Beach walk bonanza, a shell chandelier

A new book, Life at Home in the Twenty-First Century, documents the household habits of a representative group of middle class Americans and reveals what we long suspected -- we have way too much shit in our houses.  In fact we have so much crap it stresses us out and makes us unhappy.  Needless to say, Morris would be appalled.....he lived by the dictum "Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful".   Seen above are the handmade, beautiful and useful dining room chandeliers of The Farmhouse Hotel, a lovely hotel in Langebaan near the West Coast National Park in South Africa.  The local beaches are littered with shells, limpets in particular, and here they are used to spectacular effect.  The shells are hung from two concentric metal hoops.  I'm saving up my shells to make my own chandelier someday.

Here is an entertaining Boston Globe article about the book.  Here is the book:

THON 2012, The Amazing Face of Penn State

 The big reveal....Over 10 million!

 The exhausted and happy captains after the crowds have departed. 

With the grim news about the "responsible adults" at Penn State this week I couldn't help but think back to a magical weekend in February when more than 15,000 Penn State students capped a year of fund-raising for pediatric cancer with THON, a 30 hour dance marathon held at the Bryce Jordan Center.   Over 700 students dance on the Bryce floor while their teams, filling every seat in the auditorium to the rafters, also stand (yes, if you're in the auditorium you must be standing).  The THON organization set a new record this year, raising over 10 million dollars "For the Kids".  The whole weekend was joyful, adrenaline-filled and, at times, heart-breaking.  THON not only donates money to support cancer researchers and labs at the Hershey Medical Center, including the money used to build the new Pediatric Cancer Pavilion, they also provide outreach, support, fun activities, and smiles for every kid dealing with cancer.

The entire year's operations are organized solely by students -- I kid you not, they had one faculty liaison.  Fifteen "captains" are responsible for 15 different aspects of the endeavor: public relations, rules and regulations, technology, alumni and donor relations, supply logistics, finance, morale, etc.  They each hire large teams that work under them all year (nobody gets paid) and a new set of captains, mostly seniors, is hired each summer.  Overseeing 15,000 "employees" and $10,000,000 in "assets", I would hire any of these graduates in a New York minute.  These kids are truly the amazing faces of Penn State.

 

DIY tent house for the super handy

You may remember Al Moudira from last year --- the amazing hotel near the Valley of the Kings where nearly everything was crafted out of local materials or by local artisans (here and here).  Elsewhere is a bit like that...the kind of place that makes you want to find your own little plot of paradise somewhere -- mountains, beach, lake, backyard -- and build your own love shack.  Here are a few details to inspire you....

The tent has painted canvas walls that appear to be stretched on framing built with 2x4s.  The four walls butt up against a poured/painted concrete pad that has a 5" rim (that you can see on right of pic above) and that continues outside to make the "patio".  The tent top sits on the main column (three logs tied together) and is held in place with guylines.  I imagine some people could make the tent roof (here stiff canvas lined with printed cotton) but I suspect you can buy these somewhere too.  The bed has mosquito netting curtains that are attached with thin coated wire stretched between little eye hooks.

Curtain rods made from bamboo.  When "closed" they are weighted down against breezes by rod across bottom.  Lashed bamboos window "mullions".

Bamboo bathroom mirror with shower in background.  Shower is made of two floor to ceiling finished planks of roughhewn wood with a shower head and two small taps.

 Clay sconces similar to those at Al Moudira.

 Shower has a small, hot water on demand tank that is tucked in corner behind plank.  These are ubiquitous in India where showers seem to be the only fixture with hot water.

sink of rough hewn wood, matting, and stone.

A simple lounger -- nice touch are the 1x1" stiles set diamond-style on front and back.

Some more ideas here and here.

Beautiful and useful...

A perfect product just got better for me....zebra duck tape.

AGA Stoves and a Winter update....

I haven't posted much about my new village, the sweet little hamlet of Woods Hole.  I was traveling a lot in the fall and with the shorter days the town seemed to go into a winter hibernation mode.  A summer tourist draw, each restaurant in town gradually shut-down between October and January and now only the Capt. Kidd is still open.  The still beating heart of the village is Pie In the Sky bakery where I get my coffee every morning.  Today I was chatting with owner Eric about the pros and cons of Aga stoves, a connoisseur's ultimate "comfort stove", and remembered my pics from a showroom I stumbled across in London a while ago.

Behold the beauteous AGA!

Okay, the polka-dots are bit much but how about that mint one!?!  And a truly fascinating short history of the AGA, including the story behind its invention by a Nobel Prize winner, can be found here on wikipedia.

I also popped into Smallbone nearby, purveyors of bespoke kitchens that have inspired past renovations of my own.  Here is a detail of a beautiful wood countertop.  For a lot less money you can call up your favorite carpenter and go to Lumber Liquidators--the unfinished cherry butcher block countertops are waiting for you to arrive.   Here's a link to another post about my home-made wooden countertops.

In praise of DIY - Outdoor furniture

These pieces, a glider bench, glider chair, small table, and chaise lounges, were all made with hand tools (some electric) and materials from the local hardware store.  The cushions for the chaise lounges were made with regular pillows.  All click to enlarge.

 

Winter bean bouquet

Found tree beans make a bouquet inspired by Al Moudira visit. 

Buy a share in a satellite...

Faithful readers, do you remember my post about William Kamkwamba of Malawi who published an autobiography called "The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind"?  In his book he recounts (among other things) the poignant story of being shown google and the internet for the first time.  The organization A Human Right believes everyone should have access to the internet and, to that end, William is helping them run a fund drive to purchase and relocate a major communications satellite over the developing world.  Check it out at Buy This Satellite.  If you're on paypal it will take about 30 seconds to click a few dollars/euros to them.

Please don't eat me!

Just in time for Thanksgiving....this moving YouTube video (link here) made by my friend's twelve year old daughter Rebecca, aka beccacowster, using iMovie on a Mac.  I am in awe!

Red House Ceilings

One of the really spectacular aspects of Red House are the ceilings, many of which were hand-painted by Morris and his friends.  Some have since been repainted by subsequent owners but the main stairwell ceiling is still original (and smoke stained).

On many of the ceilings you can see the patterns punched with small holes on the ceiling board.  The docent said that Morris did this to guide the later painting (after the ceiling boards were installed).  In some rooms the ceilings were never painted but the pattern was punched.

Up the stairs and through this archway you find the hall with the ceiling below....

To the left is this bedroom.....

In the main living room the small window seat alcove sports the ceiling pattern below.....if the historians hadn't confirmed it was a pattern and color original to the house, I would have guessed this was painted in the sixties!

Love the castle turrets on the stair posts!

A beautiful three-quarter arch...

In the Morris bedroom is this reproduction of the famous blue serge bed-curtain embroidered by Janey.  I have always loved this pattern (daisy)----if I was ever stranded for a year on a desert island with nothing but yarn, fabric and a needle, this would be a great project!

I hope everybody was inspired by these pictures of Red House!  I want to go home and paint white rooms with fabulous ceilings and doors.   Next, the Ducal Palace in Urbino, Italy....

A Bamboo Coffered Ceiling

 

After reading the ceiling post of a few days ago my friend Dan sent me these pictures of his own coffered dining room ceiling.  He did this himself using bamboo wallpaper from Franks' Cane and Rush which he glued to 1/4" luan and tacked up.  The battens are made from #2 pine 1" x 5"s that he chamfered with a router and then followed with an application of four coats of ebonized shellac.

The frieze is peacock blue velvet and the whole room was inspired by one you might remember seeing on this blog in April.... the James McNeill Whistler Peacock Room at the Freer Gallery in D.C..   I think you captured it Dan!