a strange house

January 8, 2014

the images you are about to see were taken of an existing house. it is the house that my uncle’s wife grew up in in rural Nebraska with her farming parents and 3 beautiful sisters. it is vacant, beautiful, and strange. Built in 1965 by a Colorado architect, it was really ahead of it’s time. I mean, people think I’m crazy when I would describe this house to them. A sofa hung from the ceiling? A carpeted dresser? seriously, Stace… you gotta be high on crack.

The designer they hired was, well, we’ll call him ‘on trend?’ Seemingly no expense was spared to have the high-end non-standards of the time (can’t find this stuff at Menards off-the-shelf) and walking into it in 2014 is like walking back into 1965. I actually love it. It’s unique and spacious and quite the conversation starter. I picture Don and Megan Draper entertaining in the great room listening to The Who on the record player drinking Manhattens. Only that would never happen because like I said, this house is in the middle of nowhere on a hog farm. I think that’s what really makes it so bizarre is that it’s such a modern wackadoo house in the middle of country kitchville.

The family uses is mainly as storage—where they take their old furniture and bridesmaid’s dresses to die— and the occasional farmhand stays here in peak season. But my purpose for this house is to share it with the world (because it cannot possibly be described adequately with words) and to do a shoot just for me. It’s vital to my creative side. We [my sweet red-headed cousin Jessi and her friend Katie) shot for 5 hours and we didn’t eat and we didn’t drink and we wouldn’t have stopped but it got dark. We were having such a good time, mostly shooting in the awesome library. I’m so inspired by that damn room! I want to pick it up and move it to Wahoo.

Think they’d notice?

this room I think is the only one that has had a facelift since it’s build year. The walls originally had orange carpet on the walls (instead of the light pink); the swinging sofa was green leather, and there was a low hipster sectional sofa that was black.

the striped door below is the ‘front’ door, but everyone usually enters through the kitchen.

custom made ‘S’ shaped table with, not chairs, but alternating black and orange ottomans (against the wall)

2 sisters in each bedroom…originally there were twin beds under the lamps.

I’m obsessed with all the ceilings.

perhaps the craziest room… the master bathroom.

I don’t know why people don’t think it’s cool to carpet a wall in their bathroom. Especially a nice, thick pile in an ‘earthy’ color. And then install a bathtub where the water falls out of the wall from 4 feet in the air so it can splash everywhere and make the carpet smell so nice after decades and decades.

….and then proceed to go ahead and carpet the dresser so you don’t even need a towel. You can just rub up your clean, wet body to the wall to dry off.