(Video link HERE.) Laurin Döpfner used an industrial sander to shave off 0.5 mm at a time from logs, electronics, a camera, and a walnut, and then made a time lapse video of the results. Jason Kottke likened the astonishing finished video to a full-color MRI. For us, it’s like some kind of X-Ray vision of our…
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If the gif isn’t here, click here to view. via Holton Rower via Beautiful Decay
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Outdoor wooden benches are a pain to move around. Here’s a clever wheelbarrowish solution as well as our own simple hack.
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(Video link HERE). Shipping pallet creations are among our most popular posts and we’ve featured A LOT of them over the years. Tomáš Moravec‘s re-purposing of the simple pallet may be the most inspired of all: “A new transport vehicle brings change into the spatial perspective of a passenger in motion and generally changes the life of…
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The documentary The Viking of 6th Avenue chronicles the life and musical career of legendary New York icon Moondog. As a girl, I used to see him in front of Saks Fifth Avenue and other corners around town, a blind man in full Viking regalia. Many years later I would discover his music and learn his story…
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(Video link HERE.) Over the past few weeks, we’ve inadvertently collected three strangely fabulous animal videos and gifs. (We recommend watching with the sound off.) The first is of a guy transporting his goat on a bike…and the goat holding tight and looking like he travels that way all the time. The second,
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Is it chalk, or spray paint or regular paint? Whatever…we wish more sidewalks looked like this. Thanks Holton!
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We are stunned by the really ill-considered design of this slickly-renovated home (house tour here). The sofa is placed AWAY from the garden view and facing a wall unit!! A simple fix would change the whole flow of the room (you can really see it in the floor plan, below)…
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Lately, we’ve been seeing some appealing images of watercolor walls. Hmmm. Nice. Of course we thought, we’ll do that ourself. Easier said than done. From our limited knowledge of it, the beauty of watercolor has much to do with the paper, which allows the paint to bleed in interesting ways. So we started hunting for solutions.
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(Video link HERE.) Some people like watching this with the sound cranked up. We find it more beautiful OFF… ….a reminder of that the path can sometimes be obscured, but we must keep riding through as best we can… via The Dish
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Holton Rower sent us his latest off-the-cuff improvisation, done while making dinner: an inspired fake fingernail made of celery. Hmmm. Wondering about that exact moment when Holton SAW the possibilities in an ordinary stalk of celery.
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Recently, we came across a house tour of a highly renovated apartment in Madrid. It included one “before” picture that made our heart sink: OMG, we thought, look what they covered up! During the demolition, a beautifully textured wall was revealed.
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We are struck by the many similarities between the iconic American Adirondack chair designed in 1903 and the Crate Chair Dutch architect Gerrit Rietveld designed in the 1930’s. We’ve investigated ones to buy, and plans that would allow you to make an interesting fusion of the two —all great, indoor and out.
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We learned of Irish poet John O’Donohue when reader Mary Kelly sent us his powerful words in response to our post about Human Error Messages. She wrote: John O’Donohue, who wrote Anam Cara: A Book of Celtic Wisdom and who celebrated our wildness and crazy strength, often has words that dissolve hardness inside me – I read…
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As caregiver for our friend who had a big crisis recently, we’ve been trying to go with the flow of things NOT going as expected, and noticing the miracles in the midst. It may be the biggest lesson of an improvised life. So we’re taking the holiday to hang out with our pal and DO NOTHING except…
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The city is quiet already, as many people have blown down in preparation for their 4th of July celebrations. In case you need a few ideas while you do your shopping, here’s some of our favorite summer recipes. Most are easy to make; all are delish and perfect for a summer evening, from Mamma Lucia’s Insalata…
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(Video link HERE.) From Susan Dworski: How better to shout summer? A totally nutball, breakout romp in Mother Nature. Parental guidance: shots of fat guys in their underwear hugging trees.
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While we were writing about Karl Lagerfeld’s bathroom, we remembered an image of his library that we’d posted years ago. Lagerfeld seriously loves books and has found ways to house LOTS of them. We’re interested in how he arranged them. The interplay of vertical and horizontally stacked books makes for a pleasing graphical look while allowing…
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In 1956 Italian industrial designer Achille Castiglioni created “COLORI E FORME NELLA CASA D’OGGI”, the installation of a living room at Villa Olmo, a neoclassical villa located in the city of Como, northern Italy. When we saw images of it, we flipped. It is such a far cry from the sterile interiors we see so often today; it’s…
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Grant Snider nails it again. What leaps are you afraid to make? (Make a list, real or imaginary, of what they are and why you want to make them.)
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