Design

66 posts

Sunnylands: A Study in Desert Mass Planting

Sunnylands is a 200 acre estate located in Rancho Mirage, California and is owned an operated by the Annenberg Trust with the idea that the estate itself will be used to host retreats for some of the most powerful individuals on the planet.  Blah blah blah.  Let’s get on to the design of the place.

Fair warning: this post will be full of detail oriented photos. Continue reading

Dear Lala: The Apartment Shame Series

OB-girl loftDear Lala,

I really enjoy the photos of beautiful rooms that you share on Crasstalk. As someone who has no natural design ability (as you’ll see from the fact that I still own a butterfly chair; mostly I use it as a receptacle for coats) I find them delightful and inspiring.

It’s pretty typical for old Chicago buildings to be long and narrow as that’s how the property lots run, and my problem is that I am not using half of the space in my small apartment at all (“the dead zone”).  I’d say the main room is 30ish feet long by about 9 feet. Continue reading

Is There a DIY Thing Out There Worth Making?

So, you find yourself surrounded by mason jars, corks, and I dunno, pipe cleaners and coat hangers, and you’ve decided to embark on a DIY project. If you’re like me, this will probably not happen, because 1) Where do you get all this stuff? 2) How does one ever really decide to make a reindeer lawn ornament out of mason jars, corks, pipe cleaners and coat hangers? No matter! This is what you’ve planned to do since all the Thanksgiving hullaballoo has died down and it’s right before the Christmas shopping craze gets into full swing. So, what’s a good DIY project? Continue reading