We were poking around food editor and writer Jane Lear‘s website, when we came across a trove of great articles, including one of her pieces for Gourmet Magazine, where she was its Senior Articles Editor for many years. Called Transformers, the premise is that with 3 eggs and two lemons on hand, you can make…
Read Moresending virtual flowers and b’day cakes
Yesterday we stumbled on this beautiful image of decoupage scanned from the 1948 Modeles de Decoupages, les Albums du Pere Castor. It was part of a series of cheap children’s books published by Flammarian. We thought: wouldn’t that make a swell virtual ‘flower arrangement’ to send someone via email…just to say hi or wish them…
Read Morepaint your shelf edges….pink!
Painting the edge of a shelf an unexpected color is such a simple way to put some surprise into a closet…it reminds us of the orange painted door edges and hinges we featured a while back. (We’re thinking that edging the shelf with a beautiful tape would do too.) It’s easy to do, and give a big…
Read Morehigh-design plumen bulb review: it casts an ugly light!
Having been swept up in hype (and hope), we spent $35 or so to buy a Plumen bulb, the high-concept CFL (compact flourescent lamp) that is getting a lot of play on design blogs these days. Designed by Sam Wilkinson for the London-based boutique electronics brand Hulger, the Plumen is meant to be the answer to the unattractive…
Read Morecitizen architect samuel mockbee
(Video link here.) Our friend Maureen Rolla sent us this email; it is so expressive, it became a post: “I am writing to tell you about a person and documentary that you should know about – it is called “Citizen Architect: Samuel Mockbee and the Spirit of the Rural Studio” – about an amazing architect,…
Read Morea poster made of nails and string…
A sign for our times… interconnectedness in nails and string
Read Morestacked-book display cases and other great ideas via scott newkirk
One of the best virtual “house tours” we’ve seen of late was designer Scott Newkirk’s Brooklyn, NY apartment featured on Remodelista via An Afternoon With. Newkirk’s place is beautiful, completely unfussy and full of smart, do-able ideas that make great use of limited space. He’s culled many of his treasures at flea markets, transforming them in interesting…
Read Morequilts as memory-keepers
Our friend Linnae recently introduced us to Pat Ludwig, a “self-taught quilter” who blogs all of her projects so you can see the full process of making a quilt start-to-finish. Patwig’s quilts are made exclusively from old fabric scraps, including khaki and denim pants, childhood dresses, curtains, neckties, bedsheets, and even seat cushions. Her two most recent…
Read Moremodernist makeshift chairs, afghanistan
Charles McFarlane alerted us to these pictures of makeshift chairs. They were taken by a reporter embedded with Marines deployed in Afghanistan in 2010, using his iPhone. Improvised out of wreckage, in a war zone, the chairs have a moving and strangely beautiful sculptural quality; they force us to imagine the stories behind them.
Read Morestylish d-i-y fabric disguises for ugly furniture
When You Have Been Here Sometime recently posted some images from Architectural Digest, New York Interiors, 1979, we were struck by this one. Although lamps and pouf and carpet are all pretty dated and rigid, a great idea remains: covering a homely piece of furniture with beautiful fabric. Who knows what’s under the ochre yellow panel? It…
Read Morethe role of magic in the creative process
We are smitten with this short, illuminating online slideshow in which Marco Leona, chief scientist at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, talks about the role of magic in the creation of art. It is so delightful and illuminating, we’ve watched it several times: a rich 4 minutes. “Magic traditionally was about transformation: taking something baser, less refined, less…
Read Morefrench fries made easy (recipe)
My fondness for French fries is ruled by an idiosyncratic logic that, for a while, made them mostly off-limits. It goes something like this: perfectly-fried French fries are rare even in restaurants. At home they are daunting: hours of fry-o-lator air lingering in the apartment, and a quart or two of hot fat to discard.…
Read Moresigns on walls: ‘how to work better’
“How-To Work Better” by Swiss artists Fischli & Weiss has long been one of our favorite manifestos: the reminder we need daily. We’d seen it all over the internet, and posted it as a sign long ago. We hadn’t realized that it was, in fact, an installation, painted on the wall of an office building in…
Read More‘i had cancer’ = social networking with a purpose
(Video link here.) I tend to have mixed feelings about the growing number of options for social networking. I’ve definitely noticed my own reliance on social networks making me a little more self-indulgent and a little less personal in my communications with friends. But the power of social networking sites to create communities for people…
Read Mored-i-y shipping pallet plate rack?
When Style-Files recently posted about furniture maker and interior designer Katrin Arens, we couldn’t help seeing a shipping pallet in her rustic dish rack. Or vice versa… …h-m-m-m…take a slat or two away, or pull the whole thing apart to build with the slats you like…it’s a simple configuration… …there appears to be no end to…
Read Morereminder: a wrong choice can take you to the right place
We found this sign on The Curious Brain and thought “Yeah, we need to remember that…” Related posts: ‘beautiful oops’ lesson for all of us: mistakes are OK ‘harness the power of being an idiot!’ tool for improvising: embrace mistakes
Read Moreour d-i-y leather pulls, reinterpreted
Our post on artist Holton Rower‘s gorgeous d-i-y leather cabinet pulls has been one of our most popular in recent months, and continues to make its way around the internet. But until yesterday, we hadn’t seen someone take the idea and make it their own. Rikkianne Van Kirk’s post on Re-Nest gives a step-by-step of…
Read Morehow prayer flags inspired a fabric woven with sound
(Video link here.) After we posted a video of Bjork frolicking in her “bell dress”, we got an email from a reader alerting us to the “sonic fabric” designed by Alyce Santoro. It’s a fabric made from polyester thread and audiocassette tape recorded with intricate collages of sound so that it is, literally, woven with sound. This…
Read Morethanks and wow! (friends w benefits)
When we launched our fund-raising experiment, Friends with Benefits, we were amazed and heartened to get emails from some readers asking if they could pledge more than the $5, $7, or $9 monthly we gave as options on the PayPal menu. That’s possible now. THANK YOU to those who pledged and the many welcome single…
Read More‘what every girl/person needs’ via miranda july
We’ve loved Miranda July’s work for a long time because her work always directly addressed the INSIDE of our heads, all those crazy voices and opinions and questions that take up so much space, and are really NOT who we are. Suddenly she’s become pretty famous because of the Future, her recent film that is getting…
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