Another Arts & Crafts living room (above)...but what's all that detail on the left? Is that a bed I see near the middle? It's probably just a bench of some sort but it looks wide enough to double as a guest bed. If it is some kind of built-in bench bed then that's amazing! I know people used to build like that hundreds of years ago but I never saw the idea incorporated into homes as modern (1900) as this. Modern living rooms don't need guest beds because we have sofas. Even so...
Living rooms frequently looked barren and uncomfortable in 1900. Maybe that's because they had a different function then than they do today. In those days living rooms were meant to show off the owner's wealth. So were dining rooms. A lot of the real living took place in spacious kitchens. Nowadays kitchens have shrunk and people actually use their living and dining rooms. 
Here's (above) a couple of Russian-style rooms. Very interesting spaces! Nowadays only restaurants have interiors like this, which brings up an interesting point. If you want to know how to make your home cozy and social just copy what your favorite restaurant does. After all, they're in the business of pleasing people. 
Architects should study successful restaurants. Even designers of business offices could learn something from watching the way people chose a place to eat. In the picture above everybody looks tickled to death to be sitting at outdoor tables under a canvas parasol. Maybe office buildings should be designed so that half the employees could work outside on weather and crime-protected terraces for part of the year.
Maybe indoor offices should be lit like reastaurants, just a bit dimly. Each desk or cubicle could be an oasis of light, just like restaurant tables are.
I like the small tapestries that you used to see in some Arts & Crafts houses. I think the Norwegians were the trend setters in this area.
I like the small tapestries that you used to see in some Arts & Crafts houses. I think the Norwegians were the trend setters in this area.
9 comments:
Very interesting stuff, Eddie! I've never really found architecture/interior design to be interesting, but somehow you've done it!
Hey Eddie. I really like these Arts and Crafts posts! I've always loved this style of design, but I didn't realize it had it's own name. I always just sort of mentally lumped it in as Art Deco (something else I really love) Thanks for setting me straight on that!
Hey Eddie have you seen those old antique cupboards with secret compartments?-furniture manufacturers dont do cool stuff like that anymore!
hey, I agree with you about restaurants, people should learn things from them... my house is quite uncomfortable, it looks like taken from a "decoration magazine" -the ones some housewives adore- just bad taste....
anyway, ... there are some horrifying restaurants (like the "new and contemporary look" they gave to the pizza hut near my home).
That spare, simple look was probably a relief after the over-ornamented Victorians. It was still warm & everything was in human scale. The B&W shot reminds me of my grandfather's house in BC.
"Maybe theatrical shapes make homeowners feel good."
I'd like to live in a German Expressionist stage set.
It would be great if offices were desigend so that people bring you things to eat.
You're so right about working outdoors -- that's what I do! When the weather is warm enough, I take my laptop into the backyard and write for hours under a tree in the backyard. Birds and squirrels are good company for a writer, and more pleasant than four walls.
I agree with you, Uncle Eddie, regarding office decor. Most people spend 8-12 hours a day for five days a week in those places. They should be more comfortable. It does seem that most offices are trying to do that.
I love those spacious designs in the Arts and Crafts houses. Even though they're nice, I'm not sure if I could live in that much space. I'd feel like I was living in a cavern.
Funny thing that you mention designing after a restaurant. From what I understand, the design craze a few years ago was designing a home using a restaurant design as an inspiration.
Lad: Secret compartments in furniture are a great idea and like you I miss them.
Jennifer: No kidding!? People were designong home like restaurants? I'll try to find some on the net.
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