Furniture with a Conscience
Check this chair out. Its called the Favela Chair named after the shanty towns of Brazil where this type of wood is used. Each chair is glued and nailed by hand. Its yours for $3200.
Check it out here.
Visiting Design MMoCA
On Sunday afternoon, a couple of my creative friends and I went to Design MMoCA, an exhibit of interior design vignettes from local and regional design teams. To be honest, I was a little disappointed. I thought that there would be more it– more creativity, more innovation, more inspiration. I wasn’t allowed to take pictures, so bear with me. One room that really stood out to me was designed by Davison Architecture + Urban Design from Kansas, Missouri. All their furniture was made out of cardboard. Not only is this ingenious but beautiful. The inside detail of the corrugated cardboard had this clean yet natural feel, modern yet warm. This also reminded me of the Swedish cardboard furniture design studio, ReturDesign. See an article about artist, Dominque Davison featured in Wisconsin State Journal here. With the three vignettes I really liked, I noticed that the common element that they shared is that they all seemed ‘organic’. One of the rooms had a ‘transparent canoe’ that illuminated light, hanging from the ceiling. I liked the modern, contemporary lines, clean details but still organic and natural— with soul. My design defined.
Although a wee disappointing, I thoroughly enjoyed the beauty of the crisp spring afternoon, rediscovering sights and enjoying the company of my friends.
Umbrellas at the MMoCA store
Rebekah | Bench
Coffee | Sarah | Camera
Orpheum | Rooftops | The Capitol
Brandy Texas| Sarah Manila| Rebekah Urbana
Madison is Top 17 Best Green City in America
Madisonians, be proud, Madison has been ranked the Top 17 Best Green Cities in America by Country Home Magazine.
Having lived in a few cities (Los Angeles, Seattle) and visited a number of others, there are a lot of things I appreciate about Madison. I love that the city is very pro-active about its recycling program. I love that our city encourages its citizens to be green by helping monetarily through tax discounts and loans to assist you in making your renovations more green! I also love seeing so many Madisonians bring their own grocery bags to the store to reduce paper bag/plastic bag usage.
What are ways you’ve gone green? It really isn’t that hard to be green. Check out my recent post for more ideas.
See the rest of the Top 25 Best Green Cities here. (La Crosse WI is top 12!)
50 Ways to Help the Planet
Earth Day was yesterday and some celebrate this week as Earth Week. In honor of moving towards being more mindful of our planet here is a link from Wire and Twine who has put together a list of 5o ways to help the planet.
Click here to see the full list.
(Via Apartment Therapy)
Here’s more links on being Green:
Viva Terra - Eco-living with Style
Ideal Bite – Bite-sized tips on being green ( A personal favorite, I get this in my inbox everyday.)
Madison Comes Alive
This weekend has been so lovely! Everywhere you look, spring abounds. My weekend has been as lively as spring; starting with the Madison Outdoor Farmers Market that began on Saturday morning, the afternoon of discovering flowers blooming in our yard, an exquisite Italian dinner fund raiser at Tom and Laura’s and a Karaoke Birthday Bash “Alliance” for Shane and Manuel on Saturday night.
What I’m loving right now:
My Crocs Prima.They are unbelievably comfortable.
Starting the herb garden; so far we have basil (from Tracie) and mint from the Farmers Market.
Flowers in our yard
Hot and Spicy Cheese Bread from Stella’s Bakery. So delicious! Available at the Farmers Market and Woodman’s
It’s finally warm enough to be outside!
What I’m excited about:
Madison Museum of Contemporary Art
Ayos Tip:
Bring Spring into your home and feel refreshed and enlivened;
- Open windows, let light in with light airy curtains;
- Make room in your closet by switching out your winter clothes for spring clothes;
- Make use of this time to go through your clothes and donate those that don’t fit well or you haven’t worn in awhile.
- Earth Day on Tuesday! Reuse, Recycle, Reinvent, Create and Save!
another sneak peek: shane and tiffany’s green room
Sorry my posts have been sparse lately! I’ve been busy starting a new job. Here’s some eye candy for you all for now. I’ll be back posting more ideas and more beautiful things!
Shane and Tiffany
Hallway to their bedroom
Tiffany reupholstered this chair. Shane’s amp.
Jimbe and inherited wood lamp from Shane’s mom.
Wedding pictures
Tiffany made this curtain for the closet.
Spring planting.
An Update: Modern Coffee Table
It’s been a soggy week here in Madison, so its taken awhile for us to paint the coffee table I bought last Saturday. It took a couple of cans of black high enamel spray paint and a can of lacquer paint to get the paint even and glossy. We have yet to put the final coat of clear gloss on it but I think we’ll have to wait till next week when the rain lets up!
Ayos tip: Function and aesthetic can and should go hand-in-hand. Spend some time planning and investing in buying anything for your home. Function is important but without beauty, there’s hardly inspiration to feel at home. In my experience in helping people be organized, this two are essential in maintaining peace and being organized: a system that works and that system must be something that you like.
S
A Mod Table: Thrift Store Treasure
On a beautiful spring Saturday afternoon, my friend Tiffany invited Lindsey of Life of A Loony and I to go Treasure Hunting at St. Vinnie’s Thrift Store on Willie St. It was a gorgeous day to be walking around! The buzz of Spring is in full bloom. At St. Vinnie’s we found some interesting things:
An antique Russian baby walker:
Lindsey modeling a regal arm chair that I really wanted to reupholster if I knew how:
And a corset bag!!
I also found a treasure! Inspired by Design Within Reach‘s Giulio bench:
…and Crate and Barrel’s Chequer coffee table,
…when I laid eyes on this beauty, I had visions of Japanese themed dinner parties on our deck later this Spring. Tiffany and Lindsey envisioned a bench or a table for herb planters.
I just had to buy it- for $20, what a steal! Still fixed on my Japanese dinner parties on our deck, I came home to show my husband, David, only to have him be ecstatic about turning it into a coffee table for our living room! Hence the picture of it in our living room- but we still haven’t decided.
We are busy repainting it so for now it will remained a table/bench/coffee table in the making. I’ll post ‘after’ pictures when its done. 
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DIY Branch Decor
Today was such a beautiful day! When we got home, my husband easily convinced me to be outside for a bit so he got the rake out and we breathed in the fresh spring air. As we were out in the yard, I found some branches with really great form. I remembered a few pictures of branch decor I’ve seen and was inspired to make my own.
I felt like a great bonsai artist as I tweaked a couple of branches I wanted to take inside to transform into a branch decor. I settled for two branches, one bigger than the other. The bigger branch, I will use as a stand-alone decor and the smaller one, I planned to put in a vase. As I was waiting for the paint to dry, I did a little search on what other people have done and found some really good ones. Here they are:
A branch used to display pictures via Terramia.
A branch turned into a coat rack via Apartment Therapy.
Curtain Rod Branch via DIY Ideas.
My personal favorite, a tree limb as a decor via Decor8.
S
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