During the renovation of the Laboratory, my budget would not allow me to buy any but the least expensive finish for my kitchen and bath faucets i.e. simple polished chrome. Brushed chrome or nickel often cost a couple of hundred dollars more, potentially adding thousands to my budget. I discovered that I could lightly dull…
Read Morelooking for a poem, it found me (how answers come)
Here’s the kind of thing that happens all the time around here: I was looking at a stack of poetry books — my morning reading — for a poem to post for a shift of view. I flipped through Gary Snyder, Su Tung Po, Pablo Neruda, then got distracted by an email. It was from…
Read Moregene davis’ fab striped street
In 1972, artist Gene Davis painted his 414-ft-long painting “Franklin’s Footpath”on the street in front of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. So beautiful. Imagine if all more streets were painted in glorious stripe… via Clauda Bruno Related posts: why not paint the sidewalk (or any outdoor floor?) how a little colored paint can transform neighborhoods the…
Read Moremid-century fondue fork: a perfect cook’s tool (and gift)
Aside from my hands, one of my favorite cook’s tools is a fondue fork I bought at a flea market many years ago. It is basically an elongated fork with a thin wood handle: 3 tines and about 12-inches long. It is perfect for turning a piece of meat in a pan, scrambling eggs and…curiously,…
Read Morecomparison leads to violence (mandy patinkin)
Recently, a very brilliant artist we know was disheartened by her professional life, comparing herself to other artists who were getting big commissions. “Comparison is violence” I said. “I read something to that effect recently; I can’t remember where.” My friend stopped short. “That’s GREAT. You’re right!” and went online to search. The equation of…
Read Moreordinary trailer morphed into strangely charming cabin
Cabin Porn is one of our favorite escapist websites, which we check into periodically to oggle remote, eccentric retreats of various kinds. Recently we came upon this strangely appealing Swedish cabin improvised out of a rather ordinary trailer that opened up our heads to various trailer/cabin hacks and possibilities. Photo by Reidar Pritzel. Related posts: favorite…
Read MoreDIY: Handmade Tiles as Trivets
One day before we started the renovation of the Laboratory, we found ourselves wandering around Mahnattan’s unofficial tile district in Chelsea and Flat Iron; we were looking for bathroom tiles, both for the floor and shower. A display of handmade tiles on West 22nd Street drew us into the store. We were struck by how…
Read Morethe little free library movement in action
“Trust me, some day we’ll need it and you’ll be sorry you threw it out.” That remark reverberated after viewing a segment on 60 Minutes about Todd Boll’s Little Free Library movement and the thousands of mini, hand-built libraries for book sharing that are proliferating worldwide. He was right. The wooden beer crate gathering…
Read Morereimagined bathroom design via the new yorker
Susan Dworski spotted this cartoon a few minutes after we posted Annals of Bad Design: Uncomfortable Bathtub Surround. As usual, a New Yorker cartoon nails the zeitgeist! Thanks Susan! Related posts: xcultivating gardens real and imaginaryx xmadan kataria’s laughter yoga: laughing as a practicex
Read Moreannals of bad design: uncomfortable bathtub surround
It was by climbing into the luxurious-looking tub at friends newly renovated brownstone that I identified a design-flaw that I’ve since seen repeated over and over again in shelter sites and magazines: A nice deep tub would be set into a surround of beautiful stone which would form an elegant finish around its edge. But…
Read Morewalking in circles to get out of your head (claire danes)
Varieties of Disturbance, a recent New York Profile about actress Claire Danes yields many intriguing and illuminating ideas about the processes involved in her famously “volcanic performances” (of late, most notably in Homeland). Among them, Dane’s passing mention of her occasional practice of walking in circles to get “out of her head”. If I have…
Read Moredouble dare: write proper english under pressure!
Recently, I got a second email from a reader who was clearly disturbed by my many mixups of ITS and IT’S. She tried to be nice about it, encouraging me to Blog On! after quoting the snippy but illuminating Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation: The confusion of the possessive “its” (no…
Read Morehome design strategy: finding perfection in imperfection
In many parts of the world that which is old and imperfect is more highly cherished and valued than that which is new. Brand new Turkish rugs are often abraded before selling, their colors softened by dealers eager to increase their price by having them appear imperfect, used, showing their history. In Persian, they call…
Read Moreonion flower ‘arrangement’ in an ugly beautiful vase
We are constantly amazed at our friend Maria Robledo‘s eye for off beauty. On a recent visit, we enjoyed this onion flower that had dried on its long stem, propped in a vase we would have called homely until we “saw” its surprising beauty. Maria’s arrangement had become a sculpture unto itself and crashed our…
Read MoreWhat To Do When Lost, Creatively or Professionally
Often as we curate content for Improvised Life, we’ll find that posts from different blogs and sites resonate with one another, as if finishing each other’s thoughts. Recently, an article in 99U about a driven entrepeneur feeling that his work was HIM seemed to echo what many people we know have struggled with: That their…
Read Morecool steel grating chair + our favorite catalogues for diy
This sculptural mesh chair ($2,000 at yliving.com) by designer Damien Velasquez has a deep, springy ergonomic seat. It looks to us like it was made from standard punched metal sheets used for grilles and other architectural applications. We checked one of our favorite catalogs for McMasters-Carr, and sure enough, that’s what it is. We wonder if Velasquez…
Read More9/11: remembering and honoring
Twelve years later on this day we reach across time to that moment. via The New York Times Related Posts: 9.11 the best memorial is in our hearts jane hammond’s leaf sculpture will shift your view of fall batali’s beautiful ‘fuck you’: a tale of 9/11
Read More10 rules for beginning a creative project
Found among painter Richard Diebenkorn’s papers after he died in 1993: ‘Notes to myself on beginning a painting’ (with the original punctuation). We find many to be just right for beginning just about ANY creative pursuit or project (some are mysterious). Like Chuck Close’s Notes to Self, they prove to be good advice for living:…
Read Morecheap + chic: how to install and paint plywood floors
When Remodelista recently featured a picture of the Laboratory’s painted plywood floors in Remodeling 101: Painted Plywood—The Best Budget Wood Floor, I figured it was time to show HOW my plywood floors actually were made, and to lend a little reality to what it takes to install and paint 1000 square feet of them. I love ’em, and…
Read More2 powerful practices for when times get really rough
We were struck by this passage from Eliza Griswold’s New York Times review of A House in the Sky: A Memoir, Amanda Lindhout’s heart-wrenching story of being kidnapped and held for 460 days in Somalia: To withstand her anguish, she recited a catalog of the small gifts for which she was grateful: “my family at…
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