Look and See!
Many times a day we do the robotic thing: going through the motions while day dreaming unaware of what we are doing right here and now. So we end up driving home when we meant to stop by the pharmacy, owake up at 7 when it ´s our day off. And sometimes when we are unwell and a bit unnerved, we suddenly have to take great efforts in order to do all the mundane little tasks we take for granted. Then we realize what it means to pay attention. But there isnt always a “job” that needs to be done. We can simply wander around with our eyes open to look and see. BE AWARE. Life is for us to enjoy. And here are a couple of small door joys which you only get to notice when you pay attention. So LOOK AND SEE, my door darlings!
Impressive welding job. Art school in Schöneberg, Grunewaldstr.
A Chinese restaurant took the trouble to have customers be greeted by 2 bronze peacocks.
A mighty cast iron handle and hinge of a church door
Berlin KREUZBERG- where else. One heck of a door bell! READ the notice below!
The Green Door and the High Chair
- Seen in Prenzlauer Berg East Berlin
Looking rather like an Electric Chair from Bush country, no?
One Town- Many Doors
These doors were taken in a small town outside of Berlin with the name König Wusterhausen where King Frederick the First had a small summer castle during the 18th cent. Later socialism did its bit, but it has been nicely redone in the 90s. The doors could not have been more different. Imagine if all our doors looked the same?
Some days will never come back
"SUBMARINE JUNK" : East German paraphernelia for sale!
Three doors and an arch: the mysterious back yard
Part of the castle building, a cellar entrance with roses
Charme of the yesterday
Stripes galore
PINK is KING
Doors in da boonies
A nice old house in Caputh where you would think smoking on the loo is the lesser problem
Not every door beckons with warmth and coziness
Ok door darlings, I am back and I am in Berlin again. So from now on, you will get a mix of Indian and German doors. I hope you will stay tuned. Best wishes from yours Truly
Once Upon a Time in the East
Ok I am still in India, but I thought you door darlings might need a break from these Delhi doors. Before I came here, I visited a small town near Berlin in what was once the infamous East Germany. A town called Nauen. 15000 people call it their home. It has a very old, but charmingly delapitated town centre straight out of a WWII movie with very old timber frame homes etc. You can see them on my flickr site www.flickr.com/bfriendly. But here, as always, just a few doors for you to enjoy. Remember I like´em old and sleezy. Enjoy!
People still do live here
Doppelt hält besser, double the fun when you have 2 opportunities to break in
Worn but inviting
Pretty door with letterbox that begs to be filled
Door detail in Nauen probably anno 1950
More on door protection
May be you renters dont care much about safety, but once you own that shop and that door, boy, you make sure you protect it (and what´s inside), am I right, or am I right? The solution, darlings: SHUTTERS! Of course! And as you all know me by now, please, dont be boring, bring even your shutters to life, you know you can!
Got to Love Some Good Ol´Decay
They made it look like it´s abandoned, but the working fan above the door gave it away: valuables inside!
Darlings, one way to keep people out of your house and away from those doors, that is : a good way to protect your valuables- yes, the few that you still have – is to make your entrance really sleezy looking. How about a little graffiti and some old stickers that wont come off anymore? I´m sure you get the idea after seeing some impressive examples here.
if all the rotten posters dont help, surely painting a body-builder may keep an intruder at bay
Say now, who´s wants to break into this one here?
Sneaking a Peek
Sometimes we get lucky and the door is already open. In Berlin this is especially fun, because the turn-of-the-century apartment houses, usually built between 1895 and 1910, have beautiful tiled hallways. Many of them nicely preserved as you can see below.
This entrance makes coming home an occasion
Fresh and Friendly
Sometimes all you get is an endless corridor
Depicts Kreuzberg village in 1836
Door Guards
Do Not Enter
Hut and Cabin Door Charm
Doors and Coal Cellars
Darlings, can you believe this cold June weather here in Berlin? BLAST! Anyway, today the sun did shine and as I was trying to find the shop of an artsy friend (if you like the 50s, go visit her shop http://www.kitsch-nation.de/ ) but unsuccessfully because I imaged I knew where it was, only I didnt. HAHAH but, needless to say, instead I stumbled upon a couple of beauties. See, Berlin apartments used to all heat with coal which was stored in the basements and they had these little extra doors for the coal man to come through. Here are some samples . Let´s be happy those days are over, yes?! Peace!
It is not an optical illusion, only big and small door to door
Nowadays the coal basements are used in other ways of course