July 7, 2011

A house.

Like it?

152 comments:

Scott M said...

Linkage goes to the face story.

Pastafarian said...

I think she's saying that Elizabeth Hurley is built like a brick shit-house.

JAL said...

Well if I had a chouse that looked like that face ...

But hey! That face photo piece is a Mail Online (Daily Mail article.)

Did you notice who wrote it? Kathryn Knight.

You know WHY I noticed? Because the outing of the CIA agent in the MailOnline article below DOES NOT HAVE A REPORTER'S NAME ON THE ARTICLE.

Nice, huh.

Out you, but not me!!

PatHMV said...

If you meant the link to go to www.althou.se, I like the font for the masthead name. Very nice.

Fred4Pres said...

Elizabeth Hurley is built like a brick shit house, grrrrrrr.

I would say inappropriate things to her on an elevator at 4:00 a.m. I could not help myself.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

I second PatHMV

Ann Althouse said...

Link fixed.

Sorry.


That was useless without the right link.

Ann Althouse said...

"If you meant the link to go to www.althou.se, I like the font for the masthead name. Very nice."

Bodoni.

edutcher said...

Not crazy about how narrow the bathroom is, but they clearly made an effort to keep furniture to a minimum.

Lots of space, lots of room to spread out.

Nice.

Ron said...

meh. Kind of boring looking.

Bruce Rheinstein said...

Looks sterile - as though no one really lives there.

traditionalguy said...

Beautiful in its simplicity. The owners had better pray for Global Cooling to reverse.

multiuseless said...

All of the light bulbs shown are incandescent.

Scott M said...

Link fixed

Control-V error? That one bites me in the ass on a regular basis.

gerry said...

Woody Allen Interiors.

MadisonMan said...

I've seen that house in -- Dwell? Martha Stewart Living? Somewhere before.

I like neighbors. Maybe if I lived in NYC I wouldn't.

Bob_R said...

David Brooks is by many measures an idiot. But this could easily be a parody of Bobos In Paradise.

PatHMV said...

It may be a house, but I see no signs of it being a home. It's certainly beautiful, but I feel no warmth, no signs that any humans actually have spent time in this building. Me, I wouldn't want to spend my summers living in a catalog showroom, however beautiful the location may be.

Curious George said...

Looks like Alexandra Angle has some 'splainng to do.

Henry said...

I like the house except for the medical bench they call the kitchen. The kitchen looks like a place that serves soylent green.

kjbe said...

If I had to live in Nova Scotia, this'd be just fine.

Carol_Herman said...

Where do you park your boat?

Is this sunrise at Montebello?

Mitch H. said...

Nice interior. Monstrously ugly exterior. No, you don't get points for deliberately weathering new materials to get that eighty-year-old neglected look for the sake of "authenticity".

And the location seems to have been selected for its breath-taking vistas. Actually living in that exposed hilltop moor during the long winters of Nova Scotia is going to be an exercise in exposure and massive heating bills.

The Crack Emcee said...

Sure, it's a nice house.

Some would say the front door's attractive,...

Anonymous said...

It is nice to look at, but seems cold and sterile. Unless there are hidden sound dampers, it also looks like it would be extremely loud.

Scott M said...

At least its not in a bad neighborhood. Low crime, for sure, unless you count the odd longboat raid. They mostly come at night. Mostly.

G Joubert said...

I wonder what it'd be like to winter over in there. No evidence of a fireplace or woodstove.

Dust Bunny Queen said...

Not at all. Too stark. Too contrived. Too sterile. Too cold.

HKatz said...

I like the window seats (and the broad windows with the view). Also they picked great colors - very gentle and soothing.

Robert Cook said...

Yes, I like it...and its location.

Fred4Pres said...

A nice house. I did not see how they spent $350K on what appears from the outside to be a modest home in depressed maritime Canada until I saw the interiors. That sort of simple grace costs money.

Fred4Pres said...

Are there supposed to be comments on the inhabitants or is that just an aside feature to your post Ann?

Julie C said...

I don't mind clean lines and modern design elements, but a house like that needs some comfy furniture to curl up in. There is nothing in that house that looks good enough to sit in. Nothing! Even the beds look uncomfortable.

Curious George - LOL!

Rick Lee said...

"Actually living in that exposed hilltop moor during the long winters of Nova Scotia"
These people live in LA... they will spend a little time in the summer in this house.

PJ/Maryland said...

Looks pleasant enough. I wonder how the windows will look at night, as I see no window treatments. All those black panes of glass might be a bit, um, soul deadening? Of course, there's not much night in Nova Scotia in the summer; guess they won't be visiting the rest of the year.

KLDAVIS said...

$16,000 worth of dining room chairs...who are they entertaining?

coketown said...

There's so much shit on the shelves and so much open flooring, it probably takes two hours a day just to dust. Do they not have cabinets or rugs in Canada?

I love the bathroom. Wonderfully done.

The maps in the hallway look like shit. How jarring! Maybe if they were antique or vintage maps it would work. But that shit looks like it's a "Thank You National Geographic Subscriber" novelty.

The living room/kitchen is so cold and uninviting. Reminds me of the dinner scene in Beetlejuice.

I would be nervous about tipping over in those wicker chairs. Nice views, though.

Overall, I don't like it. I would probably spend a lot of time in the bathroom.

Luther said...

I'm with DBQ. I do like the view though and wonder if it is just a summer home for them. I mean, where's the closest school for the kid.

Lance said...

Colors are nice. Furniture is mostly bad. And the knick knacks decorating the tables are truly horrible.

Overall the house looks like it's been staged for sale. Definitely not lived in, or even vacationed in.

Fred4Pres said...

MitchH, that weathering is pretty common in New England and the Maritimes. If you put raw cedar it will weather in about a year and a half to uniform gray. But most people do use the stain to speed the process up and it might add a few years to the process.

Which reminds me. I was checking out a home of a friend of mine in Cape May County. It was an old 1780s farmhouse and had a cedar shake roof. When you went in the attic during the summer, streams of sunlight were going through the shakes. The rafters were country hewn beams supporting what looked like basket weaved twigs of swamp virginia magnolia (witht he shakes attached to those twigs). But when a storm came, the shafts of sunlight would close just before the rain came. The cedar would suck up the moisture of the storm and the shakes would swell. Coolest thing I have ever seen with an old house. Just amazing.

coketown said...

And really? Using a black adopted child as an accent for pastel color schemes? An amateur's mistake. The pale, supple glow of a Chinese child would have lent a more subtle balance to the chosen color profile without clashing with those horrifying endtables.

Matt Brown said...

I think they're just trying to showcase how wealthy they are. $16,000 for dining room chairs? $750 for a desk lamp? Surely they could have put that money towards more charitable use, and just buy furniture from Ikea.

The Dude said...

Too precious for words. At least they won't use it much. Nova-freakin-Scotia - $350k - those people are idiots.

Did Stanley Kubrick do the interior decorating?

Unknown said...

I would like it as a summer house. Inside, it's way too intense minimalist/architect-y.

chickelit said...

Thank Goodness for mouse-over.

Widely Seen said...

Bleak. I think one can detect Edward Hopper, or the spirit thereof, just to the right and out of the picture for now.

Phil 314 said...

Lovely exposed hill on the coast of Nova Scotia. Occupants from LA.

I challenge them to visit for a month in January.

"This is different than Catalina!"

coketown said...

Doesn't Philip Glass live in Nova Scotia? There must be something in the air that attracts minimalist retards.

Michael said...

Like the house but agree it does not look like a lived in home. Interiors are too precious , too much, i presume, like the owners.

galdosiana said...

I feel bad for the little girl. Three years old, and her toys are stored in a sterile, artsy wicker urn. Wonder what happens when she spills stuff on the floor...

Triangle Man said...

Love the location, but trekehe white floors make it feel "overexposed". Like a Kubrick film.

bagoh20 said...

Yes, I like it, except the outside looks weak, and not very durable. In that environment, I would go with masonry.

Triangle Man said...

There must be something in the air that attracts minimalist retards.

Yeah, them and Alexander Graham Bell.

Titus said...

fucking fabulous.

rhhardin said...

I bet it's pretty loud in there when she yells at him.

gerry said...

Using a black adopted child as an accent for pastel color schemes?

Mmmpthlt [coffee onto keyboard]

Oh well, I needed a new keyboard anyway.

Unknown said...

I don't like it but the site is great for a different house. It would need thick insulated walls and smaller windows. I would probably build it into the land with only one story above ground and cutaways for windows for the lower floor. That house will get blown away before next summer.

Fred4Pres said...

Coketown, that was friggin brilliant. Thanks.

Indigo Red said...

Like the one high back hardwood chair. House is cold and uninviting, yet pretty in a mall minimalist furniture store kind of way.

erictrimmer said...

If the New York Times were coming to photograph your house, would you spruce up a little bit?

SteveR said...

I am unimpressed. A house is not a home. I am glad for them that they have the money. Does the sun shine there?

Christy said...

I like it. I love the hall of maps, but intensely dislike the cluttered appearance of open shelving in the kitchen. Odd how open shelving is considered minimalist.

Fred4Pres said...

Where is the hip overpriced medicine cabinet where they keep their homeopathic tinctures?

Fred4Pres said...

Titus, you need to build one of those in P-Town!

Drew said...

Needs trees.

Toad Trend said...

Love the clean, minimalist approach.

Love it.

Drew said...

Nice, but it doesn't appear anyone lives there. They have a kid, but there's no mess. I call bogus.

TosaGuy said...

I propose a Show off My Money and Lifestyle in the NYT Tax.

Coketown, well done, sir.

holdfast said...

We always said that Bretoners were just Newfs who ran out of money on their way to Toronto. Don't know about that particular area, but historically that's a poor, coal-mining area - think W. Virginia and damned-near as inbred. I hope the locals aren't priced out of their homes by rich hipsters.

TosaGuy said...

Just posting again because the WV is: twarf

Shouting Thomas said...

$350,000! In Nova Scotia!

Somebody took them for a ride.

Flatlanders!

holdfast said...

Also, isn't it racist to give the black adopted child a MONKEY kite?

Shouting Thomas said...

You could get that house in Woodstock on 5 acres for $250,000.

Woodstock is far more desirable real estate than Nova Scotia.

Those suckers really got taken to the cleaners!

Anonymous said...

My recollection from my one drive through the area is that most of the houses are either trailers or the sort of ranch houses that might as well be trailers. If they can stand the winters, this one should be able to. It probably looks homier and more lived-in when there aren't NYT photographers hanging around.

Rialby said...

"We always said that Bretoners were just Newfs who ran out of money on their way to Toronto. Don't know about that particular area, but historically that's a poor, coal-mining area - think W. Virginia and damned-near as inbred. I hope the locals aren't priced out of their homes by rich hipsters."

I hope shit doesn't go south while Eliot and Alexandra are up there one winter. They're going to find their $350,000 house full of uninvited guests looking for some rich outsiders to plunder.

Shouting Thomas said...

After a look at the interior, I've got to say:

The place virtually screams:

Really, really white people live here!

This is a Stuff White People Like wet dream.

Rodney Graves said...

The house is great.

The interior decorator needs shot.

Randy said...

Yes, I like it.

mariner said...

I like the outside. The inside is hideous.

Bravissimo, Coketown!

MayBee said...

Our summer home on Anal Retentive Island.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

Looks sterile - as though no one really lives there.

A fresh canvas for Meade.

PatHMV said...

Why am I willing to bet that the owners of this $300,000+ dwelling, to be used only for a small part of the year, have regularly lectured others on the plight of the poor and the abuse we humans have inflicted on the environment?

Lem the artificially intelligent said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

Too precious, too minimalist, too sterile. It's a set, not a home.

No bookshelves. No television. Absurd existentialist tchotchkes. What do they do all day -- strike poses for photographers?

The bathroom appears to lack a commode. That might be inconvenient.

I love maps. The fact that they are of recent vintage erather than "old and weathered" to match the rst of the decor doesn't bother me in the least. But four maps of the same area? In cheap white plastic edging that allows them to warp? In a hallway so narrow that you can't stand back and apprehend the entire map? Bah. These are maps that were put on the walls to make a single statement: "Look! We have maps!"

Where do you park your boat?

Carol has a point. Even in summer, it rains in Nova Scotia. But we're shown only a long, narrow exposed walkway to the house. Here in the PNW, we're smart enough to build houses with attached garages.

I suspect that if I had to spend a day in the house with its owners, after only three or four hours I'd be telling them that they'd be the first against the wall when the revolution comes.

Scott M said...

Odd how open shelving is considered minimalist.

If you make, sell, and install cabinetry, it is minimalist.

Peter Hoh said...

Nice house, however, I preferred the article (and slideshow) about laying a dry stone wall.

Peter Hoh said...

Stone wall link.

carrie said...

The house spoils the view for everyone else.

sakredkow said...

Another NYTimes page burned early in the month.

Anonymous said...

Elefe's bedroom.

That poor child.

Ipso Fatso said...

My guess is that our dear homeowners never bothered to check on how often that parcel of land has flooded during that last 100 years, or if they are land locked during winter due to 12 feet of snow. If I were an insurance exec there is no way I would write a policy against this property. But then again I am not an insurance exec.

Anonymous said...

Do you think it would hit a little too close to home for this couple to read these comments and see the word "sterile" over and over again?

Peter Hoh said...

BT, it will take a flood of biblical proportions to put that house under water.

Anonymous said...

“Our land is in a prominent place, the highest point around,” said Ms. Angle, who imagined their new neighbors thinking, “Oh, my God, these people fly in from L.A. and throw up this huge steel-and-glass house, or this 50-foot-tall church.”

She imagined what their neighbors would think. Even though they've spent threee summers there, I'd be willing to bet that they don't talk with their neighbors.

Geoff Matthews said...

For 350k, I hope that they like the music scene. Cape Breton has supposedly retained the Scottish tradition of fiddling that's no longer in Scotland.

Some of their talent is really amazing.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cape_Breton_fiddling

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RzP_kIXsuvA

Automatic_Wing said...

I'll bet it's unimaginably windy up there. I'd have looked for a site with some trees, or do they not have trees that far north?

coketown said...

Do you think the family farts in that house, or do they excuse themselves outside?

Carol_Herman said...

Oh, Crack @ 11:44 AM ... that's some wonderful link!

You know, if, instead of a basement, the bottom has a propeller ... people who go to see the house ... may be surprised if it just swims away?

Can you give a house swimming lessons?

By the way, the one good thing? Nobody can build a house "in the lot next door" and ruin your view.

Or plant a Ginko Tree.

Carol_Herman said...

You know, if comes along a dark and stormy night ... being inside would propel you to write a story.

DADvocate said...

Not at all. Too stark. Too contrived. Too sterile. Too cold.

Thank you. My feelings exactly.

Ipso Fatso said...

Peter Hoh

You may be right, it is on a hill afterall but flooding doesn't have to submerge the property directly to do damage, it could effect the parcel itself from erosion, etc. For their sake I hope you are right.

Also on the cost of the property my guess is that utility runs in this area are very expensive (I didn't read the article) but I assume they have electric, gas, water, etc and there would be no existing runs that they could tap into.

Anonymous said...

I think a little church with a tall, narrow steeple would be charming on that spot, notwithstanding Ms. Angle's speculations.

Luther said...

Coketown. Brilliant. I knew something needed to be said on that subject but could think of nothing clever. Well done.

holdfast. Heh. 2nd place.

Fred4Pres said...

I would say they need a Newfoundland, but they are in Nova Scotia.

Jeff Boulier said...

I think it's nice that they have kept some of granma's furniture. Speaks well of them. The chandeliers, though, are particularly awful, and that house really has to be a nightmare to dust. Maybe the wind blows it away?

Wince said...

The cynic in me wonders if, for these two, the black child is just another politically correct furnishing and conversation piece.

Paco Wové said...

Sterile, empty, and cold, cold, cold.

marylynn said...

I like the exterior and the paint colors inside. Hate the kitchen, Hate the furniture. The whole interior is sterile and pretentious. Looks to be about as comfortable as a hospital waiting room.

Carol_Herman said...

Man, if that was my house, I'd have installed a ship's wheel right by the window that looks out to the sea.

Carol_Herman said...

A nightmare to dust? You've got cross ventilation. To dust, you just open the windows.

To keep the furniture attached to the floor, you use superglue.

The kid's cute. I had hoped we're beyond the point of matching kids to skin color.

Oh! And, at least the kid's not going to Atlanta's public school.

Ann Althouse said...

I think it's fine for interiors to be sterile. The people bring the disease. I don't need furniture to contaminate the place. I bring my own germs.

Ann Althouse said...

Now, the "work table" is phony. What's that twee junk on it? I say: not sterile *enough.* But look at the wall. See the cable outlet and the phone outlet. Electronic stuff like TVs and computers go there. Not a flower press and whatever the hell. When the photographers are gone there will be time enough for TV shows and internet.

Ann Althouse said...

Tell-tale sign of fakery (worse than the outlets): There's a picture on the table and it leans against the wall. But the table is on wheels!

Luther said...

What about Meade?

MayBee said...

The people bring the disease. I don't need furniture to contaminate the place. I bring my own germs.

When the people bring the disease you lose the design aesthetic, which depends on sterility.
What's the point of having a perfectly designed home if the design is ruined by your presence?

People should add character to their own dwellings, not disease.

Eric said...

So many windows, no trees, and no widow coverings except in the bedrooms? Are people really that comfortable with being on display every night for passersby?

I wonder if part of the sterilization was to remove most of the blinds or drapes.

SunnyJ said...

Being a loner that has lived in the country for years...I get the isolation and beauty surrounding.

I don't get it $350,000 worth.

Now, I know a man down the road and back in the woods a bit, that planted seedlings from the county with his dad, when he was a boy, over 70 years ago. He lived on that land his whole life. About 10 yrs ago he cut down the 50-60ft pines, seasoned, planed and prepped the logs all by himself at 68 yrs old. He invented a log lifting machine in my farm shop (works on my farm for me) and built himself a lovely log cabin with those trees.

It's simple, it's got over 12 types of wood used in it, and all grown by him on his boyhood home land. He's snug as a bug in that cabin, surrounded by the gifts of god produced by his stewardship.

Now, that's a picture.

Conserve Liberty said...

Contrived to get a feature in an architectural magazine. Pretty to look at but I wouldn't live there.

Fill it with persian rugs and comfortable furniture and I might.

Shouting Thomas said...

Whatever you think about it, they overpaid outrageously.

mariner said...

Carol_Herman,
Man, if that was my house, I'd have installed a ship's wheel right by the window that looks out to the sea.

I'm liking you better and better. ;)

Gene said...

A house as stark as the landscape it's in. Their house reminds me of a museum--nice to look at but who would want to live there? The only thing I really liked was the battered old wooden chair in the kid's room.

coketown said...

Two more considerations:

The $2,000 octopus chandelier uses incandescent bulbs. Jerks.

I hope whatever is in the 10 degree field of view of that telescope is really interesting. Maybe a particularly fascinating galaxy? Nudist neighbors? This family is so stale and boring they probably spend hours looking at lichen growing on rocks. Jerks.

I agree entirely with the commenter who said this profile is just a showcase of wealth--and I'll add vanity. $2,000 PER CHAIR! You can bet your bottom dollar if I spend $2,000 on something to sit on he'd better give an awesome massage.

Joe Schmoe said...

Ann, this place may appeal to those whose aesthetic sensibilities have been finely honed by thumbing through dozens of Pottery Barn catalogs, but it is decidedly impersonal. It is a staged, trophy house, not a well-loved and well-used home. The objects are mostly for show, not for use. All I can gather about the occupants is they like to frequent antique shops.

Regarding its location in a remote part of one of the least-populated sections of North America, what comes to my mind is "Here's Johnny!" and "redrum".

BUT, luckily these hip urbanists only spend a few weeks in the summer there. Definitely it's their second home as there is NO industry/commercial activity to support a $350K mortgage in Cape Breton. No doubt a couple of global warming alarmists to boot who have no problem owning 2 homes and jetting to warmer climes in the winter.

Mark said...

350K for a barn-like house that's sitting on the ass-end of nowhere.

This is how our country is pissing away its greatness.

Big Mike said...

I don't like the house at all. Judging from the width of the 2nd story windows in the first shot, there isn't enough insulation in the rafters (despite the house being in Nova Scotia!). Also the eves should be wider to cut down on summer sunlight while still letting in the low winter sun.

The dining room is too stark and unwelcoming, and the painted Queen Anne arm chair made me gag.

Those Foglia chairs would probably collapse under me, but I suppose that's my fault more than theirs.

The night stand in the master bed is altogether too precious, and the child's room doesn't look like a place where a kid can have fun.

They make a living as interior designers??? Amazing.

Mark said...

In the winter, that place is going to have a real "The Shining" feel for whatever poor schmuck signs up as the caretaker.

Mark said...

Woops, pays to read the thread. Joe Schmoe got there before me. My apologies, Joe.

Mark said...

On the plus side, it's located in one of the last places to fall to the Zombie Apocalypse. Fill it with Spam, guns, and ammo, then surround it with razor wire, and it would start to make sense.

Michelle Dulak Thomson said...

Damn. I love the building; I hate what they've done with it. If it were mine it would have more rugs, more comfy chairs, and about fifteen hundred times more books. (Wait — was there even one book? Make that "at least four thousand books." And my 8000 or so classical CDs need space too. Sorry for all the clutter.)

wv: rampen. Ramen for when you have work to do.

Joe Schmoe said...

I only hope the lovely roar of Harleys wafts up the hillside in July and August when droves of bikers descend on the Cabot Trail.

If you've never been to Nova Scotia, especially Cape Breton N.P., it's freaking LONELY. Also no sushi bars or organic bakeries to be found, and the only restaurants around close up early. It's pretty enough there, but damn it's desolate. Visiting there gave me new appreciation for the early settlers who actually stayed there instead of hightailing it back to Europe. Those folks had balls.

george said...

That house would be hell to live in. These people strike me as being very shallow and overly concerned with how things look. There isn't a comfortable chair in the place. The nightstand is already overladen and it is the only spot in the house that shows signs of having been used. There is not a work triangle in the kitchen meaning your labor will be maximized. The large windows are impractical and will leak heat like a mother. The building is completely exposed to the wind and elements. In short it was built by someone with more money than sense. I am building a one level, all brick house that is several times that size in TN and will not spend what that place cost.

I think the exterior is lovely though. A Times photographer can do wonders for a place.

And EDH is right, it looks like the child was chosen as just another accessory. I think we need lots more mixed families but as carefully as these people choreograph everything I get a really creepy vibe from the whole thing. Was he just another catalog selection?

It reminds me of a Tim Burton film. I bet this couple suffers from some very deep seated pathologies. Their opposite would be the hoarders you see on TV but a neatness obsession, while just as debilitating to live with, doesn't draw the scrutiny of the police or mental health professionals as easily.

Can you imagine a child having to live in such an environment? They probably have the tyke scrubbing the bathroom floor with a toothbrush.

Oh, and there is not a chance in hell the owners of this house voted Republican. Anyone who values style over substance to this extent would go with Obama. For the type of people who like these sorts of places it really is a matter of the crease of his pants.

Hagar said...

No.

Joe Schmoe said...

george said Oh, and there is not a chance in hell the owners of this house voted Republican.

Agreed. At least now they have a place to immigrate to when the next Republican occupies the White House.

I do commend them for adopting a baby girl, though. I am pretty horrified how baby girls are so unwanted in other parts of the world, especially China and India. Good on them for that. Now get her a toy she'd actually play with!

Anonymous said...

I don't get it $350,000 worth.

No-no-no-no-no.

The house cost $350,000 to construct.

According to the companion NYT article, the house sits on a 54-acre lot that they purchased for an additional $450,000.

And they must have spent at least $60,000 on designer furnishings, possibly twice that amount.

In other words, they spent nearly a million bucks on a house that they inhabit for perhaps ten weeks a year, tops.

What you're looking at is an exercise in ostentatious consumption, disguised as minimalist frugality ... but they want you to see through the disguise, otherwise the point of its existence is lost.

Lava said...

as with all houses like this, seems a tad too cold for me...not lived in or homey. Something I'd think would be welcome in the occasionally harsh climes of the maritimes.

Lucius said...

Like if Bergman did "The Tempest" with modernist anomie, trading out the "Cries and Whispers" reds for sea-green pastels.

I love the living room, except the "octopus" "chandelier"--maybe it would grow on me, but right now it reminds me of the fleeing head in John Carpenter's "The Thing".

There were plenty of books, I think, in that giant bedding unit against the windows.

I thought the rugs looked like maps, whic I liked; and then the narrow hallway had actual maps. But, as Coketown points out, they are too NGie. I love contemporary maps too, but they should've had something in more sedate matte colors, like the pages of the Rand McNally "Classic World Atlas."

Maybe they're shallow people, but this is a photo shoot. A lot of it has a beaten quality (however faked) that I appreciate. Lots of stark Northern light, with allowances for softening blues (and incandescent bulbs).

Luther said...

Well, thank you to Ann, who found and posted something most of us would never have seen otherwise. And it did, as I suspect she wished, give rise to a multiplicity of opinions.

Still, I want to know what Meade thinks.

Fr Martin Fox said...

As I looked at it, I wondered, does that woman even allow that man to live in this house? There's no shower in the bathroom; she says she loves -- what about him?

Sure enough--the shower is outside! The poor man has to leave the house to clean up.

In the article he says:

“Sure, the weather makes it a little challenging to use at times,” he said, noting that 100-mile-an-hour winds and driving rain are not unheard of here, even in the summer. “But the romantic rusticator in me sticks with it.”

Also, as I read the article that goes with it, this is a clearly a summer house. And, yes, they spent nearly a million dollars on the house and the land.

KCFleming said...

Another Apple ad.

KCFleming said...

Or the setting for a murder-suicide, rewritten by Ann Rule.

David R. Graham said...

Lovely. As several have pointed out, the owners are from LA, and it's a summer cottage. What could be more lovely, cooler, less stressful, quiet, calm, grand, serene, sublime, restful? Nova Scotia (New Scotland) on the sea in the summer. Heaven. Just what an Angelino/a in their right mind with a heavy pocketbook and no or few bad habits would want. Scotland! New Scotland! How do I love thee!

KCFleming said...

It looks like a Woody Allen set for Interiors 2: The Shibboleth.

Foobarista said...

It's too cold. And a bit too Ikea.

I'd prefer warm colors and exposed wood, particularly in a place as cold as Nova Scotia.

Carol_Herman said...

The child is exquisite. And, I think their daughter. Not their son. She looks so happy, too.

Adoring parents.

Quiet spot. There's no downside to this.

Of course, it says "house on a hill." That's a hill? I thought you could park your boat on the side of the house.

I guess if you live in Madison ... then the house is on a hill. I still think you can fish off their front deck.

Ralph L said...

The kitchen is built for short people--even the frig is under the counter. If they paid $450,000 for the lot, chances are there are other rich people nearby who will feed them after they sprain their backs.

In Nova Scotia, I imagine summer heat gain through the windows is a good thing.

I like the orange color in the office and the green master bedroom.

I wonder if the rippled floors were intentional. My contractor made the sanders wait several days to avoid that.

Ralph L said...

It would be much more appealing to me if they used the blue-gray exterior trim color for the interior trim, too. I've come to dislike stark white trim, maybe because realtors and decorators like it so much.

ricpic said...

Where's the mud room?

Anonymous said...

I've studied those photographs, and I've come to the well-considered conclusion that their house has absolutely atrocious feng shui.

Fortunately for the Angles, I'm willing to make available the services and expertise of my associate The Crack MC and myself in conducting a thorough analysis and rectification of their abode, to balance their qi amidst the cosmic conflict of wind and water to which they have exposed themselves. It won't be a trivial task to realign the cottage with the area's geomagnetically induced currents, especially since the island is located so near the north geomagnetic pole, but I'm confident we can alter the polarities of the wu xing and harmonize the yin and yang force fields -- even if it ultimately requires us to reorient the structure on its foundations.

We can do it. We're just that good. It may not be an inexpensive undertaking, but we're worth it. We can absolutely guarantee that positive qi will flow through the house, that the cosmic energies will be in balance, and that any and all demons will henceforth be driven from their property.

Beth Donovan said...

Oh, that is a horrible house. The interior is as desolate as the land it was built on.

People don't live in a house like that. It is uncomfortable and stark and leaves me very cold.

I prefer my somewhat cluttered, lived in house on 80 acres of trees, pastures and hayfields.

Holmes said...

It must be quite expensive to live in what passes now for simplicity.

Foobarista said...

The "feng shui" rules are basically those you'd use if you were designing a large house or fortress against external attack, particularly from the street.

So, my advice on good feng shui: start with a big dog and a loaded shotgun.

Anonymous said...

The "feng shui" rules are basically those you'd use if you were designing a large house or fortress against external attack, particularly from the street.

Exactly. Just as the Hebrew dietary laws against eating shellfish, pork, and various other things made sense 2,500 years ago in a society that had no knowledge of toxins, parasites, or refrigeration.

The occupants of that house would be snack food in the event of a zombie attack.