A few beautiful old homes here in Sacramento were damaged or, in one case, totally destroyed by falling trees and other debris in this first of the three storms scheduled to hit us before Sunday evening. Most of these photographs are from the Sacramento Bee. Click the image for a slightly larger version.
From June 28 through October 8, the Portland Museum of Art is presenting a new exhibit showcasing "Frank Lloyd Wright’s passion for creating a new way of life for Americans through architecture."
In particular, the exhibition focuses on his legendary skill in
creating harmony between architectural structure and interior design
while fulfilling the needs of a modern lifestyle. Featuring
approximately 100 objects, the exhibition includes furniture,
metalwork, textiles, drawings, and accessories from the collections of
the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation and other public and private
collections. Curated by Dr. Virginia T. Boyd, professor at the
University of Wisconsin-Madison, Frank Lloyd Wright and the House
Beautiful conveys the methods through which Wright implemented the
philosophy of the “house beautiful.” The exhibition explores how Wright
sought to develop a modern interior reflective of a uniquely American
spirit of democracy and individual freedom, illustrates his development
in integrating the space with furnishings and architectural elements,
and shows his experiments with bringing these ideas to the homes of
average Americans.
Several podcasts and audio programs relating to the exhibit are also available:
Carol Lloyd has a good article at SFGate (the San Francisco Chronicle‘s site) on extremely tiny homes:
Down a rambling residential road on the outskirts of Sebastopol, the dream house sits like a testament to discriminating taste.
This dream house is the love child of artist-builder Jay Shafer,
who lovingly hand-crafted it. The stainless-steel kitchen, gleaming
next to the natural wood interior, is outfitted with customized storage
and built-ins. From his bed, Shafer can gaze into the Northern
California sky through a cathedral window. In his immaculate office
space, a laptop sits alongside rows of architectural books and
magazines — many featuring his house on the cover. And from the
old-fashioned front porch, he can look out on a breathtaking setting:
an apple orchard in full bloom.But in an era when bigger is taken as a synonym for better,
calling Shafer’s home a dream house might strike some as an oxymoron.
Why? The entire house, including sleeping loft, measures only 96 square
feet — smaller than many people’s bathrooms. But Jay Shafer’s dream
isn’t of a lifestyle writ large but of one carefully created and then
writ tiny.
Read the whole thing.
From Kaleena Cote at Yankee magazine comes this article on everyone's favorite weekend pastime, bargain-hunting at architectural salvage yards:
Home salvage yards are like garage sales. Once you find that hidden treasure, the whole trip becomes worthwhile. For more than two decades, homeowners have searched for treasure at Vermont Salvage, an architectural Warehouse For Lease that has stores in White River Junction, Vermont, and Manchester, New Hampshire. Doors, windows, appliances – items that have outlived the houses and buildings they used to grace – fill each warehouse, much of it tagged with bargain prices.
Bargains are what I’m after on a damp and dreary February afternoon as I drive up to the half-brick, half-concrete Vermont
Salvage store in Manchester. Old toilets, tubs, and trash lie out in the yard, as well as a few abandoned vehicles and an old rusting trailer, while a few red spray-painted squiggles splatter the sides of the building. The place looks as if it needs to be salvaged itself.
But inside, it’s easy to see why people enjoy searching through the rows of different colored doors, walking past the pastel pink and yellow toilets, and toying with the little trinkets ranging from outlet faces to small brass hooks for hanging clothes. The place has character, and the employees there are eager to please. They're not the in-your-face “buy this now” types of salesmen; they let the customers browse freely. At the same time, they're willing to help and offer suggestions. Just ask.
Read the full article and see pictures at Yankee magazine’s site. They’ve also compiled a good list of New England salvage firms and shops, which follows the article.