Over at DP we are all big fans of David Stark (check out this post), so I wanted to make sure and share that his new monograph is available today. We’ll have an interview and a giveaway coming up very soon, but if you just can’t wait, it is available starting…TODAY! There’s already a healthy discount over at amazon. Also, his new website design is A TRIP! It threw me right out of my internet surfing stupor and really engaged me – check it out here.

I had the pleasure of interviewing Sharon Portnoy, an architect featured on the A.I.A.S.F. House Tour in Marin County. When I asked her about her inspirations, she mentioned MacKay Lyons Sweetapple Architects so I immediately searched for their work on the internet. Ah yes, I spent another hour away from working and browsed their entire portfolio. In addition to designing beautiful buildings and showing them via spectacular photography, they include models and sketches as simple as this one, sketches that portray just how much they have thought about site planning and space:

I’ll tempt you with a few images here (it’s really hard to choose just one; at last count I had swiped twelve), but I’ll highly recommend you check out their website. Also, if you just feel like “I want to go to there!”, they have designed some cottages in Nova Scotia that you can rent. I am not sure I’ve seen a more sublime spot than the one they are situated upon. For more information about staying there, visit The Shobac Cottage and Studio Rentals site. Here’s a peek at their setting:

I am one of those people who looks at a garage and thinks about how to make it livable. However, I have nothing on this woman, who became her own general contractor, raided airplane and boat salvages for parts, built a base for a clawfoot-less tub, and even learned how to weld during the process of making her garage habitable. Check out the entire article and slideshow at The New York Times; it’s really inspiring. I like this idea a whole lot better than the yurt in Alaska thing.

She’s married now and has moved back into the main house, but she’s kept the garage as her woman cave. A garage outfitted for a performance and visual artist differs greatly from that of  a couple of foot-long eating Rush aficionados:

TOTAL SIDE NOTE: Did anyone see the HILARIOUS letter to the editor to the Times about their recent articles – it mentioned the yurt people, the people who never turn on the heat, and some other article – the gist of it was basically “what’s the next trend, igloos?” That’s all I have to go on; I meant to cut it out and to share it with my fellow NYTimes Home readers because it was so funny – if you know where it is, please let me know in the comments section. I think it was published about two months ago.

• photo from one of the funniest scenes ever, the “Tom Sawyer” montage -  Dreamworks Pictures, I Love You Man
• photo by Ira Lippke for The New York Times

I had to put a fave star next to this shot from flickr member Smile and Wave when I saw it in our Fresh New Spaces Group:

The slightly beat up cabinet takes on a fresh look when it teams up with a large sleek lamp, some white vases complete with branches, the aqua vintage typewriter and the etched mirror.

Check out the history of the piece and a lot more fun posts over at Smile and Wave’s blog.

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