A new resident will be installed in the hallway this weekend, and it comes from Zeeland, Michigan.

Just a few things…

→ I feel nice wearing magenta.

→ I’m feeling extra good about where I live lately, because we’ve finally started meeting more like-minded people nearby. It’s amazing how just meeting up with a new friend for coffee can make you feel a million times more positive about just about everything.

→ (Which makes me want to host dinner parties.) (And makes me miss Brooklyn a little bit less.)

→ The weather today is perfect. Sunny, cold, clear.

→ We have a new plumber coming this weekend to assess the bathroom situation (yes, it still looks like that) and see if maybe we can get going on the work that needs to be done. I didn’t mention it here before, but our previous plumber kind of just never showed up again after a certain point, and, well…it would be really nice to have a second bathroom.

→ That kind of work will take money, though, so it looks like we’re not going to be traveling to Sweden for Midsummer as I had been hoping. Another time!

The Stendig calendar is finally hanging.

Evan’s comic book boxes (some of them, at least) are lined up neatly on shelves.

We switched the bedroom with the office/studio. Now we have a smaller bedroom that’s dark in the early mornings and quiet at night, and a workspace that’s spacious and filled with light (photos to come).

I love yellow tulips!

A few days ago I was skimming through the Design House Stockholm website, and I came across these gorgeous “Bono” mugs designed by Catharina Kippel. Instantly overtaken by the perfection of the one with the droplet pattern in particular (I have a bit of an obsession with teardrop shapes), I grabbed the photo, posted it on Flickr, and started to agonize over the likely cost of shipping and VAT to get a set of these delivered to me in New York.

Shortly thereafter, Katie popped in to inform me that Crate & Barrel is selling all four of the Design House Stockholm mugs for a mere $10.95! HOORAY. Needless to say, I’ll be stopping in to C&B tonight to pick up several.

More things that are making me happy today:

I love this kitchen by DAPStockholm (found via designsponge), with its red Arne Jacobsen faucet (part of the Vola line I love) and the Cole & Sons wallpaper (which I really expected to be tiring of by now, but I still love it). It reminds me of another favorite kitchen of mine.

I really do love red in the kitchen! Isn’t it nice how everything starts to tie together after a while?

Also:

+ I’ve really been enjoying Alice’s posts over at Peapods.

+ Camilla posted really beautiful photos of her morning walk yesterday.

+ It’s almost the weekend!

Oh, it’s a busy busy week. (Is tomorrow Friday? Am I always asking that question? Endless loop.) I haven’t had much in the way of daylight hours in which to photograph all of the things we’ve been doing in the house, but I’ve been meaning to post some of my recent Etsy purchases, so why not now?

Hand Knit Felted Wool Slipper Socks from Pawfelts (These were actually a Christmas gift from my mother. Evan got a pair, too, and they are now the only thing that goes on our feet on our drafty, no-shoes-allowed household.)

Gluehmonster magnets from NuitBlanche

You and Me print from Yellena

Personal Pouch from Working Class Heroes (I also ordered an iPod pouch for Evan—both are beautifully made.)

Today at Desire to Inspire Jo posted some great photos from interiors photographer Amanda Prior’s portfolio. One of the featured kitchens stood out for me because it uses the same freestanding UDDEN units and GRUNDTAL shelving from IKEA that I have in my own kitchen, but used in a completely different way.

The color scheme is a bit too “pretty” for me, but there’s a lot of inspiration here. The shallow wood shelf that surround the units looks great, as does the recessed glass shelving. I also really like the pullout undercabinets (custom-built, perhaps?) with butcherblock tops:

I just want to know where the refrigerator is!

As I’ve mentioned before (more than once), some of the things IKEA does best are their textiles! I’ve been waiting impatiently for the 2008 lines to hit the stores, and hopefully this weekend I’ll be able to stock up. That triangle-bunting print is killing me with its adorableness.

I love triangles!

Between the Fialena (designed by Anna Svanfeldt) and Petronella lines, there are 10 new prints to choose from.

Within the world of book cover design (a world I inhabit for at least 40 hours a week), Chip Kidd is both admired and despised (I suspect that a lot of the animosity comes from a secret jealousy that we less-famous book cover designers don’t like to admit to or talk about). There is no disputing, though, that he is by far the most famous, the most rockstar of us all. Book cover design isn’t one of those things you just do here and there on a whim—most people I know who work in the field started out there, and will spend the majority of the duration of their careers there, too. This is especially true for those of us who, like Kidd, work in-house for a publishing company. A book cover designer doesn’t wake up one day and decide to start doing corporate identity packages at an ad agency (or, for that matter, book interiors—that’s a whole different world). I know people who have tried to leave the field, but they always come back eventually.

I think the next step for graphic designers is to figure out how to meaningfully generate their own content. That’s what I’ve found that I have been doing, and want to continue to do. Whether it’s a book, or whether it’s music, or a film, or whatever; I think it’s the natural growth, rather than just strictly working for a client all the time.

Kidd is really on to something with the above quote, and his point absolutely applies to every person working in the field of graphic design, regardless of their field of focus. Working in a creative position within a larger corporate environment can be difficult for a person who is visually expressive by nature. The further you get from the creative freedom of your college years, the more you become entirely directed towards satisfying an outside demand (whether it be from a publisher, and art director, or an author). I don’t think this is a simple as defining “Art” as a separate thing from “Design”; I think it’s about nurturing a part of yourself that will eventually die off completely unless you figure out how to generate that original content he’s talking about, even if it’s just for yourself. I know many, many graphic designers who have struggled with this idea for years.

Chip Kidd also has a FABULOUS apartment, which you can see some of in the video. He’s an avid collector of Batman and other comic book-related ephemera, and he definitely knows how to display that collection in a way that is both sophisticated and accessible. The New York Times ran a great article on Kidd and his home a couple of years ago. The Eileen Gray chairs are to die for, right?

By the way, my apologies to those who are seeing this post for a second time today (albeit in a different form). Technical difficulties and further thought required a total reposting!

I love the color red in the kitchen, and I have lots of red bits in mine, but lately I’ve been thinking about kitchens with red as the primary color. Look at these two red kitchens, both from Marie Claire Maison—aren’t they all wonderful? (And when did tiled countertops fall out of fashion? I love them!)

p.s. Does anyone watch How Not to Decorate? I don’t even care that it’s a home show, it’s like watching the best sitcom ever! I adore Colin and Justin, they are absolutely hilarious and have the best fashion sense. Hooray for short, stumpy neckties!

How is it possible that today is only Monday? Friday (and the subsequent 3-day weekend) are still 4 whole days away. Sigh. I wish I didn’t think so much about schedules and days off and work hours and blah blah blah, but this is what happens when I go for a few nights without getting enough sleep. I am tired and fussy and not feeling very cute at all.

Me, my mother, and Bruno.

Bruno doesn’t mind going in the car when he gets to sit on his Mormor’s lap!

We met this pretty lady, Betty the bulldog, at a store in Beacon.

I am really impressed with the new catalog from CB2! I’m happy to see that they’re moving away from the chocolate-stained, chunky-wood, “contemporary urban bachelor” look that they have been a little too fond of recently and into something more classic and modern. Here are my favorites from the new additions:

Clockwise from top left:
Graph desk ($299.00)
Marimekko Kikku linens ($29.95 - $109.00)
Marcel sofa $1,099.00
Halogen credenza ($499.00) My favorite, and it comes white, too! Very Florence Knoll-like proportions.

Clockwise from top left: 
Marimekko Kulkue wall hanging ($24.95 - $59.95) This is one of my most favorite designs from the illustrator I mentioned the other day, Maija Louekari. I so excited to see it in a smaller size than a standard bolt (but larger than a tea towel).
Script desk lamp ($59.95) Also in white.
Tessuto throw $39.95
Paloma vases ($19.95)

Clockwise from top left:
Hue dinnerware ($3.95 - $4.95)
Mondrian media console ($249.00)
Pulse pillow ($24.95)
Whit coffee table ($299.00) You really have to look at the top view to appreciate this table fully. The grain of the shesham wood is gorgeous.

Some photos from our trip to Scotland in 2002. We stayed at Borthwick Castle, just outside of Edinburgh. The quality of the daylight in Scotland was unreal; the sky was hazy and washed out, but it was bright and damp enough to make colors appear super-saturated in contrast to the grays. These are some of the last photos I took with a film camera. I don’t do so well with digital.

Evan has to work from home late tonight (on his birthday!) on a site launch, and I am staying up late out of sympathy (and because I am full of coffee and carrot cheesecake from Junior’s and can’t sleep). Bruno and I are camped out on the sofa watching a ridiculously bad movie on the Lifetime channel.

From Eames Demetrious:

These stamps were designed by the remarkable Derry Noyes, who design many of the stamps for the US Post Office. The first inklings of this possibility were 10 or 12 years ago when we (I am wearing my Eames Office hat here) first answered a request for research images.

There is a wonderful familial connection there, as Derry is the daughter of Eli Noyes, who was an extremely close friend of Charles and Ray’s and the director of design at IBM.

Slowly over this time period it blossomed to a full on set of 16 stamps to celebrate the richness of Charles and Ray’s work. We see the Eames House, La Chaise, the Lounge Chair, Crosspatch, House of Cards, the film Tops and more.

Just think: How many Toys are on stamps? How many short films? This is just a great thing.

I can’t wait! (via AT:LA)

This is Oliver, who passed away in 2003. He was a hairless dumbo rat with odd-eyes (one black, one red) and a blazed forehead. This photo was taken when he was a baby, so he still had a little of his downy fuzz left—by the time he was fully mature, he was completely bald. Ollie was one of the most gentle animals I’ve met in my life. He was my last rat, and when he died I knew it would be a long time before any more rats would be a part of my life.

I’ve posted a few pictures of some of my other late pet rats here. I miss them terribly.

I’ve been “tagged” by a few people over the last couple of weeks to do this “7 random things about me” bit, and honestly, I don’t know if I can come up with that many! I’ll try. If you used to read Absolutely Vile (or if you know me), then you probably know all of these things already, sorry!

I have never driven a car. Nope, never. I don’t even have a learner’s permit. I used to say that I’d learn before I turned 30, but that age came (and went) a couple of years ago, and, well, let’s just say that I have a feeling my 13-year-old niece is going to be learning to drive before me.

I never leave the house without makeup. Frankly, I don’t even like to be alone inside the house with a bare face. I’ve always wished I could be one of those people who looks fresh and cute straight from the shower, but I look like a total hag unless I’m (at the very least!) wearing undereye concealer and mascara.

I was an English Literature major my first year at college. It’s true! For some reason (rebellion against my artist parents?!), I was very resistant to study art in college, and thought I wanted to be a writer or something crazy like that. It took me exactly two semesters of Beowulf and the Canterbury Tales (in Middle English!) for me to figure out that I needed to transfer to the fine arts program. WHAT A RELIEF! I stayed an extra year to make up for the lost time, and got my BFA.

My middle name is Ruth. It comes from my paternal grandmother.

My first name rhymes with the American pronunciation of piranha, NOT banana. A lifetime of hearing it mispronounced by teachers, coworkers, graduation speakers, and store clerks has made me kind of sensitive about this. It’s also made me assume that anyone else who spells their name A-N-N-A must be a banana-Anna, and not a piranha-Anna, so I wind up saying their names wrong sometimes, which is weird.

I have had 20 pet rats, most of them rescues. Rats are wonderful animals and great pets, like tiny dogs. I hope someday I’ll be able to have them again, but for now I’m happy to work as a facilitator for a rat rescue, placement, and fostering group. Of all the “pocket pets”, I think rats are by far the best for homes with children, by the way. On the whole, rats are very gentle animals that respond well to attention and affection. Their only downside is a short life span (typically around 2-3 years), but they pack a lot of enjoyment into that time period. Go rats!

I have had the same job for 10 years. I work at a publishing house as a book cover designer, and this is where I’ve been for the duration of my entire career. I came in with my portfolio a couple of weeks after I graduated from college, and was hired shortly thereafter. I don’t know many people my age who have only had one real job (I worked as a barista and bookstore clerk full time in college, but that was really just to pay the bills)—the exception being three of the other designers I work with every day, all of whom went to the same college I did! The turnover rate here is low. It’s a great place to work, and I truly enjoy coming in every day. (Okay, I like staying home, too. But not because I don’t like my job!)

I don’t want to “tag” anyone else because that makes me feel weird. I don’t like putting people on the spot, you know? If you feel like it, though, be my guest.

I really really love Elisabeth Dunker’s work! Her Tree poster hangs in my front hall, and now she is offering a new one for sale, Krakatoa.

From the description at Little Red Stuga:

Krakatoa is a flirt with the colour palette and graphical forms from the 50’s, a mish-mash of inspirations of Hokusai, HC Andersen and Tove Jansson, created with the help of scissors, pen and vector graphics.

Krakatoa is a volcano between Sumatra and Java, mostly famous for it’s violent outbreak in 1883. You could hear the sound from the ends of the world and the tsunami that followed reached a height of 40 metres. The amount of dust in the atmosphere was so intense that the earth’s temperature dropped the following 5 years.

Enough said, really! Have a look at some of Elisabeth’s other work at Lula.se and at her blog, Fine Little Day. She’s such an inspiration.

Dadel fabric, designed by Maija Louekari for Marimekko’s Spring 2008 collection. Available in pastel (shown), red, and bright colorways. (PERFECT.)

Maija Louekari is quickly becoming one of my most favorite illustrators/textile artists. Nearly every Marimekko print I’ve fallen in love with over the past couple of years is her work! (And she was born in 1982. Gosh.)