One of our most popular diy posts is an outdoor floor made of wood “bricks”, the sawed-off ends of boards placed in a brick-like pattern. Recently, we saw a very cool variation on that theme: an outdoor floor made of cross-cut tree trunk slices, which make for a wonderfully graphical floor of circles.
Read MoreThe Burning House: What are Your Most Essential Objects?
We’ve written about Foster Huntington’s love of simplicity before, but we’ve recently discovered another project of his: The Burning House. This one, makes us think about our Life Essentials by asking the question, “What would you take with you if your house was on fire?” We love that Huntington has taken this familiar question a step further by asking…
Read MoreImprovised Life WITH Ads (NOT)
Lately, we’ve been mulling ways to support Improvised Life. One thing we’re sure of: we hate ads on websites. Even though we understand the economic realities that make ads a part of life, we’re going to see if we can find another way to keep Improvised Life afloat AND a clear space, full of unique ideas.
Read MoreHow-To Hang A Hammock Indoors
Having a hammock indoors is pure joy, and there are a variety of ways to hang them, depending on your space.
Read MoreHow to Hide an Ugly Flat Screen TV
We’ve long wondered why we see so many ugly black flat-screen televisions proudly displayed on walls of living rooms. One of the best disguises we’ve seen for flat-screens is a painting or mirror that sits in front of the TV on special hinges that lift it up when you want to watch TV. An especially beautiful iteration of this idea is like a minimalist abstract painting, but is a panel made of antique Flemish linen.
Read MoreEmbrace Your Body, Change Your Life
I’m betting that one thing we all could use is a Get Out Of Jail card to help us learn how to love our bodies – just as they are. I’m also wagering you may be asking yourself, as I did: why is this woman on the right smiling? What’s wrong with her?
Read More37 Signals on the Value of Constraints
We learned to LOVE constraints because they’ve usually led to our most creative explorations, as well as ordinary but useful solutions. We found some fine advice about constraints at 37 Signals’ free pdf, Getting Real.
Read MoreTrending at the Int’l Furniture Show: Faux Distressed Surfaces
Designer Laura Handler, whose Montana home we featured a while back, sent us a report of her vist to ICFF, the yearly International Contemporary Furniture Fair in New York City. Here’s the trend she spotted and her funny and insightful commentary : I did notice an interesting phenomenon. There seemed to be a growing trend of faux distressed…
Read MoreA Zennish Reclaimed Wood Coffee Table
Despite the idiotic title of the Times’ T Magazines recent piece about the Greenwich Hotel’s multi-million dollar penthouse suite renovation designed by Axel Vervoordt, the house tour yielded some lovely ideas, like this low table made of 4 pieces of wood. It reminds us of the alter-ish low diy-able tables/shelves we’ve seen in the past.
Read MoreA Surprising Micro-world Inside Our Tears
Rose-Lynn Fisher has found a fascinating world of differences inside the tears we weep—be they from joy, frustration, grief, or cutting into a pungent onion. In the tradition of Eadweard Muybridge‘s high-speed shots of everyday movements… —which startled the public upon release…or Wilson Bentley‘s fabulous snowflake photography, prior to which scientists assumed most snowflakes were probably alike––…
Read MoreThe Modern Primitive’s Guide to Starting a Fire without Matches
Italian industrial designer Francesco Faccin, who teaches about “objectness/project making”, made a beautiful little video of the “bow drill”, a device he designed to start a fire manually, using the principle of rubbing two sticks together. “…a beech spindle is rotated within pre-formed holes in a board made from linden wood…The user kneels on the board to…
Read More6 Novel Approaches to a Non-Working Fireplace
When we saw “non-working” fireplace listed in real estate ads, we used to think “What good is that?”. Then we lost our space with a working fireplace and took the mantle with us; we realized just how great a non-working fireplace i.e. a mantle, can be. Depending on what it looks like and how it…
Read MoreAn Art Collector’s Unconventional Library
César Cervantes is a Mexican art collector with an unconventional story and lifestyle. We love Cervantes’ comfortable library with a seating area of outdoor furniture (Reitveld crate furniture?) and the disparate collection of sagging shelves.
Read MoreThe New 10 Commandments and A Few More
We recently came across this tweet from God, with a new set of refreshing and useful commandments. Equally compelling, were tweets sent in response with suggestions for additional commandments. Here are some favorites:
Read MorePan-Fried Artichokes with Crispy Sage and Garlic
Peak season for artichokes is March through May and the markets are still full of plump globes. So I am making this recipe often to serve as an hors d’oeuvres with drinks before dinner parties, and the occasional panful for my supper. It chases after the flavors of fried artichokes I’ve had in Italy, but…
Read MoreMagnetic Poetry in Unlikely Places
We recently wrote about Rotten Apple, an artist who has done a series of inspired ourdoor hacks. Our favorite bit of brilliance: he placed magnetic poetry kits — an array of magnetized words that people typically display on their fridge — in an unlikely public place: a steel subway sign. Random riders can make poetry while they wait. It’s…
Read MoreModerne, Do-able Outdoor Fireplace
We love outdoor fireplaces and are always looking for interesting iterations, like this big slab of rusting steel as a fireproof backstop, with a cast cement fireplace, and the one Constantino Nivola fashioned one out of ordinary brick to create his outdoor room.
Read MoreChic Plastic Wall Storage from 1971 and Now
Recently, we stumbled on an image of UTEN.SILO (also known as the Wall All), the very stylish wall storage Dorothee Becker designed for Ingo Maurer in 1960s, almost half a century ago. Nor long after, we found Urbio, a new play on the essential idea, but with magents this time.
Read MoreThe Last of the Cherry Blossoms with Haiku
Last week’s wild weather knocked most of the glorious cherry blossoms off the trees. We found ourselves walking through a wondrous pink “snow”. We sent a photo of this surprising landscape to a few friends. Two sent back haiku to go with it.
Read MoreFantasy Kitchen in a Rock Shelter Camp + Others
This c 1900 makeshift kitchen/dining area in the sheltered space of a giant boulder in New South Wales reminded us of the many makeshift kitchens we’ve created over the years, outdoors and in, and simple ones where many a great meal have been forged.
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