Tag: Design
Crafts Style Wrought Iron Tree Gate
Our landscape architect friend, Rick Griffin, says that the best way to add personality to a house is by doing something a bit special at the entrance. I like visiting Shrewsbury – I’ve written about it before – but of all the wonderful places there, the one I’d most like to receive an invite to is this private house. I know nothing at all about the people who live there, but by looking at their gate (plus a few peeks over their garden wall) I’ve formed an impression about them. Continue reading
Nicolas Party at Jupiter Artland: Cafe Party
A glimpse of colourful, funky, arboriscape walls from across the courtyard was enough to capture my attention, and draw me in. What followed was a ‘woo hoo!’ moment – it only gets better inside. Continue reading
Cats Chasing Butterflies
I’ve been meaning to share this advertisement that decorates the gable end of The Cat Practice in New Orleans. If you love cats, the chances are, you’ll remember this and might just be curious enough to find out more. Continue reading
At The St Louis City Museum of Fun
The weekly photo challenge asks us to share something that is layered, with depth, density or texture. My first choice is a view through a mesh screen into a cafe in St Louis’s City Museum. It’s not really called the City Museum of Fun, but it’s a play house for all ages, and a bewilderingly fertile gathering of inspiration and creativity.
How many galleries can you think of that hold family sleepovers – i.e. can persuade whole families to spend that much time in a museum? The longer I was there, the more I felt like my head was going to explode with impressions.
In the midst of the madness, the repose of these retro robots completely captured my heart – although I’d have felt a bit worried if the closest one had started shaking that cocktail shaker. Continue reading
Delta: The House Of Blues
The fabled Mississippi Delta is a small, alluvial flood plain between Memphis Tennessee and Vicksburg Mississippi – the home of the blues and rock and roll. Unlike your average river delta (note the small ‘d’) it’s not at the junction between a river and the sea.
The House Of Blues is Orlando’s tribute to the Delta. This door is flanked by the crossroads at Clarksdale, immortalised in several songs, and a map where the Delta appears as a soil-coloured triangle. The path of the Mississippi River is indicated by a gap in the artwork, letting us see through to the wooden boards.
Weekly Photo Challenge: Reflecting
This characterful bus shelter in Manchester, England, could brighten even a dull day. I love the patterns of colour and light created by the design viewed against the city’s architecture. Continue reading
Pattern
When I was a nipper, Mama and Papa (Mum’s parents) lived nearby in a stone-clad end of terrace house with high ceilings and an unusual, wrap-around layout. My little sister and I spent lots of time there. Mama and Papa patiently entertained us with family games such as marbles, “Ey up, milady!” and “Kings”; tended and groomed us to keep us presentable; fed us with pies and other homely dishes; and gave us small treats or chastisements as our conduct decreed.
Mama liked patterns. She knitted. She had patterned wallpaper, but then everyone did – it was well before the days when minimalist, Scandinavian style would throw a magnolia coloured spanner in the works of a thriving wallpaper industry by making neutrality the only safe way to go. Continue reading
Thursday Doors: Saint Claude Social Club, New Orleans
I’ve often seen Thursday Doors posts in my Reader, but this is my first submission: the floral doorway of a woman’s clothes shop. You wouldn’t expect me to walk past this without taking a picture, would you? Continue reading
Weekly photo challenge: inspiration
When the subject of this week’s challenge was published, the subject seemed too vague. Inspiration is all around us. It’s in everything, everyone, everywhere. How do you photograph something that represents everything? The answer is: you don’t. You look for something particular. Continue reading
