I was walking around side streets to get away from the crowds at Shadfest in Lambertville when I noticed this charming little house. But as I got closer, I realized that some of the architectural details that I had seen from afar were in fact not what I thought they were.
The front window (seen above) had the decorative wooden fish (a shad, perhaps?) leaning on the ledge to distract the eye, but as I looked closer, I realized the shutters were actually painted on and not real shutters at all! I find it kind of funny (yet interesting and creative at the same time) that rather than buy and install real shutters, the home owner decided to paint them on instead … a bit of trompe l’oeil at work. Then I noticed that this theme continues on the side of the house (below), where this time even the window is painted, along with the shutters and the suggestion of climbing ivy.
Once you realize this window is painted, it reveals that this full side of the house has no windows at all – as the homeowner, it might be nice to open up the wall and install a window at some point, but for now the trompe l’oeil appearance of the window will suffice. My curiosity has me asking: considering the outside of the house has this interesting creativity, I wonder what kind of surprises one might find inside?
