The Mid-Century Modern Apartment: 24 Stylish Finds from Target Under $200

There are a couple reasons many bachelor pads still look like a college dorm and most of those reasons fit in a wallet. It's hard to find quality furniture options that are cheap enough for a starting out budget, but here are some good mid-century modern options for your consideration. And what's more, they're all under $200.   

Continue Reading

How to: Make Your Own DIY Large-Scale Graphic Wall Art

We love a bold, graphic wall treatment - whether type-based, a mural, or ever-changing chalkboard design.

Continue Reading

Inside the Studio with Let There Be Neon

As The Hand and The Eye puts it, it's probably easier to point out which neon signs in Tribeca were not made by Let There Be Neon that which ones were, their reach is so extensive.  Their little shop is has created New York City's most famous neon signage including even Nucky Thompson's Old Rumpus Bar from Boardwalk Empire. And making neon signs is no easy trick...   

Continue Reading

Watch This: Chess Pieces Crafted On A Metal Lathe

There are some things that just make me stop and stare. If you're like me this video of a CNC lathe crafting a chess piece from a metal blank is about 4 minutes of mesmerizing relaxation.  Being a diehard maker at heart, this video makes me happy.

Continue Reading

Good Design is as Little Design as Possible: A Home Tour of the Legendary Dieter Rams

German industrial designer Dieter Rams is best know for his "functionalist" approach: that good design makes a product useful, and allows the design to disappear. (The calculator and podcast app on your iPhone mimics Rams' designs.) Best know for his work with Braun, he's about to celebrate his 84th birthday, and still lives with his wife, Ingeborg Kracht-Rams, in the home he designed in the 1960s, just outside of Frankfurt and it's as awesome as you'd think it would be.   

Continue Reading

17 Landscaping Ideas For A Low-Maintenance Yard

Dads sure do seem to have a love/hate relationship with their yard work. If you find yourself falling further on the 'hate' end of the spectrum with how much effort you're having to put in, check out these 17 Ideas to save you time and keep you enjoying your yard instead of working for it.   

Continue Reading

The Most Amazing Bathtub You've Ever Seen

If you're going to take a soak, it might as well be in an amazing tub. Check out these amazing veneered wooden tubs that would gold plate just about any bathroom.  

Continue Reading

Belt Driven - A New Kind of Bicycle

One of the worst parts of a bike is the chain. It's loud, greasy and has ruined quite a few pairs of my jeans. If you're looking for a better way, try a belt driven bike.  

Continue Reading

The History of The Space Pen

Back when I wanted to be an astronaut (just kidding NASA take me now I'll do anything), my mom gave me a space pen that somebody had given her and it was SO cool. Besides being able to write upside down, I loved the design of the sleek little guy and the connection I felt with my gravity-defying heroes. The history of their design is quite the little story, recently featured by Cool Material.   

Continue Reading

Take A Virtual Tour Through A Never-Built Frank Lloyd Wright House

Might I interest you in taking a free-roaming tour through a Frank Llyod Wright home that was never built? That's impossible you say? Nonsense. With all of our advances in digital mapping and 3D printing, imagining something is now almost as good as actually building it.   

Continue Reading

What Made The Aeron Chair An Icon?

The Aeron, named after the Celtic god of war combined with aeronautics and aeration, is perhaps the most ubiquitous office chair ever produced. Initially created as a breakthrough in ergonomic design by Don Chadwick and Bill Stumph for Herman Mailer, the Aeron was so successful that its image was quickly co-opted by the dotcom bubble and associated with 90's web startup corporate excess. Even before its initial unveiling in 1994, the Aeron chair had already been acquired the Museum of Modern Art for its permanent collection. Why?   

Continue Reading

Weekend Project: How to Build a Rustic Headboard with Built-In Hidden Storage

Weekend project? On a Thursday? Yep, and for two reasons: one, I'll be out of town tomorrow, doing a weekend intensive course and dive program to get my SCUBA certification. But two, and most importantly, this storage headboard project is exactly the sort of thing you could put together in a weekend. 

Continue Reading

Forget Tiny Homes -- How About A Renovated Airplane?

We've written before about the tiny house movement, especially people who have opted to live in the minimalist spaces that have mobility, but this is whole new take on the lifestyle. Bruce Campbell (not this guy) of Oregon, has lived in a renovated Boeing 727 for over 15 years and is now looking build another in Japan...   

Continue Reading

Upgrade Poker Night With a Classy Set of Cards

Tired of staring at the same boring face cards every Friday night? Upgrade that deck with some much more compelling designs. They may not help you bluff any better, but at least you can give up that ante in style.  

Continue Reading

Blow My Mindsday: March 2, 2016

Each Wednesday, I post some of my favorite can't-miss links, images, and otherwise mindblowing goodies from across the web.

This is the Minotake bamboo spatula. It's amazing, and a good reminder that there is always room for more good design in the world, even on products that have been made and used for thousands of years. The series was designed by Makoto Koizumi and made by Japanese bamboo artisans Kohchosai Kosuga. Yours for a very reasonable $33. 

Apparently, 90% of the world's huge

Continue Reading