mundane aesthetic: hawaiian vintage style tiles

Amazing mosaic tiles at the Times Supermarket shopping center in Kailua, on Oahu.

Christmas blues...

I'm back from the islands, and while it was fantastic to get away, I came home with a little bit of a cold that just won't go away. Nothing like getting sick right before the holidays to get me all bah-humbug-y and grinch-y. Hopefully I'll get over it sooner than later.

I hope you're all surviving the pre-holiday crazy chaos. I've seen my share of wild parking lot and road rage the past day and it's scary out there! A friend sent me this humorous video from artist Simone White. Sort of an anti-jolly Christmas song, that's a little comforting right now for a guy under the weather like me, hehe-



By the way- love the tonal blue wrapping papered boxes with the black bows! maybe that will be the color scheme for next year's tree!... hm....ideas...Anyways- i promise I'll be back with more happy cheer-y posts tomorrow, (since this is happy mundane...) take care everyone!

mundane aesthetic: beach bunny!

I've s few seen a lot of things at the beach, but I have to say, this was a first. A REAL "beach bunny"!!There was a couple that brought along their pet bunny to the beach! (along with their dog too)- Amazingly, the bunny looked quite happy...

(not) mundane aesthetic: the view

We interrupt this blog for a quick view from my hotel room. Be back soon!

Ornament Adventure Xmas2007: part 3

Oy. I'm so exhausted! But I wanted to get in one more post before I head out in the morning for a much needed break. Here are two other ornaments that I made for my Ornament Adventure this year. I totally knocked off the ornaments that are in The Gap windows this year (with the yarn). Actually, while I was at the craft store, it was when I saw the ochre/sawgrass colored yarn and then the grey yarn that totally inspired the look for the tree. Anyways. I used two techniques and just wrapped the yarn over different sized styrofoam balls. The grey and taupe balls, I just wrapped randomly around and around. The ochre/sawgrass colored yarn was thicker, so I attempted a "coiled" technique. Ok. Pardon my french, but trying to do that was a ...mutha. It started out easy enough. I dabbed the top with some Tacky Glue, and started to coil around and worked my way down. But then when I got about 3/4 of the way through, it wouldn't stick anymore, and would start to unravel. It was so frustrating! I ended up just going all the way down to half way, cutting it, then flipping it over and starting from the opposite end and working my way back to the middle- then trying to meld the ends together. I'm sure there must be a better technique out there- cuz I was over it after four balls. I'm sure there are more experienced crafters out there- what's the secret?!

The other ornament was a lot simpler. I had this weird idea to use wood balls on the tree. Since you all know I love woodgrain, I thought it would look fun with the white and grey. I mean, if it looks great in a home furnishings, why not on a tree right? I simply used small eye hooks that screwed in, and used some leftover grey yarn to string them. I first used a dark stain, but didn't like it, so I switched to a lighter one that wasn't so contrast-y. Anyway- stay tuned for the final look!

Ornament Adventure Xmas2007: part 2

The spray paint bandits have attacked again!!

I've posted what I've done for my tree at Christmas's before- I've generally always been attracted to the pop-y, bright, fun, cheer-y, happy Christmas colors- I've been slowly collecting those vintage-inspired ornaments (they're not really vintage- I got most of them on sale at Target over the past three years- so there's not really much emotional attatchment)- Anyways- this year, I just felt the need for a big change. So over the weekend, I embarked on the Ornament Adventure of Xmas 2007. And so, as I mentioned, in the midst of it all, I was attacked by the spray paint bandits! I- uh... I mean, "they" kidnapped some of the ornaments and gave them a quick coat of white metal primer. It's a nice semi-matte finish- they look almost porcelain! Here's a sneak peek at how it all turned out- I'll share the rest of the final results of my Ornament Adventure Xmas 2007 in the next few days (I just have to clean up the mess I made first!) stay tuned...

Tom Dixon at ABC

Just saw this post on AT:NY. I want all of it. Especially those wire chairs!! And I'm obsessing over the wallpaper too. (drool....)
Image by Aaron over at AT (minus the graffiti... that was me, hehe)

Wallpaper by Mike Perry

I'm really enjoying this wallpaper from Mike Perry. Available from Studio Nommo
(via Viewers like you)

Ornament Adventure Xmas2007

What is this crazy mess on my table? Good question. In my last post, I mentioned how I've been having this urge to change up my Christmas tree this year. I went by Target to get some inspiration, but found myself attracted to the same things or things I liked, but knew wouldn't really get, which kind of defeated the purpose. Anyways, right near by is Michaels, so then I decided to stroll through, and then I saw some things that made it all clear- I'm going to make the ornaments. A few aisles later I had a bag full... ok, two bags full (which by the way, wasn't as cheap as I was hoping for- but whatever...) and this is what I'm working with- minus some spray paint I already had. Hang on to your seats kids. This may get ugly... we'll see what happens... are any of you making your ornaments this year?

Christmas ornaments 2007

I'm having ornament issues. For some reason, I have this urge to change up my ornaments for my tree this year. There's so many fun trends going on this year! Have you guys noticed them? I've counted several big ones that keep popping up in a bunch of stores. One is this whole "folk/scandanavian/yultide" story. Super cute. I think Martha's line at Kmart was the cutest, but I also saw some at IKEA as well.Then there's this whole "Enchanted Forest" thing, with lots of forest critters and wooden items, which I love. Love the pine cones and also seeing lots of mushrooms! When did mushrooms become a holiday icon? (I love it though...)
Then there's this whole gold/brown/bronze story. This one makes total sense, especially here in Orange County, where the whole Tuscan/updated traditional vibe is so popular. It's not my style, but I can appreciate it. It's quite elegant actually, and still feels warm and festive. I've seen some beautiful examples at Target and Z Gallerie.And finally, the last big trend I've been seeing this year- It's what I'm calling "technicolor home-spun christmas."Lots super bright pop-y colors either glittery or via lots of yarn and hand knitted items... My past trees have usually gone this route. I'm always attracted to the sparkle pop, but I'm not sure what I'm going to do this year... Do you guys always keep the same colors, or do you change it up from time to time? Doing anything new this year? or seen any other ornament trends you're liking?

World of Interiors Dec. 2007 pt.1

The December 07 issue of World of Interiors has some great things going on- It's all about color, and they've come up with some brilliant ways to show color combinations. My favorite ones are these photographs by Anders Gramer, in a story called "ova tones". They were styled by Maud Hewlings. Just. Gorgeous.

Seibold prints for sale!

A great Christmas gift idea! If you know anyone that's a Seibold fan, here's some cool Seibold prints! only $29.99 at Thumbtack Press.

Blue Munday- Restoration Hardware Holiday

Love the icy blue ornaments of the cover of the holiday Restoration Hardware catalog. Reminds me of the Martha Stewart issue last year... soooo gorgeous.

its munday.

happy munday! "It's the most wonderful time of the year!" I was really looking forward to this holiday season, but somehow- recently- I got bitten by a little bit of the scrooge bug. I dunno... I'm irritable, I'm easily annoyed by everyone- and I'm feeling very anxious and restless. (sigh) hopefully I can shake it off soon so that I can get back into that "holiday spirit!".... anyhoo... today marks the launch of the new Apartment Therapy site. For any of you that don't already know, I've been one of the editors over at Apartmenttherapy.com (Los Angeles) for over awhile now and it's been so fun to see it evolve and watch the community grow. Today's relaunch has been a long time coming. One of the big changes is that "apartmenttherapy.com" will combine all of the regional sites (new york, chicago, san fran, and LA) into one- so that you can catch all the posts at the same time. However, you can still filter out just the ones that pertain to a certain region by clicking on one of the tabs at the top. There's still a lot of kinks to be worked out, but definitely check it out and let them know your comments!

Scroll Pen by Jac Zagoory

This is borderline/almost one of those things you'd expect to see in the SkyMall catalog or even a late night infomercial, but I just can't deny it's genius-ness! The Scroll Pen was designed by Jac Zagoory, who created this pen that has a scoll of paper integrated into it. And it actually can hold 2 feet of paper, and comes in a case with 2 extra paper refills! "But wait!... there's more!!"
There's even a video of it in action!


Apparently it's $35...also available here or here. (via Gizmos for Geeks)
You'll never have to scrounge around for a piece of paper... (just don't lose your pen!)

Cardboard rugs by Wendy Plomp

I'm so fascinated with this: Dutch designer Wendy Plomp used flattened cardboard boxes and printed carpet patterns on them. Would be perfect for a big lofty studio or in an office/workshop area... Also great for a fun outdoor mat. Could be a fun DIY project too! (saw it via the latest British Elle Decoration) It's all so... brilliant really... Cardboard is so happy mundane.

Images from Wendy's site and Elle Decoration.

Candle Holder Flashlight

I think these are so clever! Candle Holders that double as a flashlight! By David Weeks (who made those fun "ulterior votives") also for Kikkerland

It's delightful, it's delicious, it's delovely...

I have this song stuck in my head. It won't go away.


Really cute commercial though. (Although, to be honest, I seriously thought it was a commercial for Target at first...)

Virtual Gingerbread House

I have/had this master plan... I was going to try to work it so that I could tie up all my current projects earlier this year so that I could actually enjoy an extended "holiday vacation." Yet as each day goes by, I'm finding that something inevitably comes in and tries to foil my plan... The sad thing is, instead of working and trying to get the things done that I need to do, I find myself dilly dally-ing in mindless holliday fun. I found via Craftzine, this fantastic-ly cute and entertaining Virtual Gingerbread House that artist Jenny Harris created. Check it out here and see if you get as sucked in as I did (just don't get caught if you're at work, hehe) This is mine so far...Are any of you making gingerbread houses this year? Is it a tradition for anyone?

New Marimekko wrapping paper at Crate & Barrel

Gorgeous wrapping paper from Marimekko at Crate & Barrel. I love the grey/silver watercolor-y one. I think I may need to buy a roll and frame part of it.