Tifmurray

A green plant in a solid pot — what better place to slap a jolt of color? This is such an easy, simple pot update, but it carries an impressive punch.

Sarah Lavoine home, via carnet interieur.

there’s something about green that’s very bohemian and a little bit kitschy to me. it can swing the other way, and appear quite elegant as well, but these greens, well i think they’re leaning a little bit towards hippie-dippie. i don’t think i’ve ever decorated with a shade of green quite as bold as these examples, but i like the statement they make. cheerful, anything but understated and indicative of the great outdoors. bringing the colors of nature inside is always a good idea. here’s to being green — indoors.

Chad Kouri and Margot Harrington’s home, via design*sponge.

Brian w. Ferry photography for freunde von freunden.

green muuto chair.

green desk chair via dawanda; paintings via the design files; and brian w. ferry photography turntable.

kitschy green bedroom accents, by janis nicolay photography.

a very hippie house, from woodstock handmade houses.

green pendant lamp via brooklyn; and green lounge chair via apartment therapy.

green glass collection via the design files.

dottie angel’s home; plant life via Kimberly Rhodes Roberts; and green dining chairs from architectural digest.

Younger Furniture is really making a name for itself. The latest collection, called Avenue 62 was released last year and is now making its way into the market. Inspired by Younger’s creative director Meredith Younger Spell’s love for the 50s-70s design, this collection defines Spell’s vision for the company’s future. The collection mixes a little bit of retro and Hollywood regency with mid-century modern, paired with contemporary textiles and details.

I’ve actually had the pleasure of owning a Younger Furniture couch back in the day, I know that the quality is very good but the price is a bonus.

German automaker Porsche is celebrating the 50th anniversary of its 911 model in a big way – literally. Artist Gerry Judah has designed a sky-high sculpture piece for the special occasion. He is most well known for his well-received contributions to film, theater, museums, public spaces, and fine art. To me, the car is definitely worthy of an installation this grand, in which Judah doesn’t disappoint.

The idea was to create a gravity-defying sculpture that could hold three iconic Porsche 911 cars high in the sky. The original 1963 911, the 1973 911 Carrera RS, and the 2013 911 are all sitting pretty at more than 100 feet above the grounds of this year’s Goodwood Festival of Speed in West Sussex, England.

From the top: Original 1963 911. 1973 911 Carrera RS. 2013 911 Carrera.

The sculpture is made up of three arrow-shaped structures that give off the appearance of the cars shooting into the sky. All 22 tons of each welded steel leg cleverly balances on an extremely narrow base. Finished in a clean white coating, the sculpture maintains a simple, yet refined persona.

Gerry Judah wanted to create a piece that accurately personified the energy and spirit of the Porsche 911 and the Festival of Speed. “The 911 is a fantastic shape that can’t be deconstructed or embellished, so in this context, the sculpture had to provide the right platform for the car to soar up and shine in the sky,” said Judah about the sculpture.

Just like the Porsche 911, the sculpture is a well-designed, iconic piece of art in its own right.

Installation photos courtesy of David Barbour.

When I was little, I used to doodle on magazines. I’d give models mustaches and moles and devilish goatees. I’m sure you used to do it, too. Well, Alana Dee Haynes took her fashion magazine doodles to a whole new level and turned them into real art. I’m pretty obsessed with her tumblr.

We recently discovered Canadian design firm Johnson & Associates whose work is eclectic, but focuses primarily on modern and contemporary interiors. This contemporary ranch project caught my eye. I love the way that furnishings aren’t your typical modern ranch mid-century classics. There seems to be a great mix of rustic modern and transitional pieces dotted with mid-century gems, and a real focus on warmth and coziness. And you’ve gotta love those views; you can tell the interior design was influenced by what you see out those windows.

Check out that dramatic rustic wood wall. Talk about a headboard!

We discovered these passionate abstract paintings by Melbourne, Australia-based artist Laelie Berzon through Est Magazine. Berzon, who also heads a furniture label called Something Beginning With or SBW, started painting as an escape, though has since found success with private commissions. We can see why. The “raw and spontaneous” (her words) expressions in rich color and thick brush strokes have a visceral feel. Today’s CMYLK features three of Berzon’s works, coupled with color chips created with Colourlovers color palette tool.

Lost Lace

I Am Whole

Something most of us probably don’t think about is where old fire hoses go when they’ve been decommissioned. The answer is: landfills all across America. Now, when hoses fail at being safe, there’s Oxgut Hose Co. to turn something that was once trash into a wonderful array of one-of-a-kind home furnishings and accessories. The Oakland, California-based company takes these old hoses and puts them into the creative hands of designers where they give them new life by way of functional and durable designs with a rich history.

From floor mats, lounge chairs, and hammocks, to eyeglass holders, and even slippers, there is clearly no limit to what can be made out of this material. The floor mats are an insanely smart way to recycle the hoses. The best part? Since the hoses are made to handle water, they’re super durable and easy to clean – just hose (ha!) them off or throw them in the washer.

Currently, Oxgut is seeking funding on Kickstarter to help fund the expansion of the line. Kick in some dough and get your very own mat!

Clearly Crane & Co. had us in mind when they designed this polka dot stationery. Look at that handsome pug!

Bonjour // Pug // Poodle // Yorkie

Keep in touch! Instagram // Twitter // Tumblr // Facebook // Pinterest

i’ve been looking up art ideas for our guest bedroom. i love the idea of these baskets over the bed! graphic, texture, color. boom.

(photo via hgtv)

i first read about amsterdam-based photographer marjon hoogervorst over on est. but you know how that goes — once i clicked around there, down the rabbit hole i went and over to marjon’s own website and her blog, where i discovered even more of her beautiful photography. what is it about the light? so beautifully captured, right? marjon hoogervorst also has a shop, where you can find some of her great art prints. have a look around!

• all photography by marjon hoogervorst.

When you cook at home every single morning, for most lunches, and for dinner nearly daily, you become a whiz–and a bit obsessive–at saving money, time, energy, and extra dishes, and at 7:30pm, after work and grocery shopping, you’d have a tough job convincing me to make a meal that uses more than one pan. Sometimes, dinner at home is so humble I don’t bother to mention the toast with eggs and greens, the humungous salads with smoked bluefish, the kitchen-sink pastas to you here.

But back when we first started BGSK, our inexperience led us to delicious cooking adventures we wouldn’t deign to go on now. In fact, the entire introduction of the book is about how by the end of our “sophomore year” in the real world, we’d stopped serving Manchurian Cauliflower–a crispy, sweet-and-sour cauliflower number–because we realized we’d rather be hanging out with friends than deep-frying batches of cruciferous vegetables behind the scenes. Accordingly, I became a scholar of simplicity, make-ahead appetizers, and baking polenta squares.

Though I loved this old recipe for polenta steaks, with its crispy edges from pan-frying, every time I’ve cooked polenta steaks in the last few years, I’ve brushed the steaks with oil and baked them. Not as messy. And not as good!

As I talked to quarter-lifers and put together the recipes for the Cooking Coaching students, I thought a lot about what dishes to put on the teaching menus. I aimed to convey the joy of everyday cooking over cooking show-style flashiness, yet I hesitated over whether that joy could be channeled with black beans and scrambled eggs, no matter how delightful.

Looking at the trajectory of this site, from Manchurian cauliflower to five-minute cabbage slaw, I realized that sometimes you need to pull off a showstopper in order to develop a love of cooking. You need to stand back in wonder and exclaim, “I made that!” long before you’re in the mood to mutter “here’s dinner” over an understated, if triumphant, couscous that you set on the table exactly 24 minutes after you walked in the door.

Still, I don’t want you to get the idea that this vegetarian stunner is hard to make. No, the gorgeous pepper topping needs just 15 minutes on the stove, and the polenta is truly easy to fry, even if you normally shy away from sputtering oil. Plated, the dish is beautiful–the jewel tones of the peppers hiding luscious melty cheese, and the polenta below, crispy on the outside and creamy and delicious within.

P.S. Manchurian cauliflower, if you dare.

**Recipe**

Polenta Steaks with Multi-Colored Peppers, Red Onions & Smoked Mozzarella
Serves 4

You can use fresh mozzarella in this if you can’t find smoked.

Ingredients
For the polenta:
2 cups water
1 cup half and half
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup polenta
1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan
1 tablespoon butter
Olive or canola oil for frying (around 1 cup)

For the topping:
1 tablespoon olive oil
4 mixed color peppers (except for green), trimmed and diced
½ large red onion, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 sprig fresh basil leaves, chopped, plus a few whole leaves for garnish
½ teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon white wine vinegar or lemon juice
¾ teaspoon salt
¼ pound smoked mozzarella, torn into uneven bite-sized pieces.

Butter an 8-by-8 inch inch baking dish and line it with parchment paper. Butter that too.

In a medium stock pot, bring the water, half and half, and salt to a boil over medium-high heat. Slowly pour the polenta into the pot by sprinkling it in in a gentle stream, while stirring briskly. Turn the heat down to low and cook, stirring constantly, for ten minutes, or until almost all the liquid is absorbed. Add the cheese and butter and whisk to combine. Taste for seasoning, and add salt as necessary.

Evenly distribute the polenta in the prepared pan, smoothing the top. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour, then freeze for 30 minutes. You want the polenta to solidify fully so it doesn’t fall apart when you fry it.

Just before the polenta’s ready to take out, make the topping. In a skillet over medium-high heat, add the olive oil, the peppers, and the onions. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 6 minutes. Add the garlic and cook another 6 to 10 minutes, until the vegetables are soft but not melting. Add the salt, sugar, white wine vinegar, and basil, and stir to combine. Remove from the heat. Stir in the mozzarella so the pieces start to melt. Taste, adding more salt if necessary. Set aside.

Place a large skillet over high heat for 5 minutes. Fill it with about a ½-inch of oil.  Remove the polenta from the freezer and cut it into 4 squares. Pat each “steak” dry with paper towels. Cook them in the oil 2 at a time, for 4 to 5 minutes per side, until brown and crispy. Remove the steaks to a paper towel to drain while you cook the remaining 2.

To serve, place one “steak” on each plate. Top with a quarter of the topping mixture and garnish with a few fresh basil leaves. Serve immediately.

Or so I thought. This summer, something has shifted and it’s like I finally paid attention, and when I did, I realized I’ve had it all wrong. Summer is awesomely, fantastically busy, and with only the good stuff, long days and social butterfly weekends. We haven’t even put the kid to bed on Sunday night before we start discussing how many friends-with-pools/barbecues/ferry excursions/beach towns/playground sprinklers/grilled anything we might be able to stuff into the next weekend. When the heat starts melting your brain, and with it, any ridiculous attempts at dissecting something you read in The New Yorker that week, you get to instead have intense discussions about the ideal popsicle format, how to best fill water balloons, which beaches have the silkiest sand and who makes the best Aperol Spritz. (Buvette, you’re winning.) I realized that there’s barely a month left to summer yesterday, and felt sad, because we need more time. The whole time I’ve been kvetching, summer waged a quiet war on my view of the seasons (“Does fall have watermelon this good? I didn’t think so!” “When was the last time you saw a rainbow through a sprinkler in January?!”) and it won.

... Read the rest of mama canales-garcia’s avocado-shrimp salsa on smittenkitchen.com

© smitten kitchen 2006-2012. | permalink to mama canales-garcia’s avocado-shrimp salsa | 176 comments to date | see more: Gluten-Free, Photo, Quick, Salad, Seafood, Side Dish, Summer, Tex-Mex

We used this cordless electric Ryobi 40-volt Hedge Trimmer taming this beast of a hedge.

When it comes to making your yard look great (or as good as it can get), what’s been your best “go to” tool?

Among the basics (mower, string trimmer etc.) one of the most used at our house is the hedge trimmer. If you have a yard, you’ll probably need one in your outdoor makeover kit.

Our Problem- A Beast of a Hedge and Weak Power Tools

A before shot of The Beast from the back porch overlooking our fire pit area. Notice how top-heavy the hedge is.

1748 House is blessed (cursed maybe) with 75 feet of giant old hedge. It started out at a manageable height of 6 feet or so. We could trim it standing on our tippy-toes with standard corded electric trimmers. But this year that hedge grew to a monstrous 12 feet high, about to topple over from its own weight!

Over the years we’ve gone through perhaps 10 electric trimmers, burning out one motor after another. It wasn’t uncommon to go through 2 trimmers a year. And that’s not to even mention the number of electric cords we’ve cut through.

After spending a LOT of money on traditional trimmers, including some of the extra heavy duty models, we were desperate to find a good answer.

The Solution: A Durable and Powerful “Cordless” Hedge Trimmer

As urban home owners, we’re not too excited about using gas powered equipment unless we absolutely have to. So, that means we’re talking electric. Truthfully, their durability has always been at issue. Until now they haven’t had the umph (torque, power) to get the job done. Plus, to overcome the ‘murder’ of so many innocent extension cords, I wondered if there might be a cordless solution.

Our answer came in the form of the Ryobi 40-volt 24-inch Cordless Hedge Trimmer.

Review: Ryobi’s 40-volt 24-inch Cordless Hedge Trimmer

The Ryobi trimmer uses a cool state-of-the-art battery with plenty of power easily lasting the distance of most typical trimming jobs. The battery is interchangeable, recharging quickly. Notice the visual meter showing you your remaining battery charge.

Cordless power equipment has come a long way over the past few years.

In short, our Ryobi trimmer handled every bit of our hedge without a snag. We were so impressed. Honestly, I expected the trimmer would do okay with the outer layers of hedge only to start laboring with the thicker branches. In this case Ryobi handled everything except the largest branches. At those spots we used manual loppers. Ryobi rates the trimmer to cut branches up to two-thirds of an inch (0.66”).

We spent the better part of 4 hours cutting, collecting and bagging. Battery life was excellent, lasting almost to the end of our project. When the charge finally gave out, we simply traded batteries from another Ryobi tool we had on hand. Interchangeability is a great bonus in this system. If we did need to recharge, 90 minutes sure beats waiting overnight.

Another cool thing is how easy it is to just grab a cordless tool and go to work rather than searching for a working extension cord. It makes the idea of “maintaining” a hedge less time consuming with fewer barriers to actually going to work.

The only (small) down side, was the weight factor for my wife. The battery makes it a bit heavier than a traditional corded electric trimmer. Still is way lighter than a gas trimmer and quite usable for most people.

When I first saw the hedge trimmer box, I noticed there is a full “3 Year Warranty”. That is simply a superb. It means Ryobi puts their money where their mouth is There are not many pieces of equipment that dare to give more than a 1 year warranty.

Important! Remember to always register your tools and keep your purchase receipts in a safe place. 

In short I believe this is one of the best tool investments at our home this year. Over the long term I believe we’ll save a lot of money in equipment costs.

This is an after shot of our fire pit area at 1748 House. Cutting the beast down to size makes all the difference in the world when it comes to “curb appeal” or making over an entertainment space.

Here’s the after shot of our hedge. There is a total of 75 feet of hedge to maintain each year. Our goal for later this Summer is to continue trimming and lower the hedge another foot or two.

Disclosure: Ryobi provided the tools for this review.

Who would’ve thought screwdrivers could be whimsical? But collect a bunch, paint them, and drop them in a shelf full of holes, and you have a pretty fun coat rack. Plus the obvious – you’ll never have to hunt for a screw driver again.

The camp craft of yarn dream catchers just got trumped. This cellophane version is beautiful enough to hang onto for years, for the perfect bit of daydreaming inspiration as you gaze out the window.

The new house needs a little striped settee. NEEDS.

These matching striped sofas are pretty fantastic too (though larger than what I’m looking for).

I think the key is going to be finding a vintage piece with interesting lines, that would be a good candidate for reupholstering. It’s just not the same with, say, a new chair. The seating needs to have some curves and some quirk.

We’re out of this house next week, and then we’ll be heading up to Northern Wisconsin. I want to hit up the antique shops in the area because I have it in my head that I will be able to find veritable treasures there for like $2. I’m sure it won’t shake out that way, but a girl can hope for some thrifting luck.

© 2013, published by Making it Lovely as Stripes Wanted | 21 comments | affiliate links may be used in posts

My main criteria for photographing these people is that Marilyn has to be a large part of their lives, either as a profession or something they personally draw inspiration from. I’m less concerned about how much they look like Marilyn and more concerned about their motivations for becoming her. The women I have met through this project want to portray the real Marilyn, not the overly sexualized, overly simplified version of her.—Emily Berl

Marilyn is a series that began as a way for photographer Emily Berl to explore her new home of Los Angeles after living on the east coast for her entire life. After she moved, she started thinking about what LA represents to people and why they are drawn there, coming to the conclusion that it all leads back to the idea of the “Hollywood Dream” and how people have been chasing it for generations. Berl turned to celebrity icon Marilyn Monroe as the ultimate symbol of that dream and began photographing people who dress as Marilyn. Some are actors who consider playing Marilyn as a role. Others are life-long fans that impersonate her as a way of paying tribute to and protecting the legacy of the icon they love. Some even find such strong personal connections to Marilyn’s story that they feel impersonating her is inevitable.

Feature Shoot Contributing Editor Julia Sabot is the Associate Photo Editor at Dwell.