For the renovation of my 1,000-square-foot ‘Laboratory’ in New York City, my mission was to open up the space to the spectacular park view AND fluidly accomodate an open kitchen, workspace, dining area, and living area. To do this, I removed a small bedroom to dramatically expand the main room and built an office area along one 15′ wall…
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Every since we wrote about artist Dieter Roth’s work tables, which he covered with sheets of thick artist’s paper so that they would capture the processes of whatever he was working on, as well as notes and scribblings, we’ve loved the idea and have used it. Recently, we stumbled on a clever iteration: use a…
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Spotted on a well-worth-checking-out riff of interiors photographed by Simon Watson‘s: a cool, clever workstation make out of simple wooden sawhorses, a hollow core door, an industrial drawer unit, and a Tolomeo lamp. via Desire to Inspire Related posts: copy this: hinged, folding/expanding table top sawhorse tables as solution + sculpture d-i-y expandable table pt.2 (round) for holiday…
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via Tara Mann via The B-Man Collective
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Like many people, we’re always trying to find ways to increase productivity without stressing ourselves out. We’ve discovered that along with the idea of being more productive and in control comes the pressure to accomplish things. I can have the effect of making us “look over the fence at other people’s greener grass” and be…
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We were so intrigued by Charlotte’s Web author E.B. White’s utterly simple, focused work space, that we browsed some of his essays. We were heartened to read of White’s eloquent struggle with “stuff” in “Goodbye to Forty-eighth Street”:
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Since we started renovating ‘the improvised life’s space’ we’ve had our eyes peeled for solutions to various design problems. We’re finding that once we have a question in our head, inspiration and ideas can come from the most unlikely places. Desperately needing a proper desk to work on, we hurredly devised one out of hollow…
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Cynthia Caldwell sent us a link to this Post-It table she spotted at Design Taxi with this note: “Love this idea-post it size desk pad. Couldn’t find where you can actually buy one but I think I need it NOW for my son Russell.” It appears the table is one of those tantelizing design one-offs that would cost…
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Among the many projects we’re working on, is creating a standing desk – or perhaps better put – a standing area for our the 13-foot desktop we’re creating, so we can sit AND stand during many ours of blogging. We’ve seen many iterations on the internet, not to mention research as to why standing while…
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Last year, I posted a mid-century modern folding desk that I’d used for many years, and had decided to sell. Maria Robledo bought it for her 13 + year-old daughter Isabel. Recently, I was thrilled to see Isabel’s take on the desk: full of color and pattern, and a completely different style than my ascetically…
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A few weeks ago we wrote about the concept of “pulsing and resting,” throughout the work day; actually taking breaks from work in order to get more done (and do better work!). One of our readers introduced us to the Pomodoro Technique, (names after a tomato-shaped timer) which is based on this very idea and…
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Our friend Jacque Burke is the Communications Director for The Dutch and Locanda Verde, lynchpins of chef Andrew Carmellini‘s growing restaurant empire. She sent us a photo of this astonishing to-do list with some thoughtful commentary, and inadvertently became a guest blogger: “I had some work waiting for me at Locanda Verde, and when I went…
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We found this great looking d-i-y mousepad on our friend Tara Mann’s Tumblr. We love Tara’s description of her eureka moment: My friend Phillip recently had cork flooring put in his kitchen, and as I was shoving a cheese covered baguette down my throat, staring at the floor, I thought about how nice that material…
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We recently got an email from a friend that had been forwarded by and to a long chain of people we didn’t know. We were happy that it didn’t threaten us with years of bad luck if we didn’t pass it on. And we were delighted that its silly recession jokes actually made us LAUGH.…
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Our Internet service has been down all day, FORCING us to figure out how to blog on out iPad: no mean feat! Meanwhile, between that + a cold, we can’t help but hear the message: SLOW DOWN!!!!!! …as we realize just how dependent on being connected we’ve become…. Stay tuned.
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Marc Chagall‘s grand daughter Bella Meyer got a Doctorate in medieval art history from the Sorbonne and has held a variety of jobs – designing props for the theater, working as a puppeteer – before stumbling on her true calling: floral design. After friends asked her to design a blossom-laden chuppah for their wedding, Meyer,…
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The other day we got an email from our friend A.S.C. Rower, President of the Calder Foundation (we know him as Sandy). It’s subject line read: “More Noise Please!” The title of a poem by the late Steven J. Bernstein, a mutual friend, was the go-ahead for ‘the improvised life’ to feature posts about Rower’s grandfather,…
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Robert Blinn of Core 77 posted an extensive and very interesting review of Living with Complexity by Donald Norman. He describes looking at a picture of Al Gore’s messy office, and issuing big judgements about a man who campaigns against our messing up of the environment, while not keeping his own space together. Messy spaces…
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Tara Mann alerted us to Mashable’s slide show of unusual offices. We especially like this impromtu cardboard office designed by Paul Coudamy, who cleverly used corrugated cardboard as walls and shelves (more photos follow). Of course we instantly started hunting down that really thick cardboard that’s so perfect for making furniture like this chaise…
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Blogging is hard on us – not psychically – we love researching and discovery and sharing – but physically: our backs suffer from hours of sitting and we’re getting a little plump (many days, we’re hard-pressed to tear ourselves away to work out; before we know it, the day is GONE). Plus, we’ve been reading…
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