Well-known in the United Kingdom and Europe, London-based wallpaper designer Deborah Bowness is introducing her decorative drollery stateside with a gallery exhibit at the Anthropologie store in New York City 's Rockefeller Center. Called Genuine Fakes from London, the show features life-size, photo-realistic images hand-printed on wallpaper.
The panels—most of which measure 130" high by 22" wide and range from $348 to $1,400 each—picture everyday domestic goods. One collection, Wallpaper Frocks, contains a series of brightly colored dresses hung off a black-and-white clothes rail. Another line, Salvage, features pointy lamps, sepia-toned filing drawers, and old chairs. A third, Illusions of Grandeur, shows just that: fancy moldings, a chandelier, and a gilt mirror.
Continue reading "Trompe L'Oeil Wallpaper Provokes Double Takes" »
 A recent exhibition of photographer Henry Wessel's work at the San Francisco Museum of Art gave me a great deal to think about. Wessel's subtly humorous observation of California landscape and architecture is well known; in the tradition of Robert Frank, Gary Winogrand, and Lee Friedlander, his black-and-white prints gracefully capture the spontaneous and startling beauty in the everyday. Compared to Wessel's other work, this piece stands apart by observing similarity rather than recording a unique moment in time. The rhythmic repetition of 40 small, similarly bland homes against sunny blue-sky backgrounds, photographed straight-on and identically framed, has a safe, soothing quality.
The presentation suggests an easy way to display art in the home. Any group of photos with similar subject matter would work, and the grid system is flexible for as many images and configurations as you want. A postcard collection would look fantastic displayed this way, or it could become an ongoing project for vacation photos, if you snap a similar shot for the collection each time you take a trip.
Continue reading "Home, Sweet Home, Sweet Home, Sweet Home…" »
As the summer months draw near, my thoughts turn to chilling out at the beach—a longing spurred, no doubt, by designing layouts for Home 's upcoming issues that feature a bevy of beautiful waterside abodes. For instance, a New Jersey shore house in our June issue (on sale May 22) boasts a colorful beach mural on the master bath walls; it inspired this month's playful digital image of an underwater world.
To download this design onto your computer, just click on the link for your screen resolution. Once you see the full image, right-click on it and select “Set as Background” or “Set as Wallpaper.” Or you can download the free PDF. Check back soon for more patterns—all exclusive to homemag.com and inspired by ideas in the magazine. —Wallfleur
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Corn gluten is the base of a natural lawn fertilizer that suppresses broadleaf weeds. WOW! Plus. $99.99 for four 20-pound bags. Gardensalive.com. |
The ideal lawn, as weed-free as a putting green, may not be such an ideal after all—especially if it requires destructive fertilizers and pesticides, plus heavy watering, to achieve. Consider the environmental costs. Herbicides and insecticides not only do in pesky weeds and bugs, but they also kill the good guys: earthworms and microorganisms essential to the life of the soil, as well as pollinators such as bees. These poisons also threaten the health of humans: They have been implicated in cancers and neurological problems, especially in children under age 5.
Once the soil is depleted of its natural nutrients, what to do? Why, pour on the chemical fertilizer! Yet 60 percent of the nitrates in lawn fertilizers end up in our groundwater, damaging the health of ponds, lakes, and bays.
There has to be a more earth-friendly way to have a nice lawn. And there is. An organic lawn is actually easier on you as well as the environment. In time, a healthier lawn will automatically crowd out many of the weeds. Try taking these steps to kick the chemical habit.
Continue reading "You needn’t rely on noxious chemicals for lush and healthy grass" »
Groove to your iPod inside and out with Eos' Wireless Home Audio System. |
Eos' Wireless Home Audio System
Listen to your favorite tunes while sunbathing thanks to the Eos, an indoor-outdoor wireless iPod system. Dock your iPod in the base station (which plugs into a standard outlet); your music will be beamed to four weatherproof speakers up to 150 feet away. Speakers also need to be plugged in. $299 (docking station plus one speaker); $149 (each additional speaker). In black, shown, and white. 877-465-3927, eoswireless.com. |
Shine some light on the festivities with these colorful floating Solar Orbs from Hammacher Schlemmer. |
Hammacher Schlemmer's The Place Anywhere Outdoor Solar Orb Light Float these water-resistant orbs in the pool or set them into the ground (aluminum bases included). A solar panel inside the 10-inch plastic cuties continually recharges itself; the units, which change colors from pink to green to blue, automatically turn on at night to provide eight hours of illumination. $40 each. 800-321-1484, hammacher.com. |
The tiniest computer to date, this device slips right into a pocket or a purse. |
Oqo Model 02
Can't bear to leave your work at the office? Now you don't have to—this mini computer goes wherever you go. Use the 1-pound, palm-size gadget, which runs on the new Windows Vista operating system, to wirelessly surf the web and write e-mails. The Bluetooth-enabled device runs various applications at once, so you can work on different documents; it also features a 60-gig shockproof hard drive, a 5-inch LCD screen, and a backlit keyboard. $1,849. 877-676-6688, oqo.com. |
—Inspectress Gadget
Hel-looo, anybody home?
You mean to say that you’ve been reading our blogs for months and haven’t yet figured out the real identity of Style Provocateur?
Oh, of course—you knew all along that it’s senior decorating editor Carole Nicksin. Me, too. But then, I work there and all.
And who else but Home’s VP/editor-in-chief (I mean, our really talented musical boss) Donna Sapolin could come up with the Room Whisperer’s darling list of tunes to redecorate by? Um, yeah, she has really good taste.
Then there’s BrickChick.
Right, I mean Carolyn Weber, senior building editor.
What about the rest of the Home Team?
Oh, they’re here, too. Want to meet them?
Sure…no, no, no, you always look great, and they’ll love your cute PJs. Well, maybe just throw on a robe or something.
Continue reading "A who’s who of Home bloggers" »
I delve into color daily. I contemplate palettes to flesh out decorative schemes for rooms and shape shots for photography, and I review the tones we use for magazine layouts. I can safely say I’m a color person. But I’m also very much a music person—one tune or another is always cycling through my head, and I’m forever humming or singing.
Since both music and color inform the spaces I move through, I thought I’d share some color-driven songs to inspire your decor and fill your rooms with rhythm. The following lists cut across a wide range of genres and time periods. The selections range from riotous to subdued, but whether you’re listening pre-, post-, or during your design process, they’re sure to help define your sense of place and make you focus on the energy exuded by a particular hue.
Give a quick listen on your favorite music site and then download one or more before taking your next decorative step. —Room Whisperer
Continue reading "Lend an ear—makeover inspiration is only a beat away." »
 Tour our latest show home in Westport, Connecticut, and raise money for Susan G. Komen.—BrickChick
Jim Newsom always knew he was a “wood guy.” In the late 1990s, he began to salvage beached logs from the shore of Seattle 's Elliot Bay , turning them into decking planks. In 2002, he expanded his efforts and founded Urban Hardwoods. The Seattle, Washington-based company reclaims local fallen or diseased trees and, depending on their condition, transforms them into furniture, cabinetry, and flooring, or into raw lumber. The aim is not only to reuse the resource, but also to “reconnect people with creations from their natural environment,” Newsom says.
Continue reading "Urban Hardwoods Gives Local Timbers a Second Life" »
The annual Kitchen & Bath Industry show in Las Vegas is almost a month away, but we’re already feeling the heat—and sensing a trend: Steam is on the rise. In past seasons, the powerful stuff (which unclogs pores, powers aircraft carriers, and speeds cooking in commercial kitchens) was added to residential ovens. (Check out 2005 Kitchen & Bath Awards and Buying Guide: Wall Ovens.)
And last spring, LG Electronics introduced the SteamWasher (click here for video demo), which features steam-assisted deep-cleaning wash cycles, as well as a 20-minute water- and detergent-free mode that removes wrinkles and deodorizes up to five garments at a time. This latter option is eco-friendly because it reduces water usage (you aren’t running a wash load) and dependence on chemically based professional dry-cleaning. Now two more appliance companies are following suit.
Whirlpool has added a 10-minute steam cycle to its popular front-loading Duet model, and Kenmore is introducing a similar feature in its Elite HE5 and HE3 Steam Dryers (shown). Available in September, the units require hookups to household water and are estimated to cost $100 to $150 more than similar—but steamless—models. —BrickChick
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