Del, all of your ideas and ideals about houses are of course very sensible, and I have to agree that I find Bill Gates' house absolutely gross. I used to live on Mercer Island, and the houses around Bill's are ostentatious occasionally but in a very minor way, close to the ground, with docks reaching out into the water, showy powerboats, etc., but they are simply dwarfed by his house, which is just plain ugly, in my humble opinion, as well as way too large. In all fairness to Gates, though, if you want to move away from very tacky architecture, he is giving away tons of money every year. Perhaps he will realize how empty the house is, in its spirit, and give it up sooner or later!!!
Yes, I like things very rustic (I'm sure you were just being polite, using that as a euphemism for something worse). The Irish would call it a tip, which is their way of saying total shack!!! However, I think I would get a lot of pleasure from making an old stone house into a warm and welcoming, and beautiful but simple, country treasure. |
