We recently read that President Taft had a sleeping porch built (below) on the roof of the White House in the 20’s. On hot summer nights, the first family could sleep up there to cool off. It allowed the President retreat up there to chill and look out over Washington. We love sleeping outdoors too.
We’re always on the lookout for cool impermanent shacks— “sky parlors” — that can be erected on a roof, a yard, even indoors as a rustic office or private space.
We recently received another inspiring fabric fix from Virginia del Giudice, photographer and co-owner of La Percalina, a fine vintage clothing shop in Buenos Aires.
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Our friend Cara De Silva sent us a link to images of trees growing through concrete, with these words. …I was startled and grateful when I looked at these beautiful and inspiring photographs. But not only for the usual reasons. For months now I have been seeing such trees as a metaphor,
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New York City’s Madison Avenue in the 70”s is among the toniest areas in the city. We were wandering there when we suddenly noticed this unlikely fence made of branches and twigs: a beautiful, unexpected DIY right dab in the middle of luxe (and a relief from the usual iron fencing! Look close and you…
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We stumbled on this lovely side table at the ever-illuminating Aqqindex. “Paint and parchment side table” was the only info. We instantly envisioned plywood, one of our favorite materials for its possibility and accessibility. You could make a table like this with three rectangles and two flat sides cut with whimsical swirls.
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We’ve come to love the word YES, and post it often as a reminder to embrace the opportunities that come along, and go with them. But we realize that there is a very important other side to YES, and that is being able to say NO.
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Years ago, we clipped this image from a design blog thinking: How lovely that looks, in its minimalist setting. Then we imagined lying on a swinging bed hung in a nook so near to a wall and could feel how jarring it would be if/when the suspended bed actually hit the wall. Much better it be…
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(Video link HERE.) There is something enchantingly low-tech and intimate about artist James Proseck‘s painstaking process of making this wonderful, public wall mural: painting bird silhouettes a la Field Guide series of nature books. His technique is very interesting and could easily be applied to the walls of any interior or exterior space – bedroom, dining…
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When uber-designer Stefan Sagmeister was asked “If you were to give advice on happiness—and I acknowledge that this is a tough question—is there one thing you’d suggest?” Write down 3 things that worked for you each evening, things you might be thankful for. I started an ical calendar that contains this and I just spend…
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Found on the great Aqqindex, which almost fetishizes design from the 70’s and 80’s: a vew of Ettore Sottsass and Aldo Cibic’s design of the Munari Apartment, from 1983. Dig thos wide, spare moulding around the door, the opposite in moderne uber-minimalist, and very exprensive none-at all moldings. Rather then the usual 2-inch wide compromise,…
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(Video link HERE.) I LOVE this video! Filmmaker/designer Casey Neistat describes his great Intuitive Categorization Method for organizing his tools and little stuff. I’m loving it especially because it showed up right on time, in time, this morning.
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(Video link HERE.) …perfect music for getting going on a Monday morning, as well as people dancing, leaping and gliding around in the most wonderful way (until the dark end). You can jump in anywhere to get a hit of LEAP energy. Not content to just click one link, we can’t help but follow trails. The…
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We know a number of people taking “stay-cations”, enjoying the city as though they were visiting it anew, filling themselves up with wonderful art, food, happenings, and not dealing with traveling for one reason for another. We’re going to do the same in a week or so, just so we can WANDER, without a…
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When we launched our new Friends with Benefits subscription programs, a number of people asked if we chose $18 as amount for a yearly subscription because 18 is a lucky number. “No, we didn’t.” we said, Tell us more!”.
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…never happens. But as we’ve experienced lately, some difficult stuff DOES happen. We couldn’t have predicted it, or prevented it. It’s LIFE. The best we could do is remember that there are answers and solutions in every moment, there to find. We think of artist/scientist Thomas Ashcraft’s great sign:
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These distressed, pastel painted wood panels from Urban Outfitters are enchanting, but why not use the idea as a springboard for a summer DIY project to install anywhere in the house or garden?
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We’ve had this fab, rare, 19C French dining table in storage, hoping that we’d have a place for it in the Laboratory. Unfortunately, it’s eight-foot length just won’t work in the configuration of our space. We’ve decided to sell it, for a steal. The buyer would arrange for an pay for shipping from Seattle (or pick it…
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(Video link HERE.) Recently we stumbled on this video of music made with rain drops. Rain as percussion instrument: MUSIC. It’s pretty swell, and very carefully thought out, with its haute technology and count of rain drops. We love Fast Forward’s Rain Music for it’s utter in-the-moment directness and accessibility. (Video link HERE.)
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Anthony Giglio is journalist, sommelier, and author of Food & Wine Wine Guides, Cocktails in New York and Mr. Boston’s Official Bartender’s Guide. He is wine blogger for Details and Improvised Life’s deviser of brilliant, simple strategies for celebrations both grand and low-key. Of late, Anthony revealed yet another side of himself: a superb storyteller whose personal stories move and transform. He brought…
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Here’s something to put up on your refrigerator door: a chart showing 72 practical uses of common “core” ingredients that make up our (far more expensive) store-bought soaps, lotions and surface cleaners. The idea is that all of the countless “new and improved!” drugstore potions lining our cabinet shelves are really just permutations of six or seven simple active components
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