This book is an intimate look into some of the most interesting, unique living spaces I’ve seen. There’s a thirteen house, twenty- two sculpture Bottle Village created by the late Grandma Prisbrey. All of the structures are made from glass bottles turned on their sides cemented together. It’s amazing what these colored bottles look like when the sun shines through them. Another space in the book which I loved is the home of a marionette maker and a mixed media artist. Their apartment in Tribeca in New York City, is filled floor to ceiling with weird old scientific things, charts, skeletons, taxidermy, tools, specimens in jars mixed with other things that inspire them- puppets of all kinds, mannequins, lots of clumps of dried flowers and industrial furniture. I mean I don’t think I would want to live there but how cool to be to hang out there for a long while. It would be like visiting some insane museum (which reminds me- this museum is awesome if you ever visit Philly ). Some of the other homes in this book are more live-able to me, like painter Mija Bankava’s home. There’s wide open space with lots of sunshine, huge oriental rugs, tons of patterned textiles flung over ornate colorful furniture, which seems like the best flea market finds. Her floor to ceiling paintings decorate the walls. It’s gorgeous. The book has lots of photographs of each of these incredible homes plus more along with an interview with the owner(s). I think homes really are extensions of their owners personalities and I am constantly feeling the need to add more stuff to mine to make it more me. It’s a bad idea when you live in 440 square feet but i can’t help it. I really appreciate the homes in this book and can only hope my place will be as special as these one day. Get a copy of this book here.

© Julia Rothman 2007