A few days after we returned from suddenly “going off the grid“, we received this remarkable comment from a reader named Susan Taylor: I think it is too soon for your return, take a couple of steps back off the grid. Your communique is too full of things to be done, perhaps urgently and the…
Read MoreHappy Thanksgiving from Improvised Life!
We returned home from Thanksgiving with friends to find this email from Sybille Palmer, a long-time reader: Let us treasure those who show up in our lives. Those who stand by our side. Perfect words.
Read MoreMorning Wakeup: Water Drumming Song
We find this wondrous water drumming song to be a perfect uplift; it’s from the Banks Islands, part of the northern Vanuatu in the Indian Ocean. Thirty-five seconds in and you will leap for joy. Of course we love that these women are hanging out together hip-deep in water, using IT as their instrument. And…
Read More20+ Last Minute Thanksgiving Food Strategies
For all of you scrambling (as we are) to wrap our heads around Thanksgiving, here’s our tried-and-true food traditions that lend themselves to tailoring and improvising.
Read MoreClever Art n’ Objet Ledge Headboard is DIY-able
Spotted at vtvonen: a clever, long, ledge that doubles as a head board and picture/object rail. Look closely and you’ll see that it is painted wood. We’re thinking “plywood box…easy enough to put together. It covers a lot of ground, keeping the room spaceious, with lots of room to place objets. via Vosge Paris
Read MoreBasho Haiku for Cabin Porn
The other morning, we opened our favorite book of haiku to this astonishing three lines by Basho, written in the 17th century. Life in this world— a makeshift hut like Sogi’s. Such pleasure, contentment, and wonder in a simple makeshift hut made us think of ones we’ve admired…
Read MoreVan Gogh’s Glowing ‘Starry Night’ Bike Path
Inspired by Van Gogh’s “Starry Night”, Dutch designer Daan Roosegaarde created a wondrous solar-powered LED bicycle path that glows luminous green in the dark. The path, which has been likened to a “river of stars, fallen down ‘Starry Night’”, is located in Brabant, the county where the painter was raised. How wonderful it would be as…
Read MoreEssential Lessons about White Painted Floors
Recently, a reader wrote us about our white painted floors: Your white floors look amazing. How are they holding up over time? I’m interested in doing the same in my house but there are lots of naysayers saying they won’t be durable enough to retain the sleek look. I love my pale floors which are…
Read MoreWilliam S. Burroughs on Finding Answers and Making Changes
Sometimes we work SO hard that our health suffers with ailments like back pain or fatigue…Then we employ these tactics, and take a cue from William S. Burroughs…
Read MoreGoing AWOL
(Video link HERE.) It has been a TIME the past five months, with serious life events that have continued since June. Just as we’ve gotten our balance, another big wave hits. They say that big things happen in clusters and they have for us; we’ve been improvising like crazy, finding many unexpected answers as we…
Read MoreThe Beauty of Unfinished…and Asking for Help
This image of musician Amanda Palmer in Brain Pickings reminded us how beautiful walls intentionally painted in a rough “unfinished” line can be. But the real gift was this little video of Amanda Palmer talking about why it is so difficult—and can be so healing — to ask for help, which is the subject of…
Read MoreGif of the Week: We See These As Ideas
… … via Patakk
Read MoreA Metal Frame Lounge Chair-Fort
The forts and bunkers of his childhood inspired Czech designer Michael Tomalik to design a wire frame chair that is “a place of convenience, comfort and personal repose“. His monkey-bar-ish construction is a kind of grownup fort, made comfortable with giant pillows and outfitted with books, plants, and a light (to which we’d add a shade and…
Read MoreCelestial Music via Sen’s Sculptural Instrument
(Video link HERE.) We know nothing of how Turkish musician, Görkem Şen came to create the Yaybahar, his rather magical acoustic instrument made of fretted strings, coiled springs and frame drums. He plays it with a bow or a wrapped mallet or just his fingers, switching between them like a dancer to create hypnotic, crazy-beautiful and unexpected sounds. It’s…
Read MoreTiny Transforming Apartment Yields One Big Idea
(Video link HERE.) We find this video of a tiny apartment* in which each piece of furniture transforms into something else strangely compelling, all the while feeling that having to transform EVERYTHING in our place would drive us mad. It did give us some ideas, one in particular that solves a design problem we been struggling…
Read MoreCool Wall-Mounted Kraft Paper Dispenser
We use Kraft paper all the time for jobs around the house — as a big page to block out ideas, a drawable tablecloth, decoratable wrapping paper, table protection when doing messy projects, and desk blotter/notepad. Right now, we have the roll standing upright in our tool closet. When we need paper, we have to unroll…
Read MoreTiny Powerful Practice: Notice What You Notice
Note to Self: Starting NOW, practice noticing what I notice. What am I tuned into? Through what filter am I viewing things? What’s of real interest, gives true pleasure?
Read MoreWaterfall Swing
(Video link HERE.) It’s about time someone devised Waterfall Swing. Perfect for warm weather refreshment. We thought. When we read the fine print we discovered that this whole rig of water jets is computerized to predict the action of the rider. The computer creates a “hole” in the wall of water, to allow the rider to…
Read MoreImaginings: A Jigsaw Puzzle Floor?
Wandering around Artists and Craftsmen the other day, we came across jigsaw puzzle blanks meant to be painted or printed on to make a custom jigsaw puzzle. We saw the jigsaw pattern as an interesting possibility for a ….floor, no doubt inspired by our white-painted plywood floors with their geometric grid of seams. From the beginning, we’ve thought…
Read MoreTravel the Planet, for a Bigger View
A new favorite way to start or end the day is a visit to Planet, As you scroll down, you see astonishing, full screen vistas taken taken from the International Space Station as it orbits the Earth in 93 minutes at an altitude of around 400 km. The notations on the screen help orient. It feels as…
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