Name: Vic Ayers

Title: Customer Service Rep

How long have you been with Design Public? Almost a year now

Where do you live? Who else lives there? In Austin, Texas with my insane kitteh, Lola.

What’s your place like? How would you define your style? I have a Dalek wall clock, designer plates from New Zealand, and an IKEA bed… eclectic.

Favorite city or town? What do you love about it? Either Seattle, WA or Nelson, New Zealand – both were just so metropolitan and free thinking.

A Design Public product that’s on your wishlist? Thomas Paul’s Ship Duvet Cover – Love this!

Favorite city or town? What do you love about it? Either Seattle, Washington, or Nelson, New Zealand – both were just so metropolitan and free thinking.

Movie you think has the best set/location eye candy? Either The Lord of the Rings trilogy or The Fall

Which reality show are you the most ashamed of watching? I proudly can claim I’ve never watched one…ever.

What technological advance can you not live without? Are there any you wish had never been invented? The Internets!

My DVR has been stacking up with the Zooey Deschanel show New Girl. I finally caught up this weekend. It’s basically stupid funny, which we can all use a little of now and then. Anyway, the flashback to her youth totally cracked me up. While fretting about an upcoming date with that guy who is known as “that guy who was a Mac on the Apple commercials who used to date Drew Barrymore,” Jess laments to her friend “everything I know about sex I know from Spencer and the Clinton impeachment trial.”

We flash back to Jess as a tween, glued to her portable radio and tantalized during the 1999 trials in her girlhood room.

Afraid she’s been busted by her mom, she hurls the radio and replies “Mom?!?!?!? I’m not listening to NPR!”

However, the plot is beside the point. The star of this scene is that fabulous wallpaper. It’s fun, flirty, floral, a little retro-yet modern, pink and orange…what else could you want in a fun and eclectic wallpaper for a girl’s room? It’s Momento by Amy Butler for Graham and Brown. Yeah. We got that. What’s amazing is that it’s totally groovy in a retro mid-modern dining room, lounge, hallway, what have you – super versatile:

Are there any stylish TV sets you’ve been admiring lately? I can’t think of any that have knocked my socks off since Mad Men began. I had high hopes for Pan Am but they don’t really compare.

• Images 2 and 3 via New Girl on Fox.

Via Anthology: The way Douglas Coupland composes objects on shelves is just as cool as that whole LEGO thing In Microserfs:

This isn’t the first time Coupland’s eye has caught our eyes. Here’s the first time. Here’s the second time. He’s also a great Twitterer (Tweeter? Whatever.) to follow.  Also, regarding Anthology, if you haven’t subscribed yet, you are missing out. You’ll save each one as you would a favorite coffee table book, so don’t let the price scare you away. You can have it delivered to your door by signing up here, or find it at Anthropologie.

Via ArchDaily: Coolest bridge ever? Look out Calatrava, Zaha Hadid has thrown quite a hat into the sculptural bridge ring. The Sheikh Zayed Bridge in Abu Dhabi is like some sort of Arabian Loch Ness Monster stretched from shore to shore. Actually, when I look at Christian Richters’ photographs of it, it looks like something different from every angle.

Image by Christian Richters

I also love the sketches of the bridge. It’s amazing to see it evolve on one piece of paper. Doesn’t it look kind of like a pathological liar’s polygraph results?:

Via This Old House: World’s Wildest Houses IX. I think that says enough about it; I don’t want to ruin the surprises by describing anything more than The Bottle House.

Via YouTube: Just in case you’ve been living under a rock:  The now-famous Willie Nelson/Coldplay Chipotle commerical that was first shown during the Grammy Awards show on Sunday. What did you think of the commercial, regardless of what you think of Chipotle? Let us know in the comments section.

Name: Erika Lehmann

Title: Vice President, Public Relations

How long have you been with Design Public? Since October 2011

Where do you live? Who else lives there? I am a New Orleans transplant now living in sunny southern California.  I share a home with my fiance’ Morgan and our two delightful yet mischievous preschool aged-children, Banks and Audrey Grace.

A Design Public product that’s on your wishlist? I am coveting the  MASH Studios LAX Platform bed and mounted headboard set.  I visited their space in Venice a couple of weeks ago and briefly wondered if anyone would notice if I just casually started dragging pieces out to my car…turns out they are heavier than I expected.

What’s your place like? How would you define your style? My place is always messy (see, 2 preschool-aged children, above.  See also: 2 parents who work full-time from home)  My style is eclectic yet practical. I love the intersection of classic and modern design (or as some call it, confused), and I think it really shines through in my attempts at making our house a home.

Favorite designer on the planet? Chanel.  I own multiple biographies about her life.  She fascinates me!

Worst design mistake you ever made? I once used an old t-shirt wadded up in a lighter color paint to give “texture” to our kitchen.  It looked like a 5 year old did it – it was terrible.

Favorite city or town? What do you love about it? I am in love with the city of Nice in the south of France.  The combination of French culture with the laid-back Italian way of life is my utopia.  Plus, anyplace where I can buy candied lavender, nutella crepes, and gelato in the same town is alright by me.

Movie you think has the best set/location eye candy? Midnight in Paris (noticing a pattern?  I may have a love affair with France).

Which reality show are you the most ashamed of watching? I’m addicted to The Bachelorette.  Go Emily!

What technological advance can you not live without? Are there any you wish had never been invented? The iPhone on both counts.  I love it and can’t live without it, yet I’m often cursing the fact that it makes me so daggum accessible.  Sometimes a gal just doesn’t want to be found.

Describe your dream vacation. An overwater bungalow at the St. Regis in Bora Bora with our own waitstaff that caters to our every whim. Lots of spa time.  Lots and lots of books.

bottom images via The St. Regis Bora Bora. File that under “I want to go to there.”

Because we’ve been chatting about de-cluttering and getting organized in the new year, I want to tell you to pick up the March 2012 issue of O magazine. Publishing the clutter-clearing issue arrive in March is wise; everyone else is doing it in January, and we’ve all run out of steam, given up or forgotten about it by March.

The de-cluttering issue is always great, especially since clutter guru Peter Walsh is in Oprah’s posse. However, my favorite feature was not his decluttered ’til it’s really boring Palm Springs home, but rather, a bunch of people cleaning out the closet of  Oprah’s BFF, Gayle King. It is helpful, if not all that realistic (her closet is bigger than my kitchen). It is also totally hilarious. My favorite part was seeing her wearing this 1984 Ungaro dress she didn’t want to get rid of (I think you’ll have to buy the magazine to see the shot):

image via Oprah.com

My second-favorite part was writer Lisa Kogan’s description of said dress: “A marigold and black Ungaro with the kind of shoulder pads seldom seen outside the Pittsburgh Steelers defensive line.” She sounds ready to give Michael Kors a run for his money on Project Runway!

Anyway, I know shelling out money for magazines is a luxury right now, but this is an issue I will hoard until Peter Walsh declares it clutter and pries it from my cold, dead hands.

image via Just a Titch

Also, speaking of clutter, how have you been clearing yours lately? I dropped the ball on those Easy Organizing Projects, didn’t I? Here is a really easy, really enjoyable one attack the magazines!  I realize this is ironic, that I’m telling you to purge the glossies right after telling you to buy one; sue me. Take a stack along with a box and a stapler and enjoy them while watching TV, trying to get sleepy in bed, whatever. Rip out articles you want to read someday and staple each article together. You’ll now have a stack of juicy reading that won’t weigh you down next time you are on the train, a plane or the bathtub. Cut out pictures that you know you’ll want to save for future inspiration. Put them in your inspiration binder or scan or photograph them and upload them to Pinterest. If you don’t do this within a month, you need to recycle them as well.

If you don’t wind up cutting a thing out of your magazines, see if any schools, hospitals, shelters, nursing homes, etc. would like to use them. If you did cut things out, lots of art classrooms can use your magazines (make sure they are age-appropriate). If you just want them out of the house, pop them in with the newspaper and cardboard recycling.