This week's lead story is a good one. Mokoto Rich's Trapped in a Bubble elegantly and depressingly outlines the fate of all those who have gotten high off thinking they have made a ton of money in selling their apartment , and yet can't afford to trade up.
The real estate bubble has created an even bigger gap between the rich and the rest of the country.
Top Stories
- Futuro Flashback: The Prefab From Another Planet:
This story on Matti Suuronen's 1968 Futuro house is a wonder piece of design history.
- From Curbside to Canvas: THe House as Muse:
The original house from "American Gothic" is still standing in Eldon, Iowa!
- For the Wall: Lace, Pearls and Interactive Paper: Ms. Rohrlich pulls together a good shortlist of funky new modern wallpapers.
- How do I go about finding and hiring a good decorator?
Mitchell Owens gives a few answers but neglects to mention us.... shucks. - If East Weds West, Who Disciplines The Plants?
Anne Raver has a slow day... A pairing of a wedding announcement from the styles section with gardening style, this features the romance and garden of Holly and Osamu Shimizu in Maryland.Currents: Los Angeles
- More scoop on the art installation, Maximilian's Schell, in Silver Lake
- More scoop on Hannspree's new line of lifestyle Televisions
- Espasso with Brazilian furniture by Carlos Junquieria opens a west coast shop in Melrose
- There's a new open air market called Peddler on the Roof in Hollywood
- Jennifer Pritchard's interior work for restaurant Providence is noted
Regarding the Trapped in a Bubble article:
Take heart! I and some other ppl on the CL housing forum and brownstoner have deduced that the reporter has not presented the story correctly so it is not as bad as it first appears (for others that is). There is simply no way that with similar sized apts, one goes for double the other one. There is elapsed time involved in this story and the NY Times piece obscures this to fit the story they want to write. Who cares about the facts when we've got a hot story?
Basically, the couple who made just over $100K were trying to time the market and they failed. They sold in April 2004. They tried to get back in more recently only to find that the last 12 months have shown have shown even greater gains that the prior two year period that they had their place for. Now, I feel for that couple and I am not criticizing them. I am criticizing the reporting of this story.
Links where I quote an AT thread here:
http://forums.newyork.craigslist.org/?ID=30809373
http://brownstoner.com/brownstoner/archives/2005/07/all_equitied_up_1.html#comments
BTW, I am VDH on brownstoner and villagedunderhead on CL
Oh, and I loved the piece on the inspiration begind American Gothic.
Wow, the Mother of Pearl wallpaper and the metallic Japanese graphic wallpaper are really cool.
I like the Jennifer Pritchard "barnacles" theoretically, but the sight of them kind of gives me the willies in some weird, reflexive, primeval way. Maybe the forms are just *too* organic. Is it just me? I have to know :)
My sentiments exactly. Those "barnacles" give me the shakes, like I've got blisters or something. Or like the time on Star Trek when the pulsating membranes fell off the ceiling and latched onto people's backs.
What's with the "At Home With" articles? (I don't see a link above for this week's. Here it is ). Although interesting, it was a real stretch to put it in the House and Home, since it was more of an Arts section story. I would like to see the focus back on the H&H in these stories.
oh. my. GOD.
i'm sorry, but those jennifer pritchard barnacles have a horrible effect on me, worse than merely giving me the "willies" or "shakes". i mean just LOOKING at them literally makes me itchy all over, like i've broken out into a violent rash or something. especially the ones behind her in the picture...*shudder*. i hope for the restaurant's sake that this "artwork" doesn't cause this kind of negative visceral reaction in too many other people, b/c for me it's bad enough that i would never be able to go there.
p.s. i don't want to come across as too harsh, so just wanted to add that i think it's great that they're trying to be imaginative w/ their decor. it's just that i personally can't tolerate it, like i'm "allergic" to it.
Oh my god, so I'm NOT the only one!
The "barnacles" look like a spreading skin fungus, or something worse - the thought of eating in that room makes me nauseous.
(And very frightening that I, too, immediately remembered the same Star Trek episode. I think Yoeman Rand was in that one, with the cool basket-weave 'do.)
i have a coworker who is absolutely phobic of "large quantities of very small things" (like rashes, caviar, etc)... so of course i had to send her that "barnacles" picture. after hearing her reaction from across the office, i felt guilty. now she'll probably have nightmares.
It must be some kind of primal reaction for some people.
On a recent UK decorating/upgrading programme, the homeowner glued faux rose petals onto the wall like that and even that looked freaky.
So funny ... from a distance, I KIND of liked that barnacle thing, but the most I thought about it, I absolutely did cringe, too!
First off ... let's pretend you DID love them, right? Five years later, you want to re-paint the place. What to do? Unscrew each one? Number them? Photograph the whole installation and number each one and coordinate them after you've uninstalled and painted, and then re-install?
OR... do you just Kilz over the whole thing and paint one color?
What it reminds me of is those scary real-life stories of people whose houses have mold that they just can NOT get rid of, where they just about have to burn the place down!
I think that if they really did seem more floral, somehow, it might be more of a benign kind of magic at work on the collective unconscious.
Oh! And I think those space ship houses are so great, that really, truly, they should make them again. If you really wanted a cool little place to live AND if those things would be affordable, what a coup that would be!
Can you imagine a little "trailer park" of them? You call it "Galaxy Heights" or something, and it could just be in the middle of a field somewhere, maybe with just a little tiny bit of variation in the topography, so they would look like a necklace of big beads.