Design*Sponge » kate pruitt

treasure hunting: vintage flashcards

Kate Pruitt — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 16:00:02 +0000

We received a request on Facebook from D*S reader Lauren Proux for a Treasure Hunting post that tackles vintage flashcards. Well, ask and you shall receive! There’s one booth at my favorite local flea market that always has a huge array of old flashcards and educational posters, and every time I go, I like to browse through and snag a couple. They are great inspiration for typography lovers, designers and anyone looking for some unconventional wall art, but with a little creativity, flashcards can be used for so much more than learning your multiplication tables. — Kate

CLICK HERE for the full post (including tips for collecting + creative display ideas) after the jump!

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treasure hunting: chairs

Kate Pruitt — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 17:00:50 +0000

The second installment of Treasure Hunting tackles something a bit larger than keys, but as someone with an incredible weakness for chairs, I couldn’t resist. Whenever I visit thrift stores or yard sales, I inevitably come across a chair that captures my attention. There are various design details to lose yourself in when looking at a chair, and for one of the most utilitarian objects in our lives, chairs can also be the most beautiful.

If you find a chair you love with some damage, don’t worry — there are many ways to utilize all or part of the chair so that you can still enjoy it in your home. If your chair collection begins to grow, consider displaying them in a more vertical fashion, such as hanging them on a wall or suspending them from the ceiling for a sculptural look. I hope this post provides some inspiration for chair lovers and anyone with a newly acquired piece that needs some love. Yay for chairs! — Kate

CLICK HERE for the full post on chairs after the jump!

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diy project: salvaged stove top trivets

Kate Pruitt — Wed, 16 Mar 2011 15:00:50 +0000

When I came across these old stove-burner tops at the salvage yard, I was immediately struck by their variations in pattern and how interesting they looked out of context. I never knew burner tops came in so many different shapes!

After some heavy scrubbing, I found I liked them even more. They are nice, mid-sized objects with a bit of weight to them, which makes them great for home decor. For my kitchen, modern white was the way to go, but you could easily leave them au naturel or vary this design in a million ways. As long as you seal them with a good protectant and add some simple felt feet, they are perfect for handling hot pans or plates from the oven, and between uses they look great on the wall — as any good trivet should. With no tools or tricky steps, this is a great quickie project for rainy days, weekends and procrastinating :) Enjoy! — Kate

CLICK HERE for the full how-to after the jump!
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top 20 tech accessories for health and fitness

Amy Azzarito — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 13:40:25 +0000

Image above: Kate’s tech picks to get you moving!

D*S editor Kate Pruitt is getting ready for spring over at MyLifeScoop, where she’s rounded up the Top 20 Tech Accessories for Health and Fitness. Since I’m glued to my laptop for the majority of my waking hours, I’m pretty obsessive about making some time to move around every day, and I love all the tech-y help I can get! (I pretty much can’t go jogging without an iPod!) — Amy A.

All sourcing is over at MyLifeScoop where Kate’s post lives.

Image above: All sourcing at MyLifeScoop!

diy project: scandinavian-inspired wooden heart

Kate Pruitt — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 16:00:39 +0000

Every once in a while, I like to try out DIY projects that are very simple, almost too simple: few materials, even fewer steps and no big requirements for effort or money. There’s a time and a place for a massive, complex DIY, but right now, when it’s rainy and everyone I know is catching colds and sniffles, I want something I can polish off in the time it takes to drink a cup of tea and watch a couple old episodes of 30 Rock . . . man, that first season was good!

This simple balsa-wood heart is inspired by the minimalist, nature-inspired interiors I’ve been admiring lately, like the ones I imagine Kim Krans of The Wild Unknown might possess. This heart is so, so easy to make and very versatile for display around the home. Stick it to a wall, hang it in a corner, prop it on a shelf — it’s pretty easy to make use of it. I hope you have as much fun with it as I did. Enjoy! — Kate

CLICK HERE for the full how-to after the jump!

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treasure hunting: keys

Kate Pruitt — Wed, 16 Feb 2011 17:50:27 +0000

I’m so very excited to introduce Treasure Hunting, a new monthly column for DIY Wednesdays. If you’re like me, you can often be found browsing the aisles of thrift shops, scouring the tables at flea markets or haggling over prices at yard sales. Sometimes you inherit a random item unexpectedly, or perhaps you walk past give-away piles on the street and feel an involuntary cringe over the wasted possibilities. This column stems from those experiences and from a love of objects and their formal properties.

I’m not advocating aggressive hoarding habits by any means, but there are some seemingly mundane, disposable, obsolete objects in the world that are not entirely without merit. Treasure Hunting will take these objects and find a way to make them wonderful again, through their visual impact as a collection or their value as a new and improved functional or decorative item.

The first post is about old keys. The key is a pretty standard tool that we all own, but as a design object, it’s spectacular. The possibilities for using keys in interesting and beautiful ways are endless, so forgive the length of this initial post; they won’t all be this lengthy, I promise. I hope you enjoy the new column and stay tuned for all the treasures yet to come! — Kate

Image above: A collection of keys from JeepersKeepers

CLICK HERE for the full post on old keys after the jump!

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