In cities across America, pigeons are widely viewed as “garbage birds”. They feed on whatever is around, drink from sidewalk puddles, and seem to fly only a few feet at a time. We’ve heard them called “the rats of the bird world”. Since we moved across the way from an expansive park, our view of…
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Remodelista recently featured the clever redesign of a 430-square foot-apartment in a century-old row house in Antwerp, the work of Belgian architecture firm Komaan! —translation, “Come on!” It’s full of good ideas, including clever layout that creates a fluid space with lots of storage, and interesting use of plywood, but our favorite is the floors: sheets of…
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When we’re a little blue, or wondering where we’re heading, we find it helpful to look beyond our own small life and get a bigger picture. And the best way we know to do that is to look at either nature, or art, or both. The person we know that combines these two transformative forces…
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Susan Dworski sent us an email recently with images of a dish from Green Kitchen Stories: Shakshuuka with Hummus and Sweet Potato Chips, and this note: We eat Shakashuka for Sunday night supper at leasst twice a month. Or more. My recipe is very similar to this one, but their hummus sounds great. And the chips.…
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We would happily give every Improvised Life article away for free —all 3000 of them— as we did for nearly five years with great pleasure… …if we could.
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The weather’s so beautifu, it makes us think of going on a road trip. Dave Hax’s fast-and-minimalist packing job begs the question: What do we REALLY need to take with us? via i.imgur Thanks Holton!
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This clever bread board bird feeder reminded us of the endless odd permutations on the theme of bread boards we’ve written about before, and of the vast possibilities for using wood planks in general for household projects, from a ledge to perch on top of the back of the toilet tank to a low bookshelf…
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One of the great gifts of Improvised Life has been correspondence with readers, who are a mightily varied, creative and surprising group of people. Recently, Michigan-based engineer Kevin Neff, responding to the contest/challenge we published a few weeks ago, has been advising me on how to rig my bed to stop it from transmitting the mysterious…
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A rough peephole carved out of a wall in what may just be an abandoned house… frames an unexpectedly lovely view…like a little painting. (It’s a new iteration of the “holes in walls” we love so much.)
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Several weeks ago, in desperation, we posted a challenge to our readers to come up with solution for our vibrating bed, which, shaken by some mysterious force, wakes us in the wee hours of the morning. Until we find the source, we are hoping to find a way to keep the bed from shaking, so we…
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We recently stumbled across a couple of images from Decoracion, which features the work of Spanish interior designer Jaime Parladé. We love Parladé’s use of the elements of a living room: a cotton rug, a shelf of objects, a painting, unexpected tiles, a basket trunk, to give a bathroom a more UNbathroom like feel. Of all the elements in the…
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Susan Dworski sent us this powerful quote from poet May Sarton after we mentioned how helpful reading Pema Chodrun is during times of upheavel, accompanied by this note: Pema’s book is a standby at our house. Good call on that one. It reminded me of a quote from poet May Sarton that has always been an inspiration…
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The folks of Beaver Brook, “a forest preserve shared by a community of friends in Sullivan County, NY,” have put a creative twist on the traditional woodsy escapes we so lust after. Check out the wooden hot tub overlooking everything… …and the curvaceous little skate park flanked by acres and acres of trees… Everything communal and…
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Reader Zoe Komaransky writes about Matisse wondrous cut-out art. When he became so ill that he was bedridden or wheelchair bound and could no longer paint, he switched to making art with scissors and paper. Watching him inspires us to do the same.
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Since posting the sudden announcement a week ago that I would be taking a break due to a confluence of big life events, I’ve received the most generous response from Improvised Life’s readers: notes of sympathy, gratitude, understanding, support, all affirming that family is to be found in places we don’t often imagine.
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(Video link HERE.) Don’t know about you, but we could use some fantasy flying about now. Although we find ourselves a bit over saturated with GoPri videos and curiously jaded to their magical effects, not so with this video of acrobats “dancing” on the side of a building. We find it even more magical with the…
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Stumbled on at the great Aqqindex: an interior detail of Nemausus Housing designed by the great French architect Jean Nouvel. Rays of light painted or chalked on the wall. We also love the other odd shapes,
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Chris Eldredge recently sent this crazy-beautiful song by Abbey Lincoln (below). “These magic words in a magic book” seem perfect for re-entry to Improvised Life after the challenges of the past few weeks. Lincoln’s lyrics could be Improvised Life’s anthem and are a fine way to enter a Monday morning.
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