Wherein we ask our favorite design bloggers, curators and forecasters what inspires them.  

We’ve already featured a splash (technically, a color block) of inspiration from this week’s featured blogger, Sherry Petersik of Young House Love. We’re over Jupiter to have them with us, semi-live and almost in person, for this installment of our 5 Questions Series.

It all started when Sherry and her husband John left Manhattan to take on a massive DIY project in Richmond, Virginia: their first house. They’re now on to their second home, which is their baby, as they say, and sanctuary for their human baby and dog adorably named Hamburger. It’s also become their livelihood. The stay at home couple spend their days child-rearing, DIY-ing, blogging and writing books. Young House Love? Sounds more like Heaven.

They’ve been featured on The Nate Burkus Show, the cover of Nest, HGTV, the New York Times and now at EcoSalon answering all five of our intrepid questions.

What’s on your coffee table?

Right now we don’t have a coffee table- just a big tufted storage ottoman. When people are coming over it might have a stack of hardcover books or some appetizers on it, but right this second there’s a truck, a baby doll, and a TV remote on it. Haha. Toddlers…gotta love them.

What object are you currently lusting after and what would you do with it?

(Small print: this is our suggestion from this month’s Shelter sponsor VivaTerra.) 

Lately I’ve been lusting after media cabinets of all things. Our living room is well overdue for a larger and more balanced looking TV cabinet or built-in, so I’m having fun checking out options on pinterest, google, and at thrift stores.

What’s your favorite object and how did you find it?

Hmm, that’s a toughie. We’re oddly attached to our recycled cardboard rhino head that hands on the wall of our living room (it’s from Cardboard Safari) and we love the 13′ double desk that we built using $1 secondhand cabinets from the Habitat For Humanity ReStore.

What’s the story behind your favorite photograph, and how did you choose to frame it?

A friend took a photo of our daughter wearing a red skirt and sitting on an old wooden box in the middle of the woods. It’s such an amazing photo that we had to frame it right where we’d see it every day (next to the door we go in and out of in our laundry room). We love the woven look of the frame with the zen-like colorful photo of Clara!

What is the most awkward, wayward object in your home?

Hmm, right now we have a giant dishwasher box in the middle of our living room that we cut to look like a house (we added a door and some windows). It’s definitely not a “cohesive” look, but it keeps the toddler happy- so for now it stays!

The 5 Questions Series is an ongoing project wherein we peek inside the workspaces and living spaces of our favorite design bloggers, curators and trendsetters.

The post 5 Questions Series With Sherry (& Family) of Young House Love appeared first on EcoSalon.

Wherein we ask our favorite design bloggers, curators and forecasters what inspires them.  

We’re crushing all over the place this week. For today’s installment of our 5 Questions series, we’re giving you shelter care of Kelly Beall: freelance graphic designer and author of Design Crush.

She started the sleek grey blog in June 2007 “as a place to catalog design inspiration and musings,” which turned into a massively popular design “crush,” as she puts it. Her signature is keeping posts short and sweet.

Noted. Let’s get to it. She chose to answer questions one and two.

What’s on your coffee table?

A massive bamboo bowl that’s constantly filled with random objects. Right now it’s a long, multi-colored robe made out of recycled saris.

What object are you currently lusting after and what would you do with it?

It’s something different every day, sometimes every hour! At this exact moment I can’t stop thinking about these Freesia shoes from Seychelles, they’d be so perfect for spring.

What’s your favorite object and how did you find it?

I’d have to say the object that’s my favorite and also means the most to me is my renovated bar cabinet. It was found by my dad when he was a kid and used to display miniature cars he built. After sitting unused in my grandparents’ basement for years I took it in and gave it new life.

What’s the story behind your favorite photograph, and how did you choose to frame it?

I love photobooths and this is part of a strip me and my mom took at the local mall when I was about 2 years old. It’s displayed in a simple black frame on one of my living room bookshelves.

What is the most awkward, wayward object in your home?

It’s kind of a big thing actually, the wall-to-wall carpet. It was new when I purchased my house three years ago, but I hate it and just haven’t had the money to lay down faux hardwood. It definitely is a misfit with the rest of the clean lines in my home.

The 5 Questions Series is an ongoing project wherein we peek inside the workspaces and living spaces of our favorite design bloggers, curators and trendsetters.

The post 5 Questions Series with Kelly Beall of Design Crush appeared first on EcoSalon.

Wherein we ask our favorite design bloggers, curators and forecasters what inspires them.  

Laura Fenton is a writer and prop stylist who knows her way around a house and garden. She’s worked Budget Living and mainstreamed it at Good Housekeeping. She also helms her own blog Little House in the City, a love letter to her one bedroom apartment in Fort Greene.

She cooks, DIYs, renovates, declutters, styles, et al. Find her in Brooklyn or tweeting away. Meanwhile, a peek into what inspires her on a day to day basis within her own home. Like a champ, she opted to answer all five of our questions.

1.) What’s on your coffee table?

The coffee table itself is a beloved hand-me-down from my mother, who bought it from Design Research in her 20s. On top of the table, we have a large game board that came from my husband’s family vacation home: There’s a checkers/chess pattern on one side and a backgammon board on the other. The Bakelite pieces and dice sit in a Jonathan Adler bird vessel when we’re not playing. We also have lots of books on our coffee table. In this shot you can see a recent acquisition, Good Copy by Peter Hendricks, and the latest issue of Wilder Quarterly, an amazing new gardening magazine. Tim Walker Pictures is an all-time favorite.

2.) What object are you currently lusting after and what would you do with it?

I’m not sure if it qualifies as lust, but I dream of custom window treatments. Our windows are an unusual size, so it’s hard to find shades that are the right width. Some relaxed, linen roman shades for the living room and a better light-blocking option for the bedroom would be amazing. I’m also forever in love with John Robshaw’s textiles (see above).

3.) What’s your favorite object and how did you find it?

That’s a tough one, as I have many treasured objects. However, I have a real soft spot in my heart for this 1940s crazy quilt. I bought it off eBay in 2002 when eBay was still new to me – when I won it for $100 I was so excited. I’m in awe of the handiwork that went into its creation, especially the elaborate topstitching and the clever re-use of men’s ties.

4.) What’s the story behind your favorite photograph, and how did you choose to frame it?

This photo was a gift to me from my now-husband early in our courtship. It’s a Polaroid that he took on our first trip to the beach together. It was such a beautiful day and we had so much fun. I love that we have a moment from that afternoon hanging on our wall.

The image is framed like many of our photographs are framed: In a simple, black frame with a thick, white mat. The thicker mats are more expensive, but I think they’re worth the splurge.

5.) What is the most awkward, wayward object in your home? Something you bought out of love that simply has no place in your space.

I can honestly say there isn’t one. We live in such a small apartment that there’s no room for us to keep anything that doesn’t have a place.

The 5 Questions Series is an ongoing project wherein we peek inside the workspaces and living spaces of our favorite design bloggers, curators and trendsetters.

The post 5 Questions Series with Writer Laura Fenton appeared first on EcoSalon.

Wherein we ask our favorite design bloggers, curators and forecasters what inspires them.  

Pleat Farm is about more than origami. It bills itself a design pasture for all things apparel, textiles, architecture, furniture, paper art and product design related. But with a twist and a fold.

The site is focused entirely on innovations in material applications involving some kind of bending, knotting. Origami, basically – elevated to high brow and high art standards.

Architect and curator Elizabeth Surya helms the blog from the San Francisco Bay Area and attributes folding to creating the foundation of her design education and influencing her work.

Elizabeth chose to answer question number two.

What object are you currently lusting after and what would you do with it?

Elizabeth’s current lustable object. 

Elizabeth: Eero Saarinen’s Womb Chair and Ottoman is my most coveted set of furniture.

One reason is my appreciation for the architect’s methodology in scale and structure using bold yet simple, sweeping, curvilinear forms. The Womb Chair takes on those elements yet on a much more human level – a simple, curving shell that cradles the user. My wish is to own this baby some day.

This Saarinen masterpiece not only looks handsome in space, but would also be well-utilized as my spot for rest on a bad day.

What she would do with it. 

I’d curl up, catch forty winks, or sprawl with a good book. As cliché as this may sound, the chair really lives up to its name: the Womb.

The 5 Questions Series is an ongoing project wherein we peek inside the workspaces and living spaces of our favorite design bloggers, curators and trendsetters.

The post 5 Questions Series with Elizabeth Surya of Pleat Farm appeared first on EcoSalon.

Wherein we ask our favorite design bloggers, curators and forecasters what inspires them.  

This week’s contribution comes care of Christopher Jobson, creator and editor of Colossal. As per its name, the art and design blog Colossal is gigantic, covering sculpture, photography, design, animation, painting, installation art, architecture and street art.

Jobson chose to answer question number one: what is on your coffee table?

We live in a very tiny condo, so believe it or not we have one table in the entire house that serves as our dining/work/living/coffee space. Because of that it’s kept extremely clean so it can change function quickly, several times each day.

At the moment there is a completed Nanoblock space shuttle I built with my son this weekend, a small tree growing out of a lava rock submerged in water that we’ve had for about five years, a few colored markers, and book 7 of the Walking Dead comic book series because I’m not handling the TV show‘s hiatus very well. The comics are fantastic.

The 5 Questions Series is an ongoing project wherein we peek inside the workspaces and living spaces of our favorite design bloggers, curators and trendsetters.

The post 5 Questions Series with Christopher Jobson of Colossal appeared first on EcoSalon.

Wherein we ask our favorite design bloggers, curators and forecasters what inspires them.  

Anna Gustafsson grew up in Sweden, lived in Australia, then in Switzerland, and has since settled down in Paris where she writes about Scandinavian design and interior decorating. If the mention of Scandinavia hasn’t given it away by now, we heart her bilingual blog La Maisson d’Anna G. for it’s clean photography and always-digestible Nordic eye candy.  

Anna chose to answer question number three: what’s your favorite object and how did you find it?

Many years ago during a period with a lot of changes in my life, I ran into this old and traditional Chinese canvas painting at a flea market. The style in my home is pretty Scandinavian and not very Asian at all, but I immediately loved this painting with its beautiful colours. The two girls who sold it said that their uncle had brought it back from China where he had lived for many years in his younger days. I have no idea whether that was actually true or not, but the canvas seemed pretty authentic to me. Being on a tight budget at the time I had to use all my negotiation skills to get it, which I obviously did in the end! For some inexplicable reason, it felt like the painting somehow represented the beginning of a new life.

I have moved houses a couple of times after that, but this canvas is always the first thing I hang up in a new place. I love the contrast it creates with the rest of my things and its color scheme has even influenced and steered the colors throughout my whole home. Most of my furniture is white, black or wood, but I have picked up colors from the painting on cushions, throws, lampshades etc.

It would be fun to know a bit more about the painting itself, but for the time being I’m happy just admiring the colors and imagining the story behind it!

The 5 Questions Series is an ongoing project wherein we peek inside the workspaces and living spaces of our favorite design bloggers, curators and trendsetters.

The post 5 Questions Series with Anna Gustafsson of La Maisson d’Anna G appeared first on EcoSalon.

Wherein we ask our favorite design bloggers, curators and forecasters what inspires them.  

We are very pleased that Jaime Derringer of Design-Milk is kicking off our inaugural week in our 5 Questions Series. Design-Milk is a blog and magazine that provides constant inspiration and direction on what’s happening in contemporary art, furniture, architecture, interior design, style, technology, and home accessories.

Jaime decided to answer all five of our questions, earning her an official spot in the EcoSalon Favorite Interviewee’s Of All Time Hall of Fame.

What’s on your coffee table?

Books. I don’t have a library of books, so the only books I own are coffee table books that have been sent to me. Right now I have the Knoll book, Barber Osgerby, and Design in One Hundred Objects. Also, a pair of small antlers I picked up at a flea market.

What object are you currently lusting after and what would you do with it?

I lust over something new every day. However, my current obsession is fabric for my family room ottoman, which is a hideous beige. I’m considering Schumacher Scallop fabric, but if I don’t use it for the ottoman, I have got to find a place for it.

What’s your favorite object and how did you find it?

I don’t have a favorite object because I have so many. However, one of my little treasures is this “It’s OK” sculpture by Multi-Polar Projects (Matthew Hoffman).

Every time I look at it I remember that everything is gonna be OK. And that everything is OK.

The story behind the sculpture is that he is carving one million of these little OKs. I have #3029.

What’s the story behind your favorite photograph, and how did you choose to frame it?

My favorite photographs probably remain unframed sitting on my hard drive. However, one of my favorite photographs that I actually have framed is a photo taken by my mother of Ocean City beach in New Jersey, where my family has had a house since I was little. The remarkable thing about this photo is that it’s actually a color photograph, but captured on an overcast day gives the appearance of it being black and white. The poor frame has been banged up in our many moves and deserves a nicer home.

What is the most awkward, wayward object in your home?

This is the weirdest thing I own. It was a gift, and I love it. But it scares my friends’ kids. It’s a momma giraffe and her baby. I have no idea about its origin, what it’s made of or who made it but it’s a conversation starter.

The 5 Questions Series is an ongoing project wherein we peek inside the workspaces and living spaces of our favorite design bloggers, curators and trendsetters.

The post 5 Questions Series with Jaime Derringer of Design Milk appeared first on EcoSalon.

What inspires our favorite design bloggers, curators and forecasters?  

Next week, EcoSalon Shelter is kicking off a six-week project called The 5 Questions Series. We’ll be taking a peek into the workspaces, living rooms and bedrooms of our favorite design bloggers, curators and trendsetters.

We’re even delving into their unmentionables: their lustables, of course.

Of our five questions, our subjects choose to answer just one. The questions:

1. What’s on your coffee table?

2. What object are you currently lusting after and what would you do with it?

3. What’s your favorite object and how did you find it?

4. What’s the story behind your favorite photograph, and how did you choose to frame it?

5. What is the most awkward, wayward object in your home?

As for the featured individuals and their answers, you’ll just have to come back next week.

Image: Olof Werngren

The post Coming in February: The 5 Questions Series appeared first on EcoSalon.