Posted: February 11th, 2013 | Author: artintolife | Filed under: design | Tags: architecture, design, home
BEFORE
I am constantly compensating for my various dissatisfactions with our house by investing myself in home improvement projects. And admittedly, that is the beauty of a small home — that home improvement projects are all the more viable and easier to confront. Our home may be smaller than I would like, but I am committed to making each part of it exactly as I want it. Throughout our house we have blond wood floors which I hate. Admittedly, that seems like an extreme response, but it’s a pet peeve of mine. They’re just so darn yellow looking. In addition, of the limited square footage we have, a fair amount is dedicated to the stairway and landing — wasted space in a small home — so I am determined to milk that staircase and landing for all of the aesthetic potential they are worth. Hence the beloved dear. And now the Christmas vase. The last step, easily accomplished with a quart of paint or two, is the stairs themselves, and that cursed blond wood. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: May 22nd, 2012 | Author: artintolife | Filed under: design | Tags: decorating, design, home
I now officially have the home renovation bug – bad. I know I promised the other day that I would share images of the built-ins we just installed in my sons’ room and didn’t deliver. I will, eventually, I swear. But I am in love with my built-ins. In fact, I am in love with built-ins in general. As a kid there were a built-in closet and dresser in my bedroom and we cursed them nearly every day. The placed serious constraints on how I could arrange my room, and seemed a highly inefficient and unattractive use of space. And as an adult homeowner I have noticed that built-ins seem to have generally fallen out of favor for some time now. But I think that’s a big mistake. When done well, the storage — and therefore space, organization and dimension – and character that they can add to a room is truly phenomenal.
I received perhaps my favorite complement of all time the other day when my son and his friends did some baking for a school fundraiser in my renovated kitchen and one of the boys commented that it was the best kitchen he had ever seen (or something to that effect, but we’ll just assume that was the gist). I loved not only the complement itself certainly, but the fact that it was made after and in response to spending the day working in my kitchen. Because certainly whether it is the nicest looking kitchen around is highly debatable. The really beauty of the kitchen is in how efficiently and effectively the space is used, so that it honestly makes me happy every single time I cook or bake in it. All of which feels fairly arrogant to say, since I designed the kitchen, but I think the actual point is that built-ins work best when they are designed by (or in conjunction with) the owner and take into account the user’s specific needs. While pruning the photographs in the iPhoto library which threatens to take over — and then take down — my computer I came across pictures of the kitchen pre-renovation. Organizing the room around efficient storage was nothing short of transformative. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: May 18th, 2012 | Author: artintolife | Filed under: design, fashion | Tags: celebrities, fashion, home, popular culture, rants, trends
Clearly I am all for life imitating art, art imitating life, art in life, and style driven in equal parts by beauty, enthusiasm and a good sense of humor. Still, the two are not entirely interchangeable and it seems lately like some people could use a little reminding about where the line is, however faint it may be.
On Tuesday, for the London premiere of Snow White and the Huntsmen, the stars showed up decked out in full Gothic glory. I have been waiting not so patiently for the movie to come out. I love that kind of dark Gothic drama. On film. And I admire actors like Christian Bale, or even Sascha Baron Cohen, who stay in character when appearing in public while promoting a film. But Kristen Stewart and Charlize Theron’s dresses weren’t in character, they were simply misguided. Somehow when Rooney Mara tries this type of thing, the whole look is so completely of a piece, and so genuine to her style, that for me it works. But Stewart and Theron have their own looks which work for them, and this is not it.
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Posted: May 14th, 2012 | Author: artintolife | Filed under: design, stuff to buy | Tags: design, fabric, home, mass market, shopping, target, trends
I don’t know about you, but I have a had to institute a moratorium on spending on spring clothing and accessories. I have no reasonable excuse for buying anything else. So, trying to steer clear of my favorite websites, I thought it was time to check out the Shops at Target. Without question, my favorite is the Privet House shop (I’m not a dog owner, and after my dear friend was awoken on Mother’s Day by a poop covered dog who had been sick in his crate the night before and let out by a mischievous five year old, I have no interest in becoming one — so I have an aversion to the Polka Dog Bakery shop without even checking it out so it could be just lovely but I wouldn’t know). The Webster shop is a little preppy for my taste, but there is some nice merchandise if you go for that kind of thing.
Not surprisingly, many of the Privet House items have sold out, but there are still some cute pieces left. The dishes, napkins and glasses are very pretty. Admittedly, at this point nice melamine dishes are a dime a dozen, except that they aren’t remotely a dime a dozen so the Target prices for these dishes makes them pretty hard to resist. $15.99 for a set of four dinner plates isn’t half bad given that comparable French Bull melamine dishes, while beautiful, retail for $11.00 each. The bad news is out of four styles of printed melamine dinner plates, only one is still available online. Truth be told, it’s my favorite of the four.
Privet House at Target Brown Toile Dinner Plates
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Posted: May 1st, 2012 | Author: artintolife | Filed under: design | Tags: decorating, design, home, humor, innovative design
Priceless … design with a sense of humor. It’s not everyone who is able to design products or spaces which are both beautiful and playful, make you smile but can also be taken seriously for their aesthetic. When done well, I’m in love. So check these out.
1. The Bird Poop Chandelier by Wyatt Little. As the mother of a five year old boy, if I never heard anyone say the word poop again it would be too soon. But I love this light fixture. I am also partial to all fixtures and accessories that feature birds (yup, that would make thedesign fetishes deer, owls, birds and mushrooms and I’m sure I’m forgetting something – I am generous when it comes to my obsessions). This particular fixture rocks.
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