30 April 2010

Nerd Love


I adore today's One Sentence Story #3624

House of Cards

I've been thinking about cardstacking off and on all day today courtesy of last night's Survivor challenge.  I remembered seeing a picture of Bryan Berg's World Record House of Cards, which is really a misnomer because it's a city of cards, and decided I should share it with you all so you too can gasp and ooh and ahh... No captions, they speak for themselves.

29 April 2010

Anthropomorphism

After finally coming back mentally from our lovely break, I came here to post, saw Truman moving out of the corner of my eye and had a huge flash of panic thinking, Omigosh, when's the last time I fed him?!!  Lol!  Well, it's to be expected - I can't throw away my shredded ballet flats because I might hurt their feelings and I used to apologise to the furniture when I bumped into them.

I like to prepare for every eventuality. I have plasters and safety pins stashed in my bag. I get the train before the one I need. I have assembled a small army of toys on whose loyalty I feel I can depend if inanimate objects come alive overnight and the war between organics and inerts begins in earnest. You never know. ~ Margaret Robertson on Offworld: One More Go

26 April 2010

Honeymooning



via
M for Amazing and I are taking a little two day getaway.  See you Wednesday!

23 April 2010

Living Large

Have any of you been following Apartment Therapy's Small Cool 2010 contest?  It's a treasure trove of inspiration.  Readers (and they have many) are sending in pics of their small decor; all entries are divided into five categories ranging from teeny-tiny (400 sq feet and under) to small (1,000 sq feet and under).  I would have been getting heart palpatations over this four years ago (not that I'm not now) - I remember devouring everything I could get my hands on about small space living; this would have kept me fed for a month! So often books on "small" space living include 2,000 and 3,000 sq ft houses (!!?), so I really appreciate the focus on truly small living. I haven't had a chance to really delve, yet, but here's some of what I noticed with one glance. Go check it out  - and don't forget to vote!
Love the books spilling over everywhere! I can live without furniture as long as I have books, photos, and art.  I'm so sad our library system has started charging overdue fees - I've had to ban myself from checking out books because I am notoriously slow about returning them.  I've joked that if anyone ever wants to track me down they just have to check every city library's Most Wanted list.
I am totally going to steal that sign for our bedroom.  There's not enough positive verbage in the world.
This is called Pong's Restraint and that's what I appreciate about it - love that simple note of the clouds high in the corner.

22 April 2010

Bright Ideas



I've been searching antique stores for chandelier crystals to donate to TheSpanishLady's projects - but it turns out that was just a waste of time - I should've been roaming the candy aisles at Safeway instead! Look at these amazing gummi bear chandeliers!

It turns out there's no end to humble objects that can be turned into something beautiful - lost treasures, found objects, plastic cups, bic pens, clothespins, wire, drink carriers, paper clips, - it makes me itch to go out and make something wonderful.

























































































































































*Warning for the Fish Phobic: Fish Ahead*
(not a a fish head; fish ahead)

Even though what I really love about  Dominic Bromley's famous Shoal Chandelier is the white on white textures and shadows, I'd still like to try to make a small version with Swedish Fish.  Of course, I'd have to not munch....


Lustre via
Round Gummi via
Chandelier Gummi via
Winnie Lui 1 via
Plastic Cup via
Bic Pen via
Clothespin via
Wire via
Drink Carrier via
Winnie Lui 2 via
Paper Clip via
Shoal via

It's Only A Paper Moon

We had fifteen people over for dinner in our little one bedroom home this weekend, and that's not our record so I need to figure out how to make this flexiblelove sofa- they don't sell it in the US yet (not that I'd probably buy it anyway, kind of spendy).

























I've been discovering lots of cool cardboard items lately - furniture, playhouses, - even bridges! It all started when I began researching fun bassinet designs for spyglass and found this cardboard one. (My kids know all about cardboard furniture - for a long time their beds were cardboard boxes; I wish I'd been clever enough to brainwash them into believing we weren't poor, just hip and green!)










I took some large cardboard pieces from Ikea's recycling (recycling the recycling) and am going to try to make the cradle just to see if I can, and to experiment with their strength. I think if I paint it it will be sturdier. I'm not convinced about the durability of cardboard. I had this lovely cardboard file organizer, but the seams became worn from paper sliding in and out and they eventually tore.That doesn't bode well for, say, a cardboard house!


Light: Zakkacandy Stove: Villa Julia: Inhabitots Sharks: Nume Bathroom: Guest Bed:Here's some more finds - believe it or not, I haven't even made a dent (haha) in the subject. If you're interested in more ideas, WebUrbanist has an article entitled 7 Creative Approaches to Building Big with Paper: Adaptive (Re)Uses of an Everyday Material that I really enjoyed, and google searching will keep you busy for a week!
 

















































































































































Cardboard Bathroom via
Cardboard Guest bed via
Cardboard Sharks via
Cardboard Villa Julia via
Cardboard Document Box Stove via 
Cardboard Colossal Cubby House (with instructions!)via
Cardboard Stove Pattern (invented by a mother!) $12 via
Cardboard Office via
Cardboard Bridge via
Cardboard closet via
Cardboard Extension Chair via
Cardboard Guest Room via
Cardboard Record Player via 
Cardboard Light via 
Cardboard Art via 
Cardboard Amoeba Coffee Table via
 

20 April 2010

Hidden Depths


For those who hadn't noticed, my titles are links.

A good book has no ending. ~R.D. Cumming

I think this book shelf would make a wonderful window seat.