I am truly at a loss for words right now. They will come, though, and when they do, I will leave them in the comments below.
I invite you to share your thoughts on how Steve Jobs has impacted all of our lives, and to talk about what he and his work meant to you personally. I know I’ll find it cathartic (and inspiring!) to read in the days to come, and I’m sure others will, too.
This is not a happy radiator. This is a sad, rusty radiator covered with peeling paint that’s probably filled with lead. We’re constantly having to sweep up the chips so the dogs don’t eat them, and in the winter we have to wrap the whole thing in foil because it’s such a mess when the heat is on.
We’ve had two other radiators in the house sandblasted and powder-coated, and as great as the results are, it’s expensive. We have ten of these cast iron monsters, so there’s no way we can have them all done professionally, so we have to limit ourselves to the ones that are too far gone to take care of ourselves. This one in the living room is definitely on that short list.
Let’s look at some HAPPY RADIATORS instead!
Home of stylist and interior designer Jo Berryman, as seen on 1st Option
Yeah, I know, I’m not really looking at the radiator either (why is Damien Hirst following me everywhere I go?). But see it over there in the corner, all cute and black? I love how it looks in this mostly-white room—it grounds that corner really nicely. My only concern with a black radiator is that we already have black doors and a black wall in the living room, and I hesitate to add a third shade of black to the same room.
Photo by Christopher Baker for Blueprint magazine (I still miss you, Blueprint!)
YESSSSSS. I love this bright, screaming yellow. I showed this picture to my mother (I’m sure she appreciates me linking to those photos again, hah!) yesterday, and she said that my house isn’t “eclectic” enough (!!!) to have a yellow radiator. Oh, I see—it’s like THAT. Huh. No, I understand what she’s saying, but at the same time, I’m really not afraid of having a radiator be such an eye-grabber in what is otherwise a mostly-neutral room.
Like Tim Gunn says, though…it’s a lot of look.
Home of J. Abbott Miller and Ellen Lupton; see more in Lupton’s Flickr set
My mother’s suggestion was to go with red instead of yellow, but I dunno. I really like how the red looks with all of the warm grays and the floor coverings in the Lupton/Miller house, but I don’t know that red feels as nice when it’s mixed with a lot of black and white. Plus, our wood floors have such a reddish tone to them already that I worry a red radiator will just look muddy and blah in our house.
Brooklyn homes on Bergen Street and in Park Slope with interiors created by Wary Meyers
I’ve posted the photo of the gradient radiator before, but it’s too great to leave out of this post. I love love love it. Probably not right for our house (and not really suitable to powder-coating, I don’t think), but still amazing. The photo on the right wouldn’t work for us either for obvious reasons, but it’s good inspiration. We do have seven more radiators left to contend with, after all…
Photo of MJ © Michael Ochs Archive, used here as a derivative work / “This Is It” directed by Spike Lee
How cute are these pillows?! The moment Elisabeth Dunker (whose work graces many rooms in my house!) sent out an email announcing their addition to the Fine Little Day shop, I added them to my ever-growing list of pillows I love and desire.
Now that Fritz has stopped chewing on stuff (okay, mostly—every now and then he still enjoys a good tassel), I feel like it might be okay to buy a few nice pillows. I love pillows. I want a pillow on every chair, tons of them on the sofa, a bed covered with them—I basically want to live in a giant pillow. I could always get this, I guess:
Christiane Högner’s Cushionized Sofa is the stuff dreams are made of—literally. Can you even imagine tossing your body down on that thing at the end of a long day? It would be like tumbling into a marshmallow fantasy land of sleepytime goodness.
I want everything Donna Wilson has ever made, really, but her recent Nos Da Collection is my most favorite of all. The “licorice” cushion is so, so beautiful. I’ve been fantasizing about it for long time now, but just recently saw it in person for the first time—and now I covet it even more. And how can you not love the Blah Blah cushion?! Perfect for resting your head on while pretending to be engaged in a draggy phone conversation.
OMG, THIS PILLOW. This is one of those things I swear was made just for me. It’s cotton, it’s velvety, it’s got multi-level textures, it’s earthy-yet-graphic, there’s yellow involved, and…TRIANGLES. I love a good triangle. The Turbine pillow from CB2 is awesome, and I may or may not have already ordered one in a fit of glee.
Speaking of triangles…yeah, I saved the best for last. It’s the holy grail of pillows—one made from Alexander Girard’s Checker Split fabric. Circa50 makes pillows from a variety of Girard fabrics, but Checker Split will always be my favorite-favorite. This pattern inspired the one on the sometimes-rug in my living room (I say “sometimes” because the dogs seem to have decided that every rug is a giant wee-wee pad, so actually it’s more like “no time-rug”…sigh), and I just love it so much. I’ve held off investing in a Girard pillow for a long time, though, because I just know that the second I turn my back, Fritz is going to chew off one of the corners.
Indeed, sometimes the dogs win. Maybe I need to have a private pillow sanctuary behind a dog gate. Oh, come on…who am I kidding?
Exactly, Fritz. Exactly.
“Maybe” giclée print by Eduardo Recife
Earlier this morning, while I was searching the 13-year-old depths of my backup drive, I came across my blog header from 2002. It was collage-y and grunge-y and vintage-y and all of the other -ies that that I was into at that time, and I was immediately reminded of someone who had a huge influence on my work—artist, designer and typographer Eduardo Recife.
I love Eduardo’s use of found elements, pieced textures and patterns, hand-drawn letterforms and traditionally-set typography. There’s a roughness to his work that’s countered so perfectly by often romantic or Victorian imagery, and that contrast is so appealing to me. It’s a look that retailers like Anthropologie and Alternative Apparel have channeled with great success over the years, but never with quite the same level of artistry as Eduardo.
You could spend a year trying to emulate his work (and believe me, I’ve tried!) and never do what he does as well as he does. I’ve taken influence from Eduardo and put it into my graphic design work, the interior of my home, my personal style—everything. He just understands the balances between old/new and hard/soft so well.
Clockwise: “Dream”, “Chords”, “Love”, and “Give to Get” Giclée prints by Eduardo Recife
I was happy to discover after not having visiting Eduardo’s personal work website, Misprinted Type, for quite some time that he now has giclée prints of his work available for purchase through inPRNT. I haven’t decided which ones I want to buy yet, but I will definitely be bringing a couple into my home very soon!
One of my favorite things about Eduardo’s approach to creating is his willingness to share resources and materials with others. If you check out the “goodies” and “fonts” section of Misprinted Type, you’ll see he makes a huge number of hand-drawn typefaces, brushes, and vector elements available—many of them for free.
Make sure you also take time to look at his recent commercial work, too—the colors are so incredibly fresh and delicious-looking, and his style still looks as current and unmatchable in its coolness as ever.
“E o amor?” giclée print by Eduardo Recife
