How much is too much?
Thu, 5 Nov 2009I found this warehouse conversion on Location Partnership the other day and it had me cracking up. I wasn't sure whether to run away screaming or gasp in delight (although leaning much closer to running away). The site says this home is a testament to the wonderful world of kitsch. I don't even know if I'd call this kitsch - it's more just a collection of completely random vintage pieces. But maybe that's the definition of kitsch. So I goggled "kitsch" and Wikipedia says "Contemporaneously, kitsch also (loosely) denotes art that is aesthetically pretentious to the degree of being in poor taste, as well as, applying to industrially-produced art-items that are considered trite and crass." So maybe it is kitsch. :) What do you think? Love it or hate it? Would living here make you insane?
Reader Comments (65)
Good. God. Blech.
I wouldn't say that the kitsch is the problem, it's really just the clutter.
As Kim points out, there's some wonderful pieces in there.
The building is great and has lots of potential, it's just very very poorly executed. ...the curtains? the burgundy paint color?
Fun place for a halloween party though!
....there is an uncanny resemblance to my place...ideal for a naturally messy person (me). definitely like it and am so over designed to within an inch of their lives spaces. bohemian hellhole has nothing on this!
Love the kitchen and the bathroom, the rest of the place is just *too much*!!
eek! it looks like a great shop to scour through and find gems... but not a home to live in. kitch can be cute but this doesnt read properly, everything is arguing its a kitch riot!
There's room for everyone! And bring your stuff!
wow, it is like an I Spy Book...very interesting items!
I find it all a bit unsettling, I could never do laundry in that room with all the pictures smothering the walls! Too claustrophobic ...
This doesn't seem "kitsch" as much as "someone doesn't know what they're doing," to me. It just seems like they don't know what they're style is so they're just collecting EVERYTHING and tossing it in their home.
my brain hurts from looking at the pictures. I love having my 'things' around me but I also need some serenity so that I can relax.
I think this place would be great if half the trinkets were deleted. There is just too much junk here.
ow.
my eyes.
You know if a really good photographer took well composed vignettes of this place, well lit and the tiniest of curating (no irons on floor) then we'd probably be raving about their boho aesthetic. Makes you wonder how all those fabulous homes in the magazines look when the kids come home from school, the dog barfs up dinner and the cleaning lady chucks in the towel. Often what we see is not what is real.
Couldn't live here though. I'd need a couple of spare rooms to jam most of the stuff into, shut the doors and ignore.
Oh no no no, no vignettes. You cannot learn anything substantial from a vignette! I'd swear it was the antique store down by the falafal stand on Hawthorne, in Portland.
I've actually seen rooms that gave me the same sense on this site -- but none of them gave the sense of ground-in dirt that this place does. That's pure junk-store mode. The only thing missing are racks of ragged 1970's clothes.
The room that looked like a kids' room was too set-up... you just know there's droppings among the luggage... the bathroom, dining and kitchen floors were visibly filthy... I bet the record player doesn't actually work.
What I did like? The livingroom, and all those big leather couches, fronds and the sunset. That looked liveable... but you just know there was a funky smell.
Ick. Ick ick ick ick.
wonderfullll!!
me encanta.
bohemio total
en esa casa haces lo que te da la gana
I kinda like the dark purply red boudoir part (except for the glass table on the spare tires). And the bathroom with the crucifix. The rest, notsomuch. I wouldn't define it as kitschy, though (apart from the discoball/purple glitter curtain/pink plush boudoir corner), just full. Messy.
You guys are HARSH!!! I kinda like the anti-consumerist, just found this down on the curb, this was my Grandmother's armoire attitude rather than get myself into debt renovating-to-death philosophy. I live in a very similar space and while I prefer a more minimalist look, I MUCH prefer to see a little personality in a home than a stark, designed-to-the-teeth space that looks like a million others and seems like no human being has ever laid foot in it. These people are probably really fun to hang out with, and I think that's worth alot!
Cara,
These "lodgers" seem to be afraid of space. Space (and light) is as important as objects, and no eye for aesythetisism. Perhaps they just moved in, and do not know what to waste. Maybe - just maybe - one or two of their posessions could stay, like the two peacock chairs. Now it is like the chamber of horrors. Thank you for highlighting "kitsch". Bacione, Ingrid in Umbria
would drive me INSANE!!!!as we say in French "a cat could not find her kittens..."more than kitsch it's messy-Salvation Army-store-meets TV newsflash "-someone-living-in-(almost)-squallor- uncovered". editing!editing!it's all about the editing!(understatement of the century)
OMG! Sure looks lived-in :) I'm kinda speechless... don't know whether I completely hate it or love it :) Thanks for sharing.
Have surprisingly fallen for the kitchen!
Lovely post Kim, thank you and happy weekend.
I love it for its retro appeal, but it's busy-ness equates to what I would consider clutter... and it would drive me crazy! You've gotta commend the all or nothing approach though!
Ummmm... not diggin' it. Way too much clutter.
Personally, this just looks like a "real" home. Unlike 90% of photos on sites like this one. (:D)
I imagine the people here are flamboyant, creative, and above all packrats (it's a genetic condition, and why fight it if everyone involved is happy?). 3 leather ottomans, 4 tuffeted chairs AND a chaise? Only a packrat, someone emotionally involved with the beauty of each and cannot bear to separate them.
I completely agree with the "vignette" comment --- this is probably an actual set for the next anthropologie catalog (hee hee!). They will probably upgrade photographers first and take 3 times as long to compose the shots. Then we will all be laughing merrily about this debate.
Bottom line: I could live here (packrat) but I would need a new boyfriend of the same stock.
(anonymus -- what's the translation for ."more than kitsch it's messy-Salvation Army-store-meets TV newsflash "-someone-living-in-(almost)-squallor- uncovered" ?)
genius....i'm sure not many can handle but i would definitely be happy here.