What have you all been checking out on the web lately? I’ve been all over the place and yet seem to wind up in the same old places as well, like a favorite, Colossal: 

Colossal introduced me to these wire birds perched in trees in Geneva, created by Cédric Le Borgne and part of an outdoor tree lighting festival. Of course, if you have ornithophobia, waking up and looking out your apartment window at this could be dangerous for your health.

I also took a thorough virtual tour of Bob Hope’s desert home, now on the market. This home is supposed to look like a volcano and was designed by beloved architect John Lautner. It’s over 23,00o square feet, which is crazier than living in a volcano. It has views of the Coachella Valley, so I’m very curious to know if you can see TuPac’s hologram from the patio during the festival.

Take the tour over at Zillow’s blog. Be sure to check out the e-brochure, as the sketches and black and white photos are quite breathtaking.

Speaking of popular architects, it’s been about a week and a half since we found out Toyo Ito won the Pritzker Prize, but it takes awhile to get to know the body of work from his long career. Whenever I need a little break from work, I head on over to Toyo Ito & Associates for inspiration.

Speaking of breaks from work, I love to giggle over Passive-Aggressive notes dot com, don’t you? The busting of Alex really cracked me up. I picture this guy having Popeye arms and a serious tab down at GNC.

What are you checking out on the internet this week? Shoot us a link in the Comments section!

As a kid, A-frame houses always fascinated me; we’d look for them on family road trips like we looked for punch buggies and Alaska license plates. It was probably this awesome Fisher Price A-Frame; it was quite a contemporary  step up from the barn and more relaxing than the airplane:

Below is the house that launched a thousand A-frames, designed by architect Andrew Geller in Long Island NY and built in 1955. It’s known as the Reese house and is responsible for the surge in A-frame popularity in the fifties through the seventies. If you’re looking to extend your break from work right now, be sure to read this article by Alastair Gordon and check out more stunning shots of Geller’s work.

It was this super cool A-frame in ReadyMade magazine several years ago that recaptured my imagination, in fact, I’m pretty sure I blogged about it at the time.

These cool A-frames on the beach in Texas sure beat the heck out of a crumbling motel:

A-frames also inspired groovy ads and prints that have big time retro appeal today, like this one from SVPPLY:

If you’re really going for a kitschy look, check out this tall narrow A-frame outhouse:

I don’t know what I love more, the genius new addition on this classic A-frame in Belgium or the way the Panton Chairs look on its deck. See more of this addition by dmvA Architects over at i.d.

Finally, designers are using the the original A-frame silhouette as inspiration for incredible new architecture, like this one located in the Pyrenees, designed by Cadaval & Solà-Morales:

Finding fab a-frames is so easy on the internet that I thought we should have a little collection to admire. We’ll keep collecting them in our new A-frame Pinterest board. If you have any you’d like to share, please shoot us a link in the Comments section.

I’m addicted to looking through real estate  on sites like Trulia and Zillow; I fantasize about high rise living in Chicago or a beach house on Martha’s Vineyard and cruise the ads when I need to take a break from work. Sometimes the pictures shock me. Did these people realize pictures to try and sell their homes were going to be taken that day? Could they have maybe made the bed? Here’s one that really cracked me up today. It’s a nice place, it looks fairly clean, it’s not cheap, but it’s very clear that a dude or dudes live here. Dudes that were likely in a fraternity.

Nice open living room, but the fact that a Foosball table is a focal point tips me off that Joey and Chandler may live here.

This kitchen is acceptable and clean. However, if you’re trying to sell your home, clear your counters. You may leave a teapot and a wine rack out, but I don’t want to see your dishrack (this tells a potential buyer that dishwasher may not work so great), your clutter, and I can’t smell the kitchen from the picture, so go ahead and put the Fabreeze away. By seeing it, I’m already thinking that your kitchen may very well stink.

OK, where to start? The dead plant is just bad feng shui. Make your bed. Place your occasional chair in a place that makes sense instead of the middle of the room. Put your clothing and that weird exercise contraption in the closet. Put the TV on a table or stand instead of directly on the carpet. Put the creepy poster in the recycling bin. This room belongs to Patrick Bateman’s messier brother.

Again, throwing your comforter over your rumpled sheets is not making the bed. Hang your jacket up. Put your shoes away. Clear that odd console. Don’t have wires hanging down from lamps. You literally could have put all the clutter behind where the photographer is standing for five minutes and this room could have looked clean and normal.

Finally, these guys do get points for putting the lid down, my number one bathroom shot pet-peeve. However, put your personal toiletries away. I don’t want to see a loofah hanging in the shower, the fact that the bottles are on the shower floor tells me that there is not a handy niche in there and I too will have to bend down to get my shampoo or have one of those stupid faucet hangers that never works right. I’m glad that the owner clearly has good hygiene, but the clutter is distracting.

Again, this place wasn’t exactly ready for an episode of Hoarders, it just needed a housekeeper and a home stager. What are your biggest home staging pet peeves?

Last week I had a chance to sneak away to Museum of Design Atlanta (MODA) at lunchtime. Located across the street from the High Museum, this little gem is a lot of fun to visit. Another bonus – the receptionist told us that movie stars are constantly walking by and she’s seen Owen Wilson riding his bike out front on several occasions. A single membership is only forty bucks and they have fun events in the evening all the time.

“Recess in the City” by Willem Stear and Didi Dunphy

The current exhibition, The South’s Next Wave, is also a competition. Interior/set designers and object designers paired up to create vignettes. Visitors receive a ballot and get to vote.

As I rounded the corner to check out “Darkly, Deeply, Beautifully Blue,” by cg creative interiors and Lisa Humphreys, I could swear I smelled frosting. Sure enough, several of the odes to Marie Antoinette were cake, including the tall corseted column in the middle and the pillow with the shoes on top:

In “Energy Required” by Thom Borwn and Michael Kress, the vibrant color of heavy duty extension cords provide a dynamic backdrop for Kress’s boat and chair.

In “Fashion in Captivity” by Michel Boyd, Maken Imcha, Christian Harris and Caroline Mae Heidenreich, frills, swag, draping and scale create drama. Check out the way the folds in the drapes contrast with the malachite wallcovering.

“Sound Lounge” by Michael Habachy and Peter Soloman is a space I think Prince would love. If Memorex cassettes were still a thing, this would be a perfect set for their commercial.

Yes, the swing outside is decorative AND functional!

Have you checked out any cool exhibitions in your town lately? Let us know in the Comments section!