ikea catalogue 2008 is out!

every new ikea catalogue is a bit of an event for me. i can't wait to get my hands on it, leaf through it - first a quick overview, then a slow study of new items, new ideas and creative uses. also, very importantly, to see if they've dropped the prices of old items further, which is always a good thing.

well, it is the time of the year again and i've just spent the last 2 hours flipping through the online catalogue. i'm still not done with the 370 pages!

at first glance, some of the the stuff looks seriously good. i'm eyeing the besta tv units and i am in love with the red linnarp glass cabinets you see on the cover.

i hope they look as good in person. guess i'll be checking them out at ikea this weekend.

alicia's craft corner

alicia's craft corner turned me all green. i love it that it is so flowery, so girly, with such a beautiful mix of colours and patterns.

the craft storage box below is a fira chest after several coats of paint, lacquer and two attempts at covering it with paper. well worth the trouble, i think.

the insides of the chest drawers are painted yellow, lacquered and covered with scrapbook paper.

above her craft table is a chris noticeboard, with squares painted to match the room colour scheme.

under the craft table is a helmer drawer unit. originally in silver but alicia spray glued pieces of paper to each drawer and totally transformed it from officey to pretty!

click to view more of alicia's craft corner.

Show Stopping Stairs

I think studying art history has left me with a photographic memory. Whenever I see something, I can almost always think of something I've seen before that is reminiscent. Such was the case with these two staircases. It might be because that pale robin's egg blue color is my favorite or maybe it is the composition but whatever the reason, I think they are both very chic and stylish.

The two are similar but illustrate variations on modern design. Tom Filicia's take above is more streamlined and modern while the Minneapolis home of Matt Murphy and Charlie Gallup retains a bit more ornamentation. Of course, Tom's modern approach doesn't surprise me since his design is in a Manhattan apartment. Regardless, I love them both!

Photo by Francois Dischinger

Slim Chic

Anyone who's obsessed with chic people is keenly aware of photographer Slim Aarons. He takes the most delicious photographs and his vintage books and photographs are highly collectible. He made a career out of what he called "photographing attractive people doing attractive things in attractive places." And boy did he ever.

The above photo of CZ Guest and her son in front of their Grecian Temple pool on the ocean front estate, Villa Artemis, in Palm Beach was taken in 1955. I ran across the photo below in the August issue of House & Garden magazine. The article was about a summer house in the south of France that had in a previous life hosted Hollywood stars, nobility, and scores of socialites.

So, I wonder then if the photographer, Melanie Acevedo, planned the photograph to be reminiscent of Slim Aarons or if it's just a coincidence. Either way, I think it's a fantastic and chic photograph! It makes me wish I was in the south of France right now. Sigh.

cook up a work-at-home desk

smul assembled this sleek desk set-up from a kitchen counter top and kitchen cabinets.

"we wanted something that wasn't so wide but quite long. it also had to be nice looking since we don't have office space in our apartment and needed to have our computer in the living room. it is actually a kitchen counter top (pronomen) and kitchen wall cabinets (faktum with ärlig doors) that we have built together into a desk and side cabinet. for the end of the countertop that needs legs we used vika kaj and under the cabinets we used capita legs.

i like it since we can fit in our files, knick-knacks and even our big printer. even though it is a desk it does not make the room look like an office."

Circular Chic

The September issue of H&G is out today but I thought I would post a few more images from the August issue.

I think the vintage hubs turned into modern sculpture by Tom Filicia in this Hamptons home he designed are so cool and original. I love the idea of found objects as art.

I'm not sure I love the freize but I definitely love the cobalt blue front door. Tres chic!!!

Photos by Thomas Loof

dining table with vika fintorp legs

this is one sexy dining table for two that jackson built. don't you just love the curvy legs?

"this is the dining table i built using the vika fintorp table legs. first, i constructed the underframe (the black pieces of wood seen through the glass top).

essentially, i made it like a large picture frame using 45 degree miter cuts. after painting each component, i attached the legs to the frame and then simply placed the window on top. the fit is so snug between the underframe and the frame of the window that i didn't even have to connect them in any way. the total cost for this project was around $60, not including tools or painting supplies which i already had on hand. the cost rundown goes like this:

vika fintorp legs: $40
window from Habitat Restore: $5
wood for the underframe: $5
yellow paint: $10

i later painted the feet of the vika fintorp legs black, which was a very surprising improvement over the original drab gray.

i'm very happy with the way the dining table turned out and think it fits my little space perfectly!
jackson's non-ikea bonus: "the pictures also include another small hack. although it is not from ikea, it sells a very similar product. the snake plant on the table is planted inside of a simple box shelf. i cut a piece of sheet metal to the right size, liquid nailed it on the bottom of the shelf, and then caulked the inside. i think it looks great for such a simple hack."