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matildajane_gw

Jumbo clock mounted on front of house

matildajane
11 years ago

What I saw recently is so out of the box that I cannot fathom it. A well maintained two story colonial in my neighborhood has a newly mounted jumbo clock mounted on the front of the house. This really weirds me out! The clock is mounted in the top center of the house. Do you suspect the owner has lost his marbles or is this a new trend. (ROFLMO)

Comments (34)

  • xoxogg
    11 years ago

    Are you sure it isn't a court house?

  • mellyc123
    11 years ago

    I think I will put one over the garage door when my DS starts driving and has a curfew, I could put a big spot light on it also.

  • maire_cate
    11 years ago

    Oh please - can you post a photo? That's got to be something to see.

  • Sujafr
    11 years ago

    There's a lovely home in my neighborhood with a large clock near the front door, and I actually like it. To hear it without seeing it sounds weird I know, so I'll try to remember to take a picture when I drive by it tomorrow, but with all the cooking going on, we'll see. I realize I do have a thing for clocks, so maybe it's just me, but I can see how it could look interesting.

  • kswl2
    11 years ago

    Mellyc, I hear you about the curfew! I got this tip from another mom when our first started driving. Set your alarm clock for his curfew. When he comes in, he turns it off before it alarms. If he is late, the alarm sounds and you wake up if you were asleep and know he's late!

  • luckygal
    11 years ago

    I think it's a wonderful idea for someone who owns either a clock manufacturing business or clock store. If it becomes a trend business will boom! LOL

  • nhb22
    11 years ago

    Maybe a pre-Christmas decoration?

  • mtnrdredux_gw
    11 years ago

    KSWL, brilliant. I will try to remember that if I'm not senile by the time mine drive ...

  • geokid
    11 years ago

    My parents just never gave me a key to the house. They locked it at curfew and I had to ring the bell to be let in if I was late.

  • arcy_gw
    11 years ago

    A good friend grew up with this alarm clock trick. Mom and dad slept very well. He rarely made curfew. He paid his younger siblings to turn it off.

    Our neighbor has a large clock to the side of their front door. Two years ago it was an unusual site, now it is just part of the neighborhood.

  • Sujafr
    11 years ago

    Love the curfew ideas! Here's a picture of the house with exterior clock I sometimes drive by. The round clock shape mimics a porthole style window along the side. The house is actually cuter than this photo appears. They have a cute little chair with ikat pillow. Now a clock is not something I'd use, but this one doesn't make me think of courthouses or curfews. heh heh

  • bronwynsmom
    11 years ago

    Kswl, that's exactly what my mother did, lo these many years ago! She, kindly, set hers for 15 minutes past my curfew. Somehow that little bit of leeway made me respect it more, as I recall.

    I kept the tradition alive, too, and recommend it.

    But back to the topic at hand, I think the giant clock sounds very peculiar. Are they moonlighting as a bus station...??

  • Bumblebeez SC Zone 7
    11 years ago

    I like it, it's different if not entirely original, and has a trendy roulette wheel look about it.

  • LuAnn_in_PA
    11 years ago

    I am not weirded out by anyone's choice in exterior decorations (the clock actually sounds nice),

    but I do dislike those stupid, cheap-looking inflatables.

  • sombreuil_mongrel
    11 years ago

    There's this new (well a decade old, now) carriage house in Baltimore with the clock. Been in it, a cool place.


    Casey

  • sail_away
    11 years ago

    I actually don't object to the clock on the outside of the house and think it can look nice. However, my problem would be having to change the time on the clocks when the time changes. The one sujafr posted would be fine---just one more to do when you're changing all the otehr clocks---but ones high up on the house (like the one posted by sombreuil) would be a pain. I already have more than a dozen clocks to change twice a year, plus the ones in our cars, so I wouldn't be too eager to add any more to have to do.

  • sombreuil_mongrel
    11 years ago

    No problem at all; the clockworks are on the main floor, driving a shaft and gears to the clock face in the gable. I can't remember if it's an 8 day or 30 hour movement.
    Casey

  • msrose
    11 years ago

    I think it's very odd to have a clock on the outside of a house. I've certainly never seen that before. It looks great on the picture Casey posted though, but I think it's the style of house. I actually thought it was a business, so maybe that's why it looks okay. When I picture the houses in my neighborhood, I think it would look strange.

  • GreenDesigns
    11 years ago

    A clock is so much nicer than a GIANT AFRICAN MASK that a new owner put on this 1970's contemporary that we passed when going to school--in the 1970's. I kid you not, this thing was about 12x14 on the almost blank wall of two story garage+bonus room section of this house that had a shed roof with skylights on it. The house faced the smaller cross street, and this was a side wall that only had the bonus room as habitable space looking toward the main street. Most of it was blank board and batten siding and they must have felt the need to ornament it. So one day, the giant mask appeared on it. Needless to say, the home got a reputation for voodoo and devil worship and anything else that a kids imagination could create out of such a display. It would possibly not have been so out of place in a downtown loft or urban arts district type of setting, but in surburbia in the 70's, it was just wierd and offputting.

  • dedtired
    11 years ago

    It does sound rather odd but I'd rather see a clock on a colonial house than one of those awful barn stars. Apologies to all who like or even have them, but barn stars belong on barns. I suppose some styles of houses can stand up to having a star nailed to the side, but I think they are dreadful. At least a voodoo mask is unique!

  • nhb22
    11 years ago

    I am not a star fan, either. There is one on a Cap Cod style house up the street. I do like the clock on the shingles house above, though. It goes!!!

  • Bumblebeez SC Zone 7
    11 years ago

    I hate those stars if for nothing less than their ubiquity.

  • hhireno
    11 years ago

    I think the clock on the front porch screams in your face WHAT TIME IS IT? SHOULD YOU BE RINGING THE DOORBELL AT THIS HOUR?, while the clock in Casey's picture is there if you want to check the time. Not as obnoxious. It also sounds as though if you're lucky enough to be invited in, you can see the clockworks, which is cool.

    To me, after screaming about the time, the front porch clock says "look what I found at Home Goods", although to be fair perhaps up close it's better quality than that. It also steals some of the thunder from the cute little round window. Since they aren't decorating to please me, it doesn't really matter if I like it or not.

  • cooperbailey
    11 years ago

    Casey, what street in Bmore? I don't think I have ever seen it. maybe it has been repainted and I don't recognie it.Would love to drive by it.

  • nhb22
    11 years ago

    Looking at For Sale homes today, I stumbled on this garden clock. lol

  • dedtired
    11 years ago

    The clock doesn't bother me nearly as much as the satellite dish and the electric meter. What a weird house. Take away the dish, the meter and the clock and it's not bad.

    Thank you to everyone who also hates barn stars.

  • Bumblebeez SC Zone 7
    11 years ago

    So funny, why are they even bothering landscaping when ignoring the elephants?

  • franksmom_2010
    11 years ago

    I don't know if the barn stars are a nation-wide trend, but here in Texas (in the country no less!) they are EVERYWHERE. The only time I saw one I liked was when we were house hunting and this charming little country house had a copper one that had to be at least 5' across hung on one side of the house. Too bad the roof was caving in!

  • Elraes Miller
    11 years ago

    The clock on the porch looks painted on. I can't see that it is an actual working clock. Perhaps it has some meaning to them. I don't like it at all.

    The last picture sure does have the wrong things in the wrong place. Again, the clock may have meaning, perhaps a trip. Let's add more and put a red phone booth sitting by it.

  • matildajane
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    I'm the troublemaker who started this discussion. When I first saw the clock on the front of this house, the clock screamed at me. It seemed huge and so incredibly weird, but captured in a photo it appears no larger than a pinhead.....similar to the person who installed it. (Smiles!) This peculiar decoration doesn't bother me as much as the guy next door who uses his yard as a trash heap.

  • Sujafr
    11 years ago

    matildajane--I agree with you---cannot fathom what they could possibly have been thinking on the one you saw!! Weird!

    technicolor--BTW, that clock on the porch is not painted on. It is definitely hanging there in 3D and appears functional.

  • jakabedy
    11 years ago






    re matildajane's neighbor -- I wonder if it isn't an inside joke of some kind. Like maybe they have a teenager constantly missing curfew. Otherwise, I think the blank space was bothering someone, and they grabbed something nearby to fill it up. Because it's too small to really have any intentional impact (and I think the once on the shingle house earlier in the thread kind of works because of the scale).




    This post was edited by jakabedy on Wed, Nov 28, 12 at 13:40

  • SunnyCottage
    11 years ago

    That's pretty bad. I'll bet they think it looks like the photo that Casey posted above. But boy, does it ever miss the mark.

  • likewhatyoudo
    11 years ago

    Oh my! I have a clock and a star on my back patio.

    I do admit I like them.

    I have a thing for clocks, a large one on my range hood, large clock over bed in the guest room, both patios and the play room have over sized clocks.

    BUT I only have one large metal star!

    My sister commented "you like clocks don't you? "

    : )