CasaSugar

Cool Idea: Lamp Kit Hanging Light

CasaSugar — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 10:00:29 -0800

I spotted this photo in the portfolio of interior stylist and designer Sibella Court, and was wowed by the hanging light fixture. To me it looks like a lampshade was simply attached to a basic Lamp Cord Kit ($12), and then dangled from the molding. The shade would probably need to have a bulb clip top fitter, too. I love the juxtaposition of the lowbrow lamp cord with that debonair black bell-shaped shade.

I'd love to try this at home. I'm thinking of making my own with a shapely lampshade frame and a reproduction Edison bulb. What do you think?

Cool Idea: Log Some Sleep

CasaSugar — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 05:30:19 -0800

Swedish blogger Design Delight recently took a trip to London and visited the new Anthropologie store there. She snapped this photo of a display bed made from piles of logs, and I'm absolutely in love with it. It's so magical looking, straight out of a fairy tale. If you want a good night's sleep, you clearly would need to use a basic bed frame hidden underneath and then surround it with the logs. But it's totally a doable DIY if you have access to logs. The white dogwood bark adds another wintry element, which is nice, too. Plus, if you run out of firewood, you know where you can find it!

Cool Idea: New Orleans Water Meter Doormat

CasaSugar — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 12:00:42 -0800

Anyone who's ever lived in New Orleans recognizes the starry, art-deco design of the city's water meter lids. Designed by Edwin Ford in the early 1920s, the crescent moon and stars became so sought after that people actually used to pilfer them, so much so that for a time the city tried to replace them with plain ones to try to stop the theft. Nevertheless, the 85-year-old design has become an iconic symbol of the city - along with the fleur-de-lys, of course. So, one clever local turned the groovy vintage meter cover into a Decorative Door Mat ($32). The high-quality, durable mat is as useful as it is nostalgic and charming, and you don't have to steal from the city to own it. Clearly, it's not for everyone, but it's a great gift for anyone who knows a thing or two about NOLA. Hint, hint.

Cool Idea: Turn That Frond Upside Down

CasaSugar — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 10:00:00 -0800

I fell in love with the topsy-turvy tomato planters when I first found them a year or two ago, but I'm so excited to see the concept taken to a sleeker level.

Ranging in price from $25 to $75, the Boskke Sky Planters are made in New Zealand from black or white ceramic. They're modern, beautiful, and completely unexpected.

Created by designer Patrick Morris, the stoneware ceramic planters can conserve up to 80 percent of the water normally used to water houseplants, thanks to the self-watering system, which only needs to be replenished twice a month at most. These planters are also a great choice for studio apartments, as they free up valuable floor space.

Have you used upside down planters in the past? What was your experience? Do these planters turn your head as well?

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Cool Idea: Lighting the Dark Garden

CasaSugar — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 12:00:58 -0800

I've been pretty bummed about the time change, since it's usually dark by the time I get home from work. This means that any outdoor chores, gardening work, or frolicking with the dogs is done in near pitch black, or lit from sharp, glaring porch lights.

Kathy LaLiberte, director of gardening at my favorite gardening store, Gardeners Supply Company, has come up with a pretty solution to combat the darkness. Besides using solar lights along pathways, she's also indulged her inner artist with a cool project.

She writes:

Last Fall we came up with a combination art project/all-season, outdoor lighting solution. We made an orb with two rusted steel bands from an old whiskey barrel planter. They're held together at the top with a rusted-iron hose guide, which fits into a metal pipe that anchors the whole thing to a cedar post. Around the center of the pipe I wove a loose ball of wild grape vines. Then I stuffed the ball with a 24-foot string of small LED lights (these are the warm white ones - I don't like the cool blue lights).

How do you light your yard or garden after the clocks fall back?

Cool Idea: Decorate With Antique Keys

CasaSugar — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 15:00:56 -0800

If you're a fan of the shape and look of antique keys, you'll be happy to hear that they're popping up all over the design world. They're such a classic element, too, that they're unlikely to go out of style. See my ideas for decorating with keys in your home.
Source: Flickr User stevendepolo

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Cool Idea: Blu Dot Chairs Go Curbside

CasaSugar — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 12:10:05 -0800

Live in New York? Want to grab a Blu Dot chair for free? You're in luck, because today and tomorrow, Blu Dot's dropping 25 Real Good Chairs around New York City. Some of the chairs have been enabled with GPS, so you can trace the chairs' progress on Blu Dot's site. You can also follow each chair's progress on Blu Dot's Twitter feed.

Blu Dot explains the inspiration for this project thusly:

When we opened our SoHo store in 2008, we became surrounded by the resourceful culture of "curb-mining": the act of finding furniture and art on the street. Now that a year has passed, our friends at mono approached us with a way to conduct a curb-mining experiment of our own: What would happen if we left a bunch of Real Good Chairs all over New York, free for the take? Who will grab them? Where will they go? How will they get there? What will their new homes look like?

Do you live in New York? Have you spotted any Blu Dot chairs today?

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Cool Idea: A Haunted Wedding

CasaSugar — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 10:00:29 -0700

After I wrote my post about California haunted houses, one of my Sugar friends emailed me to say that she'd actually gotten married in one of them!

She writes, "I got married at Madrona Manor in Healdsburg. It’s such a beautiful old house, and the grounds are absolutely breathtaking. The main house is the part that’s supposed to be haunted, and I have to admit, it is a little creepy. It’s charming and old-fashioned, full of gorgeous antiques, but it absolutely feels like a haunted house. We held our ceremony in the gardens, our reception on the patio, and stayed in a carriage house behind the main building, so we pretty much avoided the potentially haunted areas entirely (and that wasn’t an accident)!"

Have you ever attended a wedding in a haunted home, or someplace that was rumored to house spirits? Tell me about your experience in the comments!

Photo courtesy Kristyn Stroble Photography

Cool Idea: Garage Door Façade

CasaSugar — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 07:00:16 -0700

When architect Bill Peterson decided to renovate his 16-foot-wide brownstone in Manhattan's East Village, he was determined not to be drastically modern. He wanted to maintain some of the circa-1869 building's history, but at the same time, wanted to use new technologies. The result? Trickery.

He built a façade for the structure's second floor, which can be raised like a garage door in just a few minutes, opening up to its modern living room. The feature offers a Manhattanite a rare thing: private outdoor space (well, semi-private). For safety, an ultra clear glass barrier was installed as a barrier. And to keep bugs and heat out, an air curtain wall system shooting high velocity air from the ceiling was used. Pretty clever, eh? Since the revealing façade is on the second floor, pedestrians can't really see in, and the trees across the street block some neighbors from seeing inside. But really, it's a living room, not a bedroom, so who really cares? See a photo of the living room with "the door" closed.

Cool Idea: Patchwork Wallpapering

CasaSugar — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 10:00:51 -0700

This feminine bedroom, styled by Bazaar Style author and stylist Selina Lake, was featured in BBC Homes and Antiques magazine.

I love how a patchwork of vintage wallpapers was used to create this feminine boudoir background. Not only does it give the room a nostalgic, period look, but since it really only requires wallpaper samples, it's also a very affordable. Furthermore, you don't have to be in love with each wallpaper because the patchwork effect overrides the dated look of the individual designs. There's strength in numbers!

What do you think?