If interior design trends had a fashion week, reclaimed wood wall paneling would be strutting its stuff on every designer’s catwalk this season.

But if the very thought of wood paneling gives you nasty flashbacks to great-grandma’s knotty pine rec room, think again.

Gone is the over varnished look of yore. Today’s walls are all about texture and patina. That’s where the natural look of reclaimed wood comes in. It’s the perfect foil for warming up an otherwise sleek, modern interior, like this beautiful old growth white oak wall by Elmwood does. Read the rest of this entry »

I always love discovering talented young designers who are new to me, and Etsy is full of them.  Case in point?  Sustainable furniture designer, Tally Locke, whose “Ghost Stool” really caught my eye.

Created from sustainably harvested poplar and a piece of windfell Douglas Fir, the softly draped “fabric” is actually meticulously carved and painted wood. Read the rest of this entry »

We’re supposed to have a storm arriving tonight, but for now it is all blue skies and fluffy clouds.  Perfect weather to pull together a little Friday Wrap-up for you.  Enjoy!

1.  Cute, simple DIY clip art rail made from an old yardstick and some cheerfully painted wooden clothes pins.  Perfect for a kids room.  (re-nest)

2.  Is it a chair that looks like a sweater, or the other way around?  You decide.  Either way, it’s an amazing piece of knitting! (Craft)

3.  I’m really surprised at how great looking these re-purposed 50 gallon metal barrels are.  I love that someone thought “hey, with some glossy paint, that would make a terrific cabinet”.  And they were right!  (re-nest)

4.  Buy one, give one – that’s the concept behind this bedding company’s new program.  What a great way to reach out and help a homeless child stay warm.  (Green Your Decor)

5.  Thinking of attempting a green remodel?  Here are some really useful tips from “The Not So Big Remodeling” author Sarah Susanka. (Inhabitat)

6.  A designer writes about rustic wooden walls and why they make spaces feel so cozy to her, even though she is a modernist at heart.  I’ll be writing more about the trend in reclaimed wood walls later, but the two images she uses to ilustrate her post are well worth taking a look-see at.  (The Design Confidential)

7.  And lastly, another cat thing (see Metronome Kitty from last Friday).  This time someone simply, and cleverly, took a few old wine crates and make a pretty good looking cat “bunk bed”.  Being that my husband is in the wine business, AND we have two cats, this is so going to be my weekend project!  (Shelteriffic)

Have a great weekend everyone!

Look what gorgeousness I spied over at Table Tonic!

Vintage Moroccan wedding blankets!

Made primarily of handspun wool, these blankets fit in beautifully with the current trend for natural fibers and contrasting textures, although taken on their own merit, they are truly timeless in style.

According to Table Tonic:

Moroccan Wedding Blankets are sourced high in the Atlas mountains in Berber villages. They were made for Berber brides, who would wear them as capes to keep warm as they were walking to their new husband’s house. The women in the bride’s family would work on each one for months, using hand loomed sheep’s wool and painstakingly adding round, metal sequins one by one, by hand. All that work takes a lot of time, so these precious creations were reserved for the best and most important day – the wedding. Read the rest of this entry »

Reclaimed wood is so beautiful.  Full of the marks of wear and age, it speaks to me of the passage of time, and yet, the look itself is timeless.  Unfortunately, it is frequently a bit pricey as well.

Luckily, Etsy seller ModernRust has managed to create this great looking 6′ farmhouse dining table and bench set out of reclaimed wood, without adding additional zeros to the price tag.  In fact, the entire set is only $595!  No, I’m not kidding. Read the rest of this entry »

In honor of that gorgeous hue of love, here are a few of my favorite sustainable products in red…

Campaign Desk in “Revolution Red” by Etsy seller abodewell, made of reclaimed wood.

Hand embroidered pillow by Lost City. Read the rest of this entry »

So nice to be doing a Friday Wrap-up again, even if it is a bit late in the day.  Although I could only spend a limited amount of time on the computer while I continue to recuperate, I still managed to find some interesting things you might like to take a look at.

1.  A simple, but elegant solution for “where do we put the trash cans?” in a kitchen design. (re-nest)

2.  Have white linens with stains that seem permanent?  Try giving them a little time in the sun.  (Homegrown Evolution)

3.  So come on now.  Confess.  Will you miss incandescent bulbs? (shelterrific)

4.  Stunning sculptures of faces, using discarded books, magazines and newspapers. (Lloyd’s Blog)

5.  Terrific DIY headboard design!  You really have to see this one, especially if you have a daughter between 6 & 16.  Aw heck, I’d still love to have a headboard like this one, and I’m… older. (desire to inspire)

6.  This has been posted on a lot of blogs this week, but in case you missed it, take a look at this beautiful locksmith’s storefront, covered in a swirling mosaic of keys.

7.  And finally, I couldn’t help sharing this video of a poor cat and his very rhythmic attempts to defeat the evil metronome.  Love how nonchalant the other cat is!

Wishing all of you a lovely weekend!

As a person who can actually remember the early 70′s, I never though I would say the words “the avocado green ‘formica’ accents on this desk look so cute!”  But there – I just said them.  In fact, this desk is such a fantastic blend of nostalgia and modern style that I find myself feeling a bit wistful for the days when my Lite-Brite pegs would get lost in the avocado green shag carpet.

OK, maybe I’m not THAT nostalgic!

Nevertheless, Jody Racicot of  Modern Revision really got it right with this writing desk primarily made of recycled materials, including an old 1960s dinette top.

Read the rest of this entry »

I’ve seen a lot of products made from wine corks, but this is the first time I have seen anything made with the cork centers of aluminum baseball bats!  Etsy seller Quartertwenty has taken these factory discards and woven them onto aluminum rods to construct this really interesting chair.

I’m fascinated by how much texture the “weaving” of the cork disks gives the chair, even though the actual form is relatively simple.

Read the rest of this entry »

Forced to slow way, WAY down by my recent illness, I have rediscovered the joy of curling up with a good book.  Although I can see the benefits of downloading electronic files to tablet style readers, for me the soft, crinkly whooshing noise as a page is turned is too romantic to give up yet.  Even more than the sound though, I cannot imagine enjoying reading without that wonderful musty scent of age, bookbinder’s glue, and ink.  Yes, I am one of those crazy people who like to sniff books.  If they invented a cologne for men that smelled like antiquarian books, and my husband put it on, he would have to take out a restraining order on me.  I lust.

I was also raised to RESPECT books.  Unless it was a cookbook, there was no writing within allowed, other than a quick “this book belongs to…”.  Likewise, you never dogeared, stood on, tossed, or otherwise maimed a book.  They were SACRED.   So imagine my horror when I discovered that books donated to libraries are often simply tossed in the recycling bin!  Turns out, there are so many books that no one really wants (think “The Joy of Algebra”, ed. 1975), that there is nothing else to be done with them.  Imagine all that delicious scent going to waste.  Unless…

image via Inhabitat

we used all those unwanted books to make things with!  Like this enterprising library, which used books recovered from a fire to build their new checkout desk.

Read the rest of this entry »