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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Viewing the installations scattered through Marcus Garvey Park’s art fair, we were struck by a brick wall covered with vivid flower patterns, overlaid with portraits of women of color. OUTDOOR WALLPAPER! Why hasn’t anyone thought of that…or have they?
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Images artfully-collaged can transform a wall, providing a unified field of pattern and often, meaning. Surround yourself with images you love to look at…reminders perhaps…
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We did a double-take during a virtual tour of a monochromatic home in Risskov, Denmark designed by haute-architecture firm Ardess: The luxurious silvery custom-made interior of Douglas fir, linoleum, and concrete looks curiously like the weathered silver-painted plywood door we spotted in Chelsea a couple of years ago, and fell in love with.
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Recently I skyped with a colleague who just moved into a prewar rental in Brooklyn; she asked me to see if I could come up with solutions to the various challenges imposed by the wonderful but imperfect and not-hers-to-renovate space. So we did a video tour of her space. (I hope show some before and after’s…
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We must have spent an hour slowing looking at our friend Christopher Baker‘s beautiful online portfolios. We found ourselves culling images with a single theme: natural textiles used in original absolutely doable ways, no uptight styling here. Just a fine trove of ideas.
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We’ve written extensively about our usual practice of deconstructing and arranging overwrought hotel rooms. We’ve encountered SO many that were over decorated, stuffy, busy, that we stopped loving staying in hotels. Until we saw photos of Hotel Henriette in Paris, which breaks the mould every which way and gave us a trove of doable ideas for…
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At A Cup of Jo, we spotted a terrific idea Stylist Meta Coleman employed in her son Henrick’s room at home in Provo, Utah: a black and white wall mural made from a C1900 photo. Here’s how and where she had it made:
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Rookie Magazine’s looks-like-neon sign diy made out of EL wire got us thinking about using THAT as our holiday lighting, with signs showing JOY, or a moderne neon Xmas tree, or WHAT IF? or other messages for the coming year. The battery-powered flexible glowing tube has the essential effect of neon without complex glass manipulation. The process is doable in a few hours: a fine weekend project.
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(Video link here.) While we’re taking a week off to rest and regroup, we thought we’d leave you with this time-lapse of a Sol LeWitt wall drawing being created, per the late artist’s instruction, at Blanton Museum of Art. It embodies the combo platter that is Improvised Life: an artist’s idea that is possible to apply at…
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We are smitten with Parisian antique dealer and interior designer Florence Lopez’ website and its many interiors showing her extraordinary use of darkish, saturated color, especially deep blues and greens (all with a little black in them). Of note, this geometrically patterned wall in greens and cream in her showroom and the other iteration of the same pattern
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We passed Ateliers Dubois Antiques in Harlem a number of times in the evening when it was closed, pressing our nose against the window to look in and marvel at…its wallpaper: roughly painted sheets or ordinary 8.5-x-11-inch paper. Last weekend, we found the store open and wandered in to take a closer look. We got…
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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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When you look at the image of the bathroom in Improvised Life’s budget renovation, you’d never guess what lies hidden under the tumbled marble floor tiles the contractor generously donated. While I was choosing just the right mix of tiles —marble itself is so varied, each tile was different — I thought of a slight addition I’d…
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As soon as we saw Mc&Co’s irregularly shaped mirrors we thought WANT. We’ve been thinking for some time that our very angular Laboratory could use some organic forms to soften it, and have been mulling how we might do that with mirrors. Mc&Co’s mirrors look like portals into other rooms. Swell! Although we’ve written about irregularly…
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“Something boldly improvisational and cheery going on in this house in Australia” wrote Susan Dworski in an email as she described the home Ruth Bruten, writer of Gourmet Girlfriend blog, shares with her husband and five boys. It is delightfully REAL and colorful, and packed with ideas. Here are Susan’s favorites, and ours:
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Could it be that the great Mexican architect Luis Barrigan created a study with an unexpected, roughly-painted rather expressionistic trompe l’oeil window to brighten a windowless space? It LOOKS that way in this image we found at Aqqindex. It got us casting about for abstract optical illusions we might employ at home, the opposite of the usual trompe l’oeil that…
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This interior by designer and stylist Carlos Mota jumpstarted two great ideas for our space. We wondered: Is that a painting or a framed chalkboard, wiped out in the most purposely smudgy way, with nude drawn on it? We love the idea of a chalkboard framed to be a constantly changing artwork. And especially a nude smack in the…
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Seattle artist Peregrine Church of Rainworks discovered a readily available spray that allowed him to stencil invisible signs and images on the sidewalk and walls, that would magically appear when it rained. It’s a beautiful effect that we’ve discovered we can do ourselves.
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For some time now, we’ve been compiling a file of wall decorations made from paint chips, the colorful free material available at your local paint or home store. Placed on the wall with a little thought and creativity, paint chips can make a surprising burst of color graphic. Check this out:
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