We came across another good idea from the portfolio of journalist and photographer Amandine & Jules that seems to be something of a trend: NOT painting moldings and doors a separate color but rather the same color as the walls, to make a uniform, less busy and, depending on the color, more contemporary look.
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(Video link HERE.) Our friend Holton Rower wanted music to listen to while he fried his morning eggs. He couldn’t think of one band. Then he remembered a kind of Indian fusion music he liked from a dj with a name like Baad-something. So he typed B-a-a-d into Youtube and struck gold. He and his wife…
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Puppet artist Jim Hensen’s illuminating view of money was partial fuel for Improvised Life’s new Friends with Benefits program, through which we hope to continue to make “concrete things happen out of worthy ideas”, with our heart and principles intact.
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Just as we’re on the verge of buying a sewing machine so we can actually MAKE some of the things we imagine, we’ve been seeing images of beautiful patchwork rugs made out of vintage kilim remnants. Wondering if it would be possible to DIY them ourselves, we went hunting for kilim remnants.
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Eagle eyed Susan Dworski spotted this polka dot wall and floor in the portfolio of the write/stylie + photographer couple Amandine and Jules. We love the idea of a graphic element flowing from one to the other, softening angles, and make the space seem more…fluid. Here’s another example of using paint to define a space in…
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Recently, Sally showed me Gordon Marino’s NY Times article, “A Life Beyond ‘Do What You Love”. The gist: the oft-repeated 21st century American mantra of following your true passions — instead of dull but reliable career paths — is misguided. There’s a hint of naïve entitlement to making “Do What You Love” the be-all-end-all answer to the workday blues, just…
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We read Overflow Calvin Trillin’s one pager in the May 5th New Yorker on the subway and laughed out loud. We laughed again when we re-read it a month later to find this excerpt. Trillin’s piece describes a man desperately emailing a walk-in bathtub company — and other spammers — to STOP sending him offers. His IMAGINING just…
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We clipped another lovely, doable idea from the idiotic New York Times T Magazine article a few weeks ago about the Axel Vervoordt-designed “wabi wabi” penthouse at NYC’s Greenwich Hotel. A sheet linen bed spread. We thought right away of Rough Linen’s lovely Summer Cover, made of lightweight linen. We used one as a bed skirt and it…
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This image of a tall, thin sliver of mirror reminded us of one of our favorite tricks: using an inexpensive $11 hardware store closet door mirror as a sleek sliver of a view. We first discovered it when we found one of those mirrors left in the Laboratory when we took possession. We used it…
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John Brooker, a 75-year-old retired fan-maker in Norfolk, England, has spent 10 years patiently sculpting a hedge into a 100-foot-long dragon. We especially love Brooker’s reason for doing it, found in this succinct 50-second clip. It totally sums up the creative process and reminds us of Anni Albers’ great words about “listening”.
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Last Saturday, interior designer Suzanne Shaker emailed us images of the Strawberry-Rhubarb Crumble she was making at her wondrous Shelter Island home. The recipe is from Sally’s cookbook A New Way to Cook. On Sunday, Suzanne sent a follow-up email with a gluten-free improvisation she’d made on the basic recipe. We’re publishing the recipe, below, along with…
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It has been quite a couple of days since we LEAPT and launched our new Friends with Benefits subscription program. We’ve been knocked out by the generous outpouring of support in subscriptions, comments and emails sent. We are deeply touched and heartened. Thank you for being SO there. Photo via SF Girl By the Bay via…
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On Wednesday, Maria Robledo sent us this image of a quote by writer and civil rights activist Maya Angelou. The following day, we learned that Angelou had passed away. The women had a WAY with words and with living. So we’ve selected a few as tribute.
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Photographer Virginia del Giudice has both a wonderful eye AND, we discovered, a fine hand with fabrics. Witness her beautiful “fix” of some permanently-stained fabric. It reminds us of kintsugi, the artful repair of damaged things.
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These images Castello Sonnino’s frescoes that Peggy Markel emailed us from Tuscany got us thinking about mural services we’ve come across in our wanderings, and just what images we would put BIG on a wall.
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All morning long we watched as Tinypass alerts came into Improvised Life’s inbox, announcing subscribers to our new Friends with Benefits subscription service. They landed like butterflies, from people inspired by IL to help it survive, “being there” as we risk, leap, try, see what happens…
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At 70 years young, Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger recently became a great-grandfather CRASH! There goes the stereotype of what an aged grandpa looks like. Check out this clip.
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Artist Anya Gallaccio coated an entire room covered in thick dark chocolate, beckoning gallery visitors to lick, pick, stroke. Her work, she says, is about unpredictability in the materials and collaborations.
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When we first saw this cardboard laptop stand we thought: Who needs that? We can just rig a stack of books to raise our laptop. Then we saw it in action and thought of all the places it would be useful.
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After we’d been living in the Harlem Laboratory for a while and gotten our bearings, we turned our atttention to the 50-square-foot patio that overlooks a glorious park in New York City. What to plant? Our friend-with-a-green-thumb Maria Robledo said simply: “Grasses”. Grasses? “Yeah, plant ornamental grasses on one side of the terrace. They’ll form…
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