Of curves and straight lines

-
There is something warm, inviting and elegant about spiral or winding staircases. Certainly, both Sofia and I would love to have a home with a majestic curved staircase.
For the time being, we have to make do with a simple straight stairwell.


Pictures nabbed from here and here.

Comments

RennyBA said…
Me and Diane are wishing the same, but as long as the sairs takes you to the next level, we have to cope with it:-)
October 14, 2006 10:29 AM
Mother of Invention said…
There is something magical about them. I always picture some girl coming down them in a prom or wedding dress, or a tall christmas tree coming up through them at all levels! My friend just moved into a "palace" and has one of these that starts at the basement and goes to the 2nd floor with beautiful "Phantom of the Opera" chandeleirs at every level. Such opulence is not my style but it is beautiful.

We have an old house (1921) with a staircase so tight as it turns on the landing, Sleep Country had to bring out new bed up over the outside balcony and into the summer bedroom!

I've always wanted a house with a fireplace and still don't have it, but it's in the near future of the "doable"!
October 14, 2006 11:16 AM
ghee said…
I love spiral stairs,too!thats one of my dreams :)

your stairs are the same as here in Japan,its not bad though :)
October 16, 2006 5:30 AM
buzybee said…
spiral staircases are nice for our eyes, but straight staircases are nice for our legs. :D
October 16, 2006 11:00 AM
Lunafish said…
Curvy ones are spectacular. I stayed in a small house in the Keys once that had a small spiral staircase up to the loft bedroom. It was kind of a scary going up because the spiral was tight with small steps.
My new house has stairs, up a few to a landing, then up a few more to the second floor.
October 16, 2006 5:05 PM
Ancilla said…
the spiral will be a nice one if we already have the big house :)

and we should be careful to step in that kind of stair.
October 17, 2006 5:48 AM
Richard said…
rennyba: let us hope that in future you shall have to cope with graceful, curved ones.

MOI: we have a fireplace in both homes, but rarely use it. I think the last time we used the fireplace was back in 2000 or so.

ghee: straight staircases are practical and use the least space. But I am sure if you hunt around, you can find curved ones in Japan too.

bee: I think it depends on how twisted the stairs are. A gentle half or quarter turn to the second floor would be nice. I have no interest in climbing a corkscrew.

lunafish: I thinking of a more gentle curve rather than a upward spiral. Mind you, aside from a ladder, they conserve space very well.

ancilla: thank you for dropping by and leaving a comment. Certainly a bigger house, with more space and gentler curves would be nice. I am not convinced that a curved stairs are necessarily more dangerous. An alternative could be a staircase that sweeps downward, i.e. it starts wide at the bottom and gently narrows in a curvy way towards the top.
October 17, 2006 12:06 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Chinese Wisdom Concerning Money

-
[19September-2007 @ 17:11 EST: Revised preamble. This page still gets the most search hits: There is no Anthony de Croud. The e-mail is SPAM. I post things that pique my fancy at the moment. I like the 8 precepts, but the rest of the e-mail is junk. However, I thought it fair to post everything in its entirety. I did not write the e-mail. I did not forward the e-mail. I strongly encourage you not to forward it either. (I also encourage you to reply to whomever sent you the e-mail and tell them you don't appreciate getting junk mail.)] Received this in our e-mail (English translation follows): PRECEPTO CHINO SOBRE EL DINERO EL DINERO PUEDE COMPRAR UNA CASA, PERO NO UN HOGAR, EL DINERO PUEDE COMPRAR UN RELOJ, PERO NO EL TIEMPO. EL DINERO PUEDE COMPRAR UNA CAMA, PERO NO EL SUEÑO. EL DINERO PUEDE COMPRAR UN LIBRO, PERO NO EL CONOCIMIENTO. EL DINERO PUEDE PAGAR UN MÉDICO, PERO NO LA SALUD. EL DINERO PUEDE COMPRAR UNA POSICIÓN, PERO NO EL RESPETO. EL DINERO PUEDE COMPRAR LA SANGRE, PERO ...
Read more

Not quite Jacques Cousteau

-
Image
I had bought some frozen calamari (squid) a while back and decided that it was time I actually did something with them. I thawed them out and cleaned them. I have never done this before and I am sure I was horribly slow and inefficient (it took me an hour to clean 2 pounds – 907g – worth). You begin by grasping the body and pulling out the head and guts. Then you squeeze out the guck inside and then peel off the skin (or film) on the surface. As a bonus, most of the skin comes off when you squeeze out the gunk. Finally you need to remove the spine. This was news to me, I thought that squid did not have any hard structure (aside from the beaky mouth). It is an interesting piece, when removed, it looks exactly like a piece of transparent plastic. Still haven’t decided what to make with it, but I will cook it tonight. Photo credits: Richard of Forbidden Planet [Note: today, blogger forced me to change over to the new blogger. When I logged in, I could not see any way to log on to my old ...
Read more

You may spend your life killing,

-
but you will not exhaust all your foes. If you quell your own anger, your real enemy will be slain. - Nagarjuna , a Buddhist philosopher, c150-250 CE He that will be angry for anything will be angry for nothing. - Sallust, Roman historian, 86-34 BCE. When we reject people in anger, or turn on them with the aim of inflicting pain, we damage our souls even more. - Marcus Aurelius, Roman Emperor, 121-180 CE (Meditations, Chapter 2) [For those who are curious where I've been ... erm ... mixture of a lack of enthusiasm, energy and time for blogging. But not to worry, I have had plenty of time to come down with Strep throat - twice. I am currently on my second round of antibiotics, apparently the first round wasn't wholly effective. Makes me wonder how 10 days was decided upon as the standard treatment duration because this is not the first time a round of antibiotics has failed to cure me and I have ended up going for a second round. I have also been busy reading about photograph...
Read more