Category: Honor Roll

An amazing kitchen makeover with the original tin ceiling discovered, a vintage pine cabinet brought in, and a standard sink swapped out for one made of terra cotta.

Target in Canada: what went wrong. (A lot.)

The stories of Freshly Picked’s multi-million dollar business (Go, Susan!) and the $65 million dollar company Aden + Anais might be just the inspiration you need to go after your own goals.

Jon Benjamin maybe should have learned to play the piano before making his experimental jazz album.
Regarding the supporting musicians: “Was this an act of friendship, or just a measure of the jazz economy that you’ve gotta do whatever gig comes along?”

I’ve been sharing more of what I’m up to on Snapchat and Instagram lately. I have a huge post in the works about the closet, but there have been lots of sneak peeks over there in the meantime!

What Sesame Street’s move to HBO means, and why Elmo is the worst.
Grover fan 4 life!

Print circulation is falling faster than most of us realize.

An odd nook becomes a butler’s pantry, tied in with design elements from their kitchen. Clever use of space!

Portraits of men in half drag.
And then there’s this?

Instagram as a new media performance piece.

I saw David Bowie’s 1979 SNL performances with Klaus Nomi and Joey Arias at the MCA exhibit, but was only able to find audio clips afterward. All three sets from the show have been released now, and they are amazing.

The story behind the cover art for Smashing Pumpkins’ Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness.
Brandon gave me the new Deluxe edition for Christmas. If you liked the album, pick this one up!

Is the future of Photoshop in mobile devices?

Calvin and Hobbes and The Far Side both ended twenty years ago. A look at how they changed the landscape of comic strips, and how things have never again been the same.

The first wave of adult coloring books in the 60s were a little different.

The secret to hipster business success: use pretty paper, grow a beard, and dress in neutral linen?

Want a calm color palette for the bedroom? Or is picking a new paint color as simple as black and white?

I’ve got tips for tricky spaces: painting your stairs, painting beadboard (avoid the dreaded paint drips and gaps), and the best way to paint small spaces.

Christmas is over, but I still really like this post about designing a kitchen inspired by Christmas cookies!
Swap out the tea towel and wreaths (or just their ribbons) and it’s a great look year-round.

Alex Papachristidis’ home is over the top and amazing. Those dining room window treatments got me like whoa. 😍

Thoughts on the loss of F.A.O. Schwartz.

“You know you have a good design when you show it to people and they say, ‘oh, yeah, of course,’ like the solution was obvious.”

Existential riddles.
“A woman running a marathon overtakes the person in second place. What place is she in now?
She is now in second place. She’s always in second place. Stephen was right.”

Aw, poor Rollie. All it wants to do is make some delicious egg tubes for you.

A desert in bloom with pink flowers!

A look at some of the children of Instagram with followers in the tens and hundreds of thousands.

The most amazing miniature worlds, creating in antique ring boxes, and a modern dollhouse that gets all the details right.

We do have some architectural gems in Oak Park. I love that you can walk by the FLW studio, and up and down the street will be people from all over the country. From all over the world.

“Now see heaah…”

There is a museum, in France, devoted to amazingly detailed miniature sets. I want very badly to visit.

Behind the scenes with a photographer who creates and shoots her own miniature sets.

“The comments around Ashley’s makeover were… spirited, to say the least.” Yep.

Did you catch Apartment Therapy’s new “Design School” series? Pretty vignettes in the first post, but readers weren’t into the overall room. It’s the front of a Victorian with double parlors: a tricky space to design a modern floor plan for.

I know, because it’s almost identical to my library! Picture the wall of books on their fireplace wall, then imagine their two windows are curved and you’ve got my room.

Heeeeey, watcha doin’ on Sunday? Silly, you’re checking out the Periscope Open House! We have a hashtag and everything. Can you guess what it is? #periscopeopenhouse

Every 15 minutes, starting at 10:00 Eastern, there will be a different house tour. Some (like mine) are old, historic homes, some are mid-century, and some are very much in-progress renovations. I’m slated for the 10:45 slot (find me @makingitlovely), but things may change between now and then. The best way to catch them all is to start with Erica (@vintagedesignme on Periscope). This is going to be fun!