December 9, 2014
Land of Excess pays a little visit to the “prestigious RESERVE” in McLean, VA. We were going to write about the caged chandelier, trapped in the little “open to below” between the first floor grand entry foyer and the bedroom landing upstairs. But whilst clicking through the online real estate listing, we were astonished to find this room with a wall of glass-fronted wine refrigerators. What is this, we thought? Is this a new kind of butler’s pantry, daringly and misguidedly positioned in a residential dwelling’s front room, the kind of room that used to be called a dining room? Then we realized that we had found a new and revolutionary Excess hitherto unseen by our innocent eyes. We should not view this as a vulgar lure to round-the-clock wine consumption. It is a new kind of trophy! Duh!!! Now we wonder if, in the living room across the marble-floored foyer, there might be multiple plate-glass-fronted security vaults next to some upholstered couches so that we might lounge with a view of the riches within.