Ideas and Experiments from Improvised Life‘s Harlem HQ
After Remodelista touted the virtues of the vin ordinaire hardware store porcelain light socket, we were reminded of the one that ended up on our wall during the Laboratory’s renovation. Overwhelmed by the all the details we needed to get together to make the space livable, we improvised, adorning it with lighting designer David Weeks’ clever,…
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We have a thing for industrial materials: the mysterious raw materials used by various industries that were traditionally off-limits to the public. Years ago, we learned that if we could find a source, we could buy them like anyone else. Recently, we had an adventure and lesson in the vast possibilities of rubber products (and made some big discoveries we didn’t expect).
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We chose plain white Corian for the countertops in the Laboratory kitchen renovation and love working on it: it presents a “clear” palet of a work surface that is a pleasure to prep food on. It’s ONE drawback that our old, visually-busy granite counter tops didn’t have: we can’t put a searing hot pot directly on…
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Early on in planning the Laboratory renovation, we started thinking of ceiling lights. Since the ceiling was only eight-feet-high, we were trying everything we could to give the illusion that they were higher, achieved mostly by replacing the squat doors with tall ones that created floor-to-ceiling vertical lines that made the ceilings appear higher. In…
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When we renovated the Laboratory, moving and installing our 25-year-old kitchen cabinets for the 3rd time, we indulged our minor obsession in the realm of dish drying accoutrements, hacking and customizing at will.
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This image of a tall, thin sliver of mirror reminded us of one of our favorite tricks: using an inexpensive $11 hardware store closet door mirror as a sleek sliver of a view. We first discovered it when we found one of those mirrors left in the Laboratory when we took possession. We used it…
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Many modern spaces, including our own Laboratory, suffer from having so many right angles, rectangles, linearity, that they can be a bit harsh. The simple solution is to shake them up with rounds, patterns, art. We love the solution in this image found at Bohemian Homes:
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We know a lot of people who have created standing desks and love them (and we’ve posted over the years.) They generally feel energized because their bodies are, in effect, exercising just by standing as they work. They have, however, almost universally complained of one problem: leg fatigue. Standing for hours each day puts stress on…
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This c 1900 makeshift kitchen/dining area in the sheltered space of a giant boulder in New South Wales reminded us of the many makeshift kitchens we’ve created over the years, outdoors and in, and simple ones where many a great meal have been forged.
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Sometimes people adept at designing things get jammed and stuck by thorny design problems. When that is the case, making a prototype with moveable parts can help to test out various iterations. You can shift them around and play with them to see how they will actually work and feel. Somehow, I had forgotten this essential technique until a friend reminded me and got my stalled hideaway bed/storage/bookcase unit project MOVING.
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Browsing through my image files, I came across photos I’d collected of matte black door hardware, which I contemplated using in the Laboratory. The first time I saw it used was in a friend’s just-renovated Brooklyn brownstone: black hinges add a surprising graphic element, as does the rosette of the crystal doorknob. Beautiful. Although I only used black hardware in one detail of the Laboratory, I learned its biggest lesson and caveat.
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Placing a window adjacent to the Laboratory’s window gives the illusion of a corner window and reflects the spectacular view.
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Remodelista recently posted about a new trend: Artful Coffee Drippers. By “dripper”, they mean the funnel-shaped cone, lined with a paper filter, that sits on top of a coffee pot or cup and allows the brewing coffee to drip through. We use the method ourselves so were interested to see the 10 stylish itereations. The only problem with most of the Remodelista coffee cones is they don’t allow for ways to keep the coffee hot, unlike our own homely rig.
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Our great lesson in renovating the Laboratory was how expensive minimalist design can be, and why. When you forego moldings around doors, you actually make for more work and expense, not less. Recently, we came across a stylish house that uses moldings freely while achieving a clean, modern aesthetic. Here’s how.
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(Video links HERE and HERE.) Recently, photographer Ellen Silverman borrowed the Laboratory to shoot Girl + Egg, her whimsical 1-minute video of…just that. Although Ellen brought a variety of egg cups she had bought or borrowed, she ended up using one we’d hacked (the hack is THAT good.) The video gives a nice glimpse of…
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Reading about $4 artisanal toast, the Bay Area’s latest food craze, got us thinking about our favorite alt ways of making our favorite comfort food.
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Leaves and stems we might normally discard can often make for a delcious saute with which to forge a quick meal.
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Partial sheetrock walls in unexpected graphic shapes and proportions, without moldings or adornments, can add a modern architectural element to a room.
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Part of the artfulness of envisioning a space is knowing when to keep rough and aged areas and let them be themselves, a subject we’ve written about before. Here, patched brick walls painted white, and a rough concrete floor are a lovely backdrop of elemental REAL that works well for modern furniture. After demolishing of…
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