floors
photo: arctic plank
We never cease to be amazed at the uses people have come up for shipping pallets. Their boxy form naturally allows for building block type constructions of all kinds. DE-constructed, they afford an unpredictable variety of rustic, often beat-up woods, in roughly 2 or 3-foot lengths. The chicest application we’ve seen lately are these floors made by Arctic Plank.
Arctic Plank “upcycles” the salvaged wood boards, though doesn’t say exactly what that process entails. It looks to us like they sand, stain and finish the boards to create a unique patina. To deal with the short lengths of wood, they smartly cut the planks to make in zigzag, herringbone or parquet patterns. These look much more finished than aligning boards vertically, which makes for a rag-tag look that has a completely different kind of charm. Arctic Plank‘s floors got us thinking about just what the possibilities for shipping pallet floors might be… read more…
11.03.11 |
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in cheap + great, copy this!, d-i-y, floors, free + flea, hard, how-to, inside, repurpose, resources |
We spotted this charmingly painted wall of a Berber house in Ouno’s great post about the beautiful “broken” geometry of Berber rugs from the Beni Ourain region. We were intitially inspired by the idea of chalking or painting an image/pattern like this on the side of ANY building – a sort of mental d-i-y fantasy – when we got blown away by this bit of text about the rugs, which applies to so much else.
“this semi-controlled disorder is said to function as a talisman against evil and as a promoter of fertility. But it also seems to emanate from the nomadic culture’s more general tolerance of uncertainty, nothingness and change.”
The rug themselves offering curiously modernist designs to apply elsewhere, perhaps for painting fabrics, walls or floors. read more…
09.19.11 |
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in copy this!, elements, floors, inside, inspiration blogs + sites, resources, sightings, textiles, walls + windows |
Don Freeman
To our minds, paint is about the easiest way to give something a new look without spending a lot of money. We have a special fondness for painted floors, since floors are a pain-in-the-neck and expensive to replace. We stumbled on this inspiring idea while leafing through Artists’ Handmade Houses
: the sublime yellow floors Constantino Nivola painted in his Long Island home.
Nivola was given the yellow tractor paint he used to coat the kitchen floor by the Mobil Oil Company, for whom he did a commission. When the sun hits this remarkable surface, the room is bathed in a honey glow. —Michael Gotkin
Tractor paint!!!!!
To win a free copy of Artists’ Handmade Houses, read more…
07.13.11 |
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in cool spaces, copy this!, floors, inside, inspiration books + zines, people, reimagine |
Always on the lookout for more ideas for impermanent pop-up rooms within rooms, we were taken by a work by Zimoun, a sound artist/sculptor who builds different kinds of white noise into structures.We love his room of interlocking slabs of notched cardboard, made like a house of cards, and imagined building a smaller version that could be stored when no longer needed, stacked and tied in a bundle, in the closet. read more…
05.16.11 |
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in cheap + great, cool spaces, floors, inside, rooms, why not? |
We’ve always loved the white painted floors that are especially prominent on Scandinavian design blogs and magazines, like these from the home of Danish stylist Sidsel Zachariassen. We wondered what the secret is to making them both pristine and durable. We found the answer in a Dwell slideshow about the smart, frugal renovation of a small two-bedroom apartment by two very clever Finnish designers who weren’t afraid to d-i-themselves.
“It took Susanna several layers of sanding—and then finally tossing her water-based paint and selecting the proper oil-based formula—to get the floor as white as she’d envisioned. But she couldn’t be happier with the result. ‘The apartment looks bigger when there are white surfaces for the light to bounce on,’ she says.”
Patient sanding between coats + the right paint are the keys. Add this information to this great how-to from Real Simple, read more…
03.29.11 |
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in cheap + great, cool spaces, floors, how-to, inside, resources |
Annaleena's Hem
Spotted in Annaleenas HEM: taping down an electric cord with a charming warning…the opposite of the usual mass of gaffer’s tape. We’re thinking this would encourage people to step OVER the cord rather than stepping on it as gaffer’s tape does. We’re wondering how long it would stay in good shape.
It also makes us think about taping down electrical cord with a multitude of colored tapes in stripes or other designs that are not about hiding what’s going on, but making it a design element. Artist Jim Jambie‘s wonderful floors come to mind… read more…
03.07.11 |
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in art, elements, floors, inside, materials, solutions |
Remember those potholders you used to make as a kid by weaving stretchy bands of fabric in a grid on a simple loom? Artist/crafter Crispina ffrench took the idea and scaled it UP. She uses a giant loom to weave cotton tee shirts or wool sweaters in the very same way, to make thick, dramatic rugs.
“Potholder Rugs are inch thick floor cushions that massage bare feet with every step. They are durable, warm in the winter and cool in summer and come in a wide array of rich colors and combinations of colors. Each one is hand woven on giant frame looms in Pittsfield MA with care, attention to detail, and environmental love. I make them out of cotton T-shirts or wool sweaters. This one (above) is made of 100% post consumer used wool sweaters like the ones you can buy at the good will… read more…
03.01.11 |
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in elements, floors, inside, materials, people, resources |
Writing ‘the improvised life’, we discover that themes come in waves: one idea (or image) seems to attract another that takes the idea a step further, or gives it a different spin (may be it’s simply that our sights are honed…). It can happen with several themes at once.
Lately, a big one has been painted floors. We keep seeing clever little tricks we never thought of , like this wonderful painted “rug” painted on concrete. It could be done freehand, or with cut out shapes to use as a stencil… read more…
01.28.11 |
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in copy this!, floors, inside, materials |
We love painted floors, especially white ones because they expand and brighten a space AND are a great inexpensive solution to dealing with not-great floors. We never thought of painting a little patch of colorfully painted boards to break up the expanse, as interior designer Annette Verkuyls did in her home in an early twentieth century warehouse…
…unexpected and charming…
via French By Design
01.09.11 |
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in floors, materials |
Like the website Knock-Off in Style, we love the challenge of finding an affordable version of some great piece of design – not necessarily a “knock-off” but an object of similar lines and intention, that is cheap. We’ve loved this wool Ikea PS Stuga rug (9′ x 9′, $299) from the moment we saw it, but think it’s even more of a value since we saw this printed dhurrie by John Robshaw (6′ x 9′, $795) featured on Better Living Through Design: read more…
11.16.10 |
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in cheap + great, elements, floors, inside, resources, soft, stores, textiles |
FreshHome
Lately, we’ve been seeing stones and pebbles used to fill odd spaces. Here they patch missing wood in an old floor. We don’t know what these green stones in a little entrance garden in New York City were meant to disguise: perhaps access to a pipe…or maybe they are just there because the owner thought they looked cool… read more…
09.30.10 |
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in cheap + great, copy this!, floors, hard, materials, resources, solutions |
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