One of our most popular posts has been Hangable, Folding Stools and Chairs, featuring 70’s industrial designer Roger Tallon’s brilliant stools that fold flat to hang on a wall. Our research has revealed no designs or knock-offs of the brilliant design for sale. So we figured out an approach to DIY…
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When downsizing or decluttering, we often feel the loss of the precious memories physical objects can be a reminder of. It is one of the more savage side effects of ‘decluttering’. Here’s a solution I found years ago when I had to give up some of my own precious possessions.
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After we transformed a linen sheet into a bedskirt, we stumbled on Eileen Fisher’s clever bedskirt made of three adjustable panels of fabric. You just tuck each panel beneath the mattress at the foot and sides of the bed to adjust it to any length you like. We started mulling how to make our own. Then we had a brainstorm.
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About the time we spotted Nadia el-Khoury’s chic, underlighted, slipcovered chairs in The New York Times Magazine, we saw this simple bed lit from underneath on poet Ocean Vuong’s tumblr.
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When a hugely-talented and hard-working friend was savagely comparing her progress to other people — mostly strangers — whom she perceived to be way more successful, masterful, and able than she, I did an intervention (one that I do on myself as well).
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After we stumbled on Amy Cropper’s Inverse —ash and hawthorn branches painted bright red —we wondered why more people didn’t simply paint dead trees and branches to tranform them, and turn them into…something else… form/artwork with a mysterious story. It sent us hunting for examples. And we found lots of inspiration…
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My wife and I had been interested in small, micro-sized startup ideas for over 16 years, at one point pursuing six projects at once. As you can imagine, we were spread so thin, none of the ideas took off. So we began looking for a simple way to manage the chaos of startup ideas and…
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As kids we loved old-fashioned vending machines that would drop a little plastic container holding a treasure — a ring, miniature toy, or candy — through the shoot when we put in a dime or a quarter. Lately, various iterations of poetry vending machines have been coming to our attention, perfect for our adult selves. Imagine…
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(Video link here.) Friday is the day we usually publish a recipe, hoping that it will prove a delicious weekend activity for our readers. While we recommend your checking out the menu and recipe links for the birthday dinner we’ll be cooking for a friend (at bottom), we can think of no better Spring activity than making…
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Two thoughtful contributors sent us info about making natural dyes to color your eggs for Easter or spring celebrations. It spurred us to hone a simplified method for naturally coloring glorious eggs, just in time for the Sunday hunt or gathering…
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We’ve tried numerous day/task planners in our quest for one that really works. We recently came across a graphical way to plan time that claims to liberate us from linear agendas and apps. The GutenTag Method features a clock face that you stamp into a notebook so you can graph you day around it. We found downsides and wonderful benefits once we started hacking the idea.
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The stylish French saleswoman at a NYC Megshop wore a men’s jacket with the back nipped in with a few stitches and the sleeves rolled up. It looked great! It got me thinking about even easier, less permanent ways to give instant form-fitting shape to a shirt, jacket or dress.
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Exploring images of La Maison Champs Elysees, a hotel in Paris’s right bank, we came across this wonderful linen slipcover that unites three upholstered chairs into a kind of sofa. Wonderful. How to do it?
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Bryan Landers, creator of the wonderful 3 Good Things app, has a lot of interesting ideas up his sleeve. At Medium, we found an article he’d written about making his own motivational phone wallpaper. His thinking is compelling and his method simple and easy. We tried it ourselves.
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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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Even in chilly climates and country settings, wood fires, the most ancient of heating methods, have begun to go out of favor due to health and environmental concerns. Still, a house that smells like wood smoke evokes primal memory and connection, as the poem below describes. Whether you live in city or country, it’s an easy feeling to…
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It’s curious how themes appear in our lives. We find a kernel of one and start thinking about it…and before we know it, we begin to find evidence of it in the most unlikely places. So it happened with Mo Khan’s charming vine of a diy magic carpet with power to transport. (It’s the only really good…
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There’s a reason legendary New York City department store Bergdorf Goodman offers 329 different options for candles, diffusers and home scents: they can be very effective in reducing stress and calming a room. But they are EXPENSIVE and you can’t modulate their intensity. Check out our surprising method for making a custom scented candle in just a few seconds…
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A fan of the big white cotton shirt, years ago I discovered that XXL MEN’s cotton poplin shirts could be had for about $25 at Target* and looked as good as the much pricier women’s version. Averse to ironing, I’d drop them off at the shirt laundry and ask for “extra starch”. At about $2 each, I’d live…
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Just as I was scrambling to pack and send off gifts to far-flung friends, a very interesting box, and idea, arrived for me. Artist and dear friend Lisa Morphew’s yearly Christmas box came decorated with trees in red marker and…a poem. It had been printed out and taped on the OUTSIDE, the name of the poet,…
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