Having read and written a good deal about decluttering and letting go of stuff, we’ve witnessed something of a backlash in the media of late. Just as we were reading Dominique Browning’s recent Let’s Celebrate the Art of Clutter, we came across the work of Beijing-based Hong Hao who has been recording every item that comes into…
Read MorePerfect Room Screen: Bamboo Wave or Plywood Eames?
Over the years, one of the very best purchases I have made were two bamboo Wave Room Screens made of thin bamboo slats that unfurl to create an organic wave shape. I have had mine at least 15 years in two spaces and they have proven to be endlessly useful. They are an inexpensive, stylish alternative to the classic Eames plywood screen I could not afford. Here are SOME of the ways I’ve used them…
Read MoreDisguises for Computer Cables + Other Ugly Stuff
As we scroll through design sites, we periodically spot some new gadget for keeping ugly computer wires in check: reels that wind them up, dongles that collect them behind your desk… Perhaps the BEST improvisation we’ve seen is in Christoph Niemann’s workspace. The inspired illustrator/artist/author disguised an ugly black cable by placing a black and white image…
Read MorePaola Navone’s Wire Crate Shelves
When VosgeParis posted images of a party at designer Paola Navone’s home in Milan, the wire crates affixed to the wall caught our eye. Are they an artwork, or simply vintage crates made into art, on which she arranges objects to her liking? So we hunted for google images for clues.
Read MoreStorage Solution: Puzzle Box Thinking
When enlisted to design a compact tea shop in a limited footprint, Brazilian architect Alan Chu created a giant puzzle box whose color blocks unfold to reveal its wares. Seeing it unfold gives us lots of ideas for maximizing our own storage spaces, and making them visually appealing. With each panel that is opened, the…
Read MoreCollected’s Fritz Karch: the Pleasures of ‘Hunting and Gathering’
Creative director/editor/stylist Fritz Karch’s official bio begins:”he became an active collector at age eleven and has always been an ardent believer in the benefits and pleasures of hunting and gathering.” Recently, he collaborated with Rebecca Robertson on Collected: Living with the Things You Love, a tour of fantastic, often eccentric collections around the world, and an entry IN to your own creative collecting.
Read MoreCut Out Geometries in Walls and Cabinets
We love this detail from a home designed by i29 Interior Architects: a spray of cut-outs in a wall of cabinetry. It breaks up the uniformity of the cabinets in a random, rather artful way. It applies a technique we love — unexpected holes cut out of walls — to cabinets.
Read MoreWhy Not Art in the Closet and On the Floor?
Bombarded by imagery all day at work, Sam Shadid, the renowned mastermind behind ads for Calvin Klein and Banana Republic, prefers an ultra-minimalist home with the feel of a luxe high-design hotel room. It was recently featured in a slideshow in The Times’ T Magazine. Although we find his sensibility crazy-austere, we LOVE a couple of…
Read MoreTransforming Wall Bed-Bookshelf-Storage Unit
Last May I posted the life-size prototype I made out of FoamCore to help me design a complex combination of berth-style (sideways) wall bed, storage and bookshelves for my space in Harlem. I had been struggling with the design problem for some time: how to make the massive volume of the wall-bed blend into the structure, so you…
Read MoreI-Beam Shelving and Side Tables
When a friend once suggested we use 12-inch lengths of industrial steel I-beams as “brackets” to hold shelves, we couldn’t quite imagine what he was thinking. UNTIL we spotted the fabulously rusted I-beam shelving at metal fabricator while wandering through East Harlem last fall. When we saw the makeshift shelving the owner had improvised to store…
Read MoreLow Shelving as Settee, Display and Storage
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,…
Read MoreBlue Painter’s Tape Labels for Pantry Staples
We’ve long been fans of blue painter’s tape, which we’ve used to plan our space, not to mention make unexpected artworks (our favorite being this visionary abstract work created on a window). Now we’re smitten with the labels Maria Robledo made for her jars of staples. Her walk-in pantry houses a lovely collection of vessels, wine glasses,…
Read MoreTyvek Carryall-Envelope via FedEx
We recently needed a sturdy envelope to carry some papers in our big satchel. Hmmm. What to use? FedEx envelopes are made of Tyvek but they have all that terrible writing on them. NOT. What would happen if we turned one inside out so it became plain white, and then crumpled it to turn it…
Read MoreHandler’s Chic Multi-Purpose Vial for Tiny Essentials
Once, necessary functional objects were quiet tokens of personal style. Wrist watches, cigarette lighters, address books and compacts brought glamour and pleasure to everyday rituals. But they are fading away. To fill the void, Laura Handler designed something personal, portable and beautiful, that can’t be replaced by a cell phone or a plastic disposable. The…
Read MorePlywood Love: Bauhausian Kitchen Storage
This kitchen refurb by Hearth used plywood as cabinet storage in an elemental Bauhausian way. We love geometry of the squares and rectangles, the the grain showing through the washed finish and the holes instead of handles. …and are reminded once again the appeal of sliding panels… via Desire to Inspire
Read MoreIndustrial Metal Storage As Furniture
On design sites recently, we’ve been noticing quite a few interesting iterations of industrial storage cabinets —new and vintage—as furniture, like the classic Bisley 10-drawer steel storage cabinet, above. We’ve relied on the trusty Ikea lacquered metal Helmer drawer cabinets ($39) for years,
Read MoreTiny Transforming Apartment Yields One Big Idea
(Video link HERE.) We find this video of a tiny apartment* in which each piece of furniture transforms into something else strangely compelling, all the while feeling that having to transform EVERYTHING in our place would drive us mad. It did give us some ideas, one in particular that solves a design problem we been struggling…
Read MoreTree Branch Book Shelf + Cut-Out
We discovered artisan/designer Olivier Dolle‘s lovely tree branch book shelf when reader Kevin Neff sent us an Instructable for a cardboard version inspired by it. We find the wooden one quite beautiful and appreciate its asymmetry, unusual in shelving. The cardboard version has it’s own charm.
Read MoreDIY Two-Panel Room Divider
Annaleen Karlsson of Annaleenas Hem came up with this DIY room divider for La Petite Magazine. It’s not a new concept, but a tried and true one: You attach hinges to two boards of the same height and width, painted or finished as you like. Our old friend Tom Booth made a two-panel screen almost the…
Read MoreIntuitive Method for Organizing Stuff
(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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