Many of the design suggestions in Remodelista’s “Expert Advice…for Creating the Illusion of Space” are indeed effective. Not this one. So we figured out some solutions…
Read MoreAnnals of Bad Design: Bigbelly Garbage Can
When solar-powered Bigbelly garbage receptacles appeared in my nearby park, their design flaws went way beyond their clunky visuals.
Read MoreAnnals of Bad Design: The Mixed Message Kitchen Island
In yet another high-design, uninhabited space recently sold at auction in Australia, we discovered a surprising design flaw at odds its superlative description. It made us look closely into kitchen islands, and the mixed messages they can inadvertently be made to send.
Read MoreAnnals of Bad Design: Glass Walled Bathroom in a Bedroom
Were we not in the real world, this glass enclosed bathroom might seem lovely and airy. But its ‘reality sandwiches’ are daunting.
Read MoreAnnals of Bad Design: Fitting Room Mirror Stenciled with Busy Signage
How nice to have a sign in a fitting room that says: If you don’t find what you are looking for, we can order it online. UNLESS that sign is printed in bold right in the center of the mirror you’re trying to see yourself in.. That is what I found at Zara, a store…
Read MoreAnnals of Bad Design? Cat’s Pajama Lounge Chair UPDATE
Ann Richardson emailed us her selection for inclusion in our ever-growing Annals of Bad Design: Blu Dot’s $499 Cat’s Pajama Chair. Her thoughtful commentary that made us laugh, as good dishing of bad design does. (This $39 Ikea chair blows it out of the water).
Read MoreAnnals of Bad Design: Strangely Phallic Coffee Table
Although we are huge fans of using tree parts and the natural world as furnishings, we were stunned to see this wildly impractical coffee table made of what appears to be bundled branches or driftwood of some sort. Is it just us or do they have strangely phallic shapes? (Not that we don’t like phallic shapes but…er..seems a bit…
Read MoreAnnals of Bad Design: Swing Day Bed + Wilcox’s GREAT Swing Chair
Years ago, we clipped this image from a design blog thinking: How lovely that looks, in its minimalist setting. Then we imagined lying on a swinging bed hung in a nook so near to a wall and could feel how jarring it would be if/when the suspended bed actually hit the wall. Much better it be…
Read MoreAnnals of Bad Design: COS Lightweight Backpack + Our FIX
When we looked at images of the COS Lightweight Backpack online and read the product description we thought PERFECT. Just what we’re looking for: Made from a lightweight technical fabric, this cotton-lined backpack has an all-over print and fastens using a magnet and wide drawstring. Multi-functional, it can also be worn as a tote bag…
Read MoreAnnals of Bad Design: Ill-Considered Sofa Placement
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)…
Read MoreAnnals of Bad Design: Hammock-Shaped Bathtub
After we posted about Calvin Trillin’s imagined “sling contraption” for a walk-in tub, we started hunting for images of what that might look like. Maybe there was such a thing already. Instead we found a tub that has made the rounds on design blogs: an elegant, sleekly-shaped fiberglass tub modeled after a hammock (a sling, of sort).…
Read MoreAnnals of Bad Design: Gigantic Glass Door Demands Clear Space to Open
The big glass picture window door looks great at first, affording an expansive view of the garden. But think of the arc of that door as it opens — a good 5 feet at least! You couldn’t have any furniture or planters in the way, because a door needs unobstructed space to open. The door then dictates…
Read MoreAnnals of Bad Design: Extra Deep ‘Luxe’ Sofas
The trend of the past several years to make sofas deeper so that they appear more luxurious is bad design in the name of the illusion of affluence and style. Here’s our thinking…
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 Moreannals of bad design? seating facing away from the view
We were AMAZED when we stumbled on this picture taken from a Sydney, Australia real estate listing : a porch with clunky, hard-to-move chaises all facing inside the house, away from the view. via desire to inspire Related posts: annals of bad design: mirrored credenza? annals of bad design?: sculptural bathtub annals of bad design:…
Read Moreannals of bad design: mirrored credenza?
Having installed quite a few mirrors into ‘the improvised life’s’ new laboratory, we’ve witnessed first-hand how quickly they show fingerprints and smudges, along with a streaky glare acquired a week or so after being cleaned. We’ve also been experiencing how much “shows” on or white high gloss doors and walls – and they don’t come…
Read Moreannals of bad design?: sculptural bathtub
Apparently this dramatic bathtub was made out of a “giant pebble-shaped granite piece brought back from Bali and sculpted”…The pipes fixtures are cleverly hidden in the wooden chest that sits next to it and the Baroque chandelier doubles as a shower head. Hmmmm…we’re serious fans of baths and wonderful bathtubs. Could this one possibly be…
Read Moreannals of bad design: the digital ‘new yorker’
When our friend Andrea Raisfeld sent us a compelling scan from Malcolm Gladwell’s piece Creation Myth in the May 16th issue of The New Yorker, we went online to find the story and explore its ideas more fully. In the process, the post we intended to write about the creative process turned into a post…
Read Moreannals of bad design: light in your eyes
At first glance, this attic bedroom seems utterly cozy and charming, until we imagined ourselves lying in bed with the light on, and the light bulb glaring in our field of vision, since we’d be looking right into the underside of the light (hot, too!) We’re wondering if the designer was so smitten with the…
Read Moreannals of bad design: stove window
We’ve just added this image to our file called “Bad Ideas”: ideas that look great, but practically speaking, are impossible to maintain. Most seem like a good idea for about a minute, until you try imagine the harsh realities of living with the them (which is our test for anything we put in our home…)…
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