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Add the ‘Originals’ Bar Stool to your list of acceptable seating solutions, for it features a comfortable seat and nicely tapered legs. Fun fact: Ercol founder Lucian Ercolani designed this stool in the 1950s for Ercol’s own designers and draughtsmen, who drew the company’s designs on large drawing boards. You think it’s safe to say it won’t go out of style anytime soon?
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You’re familiar with the golden ratio, yes? Parsons & Charlesworth has made this “pocket sized gazing device” to help you find “the proportional perfection in your surroundings.” You’ll be a mathematical sleuth, whipping out your finder to ascertain which things around you follow the ratio, and maybe you’ll find that proportionally pleasing things have the ratio demonstrated in one way or the other.
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– Tiny (amazing) Vacation House / Hristina Hristova

– Not liking your current can lights? Here’s a quick fix: EzClipse

– Kickstarter: Water Wasp is the best off-grid survival solar watermaker.

– Cute: Watch To-Do organizer

– House in Hatogaya by Schemata Architects (via leibal)

Have a great weekend.

Not a lot of art has been popping up on the must-feature list, but there’s just something about a Star Chart that always grabs the eye. By the way, if there’s anything particular you’d like to see more of here on BLTD, please let us know- email us or send us a tweet.
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Oh, what to do with a ho-hum vase, plant, or weird thingamajig? Put it on a pedestal! That phrase might sound like a pop song’s title (and maybe it is) but placing an item on one of these wood pedestals elevates it into special viewing territory, which makes it slightly less tchotchke-esque and a little more ‘oo-what’s that?’ They’re sold as a set of two, so starting thinking which two of your favorite things deserve a little more visual attention.
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Fond of concrete? How about a super minimal option with an iron shelf? Oh, and don’t worry, because it’s not oodles and oodles of dollars like most minimal table options that we all love. It’s not cheap, either, but it won’t give you a heart attack. There’s a corresponding coffee table as well, but don’t get too matchy-matchy; most of the time it’s better to mix up textures and materials to draw the eye around a room.
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Now this is a handy key ring. It hooks quickly onto your belt loop, yet it’s smaller and way less obnoxious than a carabiner. If you just thought to yourself wait, a carabiner is obnoxious?, I’m so, so sorry to be the one to break the news to you*. If you think a carabiner is the bomb, and are clutching yours right now very, very tightly, we’ll let you go this once, for functionality’s sake.

Oh, and this key ring opens a bottle too. Hooray! Available in Brass, Black Oxide, and Stainless Steel.
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Brilliant! You can customize the color and shape of these pendants. And if you don’t think you’d be interested, just give it a go and see if you don’t find a perfect color pairing that would fit somewhere in your home. There’s 8 different shapes, each with their own color besides the basic black and white. It gets pricier as you add to the grouping, but you can always just choose one pendant (or two) and stop there (good luck).
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Boxes, caddies, compartments, all these things help us organize the accoutrements necessary for our daily lives. The Toto Storage Boxes are pretty simple- they’re composed of birch wood and metal handles/shelves. Choose the right size to fit your needs. Perhaps the larger is fit for the office or studio? Maybe the smaller sizes are appropriate to organize bathroom accessories, makeup or jewelry?
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Say hello to the Butler, a curved brass lamp with a hand turned oak tray. Clamp it on to a tabletop or shelf for an ideal spot to keep necessities- perhaps your keys, wallet or phone? It always helps to have just one area for important things; set it down in the same place every time and it’ll be there when you go to get it (if you don’t live with anyone else).
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For those of you that didn’t read my post on Friday, I’m building a lake house here in Texas. This is an experiment in sharing, as we normally don’t get too personal here on BLTD. However, for such a large project it’d be a shame to not share some of my lessons learned. So, on to the first building stage: concept.
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Who else makes a point to watch Etsy’s stock price (for curiosity’s sake) but forgets that there are several stand-out furniture makers selling their wares? Or just plain forgets to check Etsy for furniture in your time of need? Raise your hand, come on. Yeah, me too. Take a look at this bedside table from Habitables and tell me it’s not a decent option. There are various color options (they affect the price, fyi), so you can customize the look to suit your space. Be sure to check out their wall-mounted version as well.
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You would use one of these hourglasses for a) timing your meditation, b) making sure you do the right amount of pushups/sit-ups, c) making sure you don’t spend too much time on social media, or d) tackling email. None of those sound very fun, do they? Let’s add e) taking a break from work for a (timed) spontaneous dance party.
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– An all White Attic

– Graphic Designers, this is how you should charge your clients

– Hmm. Male seahorse and human pregnancies remarkably alike

– Incredibly woolly sheep– it needed help “relieving the beast of its life-threatening load”

– Color(ed) Theory: Color, Race, and Space in Chicago’s South Side

– Teensy tiny little horses

– 4 Engineering Students have Developed a Device that Converts Sign Language into Voice and Text (via Gender and Science)

– Transportation: there are balloons and then there are balloons

Enjoy your Labor Day weekend- we’ll be back on Tuesday with posts.

If you’ve ever had the pleasure (and pain) of building a house from the ground up, you know it’s a mixed bag. A great team of architects and builders helps you start out on the right foot, but no matter how experienced that team is- or seems to be- or how much research and preparation you do, there are still going to be issues that crop up.

Those issues, mind you, crop up very often when you build modern/minimal home. Not everyone is familiar with a less-is-more sensibility, and the care and detail required in a minimal, visually clean finish often take twice as long (or more) as as a traditional build. Got an uneven drywall edge? Slap some trim on and no one will know (or care). A perfect, no-trim look on a drywall edge? You’d think you were suggesting a trip to the moon with some contractors. I’ve learned all this in the various remodels I’ve overseen, but especially so in the last year, as I’m currently building a lake house here in Texas.
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