bath

reader survey: what are your favorite bathroom reads?

Ellen Silverman

Ellen Silverman

Bathroom reading is a specialized and very personal genre of literature. I imagine everyone has his/her idea of what passes muster for bathroom reading, what its essential qualities must be. Of the books that have had a place on my makeshift bathroom shelf (a pipe) for some time  - as opposed to magazines or newspapers that come and go- I look for books that I can open anywhere and find something entertaining, illuminating or educational. Proper beginnings and endings don’t matter. A folding aluminum camp stool (yikes!) I bought at the flea market serves as a book stand.

As a way of finding interesting new things to read and share in the unique sensibilities of ‘the improvised life’s readers, I invite you to join in our first reader’s survey. Please take a few minutes to list your favorite bathroom reads in the Comments.

I’ll start with my current line-up (and an excerpt I came across today): read more…

11.16.09 | comments (8) | in bath, bathing, resources books + zines, share |

repurpose: japanese screen as window “shade”

Suzanne Shaker

Suzanne Shaker

Suzanne Shaker, whose spare modernist house was posted here a while back, wanted a window shade for her bathroom that afforded some privacy, let light in and didn’t block the view completely. She found an old japanese screen with paper on the back that was ripped. She removed the paper and her husband Pete added hooks and simple chain. It’s a beautiful bit of repurposing. Here’s another picture. read more…

10.12.09 | comments | in bath, elements, inside, repurpose, solutions, walls + windows |

dept. of subtle taboos: bathroom computer

Ellen Silverman

Ellen Silverman

It’s weird how easily taboos can sneak into our thinking: subtle, almost unconscious “don’t do that”s or “that’s not normal” or “not done”, that keep the status quo. They can apply the all sorts of mundane parts of our lives, and especially our living spaces. The standard height of kitchen wall cabinets is 18 inches above the counter which makes the work surface feel oppressive…why not make them higher? Why not make counters deeper than the standard 24 inches so there’s plenty of room to work, even if the carpenter or contractor says “You CAN’T”.

Ask “Why?” and you often get the answer “Because that’s how it’s ALWAYS done”. “But,” you ask, “if it’s the same amount of work to put an outlet in the middle of the wall (where it’s glaring and ugly) as it is to put it close to the counter where it blends in…why not do it the way that looks best, or is best for the way I live my life?”  It can take persistence to identify an everyday taboo, and then to break it.

But taboos also apply to how we live, and what we think we can and cannot do. read more…

10.06.09 | comments (2) | in bath, bathing, elements, principles, reimagine, why not? |

brass hooks with possibilities

hook-11

A big part of improvising is imagining possibilities, or “listening” to the possibilities inherent in a situation or a thing. That can mean any thing, even something as ordinary as a hook, though its always easier if it has a simple, rather classic design that can work in a variety of situations. The trick is to ignore what the item was originally designed for. This handmade brass boat hook from the great, bordering-on-fetish website Hook Lady is a fine example. It is at once handsome, understated, and elemental, both modern and rustic. It would work equally well as a bathroom towel hook, a closet hook, key hook, fireplace tool hook…as coat hooks (a row of them on a wall by the door), or, as a “pot rack” (many hooks composed in stacked rows or  as a cluster on an entire wall of a kitchen)… read more…

09.02.09 | comments | in bath, elements, housewares, inside, reimagine, solutions, stores |

copy this: wood block toothbrush holder

oakblock-toothbrush-holder1

Cut a length from a block of some nice looking hard wood…
Bore holes in the end (big enough to hold toothbrushes) with a thick drill bit…
Sand if necessary.

Or,  just buy them in oak at the wonderful Bailey’s Home and Garden.

01.23.09 | comments (3) | in bath, elements, hard, housewares, how-to, repurpose, solutions |

 
 
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