From "Inside an Artfully Imperfect Home in the Catalonian Countryside" (NYT).
Here's a link to the Apartamento site.
It's funny for me to read this today, because yesterday, I spent the whole day attacking clutter in this house. The only way "accidental still lifes" of the "onion, shriveled lemons, coaster, light bulb" kind are going to feel charming — to me, anyway — is if you do periodically clear everything out. Food clutter is a special problem. What if there is a bug on that onion and shriveled lemons still life? Not so still anymore.
I've never thought until just now about whether the category still life excludes images that contain moving life, such as insects. Having thought of the issue, I assumed insects on a pile of fruit would not cause us to refrain from calling it a still life.
Researching the question, I encountered Balthasar van der Ast (1593/94 – 7 March 1657)...
... a Dutch Golden Age painter who specialized in still lifes of flowers and fruit, as well as painting a number of remarkable shell still lifes... His still lifes often contain insects and lizards.... His lifetime of works was once summarized by an Amsterdam doctor who said, "In flowers, shells and lizards, beautiful."
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“That’s the thing with a second home,” Alegre said. “It doesn’t have to be nice all the time.” Moreover, it may be the first home for the insects.
I found the design intriguing, in particular the arched doorway with the rotating glass door. It would be interesting to see the mechanism.
With serpentine sentences, challenging as the safely surmounting of a corner staircase sans hand or guardrail, each tread its own unique size - the smallest at the bottom requiring a pivot of ninety degrees on the petit surface - after entering the room through a door unaccountably hinged at top and bottom which, though only three feet from side to side suggests the revolving door entrance to a 1930's Chicago bank, the reader senses immediately that Collins has mastered the disjointed elliptic writing so cherished by NYT Lifestyle editors.
Lately, I've been getting Balthasar van der ___ as a crossword clue.
Tulips figure prominently in both paintings as they did in the consciousness of many Hollanders during the artist's life, first as an object of unbridled greed and then as a symbol of regret. That top painting features a textile cone in the foreground, the shell of one of the most venomous creatures on the planet. They are common in the East Indies, the center of Dutch overseas trade from the 17th century until WWII. Whoever collected that shell originally risked his life for its beauty.
Hammond @ 9:34. Indeed. Horrible writing, as usual, from the NYT.
Trying to see who or what Apartamento was, I came across the Apartamento still life with stacked bread series. Even an insect would destroy these still life's, even tapping a keyboard.
http://thesnapassembly.com/art/photography-apartamento-mag-stacked-bread-still-life-series
The Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam has a lot of 17th and 18th century still-lifes with butterflies and other insects. I would guess that this is to indicate that the painting is of a fleeting moment. There was also careful attention to the brown spots on leaves and the withering of petals. A painting captures a moment, but can be kept forever. Actual fruit in a bowl, not so much.
The only particular charm in that house comes from where it is, on the Costa Brava. A good plot of land with a view and some of the native architecture will do for anyone, no need to bother much with the interior decorating.
But that sine qua non, the land and the view, is going to cost you.
Per Hammong: after entering the room through a door unaccountably hinged at top and bottom which, though only three feet from side to side suggests the revolving door entrance to a 1930's Chicago bank,
Is it really a door door? It doesn't look as if there is space enough.
You certainly couldn't get through it carrying a tray of drinks.
A good plot of land with a view and some of the native architecture will do for anyone, no need to bother much with the interior decorating.
Houses of the best design require little or no interior decoration.
By not commenting, I bit my tongue when we were shown the very cluttered kitchen as part of the background in the pic re shoving that avocado outside.
Anywho, don't stop after tidying up. The ugly cabinets and plastic counters must go.
IMHO.
Egalitarian pretentiousness. I like it.
A house is a box you put stuff in, to keep your stuff together, and the rain off your stuff. A home is the place you live. A house does not make a home.
Instapundit.com promotes a "decluttering the Japanese way" book.
My wife and I participate in local yard sales, with very easy pricing.
Each helps make for a better house, and a better home.
https://www.walmart.com/ip/The-Life-Changing-Magic-of-Tidying-Up-The-Japanese-Art-of-Decluttering-and-Organizing/38181065?wmlspartner=wlpa&adid=22222222227026068845&wl0=&wl1=g&wl2=c&wl3=55836162048&wl4=pla-78104718768&wl5=9028268&wl6=&wl7=&wl8=&wl9=pla&wl10=8175035&wl11=online&wl12=38181065&wl13=&veh=sem
Find your own yard sale locally to declutter your home.
I don't blame Meadehouse.
Beyond the unsatisfactory aesthetics, the kitchen layout seems to invite clutter.
Based on ten (or so) years of images, I don't see adequate counter space re the stuff that is expected to reside there.
Obviously, it'd be important to have a scale layout, but I would assume that there's a way to better reshuffle the space when the horrible cabinets and counters are replaced.
So, for the remodel:
a) Creating a pantry may be an easy win (and very cheap).
b) It seems like there's a raised counter divider that isolates a useless space between the windows/doors and the kitchen. Maybe this is supposed to be some sorta nook, or maybe it is necessary re the door access, or something. I dunno. But, perhaps this room divider thing-y could be removed and the kitchen could continue on the main wall all the way to the windows/doors. Any desired division or eating area that may be lost could be replaced with a well considered island. And, the new cabinetry and counters could be not-gross. Regarding access to the deck, the existing doors and windows should be replaced w/ a NanaWall sorta thing, assuming the structural mods aren't too much of a budget buster. Keep in mind that living in an environment that connects w/ being a human is worth any price. Or, at least it's worth as much as is financially viable.
IHMO.
P.S. If bugs are an issue in WI, next to the NanaWall include a "man door" w/ a screen that goes to the deck. The openness of the NanaWall is the most important thing, not that it opens. Though that's cool, too.
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