Design Public

Here are some more beautiful shelves from flickr member hnxing. Check out the way she had the stamps framed. I’ve been meaning to do this with my Eames stamps before I use them all up on bills!

photo from flickr member hnxing

It’s so fun to see a new batch of photos added to our Fresh New Spaces Group! I know I just featured her a few weeks back (here), but I had to share Ivy style 33’s lovely shelf arrangement with you today. I hope it inspires some weekend organizing and decorating for you!

photos by flickr member Ivy Style 33

“We’re all collectors by nature. But if you’re talking about an orderly life, there has to be a stop sign somewhere. Building a collection requires a strong constitution and the ability to resist.”

-Albert Hadley, The Story of America’s Preeminent Interior Designer

It also requires good eye for assembly. Through Jenn Ski, whose blog we mentioned last week, I found myself linking over to the fabulous Junk Culture blog, and from there I linked over to Lost Found Art. Lost Found Art describes itself as “a unique design company that specializes in sculptural installations and assemblages using antique and vintage pieces. Our works are created with an eye to scale, balance, color and surface interest, and the end result is a strong visual statement that combines artistic statement, whimsy, form and uniqueness.”

It makes me think that a collection of just about anything can look good if it’s arranged the right way! Here are a few favorites. There are about 70 more here.

Do you have an artfully arranged collection of something? PLEASE SHARE IT WITH US!

All images are from Lost Found Art

Today I’m admiring the lovely home of rorie brennan oconnor on flickr. Love the prints. Love the typewriter. Love the turquoise. Love the paint colors. Love the flair for vintage. Love the chandelier. Also love how she describes herself: “Blasé art historian turned attorney who loves pretty things.”

all photos from flickr member rorie brennan oconnor.

As I sit here at my messy desk, wishing I could get my act together, I stumbled upon this studio from flickr member Art·Craft·Thrift. I want to go over there and work. There’s a place for everything; a truly inspiring inspiration board, and check out those great picture rails in the smaller room. This flickr member, whose name is Jessica and who lives in Portland Oregon, also has a lovely blog called Domestic PDX, where she even lets you see her inspiration board updates. Thanks Jessica, I needed a kick in the pants this morning!

photo copyright Jessica Engeman via flickr.com

I stopped by my friend Lucas’s loft in the Old Fourth Ward today and took about a million pictures. Between the funky flash and the fact that I was dizzy, I’m not thrilled with the results, but the ideas are so good I had to share a few with you immediately anyway. I’ll share more of a house tour in a later post after some photo editing attempts, but for now, here are a few of his great ideas.

Aren’t these ticket stub shadowboxes a great idea? I have ticket stubs floating all over my house, some in scrapbooks, some on bulletin boards, I even saw one in my laundry room the other day. I’d love to get them all in one place, as each one carries different memories (side note: perhaps I’ll blow up the one from the Depeche Mode concert this past month - that show was AWESOME! OK, back to Lucas…) Lucas is a singer-songwriter and goes to see live music ALL the time. I even spy Suzanne Vega’s signature on a stub in his collection.

Lucas has a knack with IKEA frames. The piece above was bought from an artist in Provincetown, and he gave it more of a presence with an inexpensive black frame. The piece below is a tangle of old guitar wires that he was gathering up to toss out. When he saw they had formed a heart shape, he popped them in another frame:

Every surface around the loft is well-curated. Living in a small studio instilled the feeling of only keeping things you need and love around the house. Lucas entertains a lot, and I noticed he utilized trays and modern tray tables all over his home for various things. He keeps his bar beautiful with fresh flowers and candles.

A TV-related tree, currently some sort of shrine to Carrie Bradshaw!

Again, sorry for the photo quality. I’m not sure what happened there, and I feel like they don’t do the art or the space justice! Luckily, I have a bunch of photos from Lucas himself which are much better than mine. You can sort through them all in this flickr set if you’d like a peek before the house tour post!

Oh, and in case you were wondering about the note in the shadowbox, “U Cute” was a note left in grease pen on a Burger King bag by a toothless cashier who was staring at Lucas so much that he said “I was afraid he was gonna cut me.” It was only later as he picked up his burger detritus that he saw the note and it all made sense! Did I mention that Lucas is hilarious?

Today is recycling day in my ‘hood. This got me thinking about a man I think of as the ultimate recycler, Mr. Thomas Wold. Thomas has a fantastic feature in ReadyMade where he struts his creative repurposing stuff. The most recent project was inspired by this pile of salvaged pieces:

With a little magic Wold-dust, some Thomasvision, and some elbow grease, this was the result:

Bravo Thomas! To see the whole story and Thomas’s process, I highly recommend clicking over here. As a side note, ReadyMade magazine has always been cool, but lately the content has been off the charts. They feature so many ingenious and do-able D.I.Y. projects, as well as the hip and innovative people who come up with them. I especially love the features on creative types’ abodes. You can get a taste of ReadyMade right here.When I clicked over today, they had a two year subscription for the price of one special! To shop Thomas Wold’s other creations, click here.

Do you have anyone you’d like to nominate as the ultimate recycler? I just read about someone this past week who makes houses from recycled materials that reminded me of Rural Studio and Samuel Mockbee - there was an entire ceiling crafted from recycled framing store sample frame corners. As soon as I remember where I saw it, I’ll provide a link. If you know of any great links to creative recyclers or stories of your own creative recycling, please let us know in the comments!

photographs from Thomaswold.com; first photo by Thomas Wold, second photo by Markham Johnson.

I’m so glad I started following Dwell Studio on Twitter. Otherwise, I might have missed the blog post about Dwell Studio partner Jenna Chused’s feature in Martha Stewart Living! Her apartment is impeccable without being intimidating; for example, I love the way she used this school chart as art:

And I have some serious kitchen envy over this one. Wow, the power of a rug! This kitchen is strong like bull (as my father would say):

Check out the rest of the slideshow over at Martha’s place - I promise it will be worth your while! Also, you can get your own Dwell Studio style by browsing over here.

Photographs via marthastewartliving.com. Photographer name was not listed; if you know it, please comment so that I can add it to this post.

Where do you go for online house tours the most? I tend to browse The Selby for artistic inspiration, Apartment Therapy for the people who are just like you and me, POINTclickHOME for some American magazine style, Living etc. for that Euro flair and W for total fantasy. While it’s really hard to pick a favorite, the one I find myself anticipating new features from the most is New York Social Diary. I am currently dying over Izhar Patkin’s living space, and the interview that goes along with it is superb. Here’s a teaser; I highly recommend you check it out here A.S.A.P.! Here’s a teaser:

These NYSD features always seem to have the greatest outdoor areas as well:

all photos by Jeffrey Hirsch for New York Social Diary

As I perused Fresh New Spaces on flickr, I found a few members who exalt “bad art” and “crap art.” I love this idea. The first two come from kitschcafe:

The next one comes from Neryl Walker, who calls it “Crap Art”:

When arranged so brilliantly, the bad/crap art looks very compelling!