Life Would be Better | A Simple Summer Home

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The Talbot Rantoul summer house designed by architect Eliot Noyes. Neil Rantoul cleaning his rifle on a pull-down bed in the boys' quarters which doubles as a painting studio-- Martha's Vineyard, MA 1965.

 

I was talking with a friend today about how a guy needs space.  We need some time and a proper place to check out of this rat race and clear our heads– work with our hands, create something– just chill with the family. Then I see this image and it hit me like a stiff punch to the sternum– confirming that my life is incomplete without the perfect (but not overly done or fussy) summer home getaway.  I mean, come on– this place is perfect, right? Timeless clean lines, super functional, open and breezy, room to roam and be creative, comes with a gun– I’ll take it.  

The Talbot Rantoul summer house designed by architect Eliot Noyes is hidden by spruces and sits 15-ft. above ground on concrete pillars. The hammock offers a quiet napping place-- Martha's Vineyard, MA 1965.

 

 

Interior of the Talbot Rantoul summer house designed by architect Eliot Noyes. (L-R) Neil Rantoul listening as brother-in-law Mark Harrison strums a banjo in the living room-- Martha's Vineyard, MA 1965.

 

 

The Talbot Rantoul summer house designed by architect Eliot Noyes. Talbot Rantoul relaxing on the sun-dappled porch-- Martha's Vinyard, MA 1965.

 

I’d even take this place, if you forced me–

 

Wood-panelled exterior of John and Janet Smith's summer home near Pend Oreille River which they built themselves from a set of architect's plans ordered from a magazine-- Spokane, WA 1970.

 

 

 

The dark beams are bugging me a bit-- and with the cedar shake inside too, there's a lot going on. I'd be awfully tempted to nix them and unify the space with a coat of white paint.

 

3rd choice from the old Life Archive is a nestled treehouse delight for my inner ewok–

 

 

Summer home made from redwood panels perched on stilts among treetops-- Ashville, NC 1970.

 

 

It feels a bit like a mobile home on the inside-- but I could work my magic with it.

 

And the hidden gem– the telephone pole retreat.

 

Home of Mr. and Mrs. Chase Ritts, designed by John Johansen. Here is the main entrance, whose roof is supported by wooden telephone poles-- Greenwich, CT 1968.

 

Here is the living room, carpeted in orange (which would have to go) w/ exposed bolts-- Greenwich, CT 1968.

 

Here family cat Fleur sits on the stairs that lead to a living room loft.

 

And if  a summer home is out of the question, I’ll stick to the loft–

 

Sculptor Bill Tarr and wife Yvonne sitting on platform in his Soho studio (that they will convert into a live-in loft) w. his welded steel and bronze sculptures on floor below-- NYC, 1970.

 

 

Linda and Tom Blackwell sitting on sofa in their live-in loft in Soho-- 1970.

 

 

Painter Jack Beal and his wife, sculptor Sondra, sitting at table in their Soho loft w. his artwork hanging on walls-- NYC, 1970.