ARCHIVED FORUM -- March 2012 to February 2022READ ONLY FORUM
This is the second Archived Forum which was active between 1st March 2012 and 23rd February 2022
I know what you mean, whenever we go thru a sudden cleaning frenzy before company, it takes me a couple of days, if not more, to find all my tools. I "lost" the calibration mic for my HK home theater receiver a couple of months ago and just found it again yesterday, saving me 40 dollars plus shippng for a replacement. I certainly share your pain re the redo after you thought you were done. I'm sure something else will rear it's head after I think I'm finished. Entropy has been kicking my backside lately.
Interesting about the new house going up, it sounds beautiful. Back when I lived in Orlando the basketball players were the ones who were buying up all the property and building big home theater rooms. There was one dealer that really, for a time, made some money off that market, but eventually it faded too. I guess not enough turnover in players to keep new construction of home theaters profitable.
I watched a show on televison here recently about a man who restored a Frank Lloyd Wright house up in Rochester, New York. I never knew a Wright house was up there or back when I had to go there a few times for business years ago I'd have made it a point to drive by and look. Fascinating show, but I kept wondering how much he paid for the restoration. I'm amazed at what I'm spending here, but the Wright house had serious, serious damage, rotting wood, termites eaten about a third of the structure, major restoration of wood by, get this, not replacement but taking it apart, cleaning almost a hundred years of paint and stain off it, and restaining it and putting it back up. Also restoration of original Wright furniture by conservators, not furniture repair guys at the local shops.
It turned out just stunning, and I'm glad he had the money to do that, but as I say I couldn't help but think he was well into 7 figures just for the restoration not counting the house price. Funny story he told, he bought the house and went to restore it, and one architect asked "does the roof leak?" and the answer was, "of course, it's a Frank Lloyd Wright house!" Wright, when one of his clients complained that rain was dripping in on his desk, told him to move his desk. Apparently a common problem with his houses.
Jeff
I'm afraid I'm recovering from the BeoVirus.
What a great topic of discussion!
Minimalism is a frightening label in our culture of mass consumerism. Adopting a lifestyle where less truly is more allows real connection to the objects in your life. I have always been a firm believer in buying something once and buying it right, to last as long as possible. Minimalism never goes out of style and provides a stage where each object is a treasure to be had. I have done this since I first moved out for university years ago and have been patient to only select the exact things I want to own. Where others were willing to buy any and everything as fast and cheap as possible, I was patient going without certain things for years until I could find and afford exactly what I wanted. At 25 years old I now have a living space that was worth the 7 years it took to acquire and hopefully will enjoy it for decades.
Absolutely beautiful home! Clean and minimalist, and you have great taste in furniture as well as audio equipment. I love the huge windows.
You make an excellent point and one that I'm amazed you learned so young, and that's that it's far better to do without or wait and get one thing of high quality than many things that aren't. There's an old saying that you'll remember the quality long after you forget the price, and it usually proves true. I'm a bit older than you, over twice the age apparently, so you tend to acquire more stuff as you go along, but I'm better than many. Most of my stuff is books and such, old hifi pieces which I admittedly have to much of. A lot of that came about pre-B&O for me as I played the new stereo every year game for too long, this component would cure my ills, that one would, etc. In the 80's I fell in love with the B&O of the time but balked at the price, however if I'd just gotten the stuff then I would have saved myself several iterations inbetween of this and that trying to achieve the same look, functionality and sound.
I have some pieces that show that though. Before I got out of college I bought most of my furniture, teak Danish modern stuff. It's now 34 years later and I still have the coffee table, small dining room table/set, and George Nelson bubble lamp, and three book cases from then. The cheaper stuff that was laminate has been replaced but the good pieces are still with me. The lamp has been put up over the dining table in every house and apartment I've lived in.
I'm now trying to come to a unified look for the house, something that took me about 20 years for my last place. Figures, I had just finally figured out the lighting in the living room and put stereo speakers throughout the house, then I move. I think I've mentioned it, but I have some things that come from being married that personally I'd rather have the empty space but have to make room for. They are not unattractive but the minimalist in me would like the emptiness. They are, a pedal harp, a Steinway baby grand piano, and a spinett harpsichord. All beautiful instruments that no one plays anymore, and the harpsichord is small and gorgeous in teak with reverse keys,but I'd rather have the space even in this large a house. But, they are treasures to my wife so there you go. And I have to admit they are beautiful pieces, perhaps now with more time my wife will return to playing them, who knows.
Another thing I've found is when setting up a house or apartment is not to rush into buying things, take a while to let youself settle into the space and get a feel for what will be practical and look good. Often I've found that what I thought would be just the thing upon further thought turns out not to be a good idea. Right now we are playing that game with several pieces of potential furniture, from a dining set to an AV cabinet. It took us three months to decide on a new bed for the master bedroom but the result is worth the wait over what we were thinking about at first.
Patience, along with being uncompromising on quality...good tenets of minimalism I think.
Orro - that is an awesome flat. I could only dream of something like that with London property prices. I definitely share your view on minimalism and waiting to get fewer, quality items. I also have a BC9500 that I inherited from my grandparents who bought it new in the very early 90s and I love how it still looks futuristic and is beautifully functional. What speakers are you using with it?
Jon
Cleviebaby:There seem to be two approaches to the concept of 'minimalism'. One is an architectural style and one an approach to living in our 21st century world. I suppose the ultimate expression of the latter would be to remove oneself from the consumerist society altogether. That is becoming virtually impossible for a whole variety of reasons, not least the impossibility of living without a bank account. As other contributors to this thread have inferred, it comes back to the old mantra of 'less is more'. A desire to buy products that are designed and built to last and not to be replaced with next year's model. Dieter Rams, the great German product designer has suggested we need 'less but better'. One of his designs, the 606 shelving system, is still in production today 60 years after he designed it. It reflects a far saner approach, with the expectation that the system can be added to at any time and it is dismantled and taken with you when you move. Cleve
I agree with the less but better approach. One thing that gets in the way somewhat is when you have lived a long time and acquired say furniture that fits one house that you don't want to get rid of due to nostalgia, money invested, inability to sell it for what you think it's worth, whatever but may not be right for a new house, something I'm dealing with now. I guess I'm fortunate in that I have an apartment downstairs to furnish with my cast offs. It was going to be where my mother lived but she unfortunately fell ill and passed away before she could occupy it. So, it will be a nice place for family or friends to stay when they visit, and I can furnish it well with my overage.
One thing that tends to create clutter, books. If you are an avid reader and don't get them out of the public library you tend to acquire a lot of books, and most book peopel don't like to let them go. I see a lot of very modern houses packed to the rafters with bookcases that still look good, but it's not completely minimalist. Living in a small house we had to do periodic purges of books, an often painful process where you had to choose your favorites. If you love books it's like having to choose your favorite children and sell the others for medical experiments. The advent of e-readers has changed this a lot, we were able to get rid of a lot of books that we have electronic copies of, and tend to buy electronic rather than hard copies now. Again, kind of a friction as on the one hand if you're a book person you tend to love the look of books, but if you are a minimalist you like things cleaner looking.
A lot of modern society now is geared towards disposable items, electronics are often made so that you have to break the case to open it, making repair difficult to impossible. I can understand the rationale, make it as cheaply as possible, especially for those areas where technology is changing so quickly that it will not be worth repairing it, but I hate it at the same time. I feel insulted if I can't get inside to try and fix it. Theres an old engineering saying, if I can't fix it it ain't broke! That's why I find old computers so hard to throw away, even after they are so obsolete no current OS will run on them, as a life long engineer I understand just how much work, thought, and human effort went into designing them, how many thousands and thousands of hours of effort went into designing, testing, and manufacturing just the chips involved. It seems insane to think that in a few years these things have degenerated into basically electronic doorstops, but it's true.
Another change in electronics that's helped minimize things is that we no longer have desktop computers. I have one, a small Lenovo, I use in a cabinet for a music server, but for our main PCs we use laptops, wirelessly connected to a printer that's out of sight. If you want to clean up, just put the laptops in a drawer, no more making room for a large invasive destop, the performance of laptops has gotten as good as most desktops unless you are into high end gaming.
Before I bought B&O I tended to change amps every couple of years, change speakers about as often. I've used the same B&O gear now for over 15 years and am still completely happy with it, the only thing is I feel in the larger room I have now I need a subwoofer added. I owned the same 42 inch plasma and DVD player for 8 years, and both work fine. I only went with a bigger panel, 65 inches, as my new living room is substantially larger, and added a BluRay player. The existing 42 incher and DVD are consigned to the downstairs apartment where the exercise bike is, so they aren't wasted, but something changed when I hit the B&O phase, I became less interested in swapping gear every time something new came out and it carried over into video as well as audio.
Buy better and less often.
jkhamler: Orro - that is an awesome flat. I could only dream of something like that with London property prices. I definitely share your view on minimalism and waiting to get fewer, quality items. I also have a BC9500 that I inherited from my grandparents who bought it new in the very early 90s and I love how it still looks futuristic and is beautifully functional. What speakers are you using with it? Jon
I use a pair of CX50's in the kitchen, you can see one of them wall mounted in the photo, and a pair of CX100's in the living room with a Cona Subwoofer. The unfortunate drawback to living in a building comprised of so much glass is that noise travels to my neighbors above and below with ease, so I can't play anything too loud.
Ah yes, I see it now. Very discrete - perfect installation. I have a pair of CX100s and would like to add a Cona, but they don't often come up for sale!
Well, I don't think you should be sad that books and music are your "downfall" by any means! Books and music are important, and I'll bet most B&O lovers are also bookworms and music lovers.
You mention something relevant, and that's the tactile pleasure of handling the books and music that's missing from electronic computer based replacements. It's true, but it's something I manage to live with as the convenience factor is so high. I can build playlists and pick any of my music via my iPad interface to iTunes, and I can carry 300+ books with me at all times in my reader, meaning on long trips I never run out of books nor have the weight to lug around. Still, I occasionally have to get out the CDs or LPs instead of the ripped counterparts, when I have more time and energy. If I'm worn out or stressed I often just hit the PC versions. I also find that due to age, my eyesight isn't what it used to be, and backlit scaleable text on ebooks is a big plus. It takes larger text and more light than it used to for me to read comfortably, middle age isn't for sissies!
But I do think the tactile pleasure is a valid thing. I suspect the reason a lot of what many here call audiophools, audiophiles still wedded to tweaking everything constantly is due to the fact that modern music, aka CDs and such, have removed a lot of the ritual involved with LPs and tapes. Cleaning, clamping, adjusting, degaussing, etc. were all a part of the hobby, and too many people I think got more into that than into simple enjoyment of the music, something that B&O equipment tends to enhance at the expense of tweaking things, and always has.
I have seen what I consider minimalist looking houses that are devoide of books, and ones that manage to be almost as minimal with large walls of bookcases. No doubt the former is more minimalist, but the latter isn't bad, and to me even if everything else is put away neatly they look less sterile and more comforting with the wall of multicolored books than the purist approach does. That's the approach I will have to always have I think. And, as you mention, books form excellent acoustical sound traps, the irregular front of a case of differing sized books really helps break up standing waves. And places can look quite minimal even with stragegically placed artwork and area rugs that also help acoustics a lot. In our new living room we had to decide between keeping a large area rug on wooden floors or going with the purist wood approach. I'd love the purist look, but the rug isn't bad and greatly improves room acoustics, it's a bit bright and echoy without it.
Hi,
Orry, great apartment, it has made me want to get another BC9500 again, truly calssic and timeless.
Regarding books, I have a whole wall in my hallway with shelves and books in them, everything else I keep pretty clear.
It's struck me that reading through this a lot of us have the same tastes, I too have a mixture of Teak and Rosewood Danish furnture that I'vehad a while but that was chosen for it's looks, modern stuff is good but doesn't last the test of time and it is better to save for something and buy it once and have that one thing you truly love and can live with for a lifetime.
To that end I watched a documentary on Charles and Ray Eames (my next purchased is the Eames Lounger Chair) and one of the things that came out was that although the architecture can be moderinst and simple our lives are not and the things that make up our lives are complicated - which I think is why their house is filled with objects and classic peices - too much for me but at least provides an execuse for having loads of books.
I'm thinking we should start a thread on the top peices of furniture and lamps that compliment a minimilist B&O lifestyle - i think mine would be my Avant with an Eames chair facing it - in fact when I get the chair I will take a picture.
yhst 69328165909994䤢13896859055That's a great idea, either another thread or just start doing it on this thread to keep it moving, post pics of furniture or lighting pieces that we feel are minimalist and stylish. It's funny, one overwrought Roccoco chair in a mainly vacant and otherwise minimally furnished room can look good, the chair becomes almost a single art piece and focal point. A whole room of it, not so much. Here's a start:
I find this stool amazing, the Yanagi stool:
yhst 69328165909994䤢13896859055
Cool, lets keep it on this thread? - will take some pictures over the weekend
Since there are, what, 15 B&O pieces as part of the MOMA permanent collection I'd say B&O rightly wanted to be seen in the company of other mid-century modern masterpieces and icons. Eames is certainly one, as are Le Corbusier, Eileen Gray, etc though I wouldn't call them mid-century exactly. Certainly it looks good with such things, better than with "traditional" furniture. It comes to mind that "traditional" means something really different depending on the country. Over in the US traditional means more colonial or heavy stuff, in Denmark traditional is probably what might be considered modern here. I know that in the Flash Your B&O thread there is certainly a strong modern aesthetic in most of the people who post. I guess if your tastes run to French Provincial you might not find B&O all that appealing.
I miss the old B&O ads and catalogs as well, they were always graphic art masterpieces. Maybe the new ones are as well, I haven't seen much from then since I don't live near a store other than the balky web site. I see in the last two Dwell magazines I've gotten they have the same A9 ad, but it just shows the A9. Still looks like it's an alien probe to me.
Seems like we here have a few consensus items emerging...we think fewer, higher quality things are better than a lot of junk, we like clean open design, but we like music and books enough that we want to have them at the expense of a purist minimalism approach to interior design. Seems that maybe B&O is a filter for this kind of aesthetic, that is if you like B&O you are probably that kind of person.
I keep thinking back to the time I really got interested in B&O in the mid 80's. I'd just bought my first house and was quite serious about design. In fact I had an artist friend of mine help me decorate and she did some of the artwork in it. Yes, I actually paid for commissioned art! Quite a change from apartment living. I was really stretched for money, but I lusted after what was then the 5500 series of equipment, and the 3000 series stuff, Red Line Speakers, etc. If I'd scrimped a little more and bought that then I'd have been better off. But I also was still somewhat infected with the audiophool disease and didn't give B&O the credit that it deserved for sonics. Instead I built a custom cabinet that had a black stripe in it that was cutout for the faceplates of the electronics I used. Then proceded to change electronics often which made redoing the cabinet an effort. As I say, I'd have been better off with the B&O.
Just before that I was dating a young lady who worked in a architects office. I went to a party with her and he had B&O gear, wall mounted. Was incredible looking stuff, I should have done the same. I always admired his house. Lots of books, a central stone fireplace, modern furniture, did I mention lots of bookshelves and books? There's that love of books again.
Orry: What a great topic of discussion! Minimalism is a frightening label in our culture of mass consumerism. Adopting a lifestyle where less truly is more allows real connection to the objects in your life. I have always been a firm believer in buying something once and buying it right, to last as long as possible. Minimalism never goes out of style and provides a stage where each object is a treasure to be had. I have done this since I first moved out for university years ago and have been patient to only select the exact things I want to own. Where others were willing to buy any and everything as fast and cheap as possible, I was patient going without certain things for years until I could find and afford exactly what I wanted. At 25 years old I now have a living space that was worth the 7 years it took to acquire and hopefully will enjoy it for decades.
Stunning!
Love it. Too bad my wife loves the "chabby chic, which means I love it too!
Too long to list....
Cleviebaby:For me, the minimalist aesthetic, both architecturally and philosophically, offers a haven from what is becoming an increasingly unattractive world. Mindless consumerism, in an economic system that under any rational criteria would be considered insane, and where Warhol's '15 minutes of fame' has become a career aspiration, the idea of calm, tranquil space is one possible approach to removing oneself, even temporarily, from the madness. In that context, to have access to books and music that reflect the more worthy and positive outcomes of the human condition, only adds to the experience to be gained from the 'less but better' ethos of Dieter Rams. And whilst there are moments when I seriously think of getting rid of everything again, the pleasure in using my B&O, from the solidity of the remotes to the almost sheer brutalist nature of the 80s 8000 system, is very real and it still makes me smile even now. There is of course a huge dichotomy here - how can I champion a minimalist approach and own 5 separate B&O systems! Cleve
In that context, to have access to books and music that reflect the more worthy and positive outcomes of the human condition, only adds to the experience to be gained from the 'less but better' ethos of Dieter Rams.
And whilst there are moments when I seriously think of getting rid of everything again, the pleasure in using my B&O, from the solidity of the remotes to the almost sheer brutalist nature of the 80s 8000 system, is very real and it still makes me smile even now.
There is of course a huge dichotomy here - how can I champion a minimalist approach and own 5 separate B&O systems!
Cleve
Well said. I keep my living room furnishings to a strict minimum so the books and music are located in my study. Also had 5 B&O system but now down to 1.
Vähintään yhdeksänkymmentä prosenttia suomalainen!
Cleviebaby:how can I champion a minimalist approach and own 5 separate B&O systems!
Only 5 systems, that's minimalist nirvana ! :-)
valve1: Cleviebaby:how can I champion a minimalist approach and own 5 separate B&O systems! Only 5 systems, that's minimalist nirvana ! :-)
1 system in each room is minimalist, I have 2 in my dining room
Collecting Vintage B&O is not a hobby, its a lifestyle.
Cleviebaby:For me, the minimalist aesthetic, both architecturally and philosophically, offers a haven from what is becoming an increasingly unattractive world. Mindless consumerism, in an economic system that under any rational criteria would be considered insane, and where Warhol's '15 minutes of fame' has become a career aspiration, the idea of calm, tranquil space is one possible approach to removing oneself, even temporarily, from the madness. In that context, to have access to books and music that reflect the more worthy and positive outcomes of the human condition, only adds to the experience to be gained from the 'less but better' ethos of Dieter Rams.
I certainly have to agree that most of the world is degenerating into an ego driven pile of chaos, too much attention focused on the shallow and unimportant with not enough tranquility or appreciation for quality. Although after retiring I'm getting less of the rat race, there's still a lot to do day to day that interferes with things.
It also tends to make those things we find have value, music, books, etc. all the more precious and necessary to hold on to, even if it's not as minimal to have books around. Frankly I have always been kind of uncomfortable in a home without books, always feels like something is missing. That doesn't mean keeping every little throw away paperback pulp fiction kind of novel though, heck if I did that I'd have been buried alive years ago. But worthy books that deserve rereading or keeping for their physical value (great photographs or such). Gadzooks, I think I've just embraced coffee table books!
I'm finding out with this new house, despite what I had thought were pretty clear ideas about my tastes, some things I'm doing here are much different than I'd have expected. You really need to live with a space for a while before doing anything overly expensive or hard to reverse. For example, I have just ordered a dining room table, an Eero Saarinen tulip table. My father-in-law had an original set, smaller table, downstairs that when the kids got to arm wrestle for who got what was picked by one of my brothers-in-law. At that time I knew what the table was, just didn't think I much liked it. Over the past few months, I've grown to like the design more, and realize it's perfect for the dining room. I was headed towards a suar wood slab type table, which I was leery of for the price. Instead I'm getting this all white Saarinen table that costs more than I was going to pay for the wood, but looks more modern and integrates better and more cleanly with the white, open feel of the dining room/sun room/kitchen area. I'm not much of a formal dining room person anyway.
So, more money and a different direction than either my wife or I anticipated, but hopefully as they say you'll remember the quality of the piece after the price is forgotten. I think it'll look good with the lamp, which probably influenced the decision. I have a George Nelson bubble lamp, bought it new in 1979 and have taken it with me in every apartment or home I've had since then for the past 34 years. I got it up a couple of months ago, and the look of it no doubt influenced the table thoughts. It looks good with the small teak table I have there, but it'll look good with a tulip table too. The teak table is also one of my old purchases, again 34 years old and still looks pretty good. I guess you never regret the quality pieces. Something to consider now.
It's amazing how much of the furnishings I consider modern classics are anything but "modern." Some date from the late 1920's, mostly none after the 1960's. Shows just how few really good designers there are I guess.
I also found it interesting, while reading about Saarinen, that his peers disparaged him and his work, claiming that it varied too much from client to client, didn't have enough of a strong, consistent approach or vision. Really? Doing designs which are creative and which take your clients needs and desires into account rather than force fitting your design aesthetic onto them is a bad thing? Who'd have thought that?
Finding stereo and video furniture is presenting more of a problem, most stuff that's really attractive is not designed by anyone who's ever strung a single wire, and I can't find just the right thing among companies like BDI, who's products in all technical matters are very well thought out.
I'm wondering if I'll have to do a custom cabinet again? I did in my last house but that was an easier design problem.
Jeff:It's amazing how much of the furnishings I consider modern classics are anything but "modern." Some date from the late 1920's, mostly none after the 1960's. Shows just how few really good designers there are I guess.
Those were the days. My farovite architecture and furniture is from that era.
Some great designers and looks that have stood the test of time from that era. One style I've always liked is Machine Age Deco, the kind of design aesthetic that led to things like streamliner locomotives and such. Always has such a stylish but strong, forceful, purposeful look. An era marked, I think, by the kind of optimism that thought technology could and would cure everything, the Great War, the war to end all wars, was over, industry would set things right, etc.
Seems today we are missing some of that optimism. Naive optimism to be true, but something we're missing. Of course, there are probably designers out there doing things just as stunning it's just that I don't know about them, not moving in the right circles. That's why from time to time I resubscribe to things like Atomic Ranch, Dwell, etc. is to get caught up on what's happening. More often than not the stuff profiled in their articles and homes is the same mid-century modern stuff so maybe there's not as much truly great new stuff? If you really integrate this over the nearly a century since the LeCorbusier and such works, the icons are a remarkably small number of items considering the time spent.
It's also interesting in that in my life, I have seldom seen such items in people's homes. My father-in-law had a Saarinen set, but it was used downstairs. Mostly I've found this kind of stuff, and B&O, in the homes of people employed in design and architecture, almost never in a "normal" person's house. Certainly here, in the Flash Your B&O thread, I see more modern furnishings than ever in my real life friends. Definitely a symbiotic relationship between B&O and modern/minimal-ism.
Getting back to this:
Cleviebaby kindly sent me a copy of a book on John Pawson, very interesting. Stunning minimalism, geometry and materials speaking in the design rather than ornamentation. One photo of a large, rectangular stone bathtub in a very empty bathroom reminds me greatly of pictures I've seen of the empty stone sarcophagus in the kings chamber in the Grest Pyramid, only a lot more open and airy. Fascinating aesthetic.
On another front, I have a couple of observations about rooms that are difficult to keep visually minimal, kitchens and bathroom counters. Kitchens, like mine, that are used multiple times a day do not look like the kitchens in designer magazines. I could straighten mine up to where it would look very much that way, but that would sacrifice things I use nearly every day, things like spice racks, toaster oven, coffee pot, bottles of oil, kniferack, etc. being retired I usually make three meals a day at home, I like to cook, so it's not practical to hide too much of this stuff. I hide as much as I can but still. If I were designing a kitchen from scratch I could see some things to do, built in coffee pots and toaster ovens and microwaves for example, and pull down doors to hide stuff behind, raise them to cook, roll them down to present a clean appearance when not using the kitchen.
Bathroom counters also tens to accumulate stuff, especially if you're married or have a girlfriend. A single guy just might be able to keep it neat, but all the stuff a girl uses, plus things like tooth brushes, etc. are hard to hide, and I've discovered no one makes an attractive electric toothbrush!
These are also areas where it's hard, at least for me, to have the discipline to clean up after use as completely as needed to hide it all.
The only place that is hard to keep free of clutter is my desk. I usually leave some paperwork on it. The kitchen and bathroom are quite easy, to be honest. I like simple things, so I only have a few pots, pans, knives etc. I've either given away or sold the stuff I don't use, or put it in storage. Most of the things I don't use are stored out of sight. A liberating experience which I highly recommend.
Neat bathroom? You must be single!
After posting I did some changes in the kitchen that helped. Fortunately when they redid the kitchen in 1986 my in laws put in a lot of storage. I have spices I. Two places, a rack next tote cooktop for more useful day to day stuff and a shallow cabinet that holds them next to the ovens. I'm thinking of getting rid of the spice rack and putting them all in the cabinet, turns out s lot of what I use now are there anyway, it would help visually and probably not be that much of a hassle. Lately I tend to gather everything I need before starting rather than ad hoc while I cook. I need to try this.
I cook a lot, so Its a balancing act between convenience and style.
Jeff. That looks absolutely beautiful and tranquil!! Me like.
Hi there
I've paired down the stuff in my kitchen too, and it is amazing how little you actually need to cook great meals. Saves on storage and also on washing up etc. etc. I gave to the charity stuff that was either duplicated or not as good as something else. I did keep my 1960's kenwood cheff as it is so beautiful and missed the best bread dough - much better than a newer kenwood that my parents gave me. Something I read was having Zones for particular stuff and this works well also, for example the kenwood is on a shelf in a cupboard alongside all the ingrediants and stuff stuff for making bread. My slow cooker is next to canned tomatoes, beans and lentils etc. - so it's the least effort to get stuff out and put it back and keep everything tidy.
Since starting the post, I've learnt and appreciated quite a lot from everyone, I have decided against being completely minimal but just keep the things I love and appreciate and replace things I don't want either with nothing if it serves no purpose or with things I have always wanted. So I now have two Eileen grey tables as bedside tables with a Tizio lamp on one - that's replaced two brown ottomons which went to the charity shop - a Charles Eames Chair instead of an old one and am now looking at the Tulip Table and Chairs rather than the table I have. I think that will be it then as I may end up going overboard and the flat look like a furniture store!
I managed to get rid of terrestrial TV and don't pay a TV licence now - the freedom in terms of reclaimed time has been enormous, now there is time to listen to music, read and walk the dog - Netflix and Lovefilms seem to have everything I need and there are no adverts or annoying presenters. Wether or not I will still have two Beovisions in a years time is another matter.
My next dilemma is what colour to paint the walls - my kitchen cupboards are dark wood and the walls were a dark grey. I have painted them white and it looks great and is a much nicer space to be in in the morning, the rest of the walls are what can best be described as a cappuccino colour, with all the other furniture being rosewood in my living room and mahogany in my bedroom should I go white throughout or would that be too stark? I know that the B&O equipment will look great against white but is it one step too far?
ajames:I've paired down the stuff in my kitchen too, and it is amazing how little you actually need to cook great meals.
Exactly
ajames:I know that the B&O equipment will look great against white but is it one step too far?
The first thing I did when I bought my apartment was too paint all the walls white. I couldn't live with another color. The best thing is that the white walls adapt the color of the outside environment. Grey skies have a very different effect than a wonderful sunrise or sunset. The only problem I see is that the contrast with rosewood and mahogany would be too big for my liking.
I've found places in the kitchen to stash more things, but there are some things that are used too often to hide completely. For example, soap dispensers for hand and dish soap, knife block, pepper mill, oil bottle, salt cellar, I have stashed a lot more lately, but still have a microwave, toaster oven, bread box, coffee pot, and stand mixer (Kitchen Aid) out. I could lose the stand mixer, but I haven't a good place to put it right now, things like slow cooker, food processor, etc. are already hidden. I wanted a cabinet mounted microwave to save space and such, but there was no good place to mount one, usually over the cook top but the gas cook top I have puts out a lot of heat, and the way the vent hood plumbing is laid out it wasn't possible unfortunately. So it sits on the counter.
I don't have a lot of useless kitchen stuff, I follow the Alton Brown Good Eats approach. He eschews any uni-tasker, that is one job only thing, other than a fire extinguisher. I break ranks with him in that I have a rice cooker, as I do a lot of Asian cooking and it's very convenient. I keep it in the cabinet though.
I've never thought of keeping the appliances with the type of food, it's an interesting approach. I don't think it'd work well in my kitchen unfortunately as it's pretty clever. I do have food distributed around based on how and when I use it that's similar though, a pantry on the other side of the attached dining room for less used stuff, spices and staples like bread crumbs, rice, noodles, etc. closer, bread making stuff in a cabinet over where I make bread, etc. I'm about to do another reorg, as I've been here 6 months, long enough to notice some moves of all kinds of stuff that will aid efficiency and free up space with things I hardly use.
I like the idea of getting rid of less attractive furnishings and replacing them with more iconic designs, the Eileen Gray tables have always been a favorite of mine. Right now I'm bound and determined to find someplace where a George Nelson bench will work, as I've always wanted one. I replaced a small teak dining table and chairs with a Saarinen tulip table and chairs (chairs should be here in a couple of weeks, yay!). I have a much larger living room now, and managed to find two mint condition Siesta chairs to add to the couch and lounge chair I had. I'd like to get something nicer as a lounge chair but that may be a while.
As for wall color, I'm a big fan of white, for its clean look, brightness for lighting and such, and it just doesn't get old. I did break with that in the bedroom, choosing a dark gray wall behind the bed and lighter gray walls elsewhere. It looks great, and for a bedroom the darker effect works well, darker for sleeping and such. I am going to do something similar in the library, right now it has dark blue and red walls and dark wood built in shelves. I got a couple of lighted glass display cases to put some treasures in, and their top and bottoms are light gray. I'm going with a very light gray wall paint, and a darker gray for the built in shelves. I think it'll look good and make it brighter in there, it's kind of a cave now. The living room is white walled and will have white cabinets for the AV stuff, and the combined sun room, dining room, and kitchen are all white. As are the Saarinen table and chairs.
Lighting is always an issue, I was finally satisfied with the lighting in my old house after 26 years, hopefully it won't take that long here but the living room and library need work. There's a place to spend money, I am consistently amazed at how expensive designer lighting can be.
I can well understand where you're coming from. In my earlier years I didn't have as much junk as I have now, but more than would fit into a car trunk, as I had a collection of Danish Modern furniture right out of college. Over the years acquisitiveness tended to overcome me now and then, and I have gone thru numerous purges when living in a tiny house. I spent 26 years in a 1200 sq ft house, which required periodic purges of books and audio gear and such. Last book purge was right before we moved to this ~3000 sq ft Midcentury Modern house, and I eliminated most of the books based on how easily I could get electronic copies, which considering I had a large number of paperback classics eliminated most of those as most are available free in E format.
When we moved up here all was chaos, we were moving my mother in to live with us and sadly her health declined so rapidly she never got to even see the apartment we had built downstairs for her, but due to the confusion we had to pay people to just cram things from both houses into boxes and then we had tons of stuff left here in this house by the previous occupants. So it has taken a lot of time to just get halfway in order, and we've thrown out tons of stuff and donated, etc. I still have more to do, because like you I am feeling weighted down by possessions and junk. I have way too much audio gear, I still have my first decent speakers from after college, a pair of DCM Time Windows, and about 2/3 of that system.I have too much audio junk. I want a setup for my workbench, but for my main house I am using my central BS9000/BL9 setup and masterlink to other rooms, using my old BL8000 and a couple of BL2000s.That is a pretty low profile approach compared to as many Beosystems as you have, mainly just speakers in each room that needs them. ML was a great system.
It is too easy to get seduced by stuff, lately I'm viewing it with the if I haven't used it or thought about it in a year, it can go approach. It's hard, because I look at something and think, that's got to be worth something, when I don't want or use it and would be happier if it was gone and I had less to store. This is something I have to actively work on as with this large a house, with a huge area below the house we call The Catacombs, I can store a ton of useless junk and never see it. But I know it's there!
So, I definitely grok your position and can agree with it. Thanks for resurrecting this thread, hope we get more minimalist discussions. I think your approach of just a CD player and a pair of BL5s would be awesome, and if you wanted to stream music a simple Playmaker to the analog inputs would suffice. Then you could get rid of your CDs. For a brief while until my cables got straightened out I lived with a PM directly to my BL9s. If I didn't have the BS9000 which I want to keep as a work of art, I could happily live with this approach, it was very simple, straightforward, and clean. I don't use the CD player anymore, I don't listen to FM as there are no stations here in rural podunk worth listening to, and I could run the Beogram directly into the aux in on the PM, which I do now anyway. The only thing that would go away is the ML hookup which would be a bother, but for one room the simplicity had a lot to recommend it.
Seven years on!
What happened to these properties and posters?
Graham
vikinger: Seven years on! What happened to these properties and posters? Graham
I'm still here. Still embracing minimalism. I've changed the curtains in my apartment, something which I wanted to do for a long time. They're white, obviously
Good to hear from you Freerk!
I wonder what happened with one of main contributors to this thread, ’Jeff’? Looks like his last big contribution was to a now deleted thread on US store closures about a year ago. He always made great forum contributions including the 'What are you reading now' thread.
https://archivedforum2.beoworld.org/members/Severian/default.aspx
vikinger: I wonder what happened with one of main contributors to this thread, ’Jeff’? Looks like his last big contribution was to a now deleted thread on US store closures about a year ago. He always made great forum contributions including the 'What are you reading now' thread. Graham
vikinger: Good to hear from you Freerk! I wonder what happened with one of main contributors to this thread, ’Jeff’? Looks like his last big contribution was to a now deleted thread on US store closures about a year ago. He always made great forum contributions including the 'What are you reading now' thread. https://archivedforum2.beoworld.org/members/Severian/default.aspx Graham
Thank you, Graham. Good to hear from you as well. I enjoyed the conversation with Jeff on the "What are you reading now' thread as well. We shared a lot of insights there. I hope to have more time for reading again soon. It would be good to revive that thread again, even though it might not have a lot to do with Banana & Oranges (I'm sure you remember those days, Graham )