Wood Works When your anthropologist client’s notion of home is shaped both by a single-room hut in a West African village and the tiny New York City apartment she has inhabited since 1980, you’d better get very comfortable with working in cramped quarters. Such was the case when Brooklyn architect Tim Seggerman was tapped to renovate a moldering brownstone studio on Manhattan’s Upper West Side for a college professor. The apartment, a 240-square-foot shoebox with a sleeping loft over the kitchen, was in dismal shape, without a true line or flush surface. “You couldn’t imagine a place that was more messed up,” says Seggerman, a man of serene bearing who might easily be confused with the actor Tom Skerritt. His solution was to insert what he calls a “crafted jewel box” into the undersize space, creating an enveloping cabin of blond woods.
The Bedside Bookmark Abode...Or, How to Make a Tiny, Adorable Wooden House Curbly-Original There are a few things that simply seem to belong on a bedside table: a lamp, alarm clock, perhaps a pair of glasses, and a few magazines or books. Then, once you add a few personal items (mine usually include a crossword puzzle or two and a glass of water), and there's not a lot of extra space for any accessories or "decor" items. So, I wanted to make something to add a little bit of fun and style, but that doesn't take up too much prime nightstand real estate or interfere with the other items.And so, you see the results above: an alternative take on the bookmark (which I never seem to use anyway), in the form of a clean, Scandinavian-style wooden home. If using it to support your books isn't your thing, no worries. Who wouldn't want a tiny little wooden house to accessorize any space? 1) I began with a 4" x 6" x 14" block of reclaimed wood (basswood, I think) that I found in the scrap aisle of my local Habitat for Humanity Restore. 2. Then, I cut the out the roof shape:
The 46 Most Brilliant Life Hacks Every Human Being Needs To Make Life Easier I love finding clever solutions to the little snags I come across in cooking, building, cleaning, or just about anything. These are some that I find myself using all the time! Pour a half a cup of baking soda and a cup of vinegar into a clogged drain. When camping or just in a pinch, a standard headlamp strapped to a 1 gallon jug of water can illuminate an entire room or tent. Placing a wooden spoon over the top of boiling water will stop it from boiling over by bursting the bubbles. Avoid getting a tongue lashing from your mom for putting your cold drink on her new coffee table. Many hotel TVs have handy USB slots in the back that will charge most smartphones. Use AAA batteries in gadgets that need AA batteries by filling the gaps with scrunched up tin foil. Putting your phone in airplane mode while gaming will stop those annoying ads from playing! Good luck!
Park House by Another Apartment Japanese studio Another Apartment has completed a house with an asymmetric roof on a narrow site in suburban Tokyo. Constructed across the street from a local park, the three-storey house has a glazed facade intended to offer views out towards the trees. "I started to think about creating a comfortable space where the attraction of park extends in," says architect Tsuyoshi Kobayashi of Another Apartment. A garage and bathroom take up most of the ground floor of Park House, so the architect located the living room and bedroom on the middle storey then added a mezzanine loft beneath the angled roof. A ladder connects the two upper floors, while wooden staircase treads lead up from the ground floor, beginning with a chunky triangular block. "With a light impression, the stairs look like thin plates appearing from the wall," says Kobayashi. Galvanised steel panels clad the exterior of the house and fold up over the roof. See more Japanese houses » Photography is by Koichi Torimura.
Design Itch: Before & After: Office Chair Update This weekend I gave our comfortable yet eye-sore-of-an-office chair a make-over. Here's the chair's mug-shots: I started by taping off the wheels and fabric chair seat and then using two cans of Valspar's Rigid Plastic Spray Paint to paint the plastic black frame a vibrant red. I figure if I am going to breath new life into this chair I should go for it, so there is nothing subtle about this solution. I then used one yard of indoor/outdoor fabric I picked up at Jo Anne Fabrics for $9 to re-cover the chair's seat and back. To re-upholster the chair back I laid a 1/2 yard of fabric over the back, tucked it into the chair frame at the top and using Scotch Super 77 Multi-Purpose spray adhesive (it is amazing and dries quick!) Spray, smooth, tuck! I did use some painters tape around the frame of the chair so the adhesive wouldn't get on it, as that would have left a horrible sticky residue. For the seat I loosened the bottom portion of the seat to leave room to tuck fabric. -Griffin
10 ways your Mac can make you smarter Never before have there been so many great personal development tools at your disposal. And it's all waiting right there at your fingertips, because you'll find that your Mac is the only gateway you need to access this world of self-improvement. Whether you need to discover new ways of making yourself more effective at work or you simply need some help organising your life at home, your Mac can help you do it. So, without further delay, here are 10 great ways your Mac can help out with your personal development. 1. Speed-reading is also a good skill to have if you're going to be digesting knowledge. SPEEDY GONZALES: Why not learn to speed read to save time, with the free iSpeedRead? There are various speed-reading applications for the Mac. At $15 (£7) the app iSpeedRead is more sophisticated and includes comprehension tests to see if you've retained the information you're supposed to have absorbed. 2. MAP YOUR MIND: Mind mapping enables you to unleash your creativity 3. 4. 5. 06. 07. 08.
Arizona couple moves into tiny tiny home — They’ve gone from paying $1,500 monthly mortgage to $350 a month INCLUDING utilities clotheslinetinyhomes.com Carrie and Shane Caverly ditched a traditional living space for this tiny, 204-square-foot home. Carrie and Shane Caverly have said good riddance to the mortgage payments that pester many Americans, opting instead to live in an eco-friendly house-on-wheels they built from scratch. At 204 square feet, it’s a tight squeeze. But the Colorado couple says the venture has opened them up to a simpler sort of living. “I know what it’s like to have a big house with a tremendous amount of stuff,” Shane told the New York Daily News. “This culture of acquiring more is not necessarily a healthy way to live.” clotheslinetinyhomes.com The house is built on a gooseneck trailer. Carrie, an architectural designer, and Shane, a contractor, were thinking about moving into a tiny home ever since they met in 2009. "I got absolutely tired of it, all the interest I was paying,” Shane said. clotheslinetinyhomes.com Carrie Caverly uses a swivel desk in her living room. On a mobile device?
Painted Wood Wall Art | Via Salvage Love Photo: Claire Ferrante of Little Dog Vintage Materials: -2 pieces of MDF 30 inches x 24 inches and 1 centimeter thick which equals one piece that is 60 x 24. I bought two pieces because I assumed when I attached the wood strips, they would end up being heavy and it would be easier (and safer) to hang them next to each other as two separate pieces -approximately 100 pieces of wood various sizes and depths -7 paint colors. -bag of sponge paint brushes -sand paper -Liquid Nails (this stuff is pretty amazing) -table saw. Time: This is definitely a time consuming project. Cost: paint- 7 / 7.25ML cans of paint -$24 2 pieces of MDF- $24 sponge brushes- $5 Liquid Nails- $3 sand paper- already had some wood strips – free! Total Cost: $56 for materials (I was lucky to not have to pay for wood. With the help of my wonderful father and his table saw, we got to cutting the strips of wood.
the eco perch – a luxury tree house designed by east sussex-basd design, architecture and construction firm Blue Forest, the Eco Perch is basically a luxury tree house. using all natural materials, the house blends in with the surrounding environment – making it part of the landscape. the structure can be fully set up within five days and takes little site prepping beforehand. within the house, there is a kitchen, dining + living areas, and a bedroom. they claim it can comfortably accommodate 4 people. the outdoor deck is also an important part of the house as the deck wraps around a giant tree, providing shade. if you’ve got the extra cash – about $90,000 extra in cash- this would be the perfect little getaway or weekend house. i mean, this is definitely the most luxurious tree house i’ve ever seen. the Eco-pPrch is a great example of how mixing contemporary design elements with the natural living environment can make your space stunning. all images belong to blue forest
Fat Quarter Friday {Wrapping Paper Organizer Tutorial} Hello! It looks like you are new here. I would love it if you subscribed to my blog via Bloglovin I’m so excited about today’s Fat Quarter Friday project. So basically their wrapping paper bin was an old kitchen stool turned upside down. (allow 2+ hours to make) Materials Needed: * Kitchen stool. * Fabric: To make two larger bags and two smaller bags like I did you are going to need about 2 1/2 yards of fabric or one $5 twin flat sheet from Walmart. * 4 Casters. * 2 packages of bias tape or about 4 yards of homemade bias tape. My stool was a light colored wood that I no longer like so I sprayed it white. See the piece of fabric below? Cut out your 12 pieces of fabric per your measurements. Now you want to square off the edges to give the bag shape. Sew on the lines you just drew. Trim off the excess fabric. Now your bag has shape. Now gather your bias tape. You are going to cut your bias tape or ribbons to the length that you want your ties to be. Turn bag right side out through opening.
HOTELLO. Somnia et Labora. A Portable Office / Hotel Room Designed for daskonzept Will be Presented at FuoriSalone 2013. — Conceptual Devices The 20th Century left vast, abandoned, spaces in our cities. Warehouses, factories, military barracks have been built and abandoned in a relatively short period of time. Now, the contemporary city is elaborating new strategies to re-inhabit these empty shells. In collaboration with the visual Artist Roberto de Luca, I have designed, for the Swiss firm daskonzept, Hotello: a unit of 4 sqm, conceived to extemporarily inhabit the empty lofts of the contemporary city. Hotello is a portable space, packed into a trunk. Hotello will be presented at the Fuori Salone 2013 in Milano at the Fabbrica del Vapore in via Procaccini 4 from 9-14 of April 2013. The Fabbrica del Vapore exhibition space will be transformed into an open work environment which visitors are welcome to use. Das Konzept is a laboratory for design, retail, and production focusing on new ways to conceive the work environment. Related posts: