hardcover

can't miss gift: blurb. make your own book...

thanks to joy for the tip, seen at bloesem's current weekend read, "wishgifts."


happy weekend, everyone. I'm off to the farmer's market!

copper suspension lighting from etsy

Gorgeous copper suspension lighting at François Legault's Etsy shop. This particular lamp is going for $265. I'll take the ceiling tile and that copper boiler too, please!

a tip.

When it comes to rifling through an assortment of prints, paintings, sketches, pillows, rugs, anything (whether online, e.g., on ebay, or even in a shop), and you can't decide how to choose, try out my pet strategy:




... ignore your knee-jerk favorites. Blast past the "pretty," and take a closer look at the "ugly": and by "ugly" I mean the one piece that you would ordinarily dismiss straight away, the item that you unconsciously register as the least appealing of whatever group of images you're looking through. (eg, with botanicals, blast past the peaches & give the dingy print of the warty gourd a little love.)

Rationale: the "pretty" is probably just what you're used to. The "ugly" is unfamiliar. Often that first jolt of "Hell no" is actually a good way to discover something new.

"Jolie laide" fish prints from The Old Print Shop (online, or stop in if you live in the NY area; looks like a great shop. 150 Lexington Ave between 29 and 30th).

(ok, now that you've heard me out, tell me I'm wrong. I can take it.)

back to school = cool online industrial supplies

In exploring the coolest online resource ever for affordable, modern shelving, etc, etc, etc; thanks Blueline!), i found this "map rail," lined in cork and full of fun clips and so on, which is $15 for 4'. I think the graphic stripes of cork and steel would actually provide a stunning and unexpected graphic pop, like a really great belt for your walls, in an entryway (stay tuned....!) or an office, & used all around the room. What a fun alternative to a traditional picture rail: easy to install, and a no-effort way to hang (and re-hang) your gallery .... kind of like a more yang version of mav's ethereal inspiration line, which I've never been able to get off my mind.

Julia Christie at Lumas: 21st century landscape photography

I've been reading a lot recently about 19th-century landscape painting... it's interesting to compare the perspectival confidence of Friedrich's 1818 "Wanderer above the Sea of Fog"

... with Julia Christie's bleached-out, 21st-century landscapes in which the small human figures are swallowed up even though the beach setting is ostensibly benign...



Seems in some ways similar to Zen Sekizawa's work,
although his take definitely feels more carefree (maybe because the figure, even though headless, is closer to us, and positioned at the top of the frame, like Friedrich's Wanderer)...

Julia Christie's starkly beautiful White Sands photograph series available for purchase at Lumas. Thanks to Angela for the great link to Lumas!

faded terra cotta pink and navy blue....

I am mad for this color palate of pale terra cotta pink and faded navy blue (spotted on Toast)--

Always did love Diana Vreeland for saying that "Pink is the navy blue of India..."! ... what better than to see the two collide in a bookshelf, or

on a dusky-colored sari that I saw walking away from me in Gujurat....


{welcome to all who are here via Design*Sponge! our contribution to the d*s blogger's guide to online shopping can be found here , along with contributions from 9 other inspiring bloggers.}

one of the best things i've ever read on a blog

if i had only one example to use in explaining to a being from outer space what a blog is, i would give this post as my example.






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scandinavian ceramics in black and white

Madly Gorgeous Catherina Kippel Work Exhibit A:

(from Blås & Knåda)


Madly Gorgeous Catherina Kippel Work Exhibit B:

(from Design House Stockholm)

ebay watch: '50's ceramic table lamps

these are estimated to go between $100-$200. Not bad.



I'm getting verrrrry into the idea of getting a pair of vintage 50's ceramic lamps for our living room...

why don't you.... paint your floors white with black stripes, a la cecconis in london?

{s w o o n}.


see here for another take on black and white design with emerald accents.