Lately, we’ve been seeing appealing LOW shelves in some of the interiors we’ve come across. The low-to-the-floor horizontals they create have the effect of making the ceiling look higher, especially useful in low-ceiling rooms. We especially like the these clever shelves spotted at Il Richiamo Del Bosco (The Call of the Woods), and eco friendly bed & breakfast in Sala Baganza,…
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At But Does it Float, we were struck by this the title of a photography exhibition (not by the photographs). “How you see is what you get” is one of Improvised Life’s essential principles. NOT in the magical thinking way, that we will get everything we want if we just think a certain way. But in…
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We browse A LOT of websites in our search for illuminating content for Improvised Life that will inspire new ways of viewing every aspect of the everyday. We have a special fondness for interiors as we hunt for ideas we can apply to our own space, if only in our imagination. But we have grown…
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(Video link HERE.) We are knocked out by this video of the endless kinds of breath we humans experience daily, passively, actively…but mostly, unconsciously. It is a wonderful reminder of this mysterious intake/outtake of oxygen and expression…
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via centrolodigiani
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We’ve documented our friend Maria Robledo’s inspired vase-less flower arrangements before. Usually, she would lay gorgeous flowers from her garden right in the center of the table. Recently, in the East Coast dead-of-winter, Maria worked her magic with vin ordinaire flowers she bought at the deli down the street. Our pictures don’t do her lovely table justice,…
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Thomas Merton was a Trappist monk of one of the most rigorous orders which he entered in his twenties after quite a wild youth. Merton sought and wrote so lucidly about cultivating a spiritual practice in modern life, that he has been likened to a zen monk in his simplicity, commitment and the breadth of…
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After a great deal of testing, and disappointment, we’re happy to say we’ve FINALLY found an LED bulb we can live with; with pleasing, BRIGHT incandescent-quality light.
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(Video link HERE.) Insanely beautiful and daring. The absence of any sound except the simple piano accompaniment punches up the stark black and white imagery as Sutton carves across snowbanks and threads through barren trees trailing a roostertail of powered crystals. May your Monday be this luminous. —Susan Dworski via Nowness
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The amazing Michael Grab is a master at balancing stones a practice that can be done by anyone, just about anywhere. It is practice that is amazingly absorbing and…balancing.
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We have a thing for custom-made wall paper, that is, wall paper with images we would love to see, rather than the usual flowers and stripes. Although we aren’t crazy about the DIY wallpaper we saw on San Francisco Girl by Bay recently, we LOVE and see huge possibilities in the process. Writes SFGBB Editor…
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(Video link HERE.) After a reader mentioned an episode of the Carole Burnett show riffing on The Princess and the Pea (a reference to our inability to sleep no matter what fix we do to the myseriously vibrating bed) we went hunting for it. We never found it* but stumbled on this extraordinary bit from…
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At twilight yesterday, we went into the park across the way to walk in a snowy field. The light was almost gone, the landscrape a blueish white. As we walked and looked around, our eyes focused on a message written in the snow. We could barely make it out, but found safe amonst the boot…
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My latest experiment to temper the mysterious vibration that shakes me awake each night was to apply a vibration directly to the bed to neutralize the irritating one.
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We are always interested to read advice of creative, original thinkers AND to see what of their wisdom we DON’T buy. We’ve learned the hard way that one size does not fit all. If we are going to forge our unique path, we’d do well to try out what we’re not sure of, embrace what works or rings…
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Feeling under-the-weather, we surfed the ever-inspiring Aqqindex and came across two seriously-stylish painted wood sofas, the top designed by Salvati and Tresoldi in 1978, the one below from Maison de Vacances designed Andre Monpoix in 1963. We imagined them as DIY’s we could make out of plywood and started hunting for more examples to…copy.
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(Video link HERE.) On the East Coast, our attention is on the monster blizzard heading our way and the constant notices of road and transit closings and a general feeling of… DANGER. On the West Coast, Susan Dworski in Venice, California reported “80 degrees with a weird red sky and bed sheets pulled off to wash are…
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We’ve long been fans of binder clips for all sorts of uses, including hanging unframed artworks. But we NEVER considered how beautiful vintage binder clips might be put to this and other uses, until we saw Remodelista’s recent article. They are prominently featured in the home of art collector and mid-century furniture dealer Demetrio Zanetti.…
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(Video link HERE.) Fast Forward* performing his Works for Mixed Metals seems like a perfect way to start the week. In a paint can factory in London in the summer of 1988, a young Fast shows us the music you can make with different metal objects, from paint cans to pipes. For us, the perfect morning…
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In the past week, I received two three affirmations that cookbooks I wrote years ago —The Improvisational Cook and A New Way to Cook —are still resonating strongly. Both encourage improvisation, while giving the thinking and logic behind recipes and techniques, understanding that is the essential jumping off point for improvising. Curiously, TWO emails raved about…
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