Summer time really gets my travel bug a-jumpin! I am guilty myself, but so many of us long to travel abroad yet don’t take advantage of our very own American continent! This July, my husband Adam and I are hitting the road for a sweet heart’s road trip to explore some of the USA’s beautiful…
when summer rolls around, i try as hard as possible to freshen up the cave that is my apartment. while the darkness does help to keep rooms cool, the mood can get a little depressing if i don’t inject a jolt of summer here and there. if you have a plain fabric lampshade, pillow, or…
Okay, it may not be the sexiest topic in the sewing world, but piping is a darn handy tool to have in your stitchy arsenal. It adds a super-professional touch to pillows and cushions, as well as accessories like pot holders, placemats—just about anything that needs a little trimming action. You can buy piping in…
This interview is personally so, so thrilling! As a Fibers student at Savannah College of Art and Design, Denyse Schmidt is a hero, legend and all-around icon for young aspiring textile artists. Denyse’s quilts exude modernity in a medium often thought of as archaic and grandmotherly. Her vision transcends traditional Americana and breathes new life…
emails from erica at ps i made this always make me happy. erica has more craftiness in her little finger than i have in my entire body- so her projects are always a favorite of mine. today she’s sharing a seriously fun holiday themed project: a july 4th BBQ brooch! whether you’re grilling out with…
there are few things more effortlessly beautiful than green glass bottles. sitting in a windowsill, filled with flowers, or displayed on a mantle, they really take the cake for me. i collect vintage green bottles whenever i see an affordable one at a junk shop or a fleamarket, but this morning i’m drooling over the…
It is officially summer and I am officially, um…. hot. I’ve been channeling all of the energy I can muster (not much) into dreaming about my upcoming vacation to my family’s summer house in New Hampshire. Long canoe rides, hikes in the mountains, the occasional campfire and a fair amount of time spent lounging in…
despite my best efforts to do an under $100 lighting roundup every other week for two months, i’ve managed to get off course and am just now getting around to the second type: pendant lamps! in march i covered table lamps, and today i’m rounding up 35+ of my favorite pendant lamps in a wide…
today’s biz ladies post comes from regular contributor lauren venell of biz miss. lauren has contributed posts on how to accept credit cards at your business and how to price your work, and now she shares with us some sound advice on how to keep calm and stay positive in a competitive market. she offers…
today’s seattle city guide update comes to us from cassandra lavalle, local seattle-ite blogger, stylist and owner of coco+kelley. after several readers approached her to design their own homes and weddings, cassandra seized the opportunity to officially launch her own business as an interior + event designer in her hometown of seattle in october 2008….
ac and i walk up three steep flights of stairs every day to get up to our apartment, so i have a deep appreciation for people who spent extra time designing beautiful staircases. if you have to trudge up them, they might as well be beautiful, right? so i decided to go through the 500+…
our bathroom is probably one of my least favorite parts of our apartment. in general i’ve learned to embrace the various quirks around our space, but for some reason the nasty prison-gray tiles and the aging (read: rotting) wooden sink/cabinet make me want to cry. if we owned our apartment i would have ripped that…
coming from an american perspective, it can be hard to truly appreciate the small living spaces that typify european living, but living in paris has completely changed the way i look at things. that’s why i absolutely love lotta nieminen‘s apartment in downtown helsinki that is 35m2 (376sf) of pure intimate style and grace. by…
this summer anne, amy and i have been spending a good chunk of time re-tagging design*sponge’s hundreds of archived sneak peeks so they’ll be more search-able when the redesign launches. after having so much fun re-living some of the peeks from years passed (we’ve posted over 500 now, yipes!) we thought it would be great…
today’s first sneak peek is actually a mini peek into the home of artist/illustrator courtney wotherspoon. amy and i spoke with courtney back in january about doing a peek of her current home, but sadly i fell so behind with book work that i wasn’t able to coordinate things before courtney moved in to her…
Emma Cassi truly knows how to style an interior. She places the objects around her house perfectly, in a way that makes it all appear so effortless and comfortable. The linen pillows are a pleasant touch. I think linen should be present in every neutral colored home, yes? I also adore the pops of black,…
anna bond from rifle paper co. was probably the highlight of the national stationery show for me. out of all the artists showing, anna’s work really stood out the most for me. her unique illustration style and love of red, pink, and peach colors (my favorites) always catches my eye, so i get excited when…
ac and i spent most of our sunday dragging heavy ikea boxes up three flights of stairs and setting up our new home office, so i’ve got office accessories on the brain. we picked out a desktop with a clear glass lid, so i’ve been editing down my accessories and relishing the chance to show…
it’s been a long week, so i’m going to head out and run away from this laptop that’s burning a hole in my lap (i think the fan is broken, argh!). before i leave i wanted to share these beautiful new lights and a vase/stand from chen karlsson. i love the tiny animals and chairs…
It’s not every day you get to wheedle a recipe out of a Pulitzer Prize winning food writer, but Jonathan Gold gave me the chance. The result was today’s recipe for Spaghetti alla Gricia, a traditional and typical pasta dish from the Lazio region of Italy. Those of you who listen to his restaurant reviews…
