elements
modknobs.com
When we saw this cunning walnut doorknob from ModKnobs, we imagined it to be the perfect knob for our bathroom door. But when it finally arrived, the knob we thought so fab turned out to be huge and clunky, way out of scale for the space (see photo, below). We had neglected to take note of the knob’s actual dimensions and hold a template up in the space to see if it would work. Not only did we have to pay return shipping but a restocking fee as well, all because we had neglected a simple step.
It reminded us of other common mistakes we made when ordering hardware online during the Laboratory’s renovation. We learn our lessons the hard way! Like all lessons, some good came out of it; it lead us to create our 7-Step Guide to Buying Hardware Online so you can avoid our mistakes when you buy hardware:
read more…
05.14.13 |
comments |
in elements, how-to, inside, resources, stores |
Karin Matz Arkitekt2
Always on the lookout for clever way to divide and define a space, or give the illusion of different areas in an open space, we really like these clever “screens” from Swedish firm Karin Matz Arkitekt. They’re made of made from blue polypropylene string strung tight from floor to ceiling with hardware store fittings: simple, inexpensive materials, carefully thought out. read more…
05.07.13 |
comments |
in cheap + great, copy this!, d-i-y, elements, materials |
Sally Schneider
For the renovation of my 1,000-square-foot ‘Laboratory’ in New York City, my mission was to open up the space to the spectacular park view AND fluidly accomodate an open kitchen, workspace, dining area, and living area. To do this, I removed a small bedroom to dramatically expand the main room and built an office area along one 15′ wall in the big space. The pressing question then became: how to “disappear” or close-off the office so I could “leave” my work? (This is the great dilemma of people who work at home; I learned the hard way that sleeping where you work is NOT a good idea.)
I discussed the problem with Scott McFarlane, an interior designer I consulted with early on in the project. A curtain won’t do”, said Scott. “It’s not substantial enough. You need to close your work off with a WALL, that will really make you feel it’s gone.” He thought for a moment. “I remember seeing a mechanism that was basically flat panels that roll on a track to become a flush wall that would conceal the office. When you rolled them back to reveal the office again, they would “nest” in a specially built nook.”
We found the mechanism — called the Aperto 60 H Operable Wall System read more…
04.30.13 |
comments (5) |
in cool spaces, elements, inside, materials, resources, storage, stores, walls + windows, working |
We’re smitten with the Quad Trivet a cool Indegogo project. It consists of 16 wooden cubes — oiled walnut or maple — connected by a flexible, durable, heat-resistant silicone strip inserted in the underside of the cubes. This structure allows various configurations and different applications ranging from a compact squares and rectangles to a widespread circular shape.
It’s a trivet you can configure to any size pot, a design game you can play with and leave sitting on a coffee table….We’re thinking we’d wear it as a necklace. read more…
04.24.13 |
comments (1) |
in elements, housewares, inside |
pixersize.com
When we saw this image featured under Bedrooms on a design blog, we instantly thought: what a great solution for jazzing up a place, like the drab walls of a rental studio a friend is struggling to make into a home, however temporary. We started looking into services that make wall murals, imagining cool images from ourarchive wrought BIG.
First we came across Murals Your Way, a service will make any high-resolution image you have into a 6-x-4-foot mural on canvas, fabric-backed vinyl or a repositionable material. If you planned it right, you could forge a really huge mural by seaming together smaller panels. Murals Your Way’s faq gives a sense of what’s possible, and there are A LOT of possibilities.
Then when we were hunting around for the photo credit for the bedroom image, above, we discovered that the mural came from Pixers, a company that sells bespoke wall murals read more…
04.23.13 |
comments (1) |
in cool spaces, elements, inside, resources, services, walls + windows |
moonishco.com
Just as we posted about the many possibilities for using plywood as a wall covering, we learned of this brilliant play on the idea: moveable MAGNETIC silkscreened tiles made out of plywood. They are the brainchild of Giovanna and Matt Taylor, a couple who had never designed before. Remembering the blue-and-white ceramic tiles of her Italian childhood, Giovanna imagined lightweight wooden tiles with magnetic backing would allow for endless applications and arrangements from wall art, to back splashes to headboards to….The couple started making them in their Brooklyn shop and Moonishco was born. read more…
04.17.13 |
comments |
in copy this!, d-i-y, diy, elements, inside, materials, walls + windows |
photo: chris warnes
Two images spotted on Japanese Trash recently opened our eyes to the possibility of using geometic cuts of plywood veneers as a wall covering. Ah, no, on closer inspection, the fireplace surround above appears to be stone…but it COULD be done with plywood…
Why not?
To get a sense of range of possibilities, we recommend read more…
04.11.13 |
comments (2) |
in cool spaces, copy this!, d-i-y, elements, inside, materials, resources, walls + windows |
younghouselove.com
Recently, a friend mentioned her attempt to paint her wooden kitchen cabinets white using latex paint. Several months after she’d completed them, they’d yellowed and were difficult to clean. We’ve heard that complaint before about latex-painted furniture, and experienced the way it can remain “sticky”, a serious problem with bookshelves. We’d always thought that oil-base paint was the only serious solution. Fortuitously, Jim Dillon, a reader and cabinet maker, had just commented on our ‘the magic of an orange table top + high gloss oil paint‘ post, sharing a water-base solution he’d discovered in his furniture-painting forays.
…it was one of those techniques that I heard about in passing and tried out because it met the needs of the moment – - I had a client who wanted me to build new built-in bookcases and paint them white. Somebody told me this was the solution to books sticking to painted bookcases in August humidity, and it worked too well to not try in other places.
Try it he did, with great success. read more…
04.10.13 |
comments (2) |
in copy this!, d-i-y, diy, elements, how-to, materials, resources |
A slab of wood on a repurposed base made fab by the orange lacquer surface: the miracle of high gloss paint.
The secret to getting truly shiny high gloss is to use oil base (alkyd) paint. When we did side-by-side tests of high gloss alkyd and water-base latex paint we made a big discovery: the latex doesn’t shine or reflect nearly as much as the Alkyd. On a table, it will be prone to waterspotting and staining.
For those who are adverse to using alkyd paint, we wondered if you could use latex paint and seal it with a high gloss polyeurathane. We asked a friend who seems to know everything about paints and fine fixes for interiors. He said: read more…
04.04.13 |
comments (5) |
in d-i-y, elements, how-to, inside |
Lynsey Fryers
Every since we wrote about artist Dieter Roth’s work tables, which he covered with sheets of thick artist’s paper so that they would capture the processes of whatever he was working on, as well as notes and scribblings, we’ve loved the idea and have used it. Recently, we stumbled on a clever iteration: use a swatch of Kraft paper as your surface. Rolls of Kraft paper are cheap (48″ x 200′ roll of kraft paper
$20!)and great to have on hand for a variety of uses, from drawable gift wrap to instant dining table “cloths” and place settings .
via Desire to Inspire
Related posts: dieter roth’s workspace + the courage to ‘leave crap the way it is’
kraft paper table “cloths” and place settings
d-i-y post-it table
at last, the right size sticky note (to buy or d-i-y)
graphing novels, business plans and other big ideas
04.03.13 |
comments |
in cheap + great, d-i-y, elements, inside, materials, resources, working |
How to Be a Minimalist, Grant Snider‘s wise info-graphic (below) states “Less is more difficult than it looks“. I didn’t really understand this idea until I was costing out ‘the Laboratory’s renovation. In trying to implement some of the clean, minimalist design ideas I’d been collecting for years, I discovered that minimal is generally more expensive than ‘standard’. While it gives the illusion of simplicity and spare living, it can cost a lot, largely because the various disguises that hide ugly joints and inner workings are stripped away.
Take doors with no mouldings or visible hinges like the one above, for example. Since the jamb (the vertical portion of the frame onto which a door secured) bears the weight of the door through its hinges, its strength is vitally important to the operation and durability of the door. In traditional doorway treatments, the jamb is built into the wall around the door and then disguised by moulding which is simply tacked on, like this one: read more…
04.02.13 |
comments (3) |
in before + after, elements, inside, learn, paths + processes, signs, solutions |
Max Lamb
Ever since seeing designer Max Lamb‘s polystyrene bookcases, we’ve been huge fans of his work. He loves making things and lends an artist’s eye to fine craftman’s projects, documenting each step of his process to share on his website. We’ve learned a huge amount from looking at Lamb’s projects, many of which are do-able by any handy person. Take his DIM Shelf that he designed and made with Marco of the wonderful New York City store Kiosk, highly-edited selection of local products plucked from around the globe. DIM stands for Do-It-Myself, a concept that somehow makes DIY even more possible and real.
The shelving, which appear to be inspired by Enzo Mari’s Autoprogettazione (which we wrote about while back), were made out of standard ‘off the shelf’ timber bought at hardware stores: 1″ x 3″ pine (which for some strange reason is actually 3/4″ x 2 1/2″), and 1″ x 1″ (3/4″ x 3/4″) slats, plus a few boxes of screws. Most of the building took place on Kiosk‘s roof.
Here are our select’s from Lamb’s many DIM photos of the project (you can see every step here.) Definitely DIM-able.
read more…
03.21.13 |
comments |
in d-i-y, elements, furniture |
