products Company of Richmond, Virginia commissioned architect James Wines’ SITE (Sculpture In The Environment) to build nine commercial buildings for them in the 1970s and early 80s. BEST was founded and owned by the Lewises, a Virginia family with an interest in art and design. BEST stores were famous for their willingness to trade store merchandise for art and as a result the company, as well as the Lewises, gathered a significant collection of 20th century art. Much of the Lewis Collection can be seen at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. (See Wikipedia for a more detailed story.) The building above has supposedly appeared in more books on 20th century architecture than photographs of any other modern structure. Some interesting videos about the Best buildings are here. And Part 2 of this blog post is here.
Tags: architectural design, architecture, art, BEST Products Company, box store, brick, conceptual design, favorite, favourite, James Wines, landscape, New York, Peeling Project, Richmond, Sculpture In The Environment, SITE, smart, Sydney Lewis, Virginia
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