This is one of the areas in “Willis Wonderland” that just makes me nuts. I forgot to include the stairs in a previous post, so here they are in all their kitschified glory. These open air steps lead to the most incredible collection of kitsch ever and of course this is just a small portion in this room.
I’m not going to bother describing the fabulous items in this pic as they are going to be popping up in another post. (yes, the “Julia Doll” talks.
I finally snapped a full shot of this room.
SInce meeting Allee she has certainly taught me NOT to throw things out or re-dump them, everything can be used such as this car symbol. I never knew that pieces like this could be used as door handles to closets and more!
Pontiac door handle. Who would have thought to put a car part to use as a door handle?
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Allee Willis
The Julia Dall indeed talks! The poster next to it is the original poster that came out advertising it. On the other side of the room I also have a Julia Viewmaster, lunchbox and Colorforms.
To the best of my knowledge, I’m the first person who has regularly used car parts ( and trophies) as door handles. And, yes, everything has a second life if you’re creative enough.
Mark Milligan
Is that Pontiac hood badge from a ’57?
Allee Willis
I think so.
Lisa Rios
The Julia doll was the 1st African American Barbie by Mattel. The first one came out in 1969. She also had her own line of fashions.
I love how the stairs change color to reflect the seafull floor!
As you can probably guess, I’m enjoying Denny’s return visit to Willis Wonderland.
Allee Willis
I have a couple of the Julia outfits in my post about the doll last year: https://www.alleewillis.com/blog/2009/07/09/allee-willis-kitsch-o-the-day-talking-julia-doll/.
And thank you for noticing how the stairs change color, starting with white which is the color of the kitchen floor that they start at above and transitioning down to as close to the blue of the downstairs floor as I could get.
k2dtw
What a wonderful room!!!… How did you do that stunning floor??
I love the lucite chairs.. OMG…I LOVE the artist palette table… w/brushes!!!.. I’ve had the little palette shaped side/snack tables…they would be the babies to the gorgeous cocktail table.. Was that a glass tile table top that you hung on the wall???….so cool… Wonderful…just wonderful…
Allee Willis
I did the designs with a wonderful artist named Laurie Crogan. She carved all the designs in VST, strong linoleum-like tile that they use in airports or areas with heavy traffic. We worked on the designs for months, especially as I was restoring the room and the dimensions changed constantly as I don’t work from blueprints; I just start knocking things down. She brought everything over in sections of 4 tiles and installed everything in one day. She’s a true brilliant artist as it was all mathematics. Check out her work at http://www.inlayfloors.com. She’s the best floor artist I’ve ever come across and I loved working with her.
Allee Willis
Forgot to add that yes, that’s a mosaic tile table top I stuck into the wall. That portion of the wall that sticks out is covering the foundation of the house. Protruding as it does, it just made the room too brown. I had no room for the table and it was getting ruined in the sun where I kept it on my back porch. Always being someone who uses things for purposes other than they were originally intended for this just seemed like a natural fit.
k2dtw
Uh-Oh there’s math???.. Great talented artist, both of you…
LOVE seeing the Pontiac emblem…
Thank you Denny….great post, great pictures…
Allee Willis
Math’s involved as you need the center of the design to stay in the center of the floor and the dimensions were always changing. Trust me, I wasn’t the one with the math knowledge.
denny
Ah ah ah, I have posts coming up dedicated to “Julia” and the floor in this room!
MyFunCloset
This is beginning to feel like “Person to Person” TV from the 50’s.
Allee, other than for work, which room do you spend the most amount of time, not counting sleep? Each room is loaded with unique comforts.
Allee Willis
I really use every room in the house all the time but if I had to pick where I spend the absolute most time it would have to be where I work the most as I pretty much work as long as I’m awake. So that would have to be either the recording studio, where I primarily do music, video and web work. And then also my garage turned art studio turned cat house turned storage closet, which isn’t featured in any of these photos as it was never meant to be room for human habitation. It’s ruled by my cat, Nibbles, who won’t leave the room. It’s also the room that everything gets thrown into when I have no time to put it away. But it’s also the room that has the perfect desk for my Wacom Cintique monitor that I can draw right on the screen on. So over the last couple years this has become the easiest room for me to do computer art in, which I spend much more time doing than music. On Denny’s last trip to LA he photographed some of the artifacts in this room but no over all room shots allowed as it’s truly beyond a mess.
MyFunCloset
Ok, you’ve revealed just enough. The mystery is still intact.
As always, the more space we have, the more space we fill.
denny
It’s funny but I would sneak in and out of the garage office with pieces I wanted to photograph. Allee would be working away and here I was, like a big blood hound with a camera, skulking around, sniffing out the kitsch in this area. I enjoy every minute of it. There is kitsch from this room that will be popping up on posts here. Some of the items that I found in here are items that I found buried under piles of Allee’s work.