Congratulations to all of our friends at DwellStudio! Today is the official opening of the DwellStudio Flagship store at 77 Wooster Street in New York City. If you get a chance to visit, I’ll be jealous; it looks like it’s absolutely what I’d expect from them – beautiful and inspiring. If you can’t make it, visit vicariously through this blog post.

Other posts that caught my eye this week all remind me of the antiquated pre-CD, pre-interent technology of my youth, and they are all super clever. Check them out!

image by David B. Smith Gallery

This one earns a big WHOA! Thanks to my friend Maya over at VisuaLingual for sharing this incredible city composed of movable type pieces on Facebook. It’s by artist Hong Seon Jang and it’s currently going viral around the design blogs (I took a gander at it at Colossal; it’s awesome, I had to drag myself away so I could get some work done). At this angle, the mini-city looks like something out of Leonardo DiCaprio’s Inception dreams (or was it reality? I still don’t understand what happened at the end – enlighten me if you know).

image via we and the color

And down the rabbit hole I went; apparently Colossal found city over at Quipsology, so I hopped on over there and found this incredible mix tape table by Jeff Skierka. You can’t quite see in this picture, but it sits on a clear acrylic base So if you really have a crush on someone, stop making that lame music mix and think bigger.

Image by Todd McLellan

Back to (not)typing: Hopping over to DesignerPad, I found a post that will appeal to those of you who wonder how things work and those of you who like to take stuff apart. It’s about a show by photographer Todd McLellan called “Disassembly.” There are some really cool videos on McLellan’s site showing him disassembling some of these. They are great lessons in composition.

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

1. Magic Bus in Mexico City: It’s not just the fact that it’s been yarnbombed, but also the patterns and colors that make it part Partridge Family/part Harajuku. I spied this on Pinterest via Casapinka.

2. Five Hotels Across the Room with Stunning Interiors: A feature from The Wall Street Journal that will make you want to go to there.

photo by Beatrice Amagat for The Wall Street Journal

3. Happy 5th Birthday Making It Lovely! I had no idea I had posted about you within about a week of your launch, but I do remember Nicole’s work catching my eye via all of those fabulous images she posted on Flickr! It’s been wonderful to watch her home, business and family grow over the past five years. Congratulations!

4. Middle of the country fights “flyover” derision; small cities grow and flourish: GOOD mag has a great article about how small cities that a lot of planes may happen to fly over are improving, growing and spreading the word about what they have to offer.

PET PEEVE ALERT: As someone who spent her formative years in Cincinnati Ohio, I don’t like the term “flyover state.” In fact, the kind of people who say it are the ones I hope don’t land anywhere near me anyway. You can keep your insane  rents and stinky cabs, your hideous traffic and your earthquakes thank you very much. Those of us under the flightpath know what great places these smaller cities can be.

5. Oh Pinterest, you are a danger. On a more positive note, I’ve been trying my hand at pinning, repinning and liking too much this week; I even let it distract me from watching The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills the other night. We’re just starting to dip our toes into Pinterest over here, so Pinners, let us know how to follow you in the comments section.  Here’s our Pinterest action.

What caught your eye on the web this week? Let us know in the comments section!

Have you been meaning to catch up on your design reading but just haven’t had the time? The lucky thing is, now you can figure out which books from 2011 lived up to the hype and which ones you should take a pass on. As for the best design books of 2011, here are ten that I thoroughly enjoyed and highly recommend from interior designers, shop owners, magazine editors, bloggers and trendsetters, in no particular order.

1. Decorate by Holly Becker: The top blogger, along with co-author Joanna Copestick, has come up with 1,000 design ideas. That’s right, 1,000, for every room in your home.

2. Black and White (and a bit in between) by Celerie Kemble: Kemble breaks out of her Palm Beach roots here. She has collected the most stylish uses of black and white rooms around. She’s one of my favorite design writers – insightful, intelligent and she doesn’t take it all too seriously.

3. The Perfectly Imperfect Home by Deborah Needleman: The founding editor of Dominio and current editor of the Wall Street Journal’s magazine has compiled a charming tome of design advice, accompanied by wonderful illustrations by Virginia Johnson.

4. Undecorate by Christiane Lemieux: While it’s not the opposite of Decorate, this book is about loosening up and the beauty of casual comfort. By the way, Christiane is the founder of DwellStudio.

5. Katie Ridder Rooms by Heather Smith MacIsaac: I love that Ridder has her own distinct style that really cannot be categorized. It’s fresh and feel-good.

6. Big Easy Style by Bryan Batt: This is a more personal pick, because I love this actor, who played Sal on Mad Men, and I love almost everything about New Orleans, a city that’s unique and special in so many ways, including its architecture.

7. The Happy Home Project by Jean Nayar: I love not only that this book provides a guideline for making your home healthier and thus your life happier, but also that Nayar digs deep into everything she’s doing, whether it’s learning about how to be greener or how to achieve Wabi-sabi.

8. Patina Style by Brooke and Steve Gianetti: Perhaps you recognize Brooke from her popular blog, Velvet and Linen. It’s so much fun to finally have her and her husband Steve’s style all wrapped up in a beautiful hardcover book!

9. Alexander Girard by Todd Oldham and Kiera Coffee: I’m so glad that Todd Oldham has gotten into books. This book as well as his giant Charley Harper book that came out a few years ago are must-haves for graphic design aficionados.

10. Summers in France by Kathryn M. Ireland: Kathryn Ireland is one of those people you wish you were friends with.  With this book, you get to take a vicarious visit to her beautiful home in France and pretend you are friends with her.

What were some of your favorite reads in 2011? Please share with us in the comments section. I’ll be sharing whatever I pick up in 2012 as I go along this year. Happy Reading!

The only thing sadder than the Framingham Massachusetts rest area at 11:00 p.m. on Christmas Eve is a massage chair in said rest area, stuck in between the candy machine and the men’s room on Christmas Eve. What’s even sadder than that is a pair of them. And the saddest thing of all, is that the sign above them says “Chairs Are For Massages Only.” So non-paying sitters are not welcome to wait for their loved ones outside of the bathroom unless they are feeding quarters to the chairs.

How stiff would your muscles have to be to tempt you into sitting in one of these? Anyway, looking at this picture made me feel oh so much better about every single chair I have in my house. It’s also making me think that putting a real spa in a rest area is not a bad idea.

What’s the most bizarre thing you have seen in a rest area? Let me know in the comments section – I’ve got the post-holiday blues and I’m feeling really uninspired!

By the way, this post reminds me of one I wrote back in 2005, where I linked y’all over to 50 Sad Chairs by Bill Keaggy. It’s still one of my favorite things on the interwebs and I’m happy to report it’s still up and running. In fact, there is even a book, published in 2008, called 50 Sad Chairs (go figure). You can still find it on Amazon:

There’s also a Flickr group called Sad Chairs. I think I’ll be over there checking out the 1400+ submissions they have for the next few hours. Come join me if you want!

For a lot of you this will be a weekend of gift wrapping. Get out your Scotch tape, your gift tags, your ribbons, your raffia, perhaps some Happy Tape, your boxes and your wrapping papers ready. Here is a list of some of our favorite resources around the web to inspire you.

1. I feel we must start with Martha. If you try to emulate her to perfection, you’ll probably drive yourself nuts, but her gorgeous wrapping ideas may spark some more simple ideas. This one’s easy – silver wrapping paper, a few different ribbons in fun patterns, and some berry doodads:

photo: Marthastewart.com

2. Real Simple.com: I always count on Real Simple for great ideas that won’t be too tough to execute:

photo: Kate Seers for RealSimple.com

While they recommend making this paper on the computer, you could do the same thing with butcher block paper or brown wrapping paper and a Sharpie.

3. CountryLiving.com: Grab a few colored tapes from the craft store. You can find graphic tape at an art supply store, Happy Tape, or even some fun colors of painter’s tape from the hardware store, and create a fun pattern on your package. This idea came from Oh Joy! – in fact, I think that’s the blog that led me to Happy Tape years ago:

photo: Philip Friedman/Studio D for Countryliving.com

4. Unruly Things: If you’re feeling particularly crafty, take a note from Japan and wrap your gifts in fabric – it’s an eco-friendly alternative to throwaway paper that will leave your giftee with a scarf or gorgeous piece they can sew into a throw pillow or frame. Feeling extra-extra crafty? Create your own fabric via this tutorial, and get a result like this one:

photo: Unruly Things

5. Design*Sponge: This is a classic Design*Sponge post I always refer back to. I always keep brown mailing paper, raffia and cheap paper tags in stock for all occasional wrapping, and this post showed me how to step up my game a bit. Guest blogger Amy Merrick has several ingenious ideas in this post, be sure to check it out:

photo: Amy Merrick for Design*Sponge

6. Craftzine.com: Yes, we’ve all seen the clever (and not so clever) ways to wrap with newspaper, but this tutorial goes to the next level – crafting gift bags from the paper. So empty out the recycling bin and get to work!

photo: craftzine.com