all framed out

Happy Friday, guys! Wow am I excited for the weekend. Even though I'm planning on getting some work done, I just love the fact that we'll be home. For all of the traveling we do I'm really quite the homebody. That's why I'm so excited to finally have framed all of the photo prints from my shop so we can enjoy them in our living room! I also had a little graphic fun with a photo I took of the Sydney Opera House. Looks kinda like a fan, doesn't it? The color is just the pop that we needed in here.

All perfect timing too since I just received a copy of our home feature in IKEA Malaysia's Live magazine (!!!). We had practically just moved in so it's nice to see what we've done to make it even more homey since then.

Enjoy your weekend!

5x7 frames by IKEA / large frame by Habitat / cushions by {me}longings

let's play house {office}

1.  REDSTAR Ink  /  2.  Linda Monfort  /  3.  Pablo and Fernando Pardo  /  4.  Hee Welling  /  5.  IKEA  /  6.  Paperweight  /  7.  Nicopapergoods

I've been having a lot of fun lately but it's time to really get back to work. There are a few new ventures that I'm prepping to launch this month (fingers crossed) and that means that I'll be spending a lot of extra time sitting at my desk. If I had the chance to decorate anew I would choose modern blacks, natural textures, and pops of inspirational colors and patterns. All three combined would make for a casually sophisticated and artful place - perfect for getting things done. What's your workspace style?

friday pic & pin

 

Happy Friday, everyone. Will you be watching the Olympics this weekend? I'm hoping to catch a re-play of the opening ceremony since we forgot to set the recording on our home TV. With all of the mayhem surrounding the events I can't decide whether I'm happy or sad that we're not there but nevertheless I'm excited to see glimpses of the places we came to know and love.

We'll be in Singapore through the weekend and so far so good. It's a world of difference from KL from what I can tell and it probably wasn't a good idea to come (because it is so nice). Will share more on that next week.

Until then, have a good one!

This week's three rad links:

• clever lunch sack DIY for you or the kids via Camille Styles

• now i really want an iPad - 6 inspiring digital travel magazines via Say Daily

• IKEA does digital cameras in their signature minimalist (and now green) way. sign me up! via Travelettes

(image left: South Bank Center Bunting, London by Ana Maria Muñoz, right: Pin origin unable to find)

Furniture Design: The Originators

As I sit on my IKEA chair I'm reminded of an exhibit I visited in NYC last weekend, The Future at Home: American Furniture, 1940-1955, at the Museum of the City of New York. I expected to see some great mid-century modern pieces, and that I did, but I didnt expect to learn exactly how modern this stuff really was.

We talk about pre-fab designs today as if they are something revolutionary and about how modern and affordable IKEA is. Yet the featured designers were creating furniture that really was forward and fresh thinking. Furniture and fashion designs do not follow the same credit today: styles are hardly ever new and original, rather they are recycled silhouettes, textures, and color pallets based on what was once new and original.

Now, I'm okay with that since there were some beautiful things that came out of the twentieth century. What shocked me was that the high-priced and coveted mid-century furniture we find today, were originally designed and produced with an IKEA type philosophy: simple, flexible, cost-effective, and good design for all.

The photo below is of a TIMES article on a DIY living room set that I would love to find today.

I wonder if 60 years from now my plastic Oleby chair will sell for $2,000 at a vintage store....