The Nest

This Lisbon weekend home in Elle Decor grabbed my attention as soon as I turned the page. Elle Decor is usually full of glossy and high-end homes bursting at the seams with professional interior design, but this simple, clean and elegant little home in Portugal was the most beautiful of them all. The floors of the home and its guest quarters have a heated sub-floor that is covered with soft beach sand. It would be a lot more fun to rake your floor than to vacuum it.

I don’t normally get too excited about fashion, but since fashion is a part of design I try to dress as well as I can on a small budget. So, I never really thought I would become enamored of this trend and fashion YouTube channel run by Sonja G. This Croatian beauty has a whimsical way of creating fun and stylish outfits for very little money. The amount of clothes and accessories she has astonishes me, but there are some tried and true items that keep making their appearances. I think any woman’s wardrobe can benefit from some of her advice and her intuitive sense of style.

Ask Karen…if she doesn’t know, she’ll figure it out.

Karen from Canada runs the blog The Art of Doing Stuff, which is way more than a DIY site: it’s a hysterical, middle-finger to the perfection bug that tends to afflict most of us gardeners, designers and cooks. Never strive for perfection, just keep it simple and fun is her motto. Karen shows how to create $6 birdbaths, raise chickens, build a firepit and cook Fire Soup. She worships the Dollar Store and looks at everyday things just a bit differently.

We all need a Karen in our lives.

Photo courtesy of The Art of Doing Stuff

I am absolutely in love with the New Tribe Textiles Etsy shop. After seeing Jeanie and Kyle on the Fair Companies website building their tiny, mobile wooden “spaceship”. Their textiles, designs and beautiful bead work make me want to drive out into the middle of the desert and disappear…with one of Jeanie’s necklaces around my neck.

I have been hanging our clothes on a basic clothesline now for years, but I have been wanting to build a larger clothesline area that can hold more sheets and and bedding, and I want it to be in a more sunny area of our garden. However, I have been finding it very difficult to find pulley-based clothesline kits in our area. Most hardware stores have never even heard of clothesline kits. I’m sure they have never even heard that hanging your clothes on a clothesline is the most cost effective way to reduce your carbon footprint.

Thank goodness for Lehman’s! I just purchased one of their premium clothesline kits and should have it up in the next week or so, just in time for our hot and dry summer.

The new clothesline area will be right by the road. We live in the country, so we don’t have to worry about HOAs and other evil neighborhood entities, but it will be interesting to see what people say. Our suburban counterparts will be shocked, but I also hope that they might be charmed by the idea and will be inspired to build their own lines in their yards.

Photo courtesy of [Tabitha Blue]

Photo courtesy of Kevin McFadin

Ever since I read this book in my fourth grade classroom, I have loved the illustrations. There was something so special about this little troll family under a mushroom with their tiny furniture and pots and pans. For years I could never remember the name of the book or the author and once in a while I would get a bee in my bonnet about trying to find that book again. So today…I’m crying. Kevin McFadin of Richmond, Va. posted a few illustrations from Under a Mushroom and I found it with just a simple search about “living under a mushroom”. The wonders of the the Internet never cease.

Instead of getting a bento box, I purchased a lunch set from Easy Lunchboxes.com. So far, so good. They are a little small for extras like a big apple or banana, but they might help me to stop eating so much at lunch. Their menu ideas and photos from customers are a nice distraction from work, and good inspiration for your own healthy lunch or snack. Plus, I got the chic black bag for free.

I don’t normally promote any “As Seen on TV” products or services, but while I was up watching TV at 4 a.m. this morning, I was tickled by the design and thought behind the Original Baby Bullet. There are a lot of items to keep track of with this “system”, but if I had a baby I might be tempted to dig out the credit card for this one.

I know my designer friend Elizabeth has an inspiration wall, as well as other designers, illustrators, photographers and artists. Since I am a bit of a minimalist and don’t like excess clutter, I think of this blog as my inspiration wall.

I got this Flickr group link from faircompanies, and was charmed by the beauty of the photography and organization of these Inspiration Boards. It’s nice to get a peak into other creative minds.

Photos from Eva’s House, Kathryn Estelle, {JooJoo}

I just love Japanese culture, design and food. Most of all, I love the Bento Box. These delicate and beautiful little lunch boxes are typically carried by Japanese businessmen and children and consist of rice, fish or meat, and one or more pickled or cooked vegetables, usually in a box-shaped container. When I was in Tokyo, I was enchanted by the pre-made bento boxes that you could pick up in the train station. For “fast food” they were beautifully designed and healthful. So much better than a Happy Meal. This Flickr set shows how creative regular folks can be when creating their own bento. Long live lunch!

Photos by [luckysundae, gamene, gamene]