Sleep doctors say that it’s important to wind down before going to sleep: no TV or computer that activates the brain, no magazines full of dire ‘reality’. Read fiction to get your mind in a quieter zone…
My solution is, often, to look at picture books of interiors, houses, furniture design: an adult version of a bedtime story. I’ve gathered a pile of favorites over the years that, like a kid, I never seem to tire of. They relax my mind, and seem to activate some dreamy center.
One of my favorites is Calder at Home: The Joyous Environment of Alexander Calder by Pedro Guerrero.
It is full of images of Calder’s dynamic interiors: completely lived-in, alive, visually stunning, at once messy and ordered…REAL.
Calder at home is sadly/stupidly/inexplicably out-of-print. You can find it through Amazon’s second-hand booksellers
But if you can’t find it, here’s a midnight snack:
…
…
…
Photos via OEN
Related posts: alexander calder’s inspired bathroom improvisations
calder’s improvised life: iron garden chair barbeque grill
calder via ‘world of interiors’ + ‘the improvised life’
‘halo everybody’!! via alexander calder (and us)
65 modern art books online…for free!
Thanks for putting up these pictures. I last saw these images 15 years ago or so. Seeing them again made me realize how the Calder’s house has influenced my living spaces driving from the back seat of my unconscious mind.
I find them inspiring too, as I set up the new place. Calder’s place is the happy opposite of tight design magazine pix.
thanks so much for posting this…ordered it from the library immediately. Can you list a few of your other bedtime reading books that are in this category?
I’m so glad it resonates. I’ll be posting more ‘bedtime reading’ soon. Thanks for letting us know you like it.