It's reasons like these I made my blog

I hate to be a cynic or a curmudgeon. I try my best to see the most positive attributes in things. But New York Social Diary you make it so so difficult. If you read The article you learn the residents have a substantial and wide-ranging collection of art and artefacts, including a harpsichord. The apartment, though small is filled with accoutrements that are interesting (and probably pretty pricy, given how much name-dropping NYSD is doing). The fixtures are all very high quality. Even the cord above the chandeleir is silk-wrapped. But they painted the walls this color.

This is one of those times when I'm kind of okay with the ridiculously crowded gallery wall because it means there's less of that color showing through.

Dreamspaces

When I dream, spaces take on lives of their own and come together in ways that are non-traditional, but make sense in that dream. This house reminds me of the kinds of architectures I construct in my dreams. This house was built in Japan for a family of four, with a very specific goal: divisions where each family member could have their own individual space, but which kept the feel of a single space, rather than a collection of rooms.

I think they've accomplished that. One space, but with clear divisions. Here's a reverse angle:

Stairs wind up to each bedroom. Not the most efficient, but it offers a unique way to preserve the sense of space, and offer each bedroom access to the shared space. If any of this is hard to visualize, here's a floorplan for the upper level of the house:

Could you live in a house like this? When you dream, what do your dream houses look like? images lovingly stolen from ArchDaily

Wishlisted

Concert posters are one of those well-designed and unique ways to introduce some art into your space. Now a company called BetterWall looks like they're doing gig posters for the public radio crowd. BetterWall sells outdoor banners used to advertize art exhibitions at museums in major cities (LA, NY, Denver... sadly no Minneapolis).

I'm a huge fan of the Ruscha banner, but then again he's probably my favorite living artist.

The stuff nightmares are made of

I've been sleeping well. The ikea mattress/futon is pretty comfy, and even though the slipcover is about as gentle and soothing on the skin as a cardboard loofah, I'm able to fall asleep and wake up right when I'm supposed to. This restfulness will all change because I've just seen this: a bowl with feet by Dylan Kendall

Terror. Inducing.
Just because you can put feet on something does not mean you should.

The new thing I'm drooling over

I'd written previously about how much I really wanted a Dyson magic fan. (not its actual name, but I think we all know what I'm talking about here). Well, between getting my mini fan and not actually having a place to put the magic fan, I'm going to have to cut it from my list of awesome things to get. Womp womp. Instead, I'm going to get one of these!

House Industries has made some pretty cool things, but in a collaboration with Herman Miller of Japan, they're producing a series of tables inspired by some of House's more iconic fonts. The downside? There's only going to be 80 of them. And they're all in Japan. And you thought the Missoni for Target lines were cutthroat. However, the wire-base tables appear on my local craigslist from time to time. If I was crafty, I could probably DIY something kind of like this. But I'd feel a little guilty about modifying a vintage table, especially if it turned out badly. Anyone else ever feel furniture modification guilt? Who's booking a plane ticket to Japan to pick up one of these?

Enter the handles

They've finally arrived. turns out, 4-6 weeks is kind of a long time when you're waiting for something. So the winning handle was *drumroll please*

Handle 3! While they were the most expensive, they were also the ones I enjoyed holding the most, and I felt like they fit the scale of the drawers a lot better. These things are heavy too. I feel like I could have used them as weapons. Which leads to the bathroom. I wanted something a little more fun in there, so I went for these. They're a matte finish that was a really close match with the shower curtain.

Here's a slightly wider angle. I think it adds that something extra that's been missing. Well, one of the something extras.

All in all, I think these were worth the almost 2 month wait. Do any of you ever replace the little things like handles, or do you focus more on the larger projects?

Wishlisted

Here's what I'm drooling over this week.