more honey

I recently post about the honeycomb/hexagonal trend that I keep seeing everywhere. Here are a few more sightings:These fun honeycomb nesting tables at the Company Store...
and I love these mirror tiles. I can totally imagine a large organic pattern being done with these on a wall. And finally these totally Hollywood Regency/glamour style print sheets by Dwell. Have any of you spotted more?

Laundry Rug

I must confess. As much as I love clean modern minimal design, I am not always the "neatest" person. And to be perfectly honest, I can be quite the lazy slob. Especially when it comes to laundry and dirty clothes. Despite the fact that I have a generous size hamper. I always somehow manage to miss it... and strangely they end up tossed and piled on the floor. Funny how that keeps happening... hm... hehe.. Anyways, I think that I really need to get this: The Laundry Rug is a brilliant floor pad that is designed for throwing your clothes on top of. You then pull the side handles and it turns into a bag. Yeah.... I sooooo need this. (via Uncrate)

Blue Monday: post it lamp and stuff

I've posted about the wonderful Post-it before, but check out this crafty little number! Make flickr member Neonarcade customized an IKEA lamp with post-its- (found via here via here)

Colorama- Jay McCarroll

T.G.I.F!! (that's all I gotta say!) Anyway, to celebrate, let's look at some lovely colors shall we? When the first season of Project Runway ended, I was really impressed by Jay McCarroll's collection. It was fun, original, and full of great color. Well,at the recent Olympus Fashion Week, Jay finally launched his first full collection- and I gotta say, he did not disappoint! Look at the amazing colors and fun mod styling. Definitely looking forward to seeing more from Jay.

Tape Ball

Ok, there's just something totally genius about this...
Every time I finish painting a wall or something, a big tape ball to kick around is just a traditional part of the whole painting process. It's always fun to see how big you can make it too... Which reminds me of Pee Wee's Playhouse, where Pee Wee would bring out his big foil ball... (sigh)... good times..

Real Simple Food

I think I've mentioned before, I would not say I'm very adept in the culinary department. However, I do like to eat, and I love the "concept" of cooking, I love watching the act of cooking, and I love kitchen gadgets. It's just the actual act of cooking that I seem to have a problem practicing. Well, I just received this new special issue of Real Simple magazine, called Food (or Real Simple Food). Besides the goregous photography, I found there's tons of good info for a fledgling gourmet as myself. For example: there's a great page that shows a diagram of how much pasta to pull out for one person, two people, etc.. (I always have a hard time with that!) There's also a great piece that shows "Fake it, Don't make It" recipes, where you use store-bought ingredients, and combine them to make people think its homemade. Kinda like that show on HGTV, "Semi-homemade..."( ...though that host kind of annoys me. She always matches her kitchen to her outfit. Weird.) But what I really loved was they give you a list of "healthier choices" of what to order from typical fast-food chains. As much as I try to eat better, when lunch time comes around, sometimes you just can't beat fast food. My only complaint on the issue was a section by four writers that pay tribute to "my most memorable meal..." I thought it was kind of strange that they put the writer as the main large picture, instead of the food. Frankly, I would have rather looked at a large yummy picture of food than the writers themselves. Anyway, a pretty neat issue. Check it out if you're by a newstand...

Farm Life

Even though I live in suburbia, the city of Irvine still has some farm land that hasn't been filled with insta-grow housing. There's something really charming about driving down the road and seeing a small slice of the "simple life". For those who want to add a little country in their city-life, there's this great new calendar by Jill Bliss and Salee Oh. Entitled, "Farm life", it features farm seasons, plants, animals, and more! It's also printed with soy inks and on recycled paper too. They only made 1500, so get your copy quick!

Blue Monday: Method Tub and Tile

Happy Monday (as much of an oxymoron as that is...) I bring to you the beauty that is the bottle of this soap scum + stain remover from the ever clever toxin free peeps at Method. The baby blue color is so pretty, and I like the eucalyptus mint scent. I haven't used it yet though, but I do use their flushable bathroom wipes. Do any of you use this? Thumbs up? thumbs down?

gray is the new black

So, for those of you that are sick of my gray obsession... i'm sorry to say, it's only gotten worse. And after a look at what's coming down the runways at NY fashion week, gray is definitely coming your way, and maybe here to stay?... (at least until the end of Spring 2007). Check out just a small sampling of all the gray/yellow coloway combinations that labels such as Burberry, Calvin Klein, DKNY, Paul Smith, and Marc Jacobs (there are other designers shown in this mix, but you get the idea... hooray for gray!) It will be interesting to see how this will translate into home decor. Anyone have any thoughts? ideas? wishes?

mundane aesthetic: gray house

It's a very gray and overcast morning today. my whole house is awashed in a very gray mood and light. (Not that there's anything wrong with that!)

Alexander Girard at House Industries

Ok, sorry, I got so swamped that I wasn't able to post until now! First, this is going to be a graphic design-geek focused post, but one I think most design-luvers can appreciate. I just got an e-mail announcing the new "Luxury" collection for House Industries. It's a cool collection of "money" inspired fonts, but more importantly, while clickin on their site, it mentions that they are working on a collection of fonts based off of Alexander Girard! OMG! that's going to be amazing! Much like their cool Neutra font family they released a few years ago, an Alexander Girard font will hopefully be equally cool! I can't wait!! Although, now that I think about it, what would a "Girard" font look like? So... until they officially release it, lets take a gander at classic AG genius-ness. I took these from the book "Alexander Girard Designs for Herman Miller" by Schiffer Books. It's an oldy, but classic goody! Here are a few type-driven designs he did that may give us a clue....I'm so glad that both Vitra and Maximo designs are re-releasing his stuff...anyways- a little AG hit is always nice any time of the day....here's a few more of my favorite Alexander Girard designs...pick up a copy of the book (a must have) here:

quilted mundane

Have you ever looked at the quilting on your toilet paper or paper towels...
they're kinda pretty...

Obsessive Consumption

I love the drawings that Kate Bingaman does at Obsessive Consumption. She documents her daily purchases by hand drawing each piece. She even has drawn her credit card statements! Just goes to show you can find inspiration in anything. check out her site and online shop here.

Karia Nomoto

LIFE to mundane!

Just saw these on design-milk. I need these so bad!

Functional Piles

Have you ever felt your life is just a series of endles stacks and piles... piles of papers, books, magazines, bills... etc... My place can easily become "pile central," and "cleaning" sometimes ends up being just moving one pile to another side of the room! The clever designers at Mio have come up with a seating concept that puts your pile(s) into good use- to act as a base for a chair. The "Bale" chair consists of a molded plywood seat shell and plywood base, made from responsible harvested wood, nylon levelers, and two recycled polyester webbing straps with steel buckles. To assemble this design, you just put a pile (obviously the height is adjustable!) to the desired height, and the secure with the webbing. This would be great if you happen to have a stack of old encyclopedias that is taking up too much space, or collection of magazines that you can't get rid of, but also don't want to hog up your shelves... it will give a little function to the madness... you can find out contact info and availability from their website.

Blue Plate Special

I do loves me a "greasy spoon." They are always one of the best part of road trips, as well as the stage for post late night hijinks... These disposable Diner placemats have been out for awhile, featuring the beautiful photographs of Martin Yeeles, but I just noticed they now come in melamine plates too! My favorite is the image with the honey bear.

Good Beat

Sometimes... I just want to hear a good beat.

S&P + brownies

Lots of people collect salt and pepper shakers, and I could easily see myself doing that. However, already being a compulsive packrat, collecting S&P shakers is the last thing I need to start doing. That being said, I might have to break down just a little bit because I am in love with these two sets of S&P shakers. (sigh, I'm hopeless, I know...) The first is this great set from Crate&Barrel. I spied them while I was picking up some brownie mix (more on that later!). Anyway- love the bold graphic "S" and "P"- It's so straightforward and to the point. Then there's these lovely lovelies, that are the epitome of "to the point." They say... just what they are. Total "plain wrap" style, and that is so happy mundane! Can you guess where they're from? The color should give it away... and they were only 99¢, and I post about this place constantly...(anyone? anyone?)

Going back to Crate&Barrel... so if you will remember my geek-fest post about FoodNetwork, and meeting Ina Garten at the NYIGF (here's a pic of her autograph, I put it on my fridge), I mentioned her amazing "outrageous" brownie mix that she was promoting. Well, I found out Crate&Barrel is selling the mix, so I had to rush and get some. Keep in mind I am no culinary master. I had a hard time getting started (how do you "flour" a pan? hehe, don't worry, I figured it out!) Anyway, add eggs, butter, dump in the mix, whip it up, and voila! yummy yummy brownies with a hint of coffee/espresso in them... yum....

Blue Tuesday: save the manatee

Well, monday was a holiday, so I'll have to do another blue Tuesday instead. It feels like "monday" to me though- does anyone else feel this way? Anyway, today's blue is about the manatee. Just got this e-mail from SavetheManatee club, and it reminded me that these cute creatures are still endangered. There are only about 300 manatees left in Florida's waterways, and that population could be reduced by as much as 50% in the future from growing human-related threats, red tide, and habitat loss. Boat strikes continue to kill manatees in huge numbers as well. I got this little wind up toy awhile back, and it continues to bring me a smile. It (You can get one here-) It is sad to think that potentially, this little toy could be the last reminder of what these gentle creatures really are like. More importantly, you can adopt your own real manatee by going to www.savethemanatee.org. Plus they have these cute plush toys, and proceeds go to benefit the foundation. (Christmas is coming by the way...)

P5

friday news

I can't believe its September. Where did the "summer" go? I'm not sure if I'm feeling sad or excited. Luckily here in So Cal, the weather will stay "summer"-like for awhile longer, so I guess I still have a little time to left to enjoy. Fall brings changes so that's always interesting and exciting. Anyhoo, for today, I've been meaning to post some pics of the store window displays I took during my recent NY visit. These were from the Anthropologie store by Rockafeller Center. My local Anthropologie stores have similar themed displays, but I was really impressed with the NY ones. I love the plate with the little clippings in it. I also really liked the layered look of the papers with the windows cut out. That would make such a neat window covering... I hope everyone here in the States is going to have a great LaborDay weekend. What are y'all up to?