walls + windows

Hi/Low: Round Porthole Mirrors for a Haiku-like View

You have only to search MIRROR on Improvised Life to find evidence of an obsession. Not to look at one’s self. But to angle them in such a way as to SEE a bigger view. Take these port-hole mirrors, for example…and Basho’s haiku…

Annals of Bad Design: Fitting Room Mirror Stenciled with Busy Signage

How nice to have a sign in a fitting room that says: If you don’t find what you are looking for, we can order it online. UNLESS that sign is printed in bold right in the center of the mirror you’re trying to see yourself in.. That is what I found at Zara, a store…

Line Drawings and Tattoos on Walls or Floor (Cocteau, Matisse, Keras)

This charming line drawing Madrid artist Angela Leon drew on her wall made me think of Matisse, Jean Cocteau AND Mira Keras’ monochrome tattoo designs.

Vintage Rug Disguises the TV: Brilliant!

In a house tour of furniture dealer and interior designer Michael Bargo, we thought: “How nice to hang a really beautiful rug on the wall, in a mashup with beautiful objects from many eras”. Then we read the fine print.

What Happens If You Apologize Every Day?

This sign on Holton Rower’s studio door instantly shifts our perspective: about being more mindful of the potential to hurt someone’s feelings……including our own

Hide Water Damage with Distressed Ceilings and Walls

Living on the top floor of an apartment building, we are always under threat of leaks from the roof above. What if we did a purposely fresco-like distressed ceiling or wall that would just get better from leak stains?

every inhalation triggers inspiration (John Franzen)

Artist John Franzen uses an intriguing practice to make his drawings composed of many parallel lines: Each line, one breath. We wondered what would happen if we tried Franzen’s method.

A Narrow Ledge Becomes a Picture Rail + Headboard

At Casa Helsinki, we spotted the ledge around the perimeter of a bedroom. It makes a natural display for pictures or other small objects and a terrific headboard. DIYable.

Good Idea: How to Have an Indoor Tub in a Garden

Via poet Ocean Vuong’s tumblr: a vintage tub in a small bathroom festooned with flowered wallpaper (just the right wallpaper). Sweet and magical.

Practical Optical Illusions: Doors Hidden in Plain Sight

It isn’t necessary to be an artist to disguise a door; there are all sorts of ways to achieve the affect.

Simplest Possible Curtain Tie (And Hotel Room Strategy)

We love this impromptu-looking curtain tie made of a strip of leather. Ribbon would be swell as well. It reminds us of our improvised hotel room strategy for calming down curtains with busy prints…

Pegboard Walls for Polka Dot Practicality (Martino Gamper)

Although pegboard is commonly used in kitchens and workspaces (think Julia Child), we realized we have rarely seen it to clad ENTIRE walls, as a design element unto itself.

Clever Textile Ideas to DIY from a Restored Tuscan Convent

We found a number of simple ideas for textiles in photos of a former Tuscan convent restored by designer Holly Lueders and her daughter. Our favorites are this very do-able paneled bedskirt and a pillow cover fashioned like a gift.

Plywood Niche Set In Sheetrock Wall

We love this very practical, very stylish idea from Oink Studio: a plywood-lined niche set in a in sheetrock wall. Baltic Birch’s stripey uniform plies make for a pleasing natural edge that gives a crisp furniture feel with an organic edge. Here’s what you need to know…

Stripes Modernize a Dark 19C Interior (Martin Creed)

The Martin Creed show at the Park Avenue Armory gave us much to think about plus one great decorating idea. We’d normally find the ornate 1880’s dark wood-paneled grand corridor rather oppressive —unlike the astonishing 55,000 square foot Drill Hall. We found the space curiously modernized by Creed’s inspired black diagonal stripes

Daniel Buren’s Clear Spaces

When we stumbled on this space designed by Conceptual Artist Daniel Buren we thought, “that’s our perfect writing space“. Why? We were’t even sure, except that we loved that it was spare, yet adorned in a way that sparked our thinking rather than cluttering it. So we looked for more.

Kandinsky: Wall Paintings + Varieties of Black

In this calming, meditative video, artist Vasily Kandinsky paints directly on a wall in black ink. It is a fine way to start the day (and led us to insights into ‘black’). Kandinsky’s designs for wall paintings inspire new possibilities for our own walls.

Open a Window This Way to Keep Cooler (+ Use AC Less)

We improvise without the benefit of a science background, only our reasoning, deductive brain and willingness to try/fail/learn. Good practices DO slip by us some times because they’re counterintuitive or we just don’t know better…Like this simple way to adjust double-hung windows to make our space cool and use AC less frequently. It works.

Vintage Painted Brick Walls Etched with Swirls and Runes

At Chai Wali restaurant in Harlem, we saw a wonderful treatment for the old painted brick walls of the brownstone that that houses the restaurant. It was much more interesting than a plain stripped brick wall, and would be a fine technique to apply in a living or work space.

Tony Feher’s Wondrous Blue Tape Paintings

Years ago, we visited a friend house-sitting a loft with a wondrous blue tape artworks on the windows. Astonishing, we thought, how a pattern of torn pieces of painter’s tape can change how we see. We discovered it was the work of artist Tony Feher, whose more elaborate works border on transcendent.

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