Comprising a Life
The Bonsai, Travels and Haiku of Vaughn Banting
Interior views
When I first purchased this house it read like two separate structures, having apparently once been a simple three-bedroom house but having been added on to at one point in the past.
To solve the problem I broke out a load-bearing wall connecting the kitchen to the den and placed a steel beam over the newly widened entrance. This allowed space for a small breakfast area between the remodeled kitchen and the den.
Three additional bedrooms, my office, a small library and a room for the washer and dryer, now all lead off of the renovated den through two doorways.
I kept the opening leading into the living room/dining room its original width.
On the same wall now hangs an antique scroll depicting a cascade style bonsai and a bulb pot planted with Narcissus bulbs
Scroll detail primes the eye for the collection of antique bonsai pots and bulb pots to be encountered later as one walks through the den
A sofa table imported from China serves as a base for the room's featured element; a carved dragon imported from Bali
Detail from the scroll in the living room showing a cascade style bonsai planted in the appropriate shaped pot
A different detail from the scroll in the front room showing how bulb pots are used to force narcissus bulbs into bloom using only pebbles and water
Some friends from my cancer support group removing library door; it will be replaced by a noren curtain
