MUJI Cardboard speakers

MUJI Cardboard speakers, available at MoMA

I think these speakers by MUJI are just perfectly adorable. I love that they are made of cardboard, such an inexpensive and everyday material. And it also means they are affordable and environmentally friendly. How can you beat that combo?!?!

Weekend "Top Design" Project

This week's Top Design Online Challenge is to create something (..."the more creative, the better") with pipe cleaners. Yay! It's like being in preschool again, only this time, our little art projects might win us a Todd Oldham Dot Ottoman.That's so much more rewarding than a cookie and a nap.

Dot Ottoman at Target, $330

But you better hurry up and get to the craft store because the deadline is Monday at noon!

Bonus Bone: Wawaya Dolls

Wawaya #23 & #24

Wawaya #46

Wawaya in Green Light

Wawaya #38

It's so hard to pinpoint exactly why I love these handmade dolls. It could be that some have drooping bunny ears and some have lofty little pinwheels on their heads. It could be the single-stitch eyebrows or the double-stitch lashes. Whatever it is, I just love them. Each one has a personality AND the ability to stand upright on their own, which can be hard task for a stuffed plushie.

Ping, a Chinese graphic designer living in Japan, makes these dolls in her spare time. She sells some of them in her etsy shop but most of the good ones I found in her Wawaya flickr set. She also maintains a blog but it's written in Chinese. If your computer (and you) can read Chinese, then you're in good shape but if you rely on the Google translation, you'll end up with a description such as this, "The walk upright man's hands and ears are not filled with cotton, and if they land on it...Danced for joy!"

So I might just have to content myself with seeing the photos of these adorable fabric cupcakes. And I think I just figured out what feature I love the most: the tummies.

Wawaya #6

For these reasons, I, Cardboard, declare this a Design Boner.

Bedding sale

Dirty linen suburban toile sheet set

Yellow paisley bedspread

Lattice bedspread

Cardboard and I noticed some fun bedding that's on sale at Urban Outfitters. I'm eyeing a couple different bedspreads, although not to use as bedspread. I think they would make some great springy curtains! And Cardboard is loving the funky Dirty linen suburban toile sheet set. Whew! That's a mouthful! I think they would be a fun addition to her old timey bedroom.

Free Shipping

West Elm tinted glass

West Elm is currently offering FREE SHIPPING on all of their new colored glass vases. I think the glass bulbs shown above are the cutest! Click on the photo caption to see more shapes and styles.

A Light for Knitting, Part IV

Under the influence of Top Design, I checked out what Jonathan Adler had to offer in the way of white-ish floor lamps. The only one I found to be a little out of the ordinary is this one:

Parker Floor Lamp, $495

I really like the top or the shade on it but I think the giant-block-of-marble base is a little crazy and mismatched. The lamp reminds me a bit too much of a human-sized one of these:

Memo Clip from CB2, 4 for $6

I think the Parker style lamp is much better suited as a pendant. Too bad that's not what I need right now.

Parker Pendant, $185

My Crafty Valentine

Last week, Porcelain & I were part of a Valentine swap, organized by one of our flickr contacts. We each had to make (not buy) 5 valentines and send them out to 5 strangers whose names were sent to us by the swap organizer. I sent a card to some fun-lovers in California, Texas (x2), Spain, and even Australia! I so enjoyed the random penpalness of this project. Who's up for another?!

You can click here to see cards from all 75 participants but you can see our designs below:

Cardboard, "You're swheat"

Porcelain, Cross-Stitch Hearts

6 & 7

Here are our weekend photos. Visit flickr to see the entire 6 & 7 collection.

Cardboard: left, Porcelain: right

Original inspiration by Stephanie & Mav at 3191

Design Tribute

If my father were still alive, today would be his birthday.

He doesn't pop into my head frequently these days, but when some random thing does bring him back, it always stuns me into a slow moment of quiet. I think he would have liked reading this blog of ours. He'd think we were a little crazy and hilarious and sometimes even chic. I can almost read his comments...

Happy birthday, Pop. This one's for you.

Amethyst Votive Candle Holders

Bonus Bone: Sneak Peak @ design*sponge

A peak into Amy Ruppel's home

A peak into Alyson Fox's home

I love taking walks around my neighborhood and getting glimpses into other people's homes. I like to see how other people decorate, although I don't get to see that much of the inside, mostly wall color, light fixtures, and maybe some art. Grace (aka design*sponge) is now feeding this addiction by giving us sneak peaks into some great artists'/designers'/bloggers' homes.

For these reasons, I, Porcelain, declare this a Design Boner.

Pushmepullyou Design

Cardboard & I are in love with the prints by Eleanor Grosch who runs Pushmepullyou Design. She keeps the work simple by leaving the background a blank field so that your eye may focus completely on the shape of the line. These are our favorite prints:

Kiwi

Elephant

Egret

Mad as a March Hare

Autumn

Winter

6 & 7

Here are our weekend photos. Visit flickr to see the entire 6 & 7 collection.

Cardboard: left, Porcelain: right

Original inspiration by Stephanie & Mav at 3191

Top Design, Episode 2

As a design blog, it's only natural that we would post a re-cap on the most recent episode of Top Design. We thought about it for a minute or so. Yet the fact is, many other bloggers are already doing it better and, quite simply, we're just not that quick. But I'll ante up my two cents about the design.

Although Matt seemed the most nervous about transitioning his room into a child's room, I think he nailed it.

Click here to cast your opinion on Matt's room!

He didn't pimp it out to some adolescent theme that would soon bore the young client yet the room is far from generic. It's not an amusement park and it's not a museum. This room is pretty enough to delight a girly pre-teen but also mature enough to usher her into her formative years. Matt's choice of subtle color and classic trim, as opposed to loud paint and impractical construction, not only won over the girl but, I believe, would also win over her parents. After all, in the real world, the child can give input, but the parents are the true clients, and they don't want to come home to anything too crazy or poorly done. Finally, as a DIYer myself, I was most excited that Matt used simple work lights, recessed into the wall, to form those three rows of "Hollywood" spot lights.

On a side note, Captain Vellum sat down with me to watch this episode of Top Design and, as the opening credits rolled, he shouted out, "I know that guy!" Matt, designer of the beautiful room mentioned above, went to college with Captain Vellum! In fact, Matt even lived with one of Vellum's good (and current) friends so perhaps we'll find out some dirt. But this prior relationship has no bearing on why I think his room rocks. Just look at it; it rocks!

Lastly, I am terribly excited about the newly announced Top Design Online Challenge! This is our chance to show off our design skills and win Todd Oldham accessories! The first challenge, announced on Wednesday, was for us to send in photos of creative ways to display collectibles. I visited the web site today to send in my own example and realized that they already closed the challenge. Boo. But you can vote on the over-achievers who did enter. Online Challenge #2, however, is already up (and the deadline is Monday)! It seems that these challenges have very short deadlines so you must act quickly to make a name for yourself. The new challenge is to make a creative pillow covering. The winner receives a Todd Oldham disco ball vase so hop to it!

If you miss the challenge deadline, send your photos to us. We'll post them, have our readers vote, and we might even be able scrounge up a prize!

Bonus Bone: Lace Tape

Lace Tape

I am always looking for fun new ways to wrap gifts. Lace is a great way to make a parcel look particularly feminine, pretty, and just plain special. To combine the daintiness of lace with the practicality of tape, well, that's just brilliant! It's like having Zsa Zsa Gabor over to wash your dishes.

For these reasons, I, Cardboard, declare this a Design Boner.

6 & 7

Cardboard: left, Porcelain: right

Cardboard and I are big fans of the photoblog 3191. We love seeing the daily morning shots that Mav and Stephanie take. Some days they are eerily similar, other days they just complement one another beautifully. We're such 3191-junkies that we wanted to see their weekend mornings. But even artists need the weekend off!

So Cardboard and I thought we would challenge our photographic skills and take over where they left off. We're calling it 6 & 7 (named for Saturday and Sunday). Our one rule is the photo has to be taken before noon. We'll be posting mosaics of the results each week. To see each of the photos individually, check out our flickr photoset.

A Light for Knitting, Part III

Although this lamp isn't exactly what I'm looking for, I still think it's pretty fun. All you need is a coffee table held up by four ducks in raincoats!

Pablo Umbrella Lamp

A Light for Knitting, Part II

Laveau Floor Lamp

The Laveau floor lamp from Anthropologie would fill my white light need very nicely. It's much more romantic than the West Elm one but I could see either lamp in the space. Yet, this debutante costs a whopping $498 AND she's ceramic, which means that I would probably knock her over and shatter her within the first hour of $500 light.

I think I'll keep looking...

Furniture Anatomy

Let me first say that this is not, in my opinion, a "Design Boner." However, if I ever had to find something that matched the description of "Design Healthy Intestine," this would undoubtedly be it.

Pink Leather Couch for sale on Craigslist,$500

Bonus Bone: Flor tiles

Tapete Flor tile

Thick and Thin Flor tile

Zooty Tooth Flor tile

I've been hunting for a large affordable rug to put underneath my easel at home. I don't want to spend too much because it will get splattered with paint. I considered getting one of these rugs, but I was worried that they might be too thin and the paint would ooze through onto the floor. So I started looking at different options. I'm thinking of going with a bunch of Flor tiles (specifically these).

Although it turns out this option is a little bit more expensive than the Urban Outfitters rugs, I feel much better about spending my money at Flor. I'm consciously trying to purchase products that are more "green" and Flor has some wonderful environmental policies. Many of their designs are made from recycled or renewable resources and made in ways that don't require or waste much energy. They also believe in recycling and when you're ready to get rid of your Flor tiles (or change them up) you can send the tiles back to them and they will recycle them for you. How fantastic is that!

For these reasons, I, Porcelain, declare this a Design Boner.