when i was in college and first discovered interior design i always thought i’d end up pursuing some sort of restaurant design career. i love the way that you get to embrace big concepts and some non-traditional design ideas. so i was excited to hear from christia about chef brian malarkey’s new san diego restaurant…
hello friends! welcome to before and after basics where the topic for the day is milk paint! seriously, this is one of my favorite finishes to perform on furniture. i’m so excited to share with you the crazy fun of milk paint ! milk paints are completely green and free of all harmful chemicals and…
i have to confess: i go absolutely cuckoo bananas for built in bookcases, or any shelving that spans an entire wall. one of my favorite games when i was little, which my friend meredith and i would play constantly, was…can you guess? library! trust me, it was cool. the game basically involved organizing my parents…
sometimes i think that the before & after column should instead be called “awesome scores”, because i frequently find myself insanely jealous of the furniture you readers manage to acquire. this director style rocking chair (!) is further proof of this. i love this piece. ashley was no fool about it either; i think she…
one of my favorite types of before & after projects is the whole apartment makeover. i find furniture transformations very inspiring, but sometimes i just want to live vicariously though someone who guts a whole place and makes it feel completely different. tim’s airy condo with a balcony is totally filling my need for big…
now that i’ve gotten the light-hearted girly/colorful roundup out of my system it’s time to indulge in my other half that is dying for something darker and fall-inspired. i am so ready for rich fall colors and deep red and bronze colors so this roundup is chock-full of the things on my wish-list for the…
i’m a gemini through and through and frequently blame my astrological sign for my complete inability to choose one personal style. i’m always going back and forth between something light-hearted and girly and something darker and more “serious” (which is relative when it comes to my style), so this morning i thought i’d do two…
Here at Design*Sponge, we have not even attempted to mask our crush on event designer and planner, David Stark! (Just for starters, see his in the kitchen with recipe, his diy interview/video, and this fun diy post-it project) His fresh approach to design is equal measures clever innovation and cheeky wit. He can successfully transition from creating…
i’ve always wanted to live in a loft, not only for their airy spacious qualities, but also because i love industrial style furniture, and hard as i try, i cannot seem to make it work in my 1920′s apartment (blast those crooked lines and over abundant molding!). i love tae’s cup holder coffee table because…
we thought of this idea one afternoon after an online purchase arrived at our doorstep: a finial and rod set that was WAY too large for the intended windows. after much internet research, we found that most finial and rod sets are on the larger size—and thus too big for our apartments and laurel canyon…
When the time comes for your jeans to be reincarnated into your new favorite shorts, the top gets a new life but what about that sturdy bottom fabric going to waste? I have been saving the bottoms of cut off jeans for two years now, knowing that someday I would have a bright idea of…
Thank you so much to Concept for Living magazine for featuring Design*Sponge founder Grace Bonney in their latest issue. (Images below)
i know it’s awful, but i’m seriously ready for fall. new york has been stuck in this perma-august weather since may and i’ve finally hit the point where i’m mentally buying leather boots and coats because i can’t take this humidity anymore. so as much as i love summer (it’s normally my favorite time of…
i’m loving these slightly eerie, somber pieces from new york based artist and illustrator garrett pruter. the horizontal piece below is so stunning full sized and i love the way it feels like two separate worlds on other sides of the globe. click here to check out more of garrett’s work online…
North by Northwest is one of my dad’s all time favorites, so naturally growing up I hated it. My big sister and I would make barfing noises at the video store (yes we were very mature) whenever he brought this or The Maltese Falcon around. I think it had to do with any 8 year…
this under $100 came highly requested by d*s twitter followers. we’re all tyring to make the most of the rapidly approaching end of summer. in spite of the heat, i am not quite ready to let go of longer days and tank top weather. so if you have a patio or outdoor space, you should…
last month i shared the first two videos i created as part of the d*s consulting program: how i got started + my tips for making the leap from part-time to full-time business owner. today i’m sharing the final video in the series that frankly, i need to re-watch myself. my balancing skills have been…
illustration by julia rothman oh, canada! today’s toronto city guide update comes from angelune des lauriers, a lover of art & design, and a contributor to the toronto craft alert (a community hub and online service for craft, DIY and design related activity happening in Toronto). by day, angelune works in drinking water protection and…
i’m going to keep this post short and sweet: coralie bickford-smith can do no wrong in my book. every single book cover she’s ever designed makes me weak in the knees. and today coralie has me in a design coma with the gorgeousness that is her latest collection: a series of deco-inspired metallic covers for…
today’s morning product posts are making me so happy. the next one is celebration of fantastic metallic patterns and this first design is all about amazing paper cuts. the pieces above and below are part of a recently completely paper installation from british artist andy singleton. andy’s installation, “dust clouds in the eagle nebula” was…
