Magazine Storage
January 9, 2010
We store our magazines in the bathroom (even if we don’t read them there; ok, sometimes we do). I designed this cabinet to block the view of the toilet and provide a little privacy, but also to store magazin
es on the toilet side.
We labeled the sections with David’s P-Touch. The top one is the inbox. When we’re both still reading that particular magazine, it’s in the inbox.
Once you’ve read it, you move it to the other person’s pile, next shelf down. The pile on the left is labeled “Marci” and the one on the right is “David.”
Once you’re done with a magazine on your pile you move it to one of the piles on the next shelf down: Library (these go to our local library’s magazine exchange and get recycled - I just grab the pile once a month) or Keep (these are things like professional magazines and eventually are taken to the off
ice).
The system has worked really well, as long as it’s on your to-do list to take care of the piles once a month. But the to-do list is a subject for another day…
What You Already Have
January 8, 2010
I haven’t posted in a while, and here is why: rather than accumulating more stuff (even inexpensive, beautiful stuff), I’ve been trying to pare down, have less stuff, and organize what I already have.
Most of the stuff I’ve obtained recently has been stuff that helps organize other stuff.
So, since that’s what I’m interested in right now, that’s what I’m going to write about: organizing my stuff, organizing my life by making my spaces (work, home, car) less cluttered, systems for getting things in order.
Of course, I’m an architect, so this for me is naturally space-related, and the aesthetics matter and the cost matters. And what is cooler than a simpler, more organized life. So really this amounts to the same thing that duckbell was always about: the search for affordable cool.
Transformation
March 12, 2009
We used to have a study. The study had a huge desk along one wall, 16 feet long. The rest of the room was basically a long hallway to access the master bedroom. After much demolition, a little paint, a little more paint because the new paint made the other walls look old, some new furniture, we now have a den.
The only additions to the room - besides the paint - are a futon sofa ($300 at Futon Planet, including the futon and frame), an IKEA dining table ($279) which we are using as a desk, a shaggy rug ($70) from Walmart (because every other rug - shag and otherwise - was completely unaffordable), an ottoman built out of scrap wood, and a few new pillow covers.
And somehow we now have a room which is the hub of the house. Right now I am here typing this on my laptop, David is across from me on his laptop, and Finn is at the round table on her laptop. Our dog is usually lying on the sofa (had to cover it with a towel); not sure where she is right now, but she seems to have abandoned her chew toy there.
When everything came together, not only did the room miraculously become the center of our lives, but it also took on an inexplicable 70s vibe, like the cool pad I’d have had in the 70s if I would have been a hip adult instead of a pre-teen. Maybe it’s the shag or the orange or the futon. Maybe next we need to add a conversation pit…
Chopsticks
March 8, 2009
Benk and Ginny and I took a trip to Albuquerque, and all agreed that we needed to visit Ta Lin Market. This is where you can stock up on Irish tea (and even Lucozade), achiote paste from Central America, pad thai noodles, Japanese ponzu sauce… While we were there, Benk and I went to the tiny-random-dishes section and found these “rookie chopsticks” for $1.95; we each bought a pair for our kids, but I mostly bought them because, wow - what a cool shape! If you don’t have a version of Ta Lin, you can get them here
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Art You Can Afford
November 24, 2008
I am not the biggest 20×200 junkie, but I definitely have a habit. Because here’s the thing: we can afford things like toilet paper, nice jam for crostata, even splurge on some yarn (because it gets turned into something useful like a scarf or a sweater). But there is definitely not any money for art. Most people wouldn’t think that was a problem, but I think art is a necessity, like toilet paper or nice jam for crostata.
I was at my friend Anna’s office, and she was really happy because she’s purchased some monoprints for the walls. And so cheap, too! How cheap? Six hundred dollars!? That’s not cheap!
Art with a $20 price tag is more in line with our budget. I’m serious; for $20 you get a one of a limited edition of 200 prints. You can also buy a larger print (limited edition of 20) for $200 or even larger (limited edition of 2) for $2000. The image above is Far and Wide, by Ann Tarantino, and it’s still available. Check it out at http://www.20×200.com/.
Yarn
October 19, 2008
I like to support my local knitting store, but knitting can be an expensive habit. There are some beautiful yarns out there (although my preference is to see the pattern rather than the yarn) and I can’t afford any of them. I just bought 5 skeins of Brown Sheep’s Cotton Fleece on Little Knits at 40% off. Here’s the thing about Brown Sheep’s Cotton Fleece: it is the perfect yarn! It feels nice to knit with, it doesn’t pill, and as the woman in my local yarn store says, it has good stitch definition. And you can wash it. And it comes in lots of colors.
