elements
For years we’ve enjoyed a mantle with no fireplace. It was taken out of an old house in Maine; it’s color, an ochre yellow milk paint. It leans as a sort of sculpture against the living room wall, defining the space in a unique way, and just like that, it is a pleasure. Then some images of fireplaces in modernist dollhouses (which are in themselves amazing) got us thinking about implementing the idea of “fire”, even without an actual fireplace: making some sort of trompe l’oeil image of fire… read more…
11.01.11 |
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in cheap + great, copy this!, d-i-y, elements, furniture, reimagine |
Spotted at Core 77: a floor-mounted Book Rail from the 1930′s. It’s an odd and beautiful thing that we never heard of before. It would make a perfect low-down display for objets or a moderne altar. Wonder where to get one or something like it… The one, above, is from Factory 20, a trove of vintage object in Sterling Virginia. It kind of reminds us of rough, low African stools that you can find on Ebay or at flea markets.
Dig this one-legged one we spotted on Ebay; it’s really a head rest but… what a thing to arrange things on…in perfect balance!! read more…
10.20.11 |
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in elements, furniture, inside, repurpose, resources |
photo: Terry Bordenave
We’ve long been a fan of using the flowers and seed pods of farmer’s market vegetables and herbs for our flower arrangements. But we hadn’t thought of dill weed flowers until Terry Bordenave sent us an email:
We subscribe to a new, small CSA in northern Vermont (Deep Earth Farm) and in one of our weekly baskets of produce, Josh & Isaac included a bunch of dill weed. After stripping off the leaves to use in a meal or two, I was left with these striking seed heads. They reminded me of fireworks bursting – I’m a big fan of them and my husband is a member of the Pyrotechnics Guild of America and puts on amazing displays for our family – and I wanted to use them at the table somehow. This is what I came up with. I left them in these old medicine bottles for about a month, and they began to dry up and curl a bit. Before I tossed them on our compost pile, I saved some of their seeds for next year’s garden.
It reminds us of all the great “weeds” that can be flowers, with a slight shift of view.
Thanks Terry!
Related posts: improv flower arrangement: pond in a vase
vase-less flower arrangement (right on the table)
alt flower arrangement: a little vase of herbs
impromptu fall flowers
10.12.11 |
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in cheap + great, copy this!, d-i-y, elements, inside, nature, outside, resources |
Dutch Interior magazine VT Wonen recently commissioned stylist Frans Uyterlinden to create interesting ‘show house’ using an eclectic mix of materials. (Check out a preview at VosgesParis). Our favorite bit: a bench/sideboard made by lashing together recycled boards. We see big possibilities in this idea… read more…
10.06.11 |
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in cheap + great, cool spaces, copy this!, d-i-y, elements, how-to, inside, materials, reclaim, resources, tools |
photo: michael mundy
One of the best virtual “house tours” we’ve seen of late was designer Scott Newkirk’s Brooklyn, NY apartment featured on Remodelista via An Afternoon With. Newkirk’s place is beautiful, completely unfussy and full of smart, do-able ideas that make great use of limited space. He’s culled many of his treasures at flea markets, transforming them in interesting ways. Newkirk “finds beauty in the ordinary”, evidenced by dramatic curtains made from rough burlap. We love his stacks of books that double as display shelf.
Details of the apartment are well noted, so you’ll find great information about materials you can apply to your own space… read more…
09.27.11 |
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in cool spaces, copy this!, d-i-y, elements, inside, people, resources |
photo: j. canosa
When Style-Files recently posted about furniture maker and interior designer Katrin Arens, we couldn’t help seeing a shipping pallet in her rustic dish rack. Or vice versa…
…h-m-m-m…take a slat or two away, or pull the whole thing apart to build with the slats you like…it’s a simple configuration…
…there appears to be no end to what a shipping pallet can be.
Related posts: painted shipping pallet coffee table
led-illuminated shipping pallet bed
d-i-y shipping pallet vertical garden
d-i-y shipping pallet wine rack + flat storage
the scoop on safe shipping pallets (shipping pallets 101)
09.22.11 |
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in d-i-y, elements, hard, housewares, inside, inspiration, materials, reclaim, repurpose |
photo: rikkianne van kirk
Our post on artist Holton Rower‘s gorgeous d-i-y leather cabinet pulls has been one of our most popular in recent months, and continues to make its way around the internet. But until yesterday, we hadn’t seen someone take the idea and make it their own. Rikkianne Van Kirk’s post on Re-Nest gives a step-by-step of the drawer pulls she made for an old desk, using an old leather belt that she cut into strips…the perfect material: strong, good-looking and recycled…
read more…
09.21.11 |
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in cheap + great, copy this!, d-i-y, elements, furniture, how-to, inside, materials, repurpose, solutions |
One of the most inspiring ideas we found recently in a photo of scuptor and designer Harry Bertoia‘s living room [See the clarification in Comments from Bertoia's daughter Celia] is not the famous wire mesh chairs he designed for Knoll in the ’50′s, but this simple hanging shelf. It’s made with cord strung through a piece of wood through which holes were bored. It is, essentially, a swing that is meant to convey a sense of air without moving wildly, for it holds a little sculpture – whose, we don’t know.
In the same image, there appears to be one of Bertoia’s sound sculptures, made with vertical metal rods. read more…
09.20.11 |
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in copy this!, d-i-y, elements, inside, materials, people, resources |
We spotted this charmingly painted wall of a Berber house in Ouno’s great post about the beautiful “broken” geometry of Berber rugs from the Beni Ourain region. We were intitially inspired by the idea of chalking or painting an image/pattern like this on the side of ANY building – a sort of mental d-i-y fantasy – when we got blown away by this bit of text about the rugs, which applies to so much else.
“this semi-controlled disorder is said to function as a talisman against evil and as a promoter of fertility. But it also seems to emanate from the nomadic culture’s more general tolerance of uncertainty, nothingness and change.”
The rug themselves offering curiously modernist designs to apply elsewhere, perhaps for painting fabrics, walls or floors. read more…
09.19.11 |
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in copy this!, elements, floors, inside, inspiration blogs + sites, resources, sightings, textiles, walls + windows |
photo: wendy goodman
We worked with Jeffrey Miller many years ago when he was prop stylist and always marveled at his wonderful eye. We also marveled at the apartment he lived in, which at the time was a tiny studio with a giant window on the lower east side of Manhattan. We loved its extreme minimalism which combined function and beauty way before those ideas became popularized. He’s in new digs now, which were recently featured in New York Magazine. For a guy whose work is fabulous stuff, his home is a story of extreme restraint and quirkiness. We love his door stop made out of a found rock tied with twine, and read more…
09.14.11 |
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in cool spaces, elements, inside, people, reimagine |
We totally love this collection by of elements and connectors for making whatever you want, designed by Louise Cohen. It is like a perfect fusion of built-it-yourself Lego/Tinkertoy/K’nex/ErectorSet-esque material for adults.
The CREATE YOUR OWN Collection is a building system consisting of 18 galvanized elements and 5 kind of connectors. According to individual desires unique living accessories can be composed.
Constructions for all kind of purposes can stand, lay or ride, hang from wall or ceiling. read more…
08.25.11 |
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in d-i-y, elements, furniture, gifts, housewares, how-to, inside, materials, resources, stores |
photo: sebastian bergne
We are slightly obsessed with the idea of using Lego’s to make functional objects that we can really use; it’s kind of a mindgame we play with ourselves that we hope to put into action one day, since you can now buy as much of any color Lego as you want at Lego stores across the country. We are inspired by two recent finds: London-based designer Sebastian Bergne‘s Lego greenhouse, that has live plants and vegetables growing within.. read more…
08.22.11 |
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in buildings, d-i-y, elements, hard, inside, lighting, materials, outside, projects + play, resources |
While we were away, a reader left a Comment in response to our post about Constantino Nivola’s Tinkertoy lamps. She described a trellis she had made out of vintage Tinkertoys bought on Ebay. She devised it to display her tillandsia, which are also known as air plants because they grow without soil and can be placed just about anywhere.
We wrote back asking if she had any photos. In a follow-up Comment, she sent us these photos which knocked us out: Tinkertoy as naturally sculptural, Bauhausian trellis! She also wrote:
Obviously, I’m no master of the Tinkertoy (or the photographic, for that matter) medium. And truth be told, I pretty much lack artistic ability, in general. However, one of the great things about Tinkertoys is that, even despite a complete lack of talent, you can at least count on being able to create something with some structural integrity. And with the size and overall shape you’re looking for. So, that’s good.
We were struck by her opinion of herself has lacking artistic ability and talent. read more…
08.17.11 |
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in cheap + great, copy this!, d-i-y, elements, garden, inside, paths + processes, reimagine, strategies |
