The kitschiest house in the world: Sweden, May 2006

… Or at least a close contender. I say this with grudging admiration.

While I was in Stockholm, my friend and I went to visit a certain electronic music composer at his house. He is her family friend. He has the most over-the-top kitschy house, full of knick-nacks and furniture that really take the concept of kitsch to the next level. We took lots of pictures there.

This couch has bedposts with lanterns on top, and a canopy of some kind of dangling things. You don’t sit on this couch, you sit in it.

This veranda is the kitsch central of the house. It sports the juiciest, campiest stuff, such as candleholders with nymphs. My friend, however, indicated that perhaps all this stuff wasn’t chosen by the owner, but given to him by various people as presents. If so, he indulges them than most people would, by proudly displaying the campy gifts, while others may stuff them in the back of their closets. It takes guts to sacrifice your own good taste and to risk the impression you make on others, to bring joy to people who give you presents. If that’s really the case. For now, I’ll stick to this theory.

This house has a bar where drinks are kept inside what looks like an antique globe, or some kind of astronomical / nautical instrument from centuries ago. That’s me holding it open to reveal the selection of bottles inside.

A painted, scalloped sink in the bar area of the house, on a red wall painted with baroque patterns.

This bathroom was begging — begging! — for an artificial palm tree, lit in pastel-colored lights, lest it be too tasteful!

The owner of the house, an electronic music composer, has a spectacular record studio. I am pictured here in the middle of it. ‘Spectacular’ was the judgment of my friend’s husband, the composer’s friend. Even so, there’s nothing this studio does that a computer could not.