A giant statue of a lady in Hamburg, Germany can be seen floating at Alster Lake with its knees up, several international news sites reported on Thursday, August 4, 2011. Oliver Voss’ “The Bather” Credit
Thu 14 Jul 2011
Running of the Balls
Posted by Marlow Harris under Cool Things
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Spain has the running of the bulls. Seattle has the Running of the Balls.
Giant dump truck poised to unload 10,000 balls down the hill.
Fri 3 Jun 2011
The Bathtub Couch
Posted by Marlow Harris under Amazing Artists, Cool Things
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This bathtub couch started as cast iron clawfoot bathtub and has been converted to a fashionable and comfortable sofa for the new millennium. Ruff House Art starts out with old cast iron bathtubs, which were found in nearly every home at the start of the 20th century, and were often thrown out when the house was remodeled, and converts them to groovy furniture
Fri 20 May 2011
Dune House
Posted by Marlow Harris under Architects and Designers, Cool Things, Outrageous Architecture
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This amazing Dune House is located in Atlantic Beach, Florida.
This design by architect William Morgan adopts a Lord of the Rings aesthetic with a very different initial inspiration. The project is actually built into the earth, making two separate townhouse apartments carved into a sand dune. The apartments are entered at street level and a common stair leads to the upper floor’s entryway, bedroom and bath. On the main lower floor, the living, dining and kitchen with mostly built-in furniture open oceanside to a covered terrace at beach level.
The building was constructed in 1975 using swimming pool technology, a gunite-concrete shell anchored to a cast concrete floor. It’s also one of the original green roofs, as it’s topped by a mantle of earth stabilized by native landscaping which helps to maintain a 70-degree temperature inside.
Slide Tour by William Morgan Architects
Sun 1 May 2011
Cave dining in style
Posted by Marlow Harris under Outrageous Architecture, Strange Places
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The Cave, located in Richland, Missouri, is the nation’s only restaurant located in (you guessed it) a cave, serving American steakhouse/seafood and Italian fare. The space may not get much natural light, but it has waterfalls, fish ponds, and even a view of the Gasconade River.
The space began as a natural cave that served as a dance hall in the 1920s, situated three stories up on a limestone bluff at a campground (visitors can still rent the cabins). Back then it was not spacious enough for 225 to dine, as it is today; the rest was carved and blasted out over the course of four years.
More weird restaurants from MSNBC
Thu 21 Apr 2011
Steve Bard’s Weird House
Posted by JoDavid under Cool Things, Fascinating People, Strange Places, Unusual Homes, Weird Things
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If UNUSUAL is what you’re looking for, step right this way…
Our friend, Steve, is a great guy who has a thing about collecting unusual treasures to surround him in his home. The collection is incredible, astonishing, visually overwhelming, and sometimes disarming in nature. We’ve posted several times in the past about Steve’s passion for finding items which are unique, yet compliment other items in his multi-layered mix of visual spectacle. Today’s post is a video filmed by Unusual Life’s Marlow Harris. To say his home is a museum of wondrous treasures is an understatement. Marlow’s new video captures of the true essence of Steve’s incredibly strange home. Enjoy!
Steve invites you to take a tour of his Weird House in Seattle
Here are links to our previous posts featuring Steve and his home with many more photos and videos…
Steve’s Strange House ! – from August 2009
Comics, lawsuits, science fiction and a very unusual home from 4/07
Extreme Home Tour – November 2010
Fri 15 Apr 2011
Dick and Jane’s Spot
Posted by Marlow Harris under Amazing Artists, Unusual Homes
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Dick and Jane’s Spot was created by artists Dick Elliot and Jane Orleman in Ellensburg, Washington. Dick Elliott died on November 19, 2008, but the dream lives on in downtown Ellensburg. Jane was kind enough to show us around recently and she continues to live her life creatively and artfully in this beautiful home.
I was also able to make a short video of the exterior of the home the last time I was here. Jane told me that she has made provisions after her passing to leave her amazing home to the Yakima Valley Historical Society.
Fri 25 Mar 2011
Metropol Parasol in Seville
Posted by Marlow Harris under Architects and Designers, Cool Things
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Designed by J. MAYER H. architects, this “Metropol Parasol” is a central courtyard that becomes the new contemporary urban centre. Its role as a unique urban space within the dense fabric of the medieval inner city of Seville allows for a great variety of activities such as memory, leisure and commerce. A highly developed infrastructure helps to activate the square, making it an attractive destination for tourists and locals alike.
It looks crazy out-of-place in this ancient city of Seville, but I’m in awe of their sense of adventure to build something cool and modern like this instead of a fake antiquity.
Mon 21 Mar 2011
Seattle Kong
Posted by Marlow Harris under Unusual Homes
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King Kong Mask as exterior house decor, Seattle, Washington, USA 7511, originally uploaded by Wonderlane.
This giant King Kong is on the exterior of a home in Ballard, a neighborhood of Seattle. No story, no background available, but someday we’ll stop the car and knock on the door and get the story.
Thu 17 Mar 2011
Round Ice Bed
Posted by Marlow Harris under Unusual Homes
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Detail of an unusual round ice bed at the Ice Hotel in Sweden.
http://www.icehotel.com/uk/ICEHOTEL/
Mon 28 Feb 2011
Beverly Hills Fairy Tale House
Posted by Marlow Harris under Unusual Homes
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Beverly Hills is probably the last place on earth that you’d expect to find a witch’s house, but here it is!
There are so many beautiful mansions in Beverly Hills that it’s hard to keep track of them. But if you turn north from Wilshire Boulevard, up posh Carmelita Avenue, you will discover an extraordinary house unlike anything else you’ll ever find in these parts.
Known formally as “The Spadena House,” but better known simply as “The Witch’s House,” this bizarre, whimsical creation was built in 1921 for a movie studio in Culver City. It was used in several silent films, and then moved to this pleasant residential neighborhood in Beverly Hills in 1926, where it is now a private home.
But the small house might as well have been created by the Brothers Grimm.
It looks for all the world like some haunted fairy tale cottage; you half expect Hansel & Gretel to walk out the front door. The yellow walls of the house slope precariously, giving the impression of imminent collapse. Its dilapidated, pitched roof (covered with odd-shaped brown shingles) is pointed like a witch’s hat. The saggy, wooden window shutters are hung at odd angles. An eccentric picket fence surrounds the property, made of wavy, warped wooden pickets.
Even the landscaping in the front yard is purposefully bizarre, with gnarled, twisted trees, a wooden bridge crossing a moat, a miniature old mill and a sign (hanging from a lantern) which reads: “Witch’s Landing.”
This house has to be seen to be fully appreciated, and is indeed one of the Beverly Hills’ unique sights. (The local children must have a field day on Halloween!)
Recently, the “Witch’s House” had a cameo appearance in the 1995 movie “Clueless,” in a scene where Alicia Silverstone wanders past the house (while pouting about flunking her driving test).
The Witches House is not open to the public, so you’ll have to be satisfied with driving by the home, or perhaps stopping to take a snapshot of its eccentric exterior.
(In July of 1998, the owners sold the home for $1.3 million to Michael Libow, a real estate agent who plans to preserve the historic house. In his remodel of the interiors of the home, he is adding Gaudi-esque elements to create a ‘cottage’ feel to it. Also, there is a new intricate garden wall which accurately reflects the textures of the original building… an addition which looks as if it had always been there.)
Mon 14 Feb 2011
Valentines House
Posted by Marlow Harris under Unusual Homes
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Someone in this home feels love year-round, as this home is decorated like this year-round!
Unusual Pink Valentines House Day Mosaic by jdoriot
Fri 11 Feb 2011
The Love Love was built to look as if it is sinking
Posted by JoDavid under Amazing Artists, Weird Things
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Happy Valentine’s Day!
Today’s post is about a boat named ‘Love Love‘
French artist Julien Berthier has designed a fully functional boat to look
as if it is sinking. The 21ft yacht was cut in half with a new keel
and motor added so it remains in the sinking position while being fully
functional. He describes it as “the permanent and mobile image of a
wrecked ship that has become a functional and safe leisure object.”
Berthier has taken the boat (or should I say half-a-boat) across the
English Channel to London and has toured it around Europe , getting plenty
of offers of assistance from unwitting good Samaritans, who would
presumably be either very annoyed or rather bemused by the contraption.
The designer and artist designed and built the floating installation in
2007. He named his creation Love Love.
A Tip-O-the-Hat to Ms Kelly Lyles for the heads-up on ‘Love Love’
Sun 6 Feb 2011
Valentine House
Posted by Marlow Harris under Unusual Homes
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Wow, looks like someone got a little carried away with the red paint. It’s a little too kitschy to be folk art. It’s just sort of bad. But perfect for Valentines Day!
Sun 30 Jan 2011
Korean Yurt House Village
Posted by Marlow Harris under Unusual Homes
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Beautifully decorated yurt village in Korea made by Camp Yurt, which offers an alternative to stick-built homes.
