Belatedly, this is the bookcase I promised to post a picture of some weeks ago. As you can see, books do not live here. I’m very pleased with it as it holds most of my minerals and now I will be shamed into dusting them, under the spotlight as they are. The light is lovely and perhaps I won’t be so light deprived when the Christmas tree lights come down…
Horses stand in the shadows of a gigantic wooden table and two chairs during mild autumnal weather in a meadow near Doellstaedt, central Germany
Picture: Jens Meyer/AP (via Pictures of the day: 2 November 2011 - Telegraph)
Now I must eat some, if not humble, then corrective pie….not British, German actually. Credit to the Germans where it’s due but aren’t you a tad disappointed? I am. There was nothing I loved better than someone getting the better of the a Council, having been on the receiving end of similarly idiotic regulations. (Click here and scroll down for my original post which will explain these ramblings.)
…and for things like this, Britain is aptly named ‘Great.”
(Well, yes, Britain is Great, indeed it is Great Britain. Unfortunately, it can take no credit for this photo at all, and we have Germany to thank for this bit of cleverness. See following post with explanation, by clicking here.)
For those of you who are able to curl up with a book, what do you say to this circular bookcase chair? Is it too clever for its own good? I can’t imagine that it’s terribly comfortable, your legs dangling down against those slats, back church bench straight and absolutely nowhere to put a cup of tea - now what were they thinking!
(For photo credit, click here.)
Tonight I’m thinking about books and how much I like living with them, not just to read but to have around. There is a price to be paid for this though as I’m always running out of places to put them. Fortunately there’s Billy, who has resided in far too many homes for his own good and held the stories of many in his strong body. ’Billy,’ is of course, a popular Ikea bookcase and I have one in my sitting room just waiting to be assembled.
I’m no lover of Billy but it’s practicality I seek at this point. Having searched ‘unusual bookcases’ online, I see there are many less pedestrian options. I love inventiveness that steps out of the box, and here’s two to consider - can one go too far?
Reading seat, Tokavaig, Isle of Skye (for photo credit, click here.)
I normally don’t like these affairs, a wee seat in a window, hard as a church bench and too short for comfort. This one looks fit for purpose though, one could certainly stretch out on this and lose themselves in a book. There’s just one problem - the view. It’s a bit distracting isn’t it!
Have you ever wondered about your favourite writers and where they created their masterpieces? I always imagine them in cold garrets, wearing fingerless gloves, a pile of crumpled paper lying around them. You can tell what I’ve been reading too much of! I give you the writing spaces of Roald Dahl (the yellow door is very cheery, isn’t it) and George Bernard Shaw, who named his writing hut “London,” so that his message takers could say, “he’s in London”, quite truthfully. In the middle of these illustrious personages, you have the writing space of S.Marian, exactly the mess I have been describing to you but you didn’t believe me. No hut for this fledgling writer, just a big old bankers desk, comfortable chaos all around and right in the middle of the house. I would love to have a space to call my own. Just look at Mark Twain’s gorgeous gazebo and my favourite, Dylan Thomas’s. It’s spartan but the light falls just so, the books within reach, the crumpled papers on the floor (see, didn’t I tell you that’s what writers do) and I could rage, rage against my hutless plight - but I won’t. For the interested, I have been dedicated glue to my desk and chair today, hardly rising except for tea and the loo. As I approach the end of chapter two, it’s beginning to feel real to me. Can you imagine thinking, dreaming and talking about something most of your life (and my life may be a little longer than some of yours) and then doing it? It’s brilliant, better than chocolate even! As usual I will ask a question here and will probably not get an answer but here it is anyway - what have you always wanted to do but not yet done? (If I should be fortuitous enough to receive any replies, I will not be posting unless you ask me to.)
Twenty beds later and I still haven’t found anything better than what I’ve already got. What do I have? I sleep in my husband’s project, never quite completed. It’s made of Scots pine, substantial, the wood has a pinkish hue and it’s big and chunky. The headboard has a black Victorian fence panel set in it, in a repeating heart like pattern. The baseboard has a black, marbled effect panel set in it, slate made to look like marble. It’s high enough off the ground to allow a view out the window where I look at the garden, a plum tree directly outside the window, and mountains and the sky. It’s height also enables me to store baskets underneath. It’s unfinished because it needs some sanding in places and my husband abandoned it. He likes to start and hates to finish. I don’t care, it’s gloriously comfortable to sleep in and it’s a little piece of Scotland wherever I go.
(all beds can be found by googling “unusual or amazing beds.”)
Now from the sublime to the ridiculous. Can you go too far with an idea - have a look and see what you think? If you take any of these out of the lovely staging, imagine them in an ordinary room -what then? I always think of the things I like to do in bed, the ones I’m prepared to mention anyway. Like drinking tea, reading a book or having two children and a number of cats climb in with me. What about changing them? Design is inspiring, fun and creative but if it’s not fit for purpose, there’s no point. What do you like?
(all these beds can be found by googling “amazing or unusual beds.”)
Inspiration comes from everywhere, often when we’re not aware. Nowhere more so than where we lay our heads, dream and check into the vast unconsciousness. The last two mornings have seen me reluctant to leave my bed, longing for a few more minutes. A few more minutes to not be responsible, to stretch catlike and do what I please.
Today I give you the bed in a variety of expressions. I’m reading a book right now (“Behind the Beautiful Forevers,” Katherine Boo) where many of the characters sleep on the floor. They work each day, scramble for their existence, every day striving to just be able to stand still. We are relatively spoiled for comfort and choice. This post celebrates those choices, from the traditional to the way out there - have fun and sweet dreams!
(all beds can be found by googling “unusual or amazing beds.”)
