Who knew our customers were tribal belly dancers? Well, Mindy is, how fantastic is that?! There is nothing better after a long tribal dance than relaxing on a Fatboy Headdemock (at least I can only imagine…)

Name: Mindy

Where do you live? Pennsylvania [right outside Philly]

What do you do? Art Psychotherapist & Licensed Professional Counselor

What’s your favorite DP product and why? Fatboy Headdemock Hammock — This is by far, the most awesome hammock that I’ve ever “met.” It’s large enough for me & my husband [and our dog]

How would you describe your design style? Modern-eclectic, colorful, art”full.”

What was the best advice anyone ever gave you? “stop, breathe, think”….very helpful most days!

If you were a crayon, what color would you be? If I were a crayon, I’d love to be Read the rest of this entry »

Thank you to Lisa Adams, CEO of L.A. Closet Design, an organizing expert and designer who has created some of the most beautiful and glamorous closets out there. She realizes it’s not all glamor, and has some great advice for how to make a small closet work.

How to Make the Most of Cramped Closet Spaces

Many of us do not have the luxury of a grand walk-in closet but rather a modest-sized closet that is probably over-stuffed with clothing, shoes, suitcases, boxes, blankets and more. When your closet gets cramped, your lifestyle also suffers. You might find that you are perpetually running late, misplacing items that you need to leave the house in the morning, damaging your clothing, and losing time on things that matter.

To make the most of the space you have, first, evaluate and audit your closet. Purge, recycle or donate any item you have not worn in the last six months. Next, develop an organizing system around your natural habits and stick with it. You will notice that over time, it will become easier and easier to maintain. Next, evaluate your cramped closet, looking for every inch of available space and think creatively about how to use it. Look under the bed, over the door, on the walls, on the floor then, select some organizing products that fit your layout and help to maximize and organize your storage areas. Below are a few of my product  picks and tips that will help aid in this process:

• Space Saving Hangers—Replace your hangers with my favorite slim-line chrome hangers, which allow you to fit more clothes per linear foot.
• Shoe Control—Just like you would sort your clothes, it is important to sort through your shoes. Ask yourself again – keep, purge, recycle, or donate? Shoes that are not worn frequently but are a must save, such as occasion shoes and winter weather shoes, can be stored in small plastic boxes on a high shelf in the closet.
• Over the Door Shoe Organizer—Keep your shoes from taking over the floor of your closet. Free up precious space by incorporating a clever Over the Door Shoe Organizer behind your door.
• Closet Rod Doubler—If you have a lot of hung clothing, think vertically to maximize closet space. A Closet Rod Doubler instantly converts three to five feet of hanging space to twice the amount!
• Under Bed Storage—There is so much under-utilized space under your bed. These clear, virtually unbreakable, boxes with locking lids and wheels allow full visibility of their contents.
• A Slim Tower—These drawers work anywhere you can find a little space and are easily mobile (under hanging racks or in the corner). They are perfect for housing accessories, cosmetics or loose items that need some organization.
• Laundry Basket—I love a laundry basket that looks “designer chic” and can either hook behind a door or can be free standing.
• Accessories Organizer—A unique organization idea that makes it easy to select and coordinate accessories with your outfit. This two-sided organizer hangs on a closet rod or hook, and comes with 37 compartments.
• Drawer Organizers—Drawer organizers that fit nicely inside drawers and are perfect for separating your undergarments, socks, and accessories.
• Belt Hanger—A space saving way to hang 36 belts consistently with the rest of your clothing. Such hangers keeps all your belts visible and all in one place.
• Slat Wall—If you find that you are left with a bare wall and not enough depth to incorporate cabinets, consider a slat wall panel. Slat walls are very versatile. They can accommodate many accessory compartments such as shelves, sunglasses racks, bins, hanging rods, and hooks to hang your bags, backpacks, store keys, and books.

Yes, at random, Environmental Tuesday is back. As I’ve been decluttering, I have not been able to toss out the mason jars full of wine corks I’ve collected for years. I never really intended on making a corkboard out of them (though this is a good idea and a great way to recycle them), but I could not bring myself to add them to a landfill even though I was trying to purge clutter like crazy. Perhaps I sensed that there was somewhere out there that would take them all along, because…

…There is a great new organization called ReCORK by Amorim that combines two of my favorite things, WINE AND SHOES! They want your used corks. Started California wine country in 2008, ReCORK is partnering with restaurants, wineries and airlines to collect used corks so that they can be reused in products like floor tiles, building insulation, automotive gaskets, craft materials, soil conditioner and sports equipment…and SHOES! In particular, they have partnered with a shoe manufacturer called SOLE to make shoes out of the wine corks.

A quick glance at how it works: Check the ReCORK site for drop-off areas in your city and take your corks. If you don’t have a drop off area, ReCORK will send you a shipping tag, however, in order to keep carbon footprint down and not erase all of their good efforts, they want 15 pounds of corks at a time. Atlanta, even though I first read about ReCORK in the AJC, according to the site, we don’t have any drop off centers yet! Atlanta restauranteurs and wine shop owners, how about it? You may sign up just to recycle your own corks, or to be a collection partner, so that people can drop off their corks with you.

By the way, if you have any green resources or ideas you’d like us to spread the word about, please let me know in the comments section. I’d love to revive this series.

all images via ReCORK.org

by Terunobu Fujimori

I was so uninspired today, so I hopped over to one of my favorite places to get some inspiration – Wallpaper*’s Online Gallery. Thus I stumbled upon the exhibition Architects Build Small Spaces at the Victoria & Albert Museum. What’s most fun to me about these are the relationships the spaces have to their unique sites:

by Rural Studio

by Studio Mumbai

Check out the whole slideshow here.

images via wallpaper.com, photographed by hmmm, it doesn’t say, if you know, please shoot me a comment so I can add the name.

Sorry this one is late, I wanted to make sure I had permission to use it! This lovely kitchen photograph comes from flickr member  and professional photographer danielleanthony. The kitchen is in a house on Cannon Beach, one of the most sublimely beautiful places I’ve ever visited. Note how all of the color is brought in by the plates:

Check out more of Danielle’s work at danielleanthony.com!