Many 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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How to Read a Heart (Anne Herbert)
We’d never thought what a Valentine heart could mean beyond a general feeling and expression of romantic love until we read these words by the great Anne Herbert…
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How to Maintain a Kind of Summer in the Horribleness of Winter
Roz Chast’s January New Yorker cover “Cruellest Month” made us laugh out loud. “I wanted to show just the horribleness of January.” Chast says. And she did. Then we thought of ways to change our winter mindset.
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Honey from a Weed: Simple Rice or Risotto with Dandelion (or other Greens)
It is weed season. Dandelions make me hunger for a simple dish I first read in Honey From a Weed, a cookbook I’ve continued to enjoy for over thirty years. The elemental Macedonian dish morphs into a splendid risotto.
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This Enters Through the Brain’s Back Door To Make You More Creative
Our reason for mixing poetry into articles about very practical matters is done with fierce intention: Poetry enters through our brain’s back door and shakes things up. We find that it helps greatly in envisioning possibilities…
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3 Essential, Startling Short Videos About Being Human
Since watching these extraordinary short videos, we found we have a very different, much softer view of the strangers we encounter.
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Graffiti’s Long Lineage Welcomes You In
At our Instagram SignLaboratory, we post a lot of graffiti: messages scribbled by valiant, expressive, anonymous souls as they move around the city. It is a fine practice: seizing a moment to scratch a subversive message. They are, more often than not, uplifting. We hadn’t thought of the lineage of graffiti until a friend showed us…
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That Plain Ikea Bed is a Canvas You Can Paint
We love this hack on the most vin ordinaire of Ikea beds by stylist Meta Coleman in her home in Provo, Utah: paint it PLAID. It made us realize that the plain white Ikea Malm Bedframe is really a nice blank palette with many possibilities…
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How to Say “Leave Me Alone”
We regularly go through periods of needing to retreat for a few hours or a day, just because…we’re tired, or a bit overwhelmed, or need to process something or just…rest. We chalk it up to our constitution, natural introversion, life. Although we know that EVERYONE goes through these spells, for one reason or another, barring just…
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More Signs + Blessings on Ephemeral Walls
We were walking by an empty storefront on Manhattan’s Upper East Side when we noticed that someone had written intriguing, inspiring, philosophical signs on the blank walls that were, no doubt, destined for renovation. Who had taken their marker and, with such bold strokes, written signs all over the place? We pressed our nose against…
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An Idaho Mom Defiantly Strips Down in an Idaho Market
Amy Pence-Brown, a 40-year-old Idaho mother of four and founder of the Boise Rad Fat Collective Facebook, stood stripped down to a bikini in a busy Boise market, blindfolded herself and invited people to write on her body. Her mission statement was scrawled in chalk on the board beside her: “I’m standing for anyone who has struggled…
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A Hidden Pocket Door Surprises with Color
Pocket 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…
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Personal Celebration: Vivid Colors for Hair, Face, Body (DIY)
During dark winter, I recommend using hits of brilliant color across bare skin and hair to brighten things up a bit, especially for holiday parties. I suppose you could call these beauty tips, but they’re also all about breaking the rules and trying out the unexpected. Unlike what maddening women’s magazines might tell you, there is…
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A Splash of Light Painted on the Wall
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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Why Walking Helps Us Think + Create
In this week’s New Yorker, Ferris Jabr describes research that shows why walking goes beyond being a great physical exercise, but a catalyst for creative thinking as well. We go for a walk daily in the park we look out on. Every time, we discover something new AND find our mind shifting, ideas sparking, problems beginning to yield. Nature reminds us of possibilities…
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Sidewalk Mandala
Is it chalk, or spray paint or regular paint? Whatever…we wish more sidewalks looked like this. Thanks Holton!
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6 Novel Approaches to a Non-Working Fireplace
When we saw “non-working” fireplace listed in real estate ads, we used to think “What good is that?”. Then we lost our space with a working fireplace and took the mantle with us; we realized just how great a non-working fireplace i.e. a mantle, can be. Depending on what it looks like and how it…
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An Art Collector’s Unconventional Library
César Cervantes is a Mexican art collector with an unconventional story and lifestyle. We love Cervantes’ comfortable library with a seating area of outdoor furniture (Reitveld crate furniture?) and the disparate collection of sagging shelves.
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Walls Painted with Volumes in Subtle Hues
Type “painted walls” into Improvised Life’s SEARCH box and you’ll find a trove of images of cleverly, unusually, oddly painted walls. Many have beautiful geometries that make them seem like a canvas. We stumbled on this beauty designer Rick Gillete created in 1976 at the great aqqindex. The volumes painted on the wall in subtle hues give unexpected dimension to the room.
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geometry painted walls
Spotted at French by Design a weeks ago: simple geometry shapes in related hues make for a pleasing optical illusion (our favorite). You get a feeling of light falling on the wall. We recommend Benjamin Moores flat matte Aura paint. It hides the flaws in imperfect walls and gives a deep, slightly chalky feel that…
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