it is festival time right now! this weekend i went out to the farmington depot days and chris hubbard had his heaven and hell car there for viewing. lots to look at!
Archive for the ‘homes and habitats’ Category
country windows
homes and habitats
our friend hope lives out in the country, across the road from nancy and kat & susan.
we visited a few weeks ago and were taken with her sunny kitchen windows, full of rooted specimens & other findings…
we asked hope a few questions about her house and all the lovelies that line her sills:
- how long have you lived in your house?
one year and one half
- which direction do your kitchen windows face?
South
- did the cuttings and specimens move with you to this house? or did you begin your collection of cuttings and specimens because of these great windows?
Many of the cuttings came with me from San Francisco and some came from Etsy. The rest? Our garden herbs. Because of the windows, it continually grows and shifts.
- anything else you would like to share about your lovely kitchen?
Our kitchen used to be a porch but was enclosed by Nancy and made into a kitchen. (we feel so lucky to live in a Nancy house!) It sank a tiny bit lower than the rest of the house when it settled from it’s move here so it feels like a really special place – the windows, especially. Because it’s sunken only a tiny bit, there is a shift in the architecture that makes the room feel very separate. It’s so open and amazing. Easily our favorite room in the house.
hope is an artist, designer, curator, and writer; her *new* husband Stewart is a stand-up comedian.
- here are some of their upcoming projects:
” I’m currently working on a project about a quilter and freed slave from Winterville named Harriet Powers, who has two quilts in public collections at the Smithsonian and M of Fine Arts Boston. Her grave wasn’t found until the last few years, and we learn more about her every day. Getting ready to exhibit the project at ATHICA in 2012. Also, my botanical drawings of medicinal herbs will be on view at the Botanical Gardens in 2012.
Stewart will be one of 3 artists featured in a documentary about comics who go on the road in late 2012, by Susan Seizer, an anthropologist at Indiana University Bloomington. He’s also performing in Aspen, CO as a winner of the Aspen Laff Festival. “
and,
did we mention that hope and stewart just got married? on 11.11.11…
rural studio, hale county, alabama
homes and habitats
it is hard to get more rural than hale county, alabama. well-known, thanks to the 1941 book Let Us Now Praise Famous Men as well as the photographs of William Christenberry hale county is also known for being the home of rural studio
founded in 1993, rural studio is a branch of the architecture program of auburn university, one that was founded to give its students working knowledge of the design-build process, but also one that would serve the needs of the surrounding community.
a group of us r.wooders visited rural studio 13+years ago and we helped build the foundation of the bath house shown above (the brick and metal building- i drove the bobcat that held the mixed concrete, hee hee). back then the super shed was just framework; the concept of liveable student housing ‘pods’ just an idea, an aspiration. now multiple ‘pods’ reside underneath and the shed creates a large covered area for communing. when we visited back then, we were lucky enough to spend time with the late samuel mockbee, one of the founders of the program and it’s enigmatic, inspiring leader. utilizing salvaged and recycled materials before it was cool, sambo- as he was known- empowered his students by not only giving them the responsibility of designing structures, but also by allowing them to actually build them. in doing so, the students’ ideas of architecture were physically manifested before their own eyes, by their own hands. they had to work through the problems their designs created, but they also saw firsthand the beauty of a successful, completed concept. but more so, their projects had the additional benefit of helping real people- either by providing needed shelter for a family or just a place for the community at large to gather.
a country retreat
homes and habitats
when john and carolyn malone’s cabin made its first appearance on their spread just south of high shoals, it was a pile of logs on a flat-bed truck. now, thirty years later, it forms the heart of a light-filled complex of cabins and farm buildings transformed by john’s beautifully proportioned window panes and by carolyn’s dexterous use of humble textiles, utilitarian objects, and simple furnishings that reflect the owners’ deep connection to their home, and to the world beyond their sturdy walls.
this place proves that comfort doesn’t have to be derived from central heat and a.c., or from room-sized walk-in closets. it’s derived from implementing your vision, from living how you love.
the kitchen wing was added later. john decorates his chinking with a fringe of stones. a guest-room bedpost peeks out from the handmade window above.
guests awake to the scent of a crackling fire and coffee brewing in the kitchen below.
delicate green tendrils soften the conical light fixtures and industrial edge of the kitchen’s suspended shelf system, both designed and implemented by john, of course.
a profusion of vines as well as tall pines lend natural insulation to the buildings’ thick log walls.
click read more, it’s worth it!
St. Eom’s Pasaquan
homes and habitats
a while back we were fortunate enough to have been guest bloggers on design sponge. we featured some of our favorite southern spots that we have not shared on beautyeveryday. so, as the holidays approach and we are all busy preparing, i thought it would be nice to share some of these again…with y’all. enjoy!
a few months ago we ventured down to buena vista, georgia to visit st. eom’s pasaquan.
eddie martin, later known as st. eom, spent 30 years transforming this 4 acre piece of rural land into a spiritual fantasy, called pasaquan. the remarkable piece of art consists of several buildings and concrete structures, each sculpted and colorfully painted in st. eom’s patterns.
in 1986, st eom passed, but today his creative and spiritual vision breathes throughout pasaquan.
enjoy the details and click here to visit the pasaquan site.
leatherhead in louisville
homes and habitats
on our recent trip to louisville my sister and i stumbled across this great little leather shop called leatherhead. it didn’t look like much from the outside, which oftentimes is an indicator that it is pretty amazing on the inside.
we stepped in and immediately took in a dose of the sweet leather scent. the owner, Nick Boone gave us free range of the place so we took full advantage and wandered through the rooms looking at everything.
the first room is filled floor to ceiling with western boots and attire and then there is 2 rooms of workspace that is packed with treasures from his 34 years in business. take a peek and what we saw!
a sweet animal farm
homes and habitats
our friends kat and susan have the sweetest little farm. they have lived there only a year now but have created this amazing little oasis. they have transformed the field in front of their home into a peaceful place for thier many rescued animals to wander. we had a great day, feeding the animals, walking around with the animals, and hearing all of the farm sounds. we also got to see the baby alpaca that was just one day old! ahhh simple life in the country.
stickwork – - – patrick dougherty
homes and habitats
many years ago we went to visit an installation at clemson university by patrick dougherty. (for you old school readers out there, we featured photos from this excursion on ideas for creative living, the predecessor to beauty everyday…)
it featured this woven castle…made from bent, woven, and wrapped saplings, or sticks.
it was to our delight that we recently found a copy of his book, stickwork, while on a visit to terrain.
enjoy looking!
read more about the sculptor here.
dahlia farm
homes and habitats
this weekend’s weather was about as perfect as weather gets. i crammed in so much into one day including breakfast out, junk store hopping, rwood sale, dahlia farm, and we ended our day at the elberton fair. not too bad for a lovely fall day.
my highlight of the day was the dahlia farm. with the dry summer and fall that we have had i wasn’t expecting the dahlias to be too impressive but boy was i wrong! i didn’t realize it but i was really in need of some floral therapy. thanks mimi for letting us enjoy your beautiful gardens, year after year
