10 Scrap Refabs: Vintage Reupholstery with Colorful Fabric Forget fabric stores – some antiques are just too boring to bother re-covering with traditional patterns. These hodgepodge pieces use patchwork scraps to create fresh new themes within stodgy old frameworks. (Re)fabric(ation) can be fun. Design by Leftovers takes old and often overly-ornate furnishings that would hardly fit in a modern home, and remakes them to look creative, contemporary and strangely more timeless. If you are at a loss for how to reupholster some household items, look no further for inspiration. While there seems to be much mixing going on, there is a clear set of methods within the madness – each found piece of fabric is stitched into a new whole in a way that is clearly conscious of what appears around it in terms of colors and patterns. Each of this series has a core zone of tonal focus – cool purples and relaxing blues to bright reds, bizarre pinks and earth browns.
Soft as a Rock Rocks, stones and pebbles have been used as decorative objects since... well... the stone age actually. But, rocks are usually a bit hard to be around. They often look cool, but you wouldn't exactly hug one - until now! Stephanie Marin is the creator of these amazing looking stones, which is actually very soft and comfortable cushions. Update: See also Ronal Jordaan's Rock Cushions (much better looking than the ones above) Follow: 42Concepts
Everyday Objects Stash Money, Secrets, Drugs, IDs Yiting Cheng just finished up a master's degree in design, but she could already teach James Bond a thing or two about stashing valuables. For her thesis project, Cheng designed a series of eight objects that ingeniously store secrets--from passwords to money to drugs to IDs. And you can see all of them in this nicely shot video (our favorite is the secrete drawer, hidden in the edge of a table, which is only accessible when attach a magnetic pull): According to Cheng: This project is about concealing valuables, secrets, bad habits and personal information in our workplaces. In other words, she hides things in plain sight, by hiding them inside objects so familiar that you'd never question their integrity.
Space Saving ‘Tulip’ Shower Blooms into a Luxury Bathtub Some apartment bathrooms are just not big enough to fit a full- or even half-size tub, unless one considers the extra space already required for standing and walking. This clever flip-down solution makes room for lying down in the bath, but retracts when not in use. The (Tulip) name was derived by Piotr Pyrtek from the way in which the unit seems to blossom open, as well as the tulip’s versatility in the world of plants. Luxuries are not lost despite the small footprint of this pod within the larger layout – high-powered massagers, underwater jets and other digitally-controlled bathing bonuses are all part of the experience.
Convertible Bed Couch: Sweet Transforming Sofa Design Move over hide-a-bed, pull-out couch-beds: get stuffed. The Doc is a simply named convertible sofa that expands into not one but two beds in one: a pair of bunk beds as simple and elegant as the name would suggest. With a variety of color styles and textures this makes a great couch even without the added bonus of being a brilliant piece of transforming furniture. The transformation process, as these images suggest, is a relatively simple one. The finished bunk-bed configuration can be mono-tone or duo-tone depending upon the sheets chosen and comes complete with a safety bar and step ladder for the upstairs sleeper.
Habitually Chic® Top 10: Shelves And Shelving I recall an infomercial a few years back for a little plastic triangle that stuck in a corner, between two walls, to make a small corner shelf. I don’t remember the exact name of the product, but I do remember that the commercial exhausted all the obvious self/shelf puns: “shelf esteem,” “shelf confidence,” “shelf defense,” “shelf-employed,” etc., etc. So I’ll forgo the obvious opportunities this topic offers for shelf-referential humor and just get down to business. How-To: Turn Shelf Fungi Into Actual Shelves Bookshelf From Old Books How-To: Make Tetris Shelves How-To: Make an Invisible Bookshelf How-To: Build Your Own Secret Bookshelf Door Shelf Made From Back Issues of National Geographic Circular Bookshelf Perfect for Storing Philosophy Texts Ikea Hack Bookshelf Bench Sad Bookshelf is Sad… Shelf Pod is Both Bibliophile’s and Cat’s Dream House Did I miss a good one? Related
DIY: Furniture Makeovers I'm obsessed with making-over old, worn out furniture. It's amazing how almost any old piece can be totally transformed with new paint, hardware and a little imagination! Here are three examples from Ladies Home Journal...click here to read the entire article. Out-dated side table with stone top transformed into a bright and cheerful accent piece! *First they removed the hardware and stone top, sanded the table all over, and applied a coat of primer. *They cut a length of seagrass wallpaper to fit the inset and topped it with a pane of 1/4-inch glass. Old dresser transformed into a chic sideboard with plenty of storage! *They gave the whole piece a light sanding, a coat of primer, and two coats of semigloss latex paint in a pale blue shade on the outside and a deeper blue inside for contrast. *To dress up the doors, they picked out a pair of modern nickel pulls. *Click here to read the details on how they transformed the inside...
Inspiration – A cool kitchen-finds blog - Kitchenisms The refrigerator is often the ugliest thing in a kitchen. Big, space-sucking and stupid looking, they can drain the charm from an otherwise lovely space. Sure, there are great options around (I do love me a smeg), but what to do if yours is one of those ho-hum models, and an upgrade isn’t on the cards? These are my favourite DIY solutions for a refrigerator makeover. First up, Danny Seo’s chalkboard fridge, via Apartment Therapy. Decals have been hot for a while now, but are still new for the kitchen. French designer Fabien Barral did a great paint-and-decal job on his fridge, based on the vintage packaging of bouillion cubes: I like this fridge from Design*Sponge because it’s so simple. Possibly my favourite option of all, wallpaper is a great idea for a vintage-inspired kitchen.
Cradle Chair: Big Basket Seat Rocks Adults Gently to Sleep There is no escaping those innate and early-learned associations – for some, it means sleeping to gentle noises on planes, and for others, the act of rocking tilts us softly into a deep slumber. Richard Clarkson and company wanted to create a kind of low-tech, sensory-deprivation, sofa-style seat where one can curl up and forget the workaday worries of ordinary life … and perhaps even doze over before you notice you are slowly falling asleep. While there is art and craft in this object, there is science that went into its design as well. Specifically, research into autistic children and those who suffer from RMD (rhythmic moving disorder) played a crucial role in the shape and structure of the result. For all its theoretical complexity, the final form looks quite simple (and extremely comfortable).
Saving Space: Storage-Filled Sofa has Secret Compartments Continue reading below Our Featured Videos There is more than one way for furniture to double its functionality – convertible sofa beds are a good start, but more experiments with storage might be a less-glamorous pursuit with even more possibilities. A chair could be tricky, and we take desk doors for granted, but massive and dense couch-sized seats seem ideal candidates for making maximum use of available space. The black-and-white, striped-box style of the SofaSofa might not be for everyone, but both the seating surface and back support elements feature a series of hidden storage areas.