On the edge in California
Here’s a terrifying vision of the past for you – from the 1963 publication “Decoration” (Librarie Hachette), the vertiginous kitchen of a geodesic dome house, perched high on the edge of a Californian mountain:
Precipitous Views
I wonder if those plants and ornaments are glued down? Keeping the dome water-tight with all those edges was a often a problem – in this second picture you can see the plastic sheeting aloft – a sign that all is not well with the construction?
Design by B. Judge and D. Delarios
Except for the odd angles, and of course the view, this kitchen is completely typical of many Californian tract homes of the period – plenty of them have survived and still torture homeowners today. That cooktop pushed up against the tall cabinet is depressingly familiar! These kitchens are tough – I inherited a laminate counter-top exactly like this on moving in to my current home, it proved almost impossible to destroy. I did eventually manage to burn it with a Le Creuset pot direct from a hot oven, (hmm, many years earlier I used a similar technique to convince my DH that ironing shirts is not my thing) but it wasn’t an easy task at all. Even so, only the failure of our original oven – just 21.5″ wide, set into a solid brick wall and impossible to replace – convinced us that it really was time to tackle the remodel. You know what they say about the cobbler’s children…
