Early on in Improvised Life’s posting days, we published quite a few articles about the wonders of chalkboard paint. Then it began to seem a trend of the past. Not so, we realized on seeing this room by interior design firm, Ashe + Leandro. It is a swell material for transforming an adultish space, inviting all…
Read MoreAlthough we’ve been a big fan of chalkboard paint in the past, we were feeling it a bit overdone until we saw this chalkboard-painted armoire. What a clever way to cool out a big piece of furniture: cover it with a poem, quote or any other bit of writing: the perfect balance! via Vosges Paris…
Read MoreWe’re crazy about this smudged chalkboard wall – no words – that reminds us a bit of the chalky walls in Paolo Soleri’s Cosanti. And that got us thinking about how we might mix custom-colors of chalkboard paint (for writing or not) in colors that we LOVE, like an this odd green, or a rich…
Read More“This is what thought looks like” begins Dennis Overbye’s article about Jessica Wynne’s remarkable photographs of mathematician’s blackboards, that reminded us of Steiner and Cy Twombly…
Read MoreThis interior by designer and stylist Carlos Mota jumpstarted two great ideas for our space. We wondered: Is that a painting or a framed chalkboard, wiped out in the most purposely smudgy way, with nude drawn on it? We love the idea of a chalkboard framed to be a constantly changing artwork. And especially a nude smack in the…
Read MoreSome time ago we wrote about IdeaPaint, special paint that can turn any surface into a dry erase “white board”. You can write all your brilliant ideas on it with markers, then wipe them off when you don’t need them anymore. Now the IdeaPaint people have come out with a great variation on the theme:…
Read MoreWe love this imperfect round of chalkboard painted on a wall. It made us think “Oh yeah….why not paint chalkboard paint in odd or organic freeform shapes on the wall, instead of the usual rectangle? Or perhaps a long thing strip/stripe across a whole wall…. You can buy chalkboard paint here. via Style Files Related…
Read MoreWe were browsing through sylist Sara Sjögren’s website, when we came across several rooms decorated with painted panels. Easy-to-d-i-y rectangles of plywood or stretched canvas painted (or sprayed) with a single vivid color bring these rooms to life (imagine them without the panels and you see what we mean)…
Read MoreWe found this good idea in Covet Garden, an appealing online shelter magazine that features spaces of real people (slightly ripping off The Selby‘s questionnaire). Here, Photographer Tracy Shumate’s converted factory space…”Necessity being the mother of invention, Tracy uses large MDF panel covered in chalkboard paint to hide her unsightly electrical panels.” Here’s another iteration…
Read MoreSometimes when I need a diversion from writing, I poke around location scout Andrea Raisfeld’s website of interesting spaces for rent for photography locations. You can browse by type (apartment, barn, log cabin…), or description (contemporary, Modernist, Swedish…), or even by a feature (bunk bed, river, treehouse), and so on. I always find unexpected ideas there, like…
Read MorePamela Hovland alerted me to these cool jars that have chalkboard labels so you can just scribble the contents (or the date) with chalk. You can by them at Rockett St. George for 12.50 euros and have them shipped from the U.K. OR you can rig your own. Paint labels directly on jars using chalkboard paint by hand…
Read MoreChalkboard paint is one of the best inventions to come down the line in some time, due in large part to it’s improvisation-inspiring nature. There seems to be no end in sight to the uses people are devising for it. A current favorite: this ’70’s Volkswagon painted with chalkboard paint that I stumbled on on Flickr.
Read MoreEvery year, we celebrate the theme of alternative, stres-reducing ways to experience the holidays. If you’ve got a chalkboard painted wall OR slab of wood, or a huge sheet of paper (we’re thinking our big roll of Kraft paper we keep on hand) you can draw a tree or ANYTHING in chalk or pastels. Here’s some inspiration.
Read MorePocket doors largely lay hidden UNTIL they are pulled closed. We love the surprise of this yellow-painted door: an instant volume of color to shift a space. Pink perhaps or dark dark gray? The effect works best with a simple flat panel door. And then, of course, there are many possibilities for patterns and signs…
Read MoreWe love the glossy white wall tiles used as white board at Bar & Co. a bistro-style bar in Helsinki, a great idea for a kitchen wall. We’re suddenly viewing our oversized rectangular bathroom tiles in a new way: message boards (with the possibility for leaving little wash-off-able notes in a normally scriptless room).
Read MoreAfter we posted about clear white board paint, which would allow you to write/and erase any wood or painted surface, Diary of a Tomato alerted us to the very cool alt-whiteboards spotted at Noma Foodlab, an ambitious restaurant and food “experimentarium” in Copenhagen. In the huge high-design loft space, big slabs of glass are afixed to the walls to display…
Read MoreWe’ve just returned from a visit to Helvetia, West Virginia where two dear friends had passed away within a couple of weeks of each other. Both lived long amazingly rich lives that touched a great many people. We came home tired, thoughtful, amazed, sad, inspired…and slowly started back to work on ‘the improvised life’. As…
Read MoreWe love maps of ideas and are inspired by this photo published in last weekends in Sunday New York Times Business Section. It got us thinking about how to create a good-looking erasable wall without having to use chalk. (Chalkboard paint is GREAT in many places, but we wondered about other options.) We thought of the “whiteboard” often…
Read MoreFor a while now, I’ve been collecting pictures of dream houses. Collectively, they fuel my imagination for the house I hope to have one day. Most aren’t perfect, but either have a feeling I like, or some elements that I’d cut-and-paste into the design of my someday home. They are a way for me to…
Read MoreMany of the design suggestions in Remodelista’s “Expert Advice…for Creating the Illusion of Space” are indeed effective. Not this one. So we figured out some solutions…
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