Strange Sites: Uncommon Homes and Gardens of the Pacific Northwest

Janet Arnett is the former campus manager of adult education at Ontario’s Georgian College. She is the author of Antiques and Collectibles: Starting Small, The Grange at Knock, and 673 Ways to Save Money.

This bright, shiny little book should have been called Bizarre Homes and
Gardens. It is a visual and verbal tour of the nutty, ugly, and idiotic
“assemblages” that assault the eye in the Pacific
Northwest/Washington area. It satisfies any need that might have existed
for a catalogue of strange sites that are definitely strange sights.

How about a refuge for unwanted lawn ornaments (pink flamingo
paradise), or a house built from embalming fluid bottles? Not strange
enough? Then perhaps you’d prefer 600 windmills in the yard or a house
built from old car and appliance parts? For those with more conservative
tastes in architecture, there’s a neat little village built from glass
insulators, a bungalow of carnival-striped cinder-blocks, and much
more—living spaces guaranteed to raise questions about the origins of
creative expression in exterior residential decoration.

The quality of the photos is great, and the prose lively and
fast-paced. Which is good, because you wouldn’t want to spend very
long thinking about some of these places.

Is it 20th-century North American anthropology? A serious study of folk
culture? That would be a stretch. Enjoy it as simply a fun collection of
the weird things people do to the places they call home.