Tree peonies, the fleeting and ethereal, are here gracing us with their beauty for only the smallest window. While summer sometimes in New England feels quite the same, here for a few short months and then back to barren trees and crunching leaves before the snow sets in. Luckily, we’re just at the beginning of…
Two things we love: string art and flowering vines. Many of our favorite vining flowers or vegetables, such as sweet peas, morning glories or cucumbers, need a building or a trellis of string and poles to support their upward growth. Cucumbers in particular do better when lifted off the ground and are away from the…
Color Month here at Design*Sponge is such a pleasure for someone like me. The first quality that attracts me to flowers is always the hue. I typically hone in on one bunch of something that has spectacular color and then build the rest of an arrangement around it. During this time of year, rich purple…
Spring is finally here in the North East and we are so excited to see all the budding trees and spring flowers coming up. Since we are foragers at heart, this week is all about the flowers we have been able to gather right from our yards and from our local flower growers. Seeking an…
For today’s album cover inspiration, I have selected “Chutes Too Narrow,” by the New Mexico foursome, The Shins. The Shins make “charming guitar pop,” according to one Rolling Stone review, which is sonically right up my alley. They are a quirky and fun band (with a dash of melancholy) and the album cover for Chutes…
Traditional celebrations surrounding the start of May are marked by flowers, ribbon, and merriment. Celebrated in various ways throughout cultures this time of year is linked to the ancient Pagan ritual Beltane, the Festival of Flora honoring the Roman goddess of flowers, and in more contemporary times, May Day. Celebrations traditionally observed on May 1st…
This week I’m thrilled to end with a post that celebrates spring weather, flowers and one of our favorite D*S alumnae, Amy Merrick. Since her days of writing Living In posts and creating Made with Love projects, Amy has gone one to become one of the most sought-after florists and stylists in the area. We’re…
We like to think, “who doesn’t love getting flowers?!” But what happens once they pass? We love incorporating living plants into some of our arrangements so that the joy of the gift can be more permanent. Here we’ll show you how to plant out half of a vessel and arrange flowers in the other half….
I have no doubt that the single greatest thing about my job is getting to work with people who inspire and continually impress me with their dedication, talent and creativity. Two of those people are Alethea Harampolis and Jill Rizzo of Studio Choo. For two years they wrote “We Like It Wild” for Design*Sponge and…
These past couple weeks we’ve been busy bees working to open our little retail outlet inside the Bee’s Knees Supply Co. We’ve been feverishly prepping this much anticipated new venture by sourcing interesting containers and vessels to house our flowers and plants, seeking products that blend with both our aestethic and our values, and working…
As winter makes its slow creep into spring, we are taking a moment to celebrate! New Englanders at heart, we jump at the chance to rejoice in making it through yet another cold and dark winter. Last month’s dreams of sunny southern California melt away with the snow as we start hanging up our down…
Photographs by Maxwell Tielman OK, here’s the thing: I am a huge Madonna fan. Her music was the soundtrack of my ’80s and ’90s youth, even though the 2000s saw some real gems from Madge. This week on Sound Garden, in honor of spring’s awakening, I am using 1998′s Ray of Light for my floral…
For some reason I can remember what St. Patrick’s Day was like in high school as if it were yesterday. I was an impossibly uptight and nervous student and dreaded most holidays at school because they seemed to come with an accessory or head piece I didn’t want to wear. St. Patrick’s Day came with…
We’ve been looking to bring a little more life and color into the studio. Loving this version of a container-free plant that also doesn’t take up precious work surface space, we thought, “Let’s hang some plants!” We chose to use an ivy plant in the hopes that its vines will grow up the hanging string…
Everything All the Time is the debut album from Band of Horses, and JUST LOOK AT THE COVER. It’s like this album was sitting in my collection absolutely begging me to make something forest-y and inspired. It also happens to be one of my favorite albums from one of my most beloved bands. In 2006,…
Image above: Nature morte à l’estampe japonaise by Paul Gauguin There is so much that can inspire floral design besides flowers — a drawing, a sculpture, weavings and textiles, architecture, the colors of a city, the movement of a field being blown by the breeze and even an album cover! We love looking to the…
Photos by Maxwell Tielman Welcome back to Sound Garden! This week’s musical inspiration is a study in paradox. Matthew Sweet’s third album, Girlfriend, was released in 1991 and is a shining example of utterly listenable power pop. Many critics have lauded it as among the best albums of the 1990s. This is all well and good,…
With February 14th right around the corner, it’s time to start (if you haven’t already) thinking about making flower orders or arrangements. If you want a last-minute way to give your significant other a clue that red roses don’t blow your hair back, then send them this way! Today we’re breaking down some alternative Valentine’s…
Yesterday was the beginning of Chinese New Year, and New York managed to dust off the snowstorm and kick things off with a bang — literally. On Sunday the annual Chinatown Firecracker Festival began and filled the streets with exuberant noise and light. I lived in Chinatown while I went to NYU, and this time…
Last Friday before we packed up the office for the weekend, I had a crazy last-minute idea inspired by a DIY project that Amy is sharing on Wednesday. She was making custom wooden dice while Max was discussing a game night entertaining idea, so the concept of “playing” had been floating around all week. Inspired…
