This week my links are all about images that made my heart skip a beat. When a 2-D image shrunk down to fit a small laptop screen bowls you over, you can hardly imagine how your heart will race in its presence. Well, for my first fave, those of you who know this blog know I love buildings that remind me of playing Jenga. Here’s the latest, it’s the Musuem aan de Stroom in Antwerp:

photo via Neutelings Riedijik Architects

Up close, it’s much more than a blocky facade; wavy windows play tricks on the eye with light, and provide an interesting contrast with the straight lines of the building:

photo by Filip Dujardin

What did I ever do before I could keep up with ArchDaily via Facebook? It’s one of my favorite ways to give myself a little break from working. This Mondrian-esque housing from Amann-Canovas-Maruri in Madrid was a refreshing sight to see. It seems so simple, yet it’s full of rhythm, clever tricks and surprises.

image by Miguel de Guzman

Going toward more simple but no less striking architecture, I loved this post over at Design Milk for sharing this amazing igloo village in Finland. It looks like something from another planet in this shot, perhaps one envisioned by George Lucas. There are a lot of wonderful photographs on their post (linked below), be sure to check it out. The duvet prints are a fun surprise.

Igloo Village Kakslauttanen in the Arctic Circle in Finland.

Read more about it over at Design Milk.

image via Simon Beck’s Snow Art

Speaking of igloos and cold weather, Simon Beck’s snow art certainly has been making the rounds online, and finally wound up in my Facebook feed. He makes these gigantic designs with snowshoes! What a way to combine a killer 2-day workout and art.  Check out more of them on his Facebook page.

What were you clicking on this week? Please share your favorite links in the comments section.

Just wanted to say congratulations to ModProducts for the high praise their ModKat Litter Box received in today’s Market Ready column in The New York Times. When a homeowner asked about what to do about a litter box during showings with potential buyers, interior designer Ghislaine Viñas highly recommended using a ModKat in small spaces. Here’s what she had to say:

“It’s a beautiful design,” Ms. Viñas said, adding that she had specified the box for clients and found that both humans and cats liked it. “I don’t mind the cat box sitting out” if it’s the Modkat, she said, “because it’s actually really attractive.”

Read the entire article here

New Rue! I particularly liked seeing how interior (among other things) photo stylist Raina Kettelson and her architect hubs decorated their farmhouse for new tenants in just two weeks. I especially love it because it’s in my favorite color combo: Black, off-white, yellow and gray.

photo by Emily Johnston Anderson

I can’t even begin to explain it, but this branding experiment I saw over on Fast Company is just cool and rather hypnotic to watch:

As an Atlanta resident who lives right near where most of these photographs were taken, I am particularly interested in the work seen on the Return to Atlanta blog. He took pictures all over Atlanta 23 years ago, and now he’s returned to shoot the same spots and compare the two sets. It’s a universal study in gentrification and really interesting to anyone who wants to follow the way cities change over time. While lots of good has come of some of the changes have occurred, the saddest change was the Urban Nirvana Studio. It’s a good case study in paving paradise to put up a parking lot. What was once this crazy exuberant garden full of sculptures and plants..

image from Return to Atlanta

…is now this typical generic gated condo complex:

image from Return to Atlanta

Don’t read this one unless you are ready to fall into a bloghole, but the list of nominees for Apartment Therapy’s The Homies award will keep you clicking from now through next Tuesday. It’s kind of sad (on my part) that I haven’t even heard of the one that was on top of the list, Manhattan Nest; I’m going to go check it out now. See you Monday!

Here are some links, images and a video that deserve some re-posting this week. By the way, what caught your eye on the interwebs this week? Please share with us in the comments section. Without further ado, here are five of my faves:

I am gaga over these gorgeous pictures of The Greenbrier taken by Cooper Carras and featured in Matchbook mag. We’ve been keeping an eye on this amazing institution for years, and I think Dorothy Draper would be very happy with the way it looks today. By the way, Cooper is married to Design Public’s Merchandising extraordinaire and star of our latest videos, Ali Carras (you’ll learn more about her in an upcoming staff profile). Both of them are very gifted photographers – it’s kind of not fair for one couple to hog all of that talent.

This is just a really cool video of a guy snowboarding in the dark in the hills of France while wearing a way-futuristic-lookin’ LED suit:

via Black Eiffel

Enjoyed this list of salvaged kitchen items over at Salvaged Grace (a new one to add to my Bloglovin’ list, which I’m lovin’; thanks for suggesting it you guys!). Thanks to Liza at Postcards from Colorado, as you led me down the blog-hole to automatism (which I’m also adding to my lovin’ list) which led me to this post. The skull made of pots and pans and what looks like a lot of those big Hi-C cans from my youth (do they still make those? The ones you have to punch two holes in?):

I’m having fun looking through This Old House’s list of best This Old House neighborhoods in the South, even though they were negligent in featuring my neighborhood. A lot of these neighborhoods have come back from neglect and once-dilapidated homes have been brought back to their former glory.

I appreciated this list of the home improvement projects that are the most worth your while.

• all images taken from the linked sources mentioned.

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.