Jason Roskey, Maggie Goudsmit and one-year-old Beatrice (whom you’ll spot running around in a few photos below!) live in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Jason has a background in visual arts — collage, sculpture and drawing — but he became more interested in exploring furniture construction and began experimenting with hand tools. Jason just started the furniture and…
Designer/maker Catherine Hammerton’s home is breathtaking! If you’re familiar with her work, then you already know that she has a talent for exquisite handcrafted touches and this is reflected in her London home. I love how open, light and colorful her space is. What a perfect home for creativity, and what a fun color palette!…
Every time I think of where I’d like to travel most, Australia tops my list. When I hear about a new artist I love, nine times out of ten their website address ends with “.au”. I love discovering new shops to add to my list of places to visit when we make the long (loooong)…
AC’s cold from last week finally caught up with me and I spent most of the evening and this morning sneezing and coughing. I always seem to catch the cold of anyone who walks within 10 feet of me, so next year I’m hoping to ward off early winter sicknesses by reminding myself to stock…
One of the best things about working on Design*Sponge is getting to meet people early in their careers and then watching them go through milestones online. I’ve enjoyed seeing some of my favorite artists start their businesses, fall in love, get married and have children. Today I’m thrilled to present a sneak peek at the…
I love tea. I love wrapping my hands around a hot cup in the winter. I love a special iced tea in the summer. This year, I discovered the award-winning artisan Lahloo Tea, thanks to a Twitter contact! I started out with an Earl Grey sample and fell in love. To wed my love of…
Hello, lovely readers! This post for the letter “B” was such an easy call — the indomitable brassica. I am a huge fan of this gorgeous cabbage. Brassica gives you lots of bang for your buck, is strong and stabilizing in arrangements, looks sophisticated and unusual and kicks up the drama factor. Brassica is a broad…
Image above: Lampshade before tea staining I’ve long been a fan of color. While I know that an all-white room, a set of stark white dinnerware or even a simple white T-shirt appeals to many, it has never been my cup of tea (no pun intended). When my family vacationed in Florida two summers ago…
I feel like I ate my weight in delicious clam chowder this week, so I’ve still got tasty New England food on my mind. And since I pretty much always have some sort of food on my mind, I felt like I’d found a kindred spirit when I saw these food-themed paintings from Detroit artist…
I’m back at home and missing the crisp New England weather already. It was so much fun to start each day by wrapping up in a big scarf and drinking a hot cup of coffee. I’m going to keep the hot-drink love going with a cute new patterned tea cup from Mocha. This reusable mug…
On what must have been the hottest day during one of the hottest NYC summers ever, my industrial pipe bed broke. (That statement makes me feel a little self-conscious and I’m compelled to note here that it didn’t break in a dramatic fashion; the pipes started to sag after six years and in my attempt…
Hello friends! I hope you’re all having a great week and enjoying the beauty that fall has to offer! This week on Before & After Basics, it’s all about the hardware. One of the first things I decide when I look at a new piece is whether I’m going to use the existing hardware, paint over…
If I owned a place of my own and had any funds with which to renovate, I would sink every penny into the bathroom. Bright, airy, lovely, soothing bathrooms are just about the best things ever. A bathroom doesn’t have to be huge to be enjoyable; take this gorgeous bathroom makeover from Emily as the…
You may remember how impressed I was with Calli’s ability to paint the gorgeously precise design on this dresser makeover about a month ago. Well, she’s done it again — this Navajo art-inspired dresser is an equally cool display of how a simple (ha!) painted design can completely transform the look and feel of a…
One benefit of my bizarre apartment set-up is that I have endless closet space — I know, I’m sorry to rub it in. Trust me, it’s not as amazing as you’d think. I know that’s not the case for everyone, which is why I think those of you without closets should look to this bedroom…
My love of notebooks and notepads is well documented, but sadly, so is my failure to actually use them. For some reason, I love to buy small notebooks (they’re the perfect bite-sized piece of affordable design) but I find myself stockpiling them as if they’re an endangered species. And well, I’ve found a new one…
I couldn’t resist starting today with a bit of a non sequitur: a short video of me freeing a lobster in Menemsha Harbor. Yesterday my family and I drove up to Menemsha to check out the boats and noticed a sign at the old Poole’s Fish shop saying you could buy and free female lobsters….
Many of you have noticed the amazing paper taxidermy moose that appears on the wall in some of Barb’s Before & After Basics posts, and we’ve received several requests for a tutorial on how to make one. We asked South Carolina-based artist Mollie Greene — moose creator and woman behind the charming Etsy shop Royal…
Add a little fall flair to your kitchen with these quick and easy wool potholders. They’re super simple to make — just cut out the leaf shapes, add the decorative stitching and you’re done! You can finish one in an hour or less, and they’re a great beginner project for those of you still afraid…
We love fall — changing leaves, farmers’ market apple cider, crisp morning air. One of the best things about the season are all the amazing 2011 calendars that start appearing in our favorite shops and from our favorite letterpress companies. We got inspired to make our own calendar this year to give as gifts to…
