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Good design begins by breaking rules. It challenges the suppositions that society places on an object's use and look.
This set of built-in bunks (above) is a fine example of good design. The designers, Tim Barber Ltd., take a kid's furniture staple, the old rickety bunk bed, and beef it up by enclosing it, painting it an interesting non-kid color, and basically turning it into an architectural element in its own right.
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I am featuring this pretty water carafe and tumbler because its rightful place is on a bedside table, perhaps in your guest room. Yes, it is upon us! The holiday season lurks and the delicate dance between guest and host will soon commence. Lucille Ball sums up the complexity when she says of her cousin Ernie, "He stayed overnight with us for a couple of weeks once."
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Have you gone back to school as an adult? Do you think that the first day jitters are worse than when you were young?
Last winter I took a class at the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design. On my first day, I was nervously digging out coins for the parking meter when a skateboarder came rolling towards me. “It’s free parking on Saturdays, you know,” he said. “Really? That’s not what the sign says,” I responded. He was already halfway down the block and over his shoulder he hollered, “Guess you’ll have to follow your heart.”
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A few days ago, I stopped by a friend's house and she fixed me a cup of tea. That's inaccurate actually. She served me tea. With a porcelain tea set on a silver tray. It was wonderful. We curled up on her couch, batted away her hissy kitty, and drank cups and cups while talking about life, hellion children, the dangers of retail, and falling instantly in love with our better halves. I will be writing more about her in the coming season, as she is a true original.
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I am in the very fortunate position to have a bestie who lives next door. The value of this situation cannot be overstated. When I run out of something -- eggs, vodka, patience, ice for the vodka -- Stacey rescues me. She lends me lifesaving necessities like statement necklaces, extra bedrooms for the in-laws, a car. A condo. She lets me hide giant gifts in her garage on Christmas Eve. Is there anything she doesn't do?
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A girl and her horse! The bond is real, romantic, and unbreakable. Today as I shot images of these vintage coasters, I wished I had a horse to guide me. Frankly I'm confused. I adore this blog, and I enjoy the shop but how to divide my time? Plus, I have a couple of ideas for a book. I lust after a bricks and mortar space that would be part store / part studio. I fantasize about working as an art director for the likes of Anthropologie.
Where is my horse? I want to sit on its back...
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I bought a desk and chair at an estate sale last week. I'm excited to style it and shoot accessories on its top, like the collection above. The detritus of a desktop changes over the years, with certain objects fading into obscurity and others surviving no matter what cultural change is afoot. Not to mention the question of work style and work space, and whether or not you thrive on clutter or find it distracting. This week's listicle is about work space:
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Hello and Happy Friday! This image appeared in Lonny Magazine last month, and it has me in a tizzy. I'll explain in a moment. First I'd like to invite you to pour yourself a cup of coffee and join me in a game of "I Spy With My Little Eye". You could win a prize. I joke not.
Please study the photo for a moment and tell me what you see. Are you thinking it's a bunch of random stuff? If so, maybe you need to stroke your chin hairs and arch an eyebrow.
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Last week I posted a new collection that made demented use of baby dolls. As penance for my evil ways, this week's listicle is devoted to the wholesome wondrousness of babies.
Did you know that 20% of the time, babies cry for no reason at all? My pediatrician once told me that factoid and I believed it for a full minute before I was all, like, wait, doc, how did you figure that out? Did you ask them and they told you that they weren't hungry or sleepy or poopy? That really they were just bored? The pediatrician was my dad and he rues the day he encouraged me to question authority. Anyway, turns out this scientist has figured out how to measure a baby's thoughts.
Can't stop watching this family sit-com featuring the smiliest baby of all time. It's one of those clever shows where the family is so messed up, they're actually super loving and inspirational. (Like Roseanne or All in the Family.) Plus, Cloris Leachman is phenomenal!
Here's a cool infographic illustrating the Harvard study on most common birthdays.
My kids are grown yet I am gobbling up this parenting book. I can't stop talking about it to anyone who gives me an opening. It makes so much sense! If you experience confusion, conflict, or misunderstanding with people you love, this book might help.
An entertaining wordplay of Mary Had a Little Lamb -- for brainiacs!
The next baby gift I buy is this.
Baby On The Way, the collection photographed above is a pretty gift for a mom to be and is available here.
It's October, baby! My favorite time of year! This collection is twisted and twee. (Great word, 'twee', which means sweet to the point of sickening.) While I was dismembering dolls for this vignette and holding plastic baby arms over the open flame on my stove, careful not to burn myself with molten doll flesh, I had to stop and count my lucky stars. It doesn't get better than this!
My vocation requires hunting things down and then matching things together in unexpected ways. Once the objects are assembled, a new thing is created which has a little of 'me' in it.
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Hello and Happy October! Today I'm updating the shop with new colors and a new slideshow. As I refresh the inventory to make room for new goodies, I am surprised that this collection of vintage dishes hasn't yet sold. The price seems right and the graphic pattern is of the moment. Egads! Is it the spiders?! They appeal to me -- duh -- but perhaps not to the typical buyer.
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When I decorate a room, I ask myself, "WWJD?" The man who mentally helps me in a pinch is Jonathan Adler, the lovable goofball design genius from New Jersey whose louche rooms (above) make me want to be a gypsy queen.
You know what he would do? He'd shine up a space with metallic finishes, toss in chunks of tropicana orange, and stick a face in a strategic spot for a bit of fun.
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I listed this trio of pen and ink and arrows in the shop today. There's something about a line drawing surrounded by an ornate frame that is irresistible.
Also irresistible? Elephants. Did you know that their wrinkly skin keeps them cool in high savannah heat? Moisture trapped within the creases does not quickly evaporate. Not sure why that principle doesn't work for wrinkly fifty-year-olds with hot flashes but it doesn't.
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I love politics. But man, do I hate asking for a vote. Today I'm asking for a vote in the Martha Stewart American Made contest. I entered it hoping that someone at that organization would notice my shop. You know, a back door entrance to get on their radar. Now that the contest has progressed, I feel it necessary to see this through and ask for your help. If you are inclined, click here for my page to vote. You do have to give Martha your email. But you can unsubscribe afterwards.
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My husband and I celebrated our wedding anniversary yesterday. We spent the day with our son and his fiancée, planning their wedding celebration. It will take place next summer on our patio, and yesterday, a fair amount of time was spent discussing the weather. Whether the weather would weather the day. (Apologies to readers whose first language is not English.)
It sprinkled on our wedding, which was held on my parents' patio. It poured on my sister's wedding, which was held on my parents' patio. So I advised my son and future daughter-in-law to expect rain on our patio too.
Rain on a wedding day was once thought to be a good omen. But so was virginity, so to hell with that.
Here's this weekend's listicle loosely categorized around my weekend of l-o-v-e:
This podcast about a Persian marriage and its twisty-turvy journey kept me in the car for 45 minutes despite a very full bladder -- that's how good it is. (Sidenote: the Iranian couple's daughters are shocked and dismayed by the unexpected outcome. We listeners are thrilled.)
Erica Weiner is a Brooklyn jeweler with a vintage obsession. Her Instagram is full of stunning antique wedding bands and engagement rings. Next year is our thirtieth anniversary and I'm bookmarking this band, a reissue of an antique pattern. Very simple and pretty.
Last night, we watched Cutie and the Boxer, an independent documentary about two free-minded artists whose complex marriage and working arrangement are costly to the wife and beneficial to the husband. The first-time director won Sundance's Best Director award, among others.
Food trucks are a popular feature at weddings these days, and yesterday, we went in search of Yellow Bellies Food Truck. Milwaukee peeps, these guys book out at least a year in advance. Their food is to-die-for. Here's their schedule. Hint: they're in Cedarburg every Friday at lunchtime.
No fancy dinner reservations for us last night. Instead, I cooked the best chicken enchiladas ever. I served them with Persian saffron rice, crockpot beans, and a spinach, avocado, corn, tomato, jalapeno pepper salad. I recommend doubling the mole sauce. Divine!
Last but not least, you cannot enter into marriage until you do this.
Campy His and Hers Mugs available here at Finder Not Keeper.
Regardless of your marital status, if you are interested in a vetted list of top notch links, consider subscribing. You'll get an email every Friday morning chock full of good stuff.
Today's post is Part One in a new series called "What Not to Buy New." I've grouped vintage objects into still life compositions to illustrate that the patina of time makes things more beautiful.
I'm not alone in this opinion. This week, Martha Stewart proclaimed that "old is the new black." The latest issue of Veranda Magazine uses the word 'vintage' ten times in the first five articles. The CEO of One King's Lane says that his company can't keep enough vintage in stock to satisfy the thirst of their tens of thousands of customers.
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My American grandmother was a quilter but diabetes stole her sight. She gave me an unfinished box of quilt squares because I had purchased a sewing machine to piece a couple of small quilts. Those quilt squares sat in my cupboard for years. I felt so guilty about them. Eventually I thrust them upon my unsuspecting sister when she got a sewing machine. "A great summer project for your girls!" I enthused.
We all know that starting a project is much easier than finishing. Which could explain how the Missouri Star Quilt Company became so successful. This business offers to finish where many quilters leave off: machine stitching your finished quilt squares into a completed top. The company founders, siblings Alan Doan and Sarah Galbraith Doan, started the company in 2008 to help their parents recover retirement savings lost in the crash. (Remember that year?) They now employ 180 people in their small town of Hamilton, Missouri. This year, they were named Small Business of the Year.
Their recognition coincides with quilting's popularity as a craft. It is hot these days. Modern quilters are reinventing the method using new technologies and refreshing the patterns with a graphic post-modern aesthetic. I love it!
Do you have a quilt made by someone who cared for you? Have you ever stitched a quilt? Are you a fan of textiles? Here are some links that might interest you:
Tomorrow, Maya Angelou's formidable art collection is being auctioned off. Included in the sale is this quilt by Faith Ringgold, commissioned by Oprah Winfrey in 1989 as a 60th birthday gift to Ms. Angelou. The quilt is titled "Maya's Quilt of Life." (I don't understand how Ms. Angelou's family can part with this. I wonder if anyone at the auction house took aside her son and said, "Look, just keep it, okay?")
These two women started a quilt business in Minneapolis and they are now finalists in Martha Stewart's annual American Made contest. I'm considering a purchase for my kitchen wall as their prices seem quite reasonable. And the way they hang quilts is super cool too. Check them out here.
The quilt in the photo above is new in the shop. Click here for info. I love it because the pattern contains Star Wars jets.
If you ever thought about printing your own fabric for a quilt (or for anything), I strongly recommend Spoonflower. Their work is fabulous.
Here is Jasper Conran's nod to hexagon quilting!
See you on Friday!
Photo of quilt by Renn Kuhnen.
Reddit is a gigantic public online forum. Its tagline is "The Front Page of the Internet." Every user has a voice, but most everyone is anonymous. As a result, bad behavior and boorish self-importance abounds. It’s cut-throat.
Reddit divides itself into categories of interest called subreddits. Each subreddit has a moderator who makes up his or her own rules. Kind of like the Wild West with a different sheriff in each town. Redditors must abide by the Sheriff's law. There is no due process in Reddit. “If you don’t like it, you can just gettttttt out.”
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It's Labor Day and on this subject, I have been trying to figure out how to adequately describe the importance of the food supply in my house of men. Due to the number of man-boys (five) and their unusually high rates of metabolism, I always felt like my single most important job as a mother was "gatherer of groceries". I once snapped a pic of the third son home from high school, standing in front of the open fridge with backpack, jacket, gloves, and snow boots on. That's how desperate he was to confirm his snack.
This weekend, we all traveled together up north. My parents came too. My mother, who survives on Tic Tacs and vodka tonics, was freshly shocked at their locust-like behavior. She unloaded the dishwasher twenty times in three days. By the year 2200, someone will have developed a quick test to measure rates of metabolism and I will finally get my due as the woman who fed the five highest metabolisms for twenty years without losing her marbles.
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