Artist Kate Durkin and her husband Lenny moved to Sunnyside, Queens from San Francisco a year and a half ago with 10 boxes and no furniture. They chose this apartment because of its open kitchen/dinging room/living area, and they love to put on music, cook and still be hanging out with friends in the living room….
Michelle Mason is a London-based interior product designer. Focusing on homewares and design-led gifts, Michelle is currently working on a couple commissions for UK museums and shops. Typically space in London is tight, and she shares this two-bedroom flat in a Victorian building (c. 1890s) east of the city with her husband Bill, a photographer,…
Jessica Helgerson’s Portland-based interior design firm is truly amazing. I’m with Grace—if I could hire an interior designer, Jessica Helgerson would be at the top of my list! The room above is from an enchanting Portland four-square that Jessica and her team remodeled in 2009. I absolutely love the idea of a garden-inspired room! The…
One of the things I find myself thinking about a lot lately is how people start their mornings. My last few mornings have been filled with upheaval: packing, cleaning embarrassing piles of (previously) hidden dust and dismantling everything I worked so hard to hang on our apartment walls (Maybe a little too hard. Most of…
This weekend AC and I stopped by our new apartment to pick up our keys and poke around again one more time before our move tomorrow. When I walked in I was immediately drawn to the kitchen, where I have a feeling I’ll be spending a lot of time. Not because I’m an amazing cook…
I’ve always been more of a coat hook girl, but lately I’ve been tempted by the idea of a nice standing coat rack. Sure it might take up some valuable floor real estate, but if it was cute, maybe I’d be tempted to use it when I walk in rather than dumping my coat on…
This week has been a crazy one, and our move is right around the corner, so I’m heading out to start the packing process and begin cleaning our apartment for the next couple coming in. But before I dive in, I wanted to share these beautiful cake stands from Sweet & Saucy Supply Shop. Owner…
Just recently, I saw a tweet from a friend who is looking forward to morel mushroom season. As such, I thought this week’s In the Kitchen With would be the perfect time to offer up a traditional Austrian recipe for bread dumplings (semmelknoedel) with mushroom sauce by photographer Susanne Schanz Kropp. It isn’t made with…
Austin, Texas-based illustrator and animator Divya Srinivasan is the kind of artist who, after you learn her name and start digging through her portfolio, you might realize you’ve encountered all over the place without ever connecting the dots. In part, that’s because she’s, well, kind of just all over the place (I just realized I’ve…
Spring is just on the horizon, but before winter winds down, we want to give a shout out to those cold-weather bloomers that keep us going: hellebores. Just because they’re tough, doesn’t mean they’ve compromised on looks. In addition to their amazing hardiness as plants (many are frost resistant), hellebores have an impressive and unusual…
I’ve kept calendars and day planners for the last 14 years. As an order-craving person, my calendars and planners keep me on task, on time and on schedule. Bills are paid, writing deadlines are met, doctor’s appointments are kept and the dogs get taken in for their annual, all on account of my fastidious devotion…
One of my favorite parts of our recent “yard” sale was getting to pass some of my favorite small prints on to new loving owners. As much as I love a gallery wall full of tiny artwork, I’m feeling the need to move in a different direction, toward something on a larger scale. Lately I’ve…
As someone who has always dreamed of having a big, open, loft-like studio space with wood floors, industrial lamps, big windows and brick walls, I think I may die of envy if I stare too long at this amazing makeover of the Poppies & Posies studio, an NYC-based floral and event-design firm. When Sierra, the co-founder…
Grace may have moved from chairs to lamps as a new design obsession — definitely a wise move for space-efficiency purposes —but for whatever reason, I am still firmly stuck in the chair world. I admit, it’s a problem. All I have to do is see a beautiful new chair, like this gorgeous rocking chair makeover…
So many transformations involve bright colors or bold, outrageous patterns, so when we get a subdued makeover here and there, it can be quite refreshing. Don’t get me wrong — I love high-intensity design. But I’m finding the calm, neutral palette and subtle polka-dot pattern of Sarah’s desktop makeover very pleasing. Sarah had an old…
I have a special place in my heart for bulk supplies of any kind; in my mind, you can make something awesome out of anything, as long as you have enough of it. I know that Karen Johnston — the creative talent behind this metal-ruler mirror and many other clever reuse projects — would agree…
I always get excited about any book that makes me feel like it’s breaking down the walls between “interior design” and regular, non-trade people. So often, interior design books make it seem like there are set rules for decorating and that having a good eye and a feel for things isn’t enough to help you…
Growing up I was a total fashion snob. I had more accessories than a high school girl should ever have and made it a (lame) badge of pride that I had never worn jeans to school and always dressed up. Looking back I realize it was my attempt to stand out from the surfer/skater culture…
For the second installment of DIY 101, we’re continuing to fill our toolbox with essentials. Your rad new drill will get through you a bunch of projects, but investing in a good saw or two will get you ready to tackle a whole lot more. Power saws might seem scary if you’ve never used them…
March is our favorite time of year for two things: 1. organizing and 2. knitting. In theory, we’d like to start knitting in the fall to prepare for holiday gifts and the winter months ahead, but it always seems to be the busiest time of year, and sometimes it just isn’t practical to start knitting…
