The Red Cross website must be a little overwhelmed right now, which is a good sign, but please don’t let it that stop you  from trying to make a donation to help the relief effort in Haiti. As I waited for my donation to process today, I felt badly that the only times I tend to donate to the Red Cross is after a huge, front page, horrific disaster. I need to remember to support their efforts all the time, without having to be reminded to by tragedy. Anyway, keep trying over the weekend if you haven’t already at RedCross.org.

Jonas Camille Hector: Marine Suite – #6

Also, as Haiti is on your mind today, go over to Return to Bohemia and check out the collection of Haitian art that Kitty has posted there (image above is via Return to Bohemia).

Well, this one was on flickr, but only because I swiped it from Living Etc. when I was cataloging some of my favorite clawfoot tubs over there. It’s fun to find a clawfoot tub in an unexpected color like bright green!

photo via Living Etc.

I am goo-goo over this fantastic tub from flickr member mayrichie1. Couldn’t you see planning your entire bathroom around it? I could also see it in someplace like the Ace Hotel, or even in the type of setting it was photographed in here; perhaps as the focal point in some industrial garden, full of plants. I’s just such a great looking object!

If you are interested in learning more about where to get a custom tub like this, click here.

Our friend Vanessa de Vargas let us know about a great project she is involved in called Family Shelter and they need help. Here is her description of the project:

I just recently came on as Lead Interior Designer/Coordinator for this fantastic new 18 room shelter project called Upward Bound House in Culver City. I have organized 17 other Los Angeles based interior designers, who like myself are all putting in our time and effort to decorate our own room for the new shelter.

Each designer essentially adopts an apartment for a year that will help with temporary housing for 4 families.
The shelter will be opening its doors Feb 1st, so we are working around the clock to get the rooms designed in time for the new families.

We are in need of donations to furnish each of the rooms that include chairs, tables, shelving units, side tables, lighting etc. And are especially in need of new bathroom and bedding accessories.
Each designer has to come up with their own donations (we do not have a decorating budget) so I am asking you to please help us with a small donation.

All donations are tax deductible, just provide me with your address I can mail out a receipt for each donation.
Cash, checks, any products and gift cards ie Ross, Bed Bath and Beyond, Marshals, TJ Maxx, Home Goods etc. would be perfect stores that we can purchase from.

You can make the check or gift card out to:
Vanessa De Vargas
633 Palms Blvd. Unit A
Venice, CA 90291

Thank you for taking he time to read my note and hope that with the support from our friends, family and colleagues we can create a beautiful space for these families!

To read more about the project and to learn how you can get involved, read this article at California Home and Design and learn more about Upward Bound House, click here.

You know all those fabulous design blogs that show their super-clever D.I.Y. projects and they make them look so easy? Those kinds of posts are the reason I have such a hard time letting go of all stuff from around my house. I think “oh, I can refinish this and put new hardware on it and air it out and it will be brand new again.” I subscribe to ReadyMade and get inspired by all those folks that can make a beautiful chandelier out of paper clips and old keys. Now, this kind of thinking really works for clever people like Thomas Wold, to name one. Unfortunately, I am not one of those people and I need to counter my packrat false ambitions by watching Hoarders. This is how the world’s simplest and easiest project took me three days to complete.

So, first I asked you all for advice. I received great tips, and basically picked the one with the shortest drive to go get materials. The winner, thus, was foam core from Utrecht.

DAY ONE:

I then went through the piles and piles of Marimekko fabric I have around my house, but nothing was really calling my name. So I gave up and got busy doing other things.

DAY TWO:

I worked out for the first time since my gym went out of business on December 3 and way overdid the lunges. It was also freezing outside, but looking at my ugly map wall, blank foam core and thus total lack of inspiration, I remembered I could walk to Paper Source and get something to cover the foam core. It was VERY cold outside, so hobbling with my aches and pains to Paper Source took a lot of determination.

I looked through all of their beautiful Japanese papers for what seems like an hour and finally decided on this gorge blue dotted one. Now, I knew I needed to cover a 30″x 40″piece of foamcore. Let me say, I don’t understand how I broke 700 on my math SAT, because what I am about to tell you is so stupid it’s ridiculous. I had the saleswoman measure the paper for me. It was 19″ x 25″. We both agreed this would cover something 38″ x 50″, even though I said “I know something is off here but I cannot figure out what.” It was this:

Um, yeah, you only get to double ONE of the dimensions! Duh!

At this point it was 6:45, the store closed at 7:00, I could not find my big cutting board or fresh Exactos to trim the foam core. I was thawing out and my thighs were screaming. DAY 2 was dunzo as far as this project was concerned.

DAY THREE

It’s a new day for DIY. I took down my maps and discovered why I didn’t like my map wall anymore – the ones at the bottom showed me the beautiful blue that background used to be had faded to a dingy awful gray in the sunlight. This is probably going to happen to my new inspiration board, but if I worry about that now, this is never going to happen. Check out the difference – it’s so weird!:

So I returned to Paper Source (dang it – I wish I could get out of that store for under $70, but the metal robot ornaments were 50% off!) and bought the two remaining pieces: Read the rest of this entry »