While the holiday season should be about gratitude, peace, and time with family and friends, sometimes it can get the best of us. Deal shopping, endless marketing, countless holiday parties, and rushed holiday travel  can knock us off our feet. But with a few simple steps this holiday season you can take back the reigns.

Simplify your Holiday Season and Reduce Stress with these Minimalist Tips:

Get Organized

1. Create a holiday budget: List who you’ll be buying gifts for and how much you can afford to spend. This way you won’t go shopping clueless. Do some research to find out how much your potential gifts will cost. Make cuts where need be.

2. Set up a holiday wrapping center: Choose a part of the house to wrap presents in so that the entire house isn’t disheveled throughout December. If you’re sending holiday cards, write your cards in the same room.

Gift Giving

3. Cut back on kid gifts: Give the kids one meaningful, thoughtful gift rather than five smaller less important gifts.

4. Draw names for family gifts: If you have a couple of siblings, the costs can add up in no time. Consider drawing names from a hat for holiday gifts. The same is true for your office. Why not buy one gift that you think your office mate will actually like rather than a few less thoughtful gifts?

5. Give homemade gifts: I’ve gotten some of the most adorable homemade gifts over the years and they’re the ones I remember the most. Last year my friend gave me homemade pimento cheese in a mason jar–such a cute idea. Make the holidays your own with a signature homemade gift.

6. Host a cookie decorating party: My group of friends have a holiday cookie decorating party instead of exchanging gifts. Everyone makes a batch of sugar cookies and we all decorate them together. It’s a great reason to get together, sip on some vino, and enjoy each other’s company. And you get to take home some sugar cookie loot.

Cut Back

7. Create a paperless holiday card: It’s simpler than paper cards and so much more environmentally friendly.

8. Reuse gift wrap: Be careful opening presents so that you can reuse the wrap. Save any holiday gift bags that you receive. An entire portion of my closet is devoted to reused wrapping paper so I never have to kill a tree in the name of presentation.

9. Learn to say no: If you’re invited to a slew of holiday parties, don’t feel bad for saying no. Wouldn’t you rather enjoy a few of them than feel overwhelmed and bogged down having to attend too many? It’s okay to say no once in a while–your time is valuable.

10. Avoid travel: See family and friends during less hectic parts of the year. My husband and I stayed home for Christmas last year and I hate to admit it was one of the more relaxing holidays we’ve had. At the very least, if you’re married, simplify your holiday but not visiting both sets of parents.

11. Host a potluck: Instead of an over-the-top holiday party, have your friends over for a potluck. That way you don’t have to cook an entire meal because each guest will be playing a part.

Related on EcoSalon:
Get Your Holiday Gifts with EcoSalon’s The Box
This Holiday Season Try Something Lacy
Your Green Holiday Challenge: Shop Sustainably in Your Hood

Image: YO$HIMI

The post 11 Ways to Simplify This Holiday Season (P.S. You’ll Also Drastically Reduce Stress) appeared first on EcoSalon.

Potentially NSFW: tiny getaways from the big, bad wolf called life.

Clearly, we have an issue with downsizing, as in we can’t get enough of it. We acknowledge that minimizing, tiny-fying and compartmentalizing has its limitations (space being one of them), but the myriad incarnations and manifestations of the tiny house movement are boundless.

From modernist bunkers to treetops on high, tiny is popping up everywhere – most notably on sites like Tiny House Swoon and Tiny House Blog where we sourced a few of our itty bitty dream homes. Without further ado, twenty we could squeeze into right now.

UFO Tiny House…

Tiny house at the lake…

Tiny house on wheels…

Tiny Victorian…

Tiny double-decker cottage…

Tiny carport house…

Tumbleweed Tiny House…

Rustic tiny house…

Modernist tiny house…

Tiny bunker house…

Tiny piece of heaven house…

Tiny in Texas house…

Shacked up tiny house…

Floating tiny house…

Tiny house a-go-go…

Tiny tree house…

Tiny beach chalet…

Tiny creatively re-used house…

Grown up tiny house…

The “pretty please with sugar on top” tiny house.

Images: Toby Bradbury; Tiny House Swoon (3); Sharona Design; Apartment Therapy; Apartments Interior Design; Angry Unicorns; Tiny House Blog (4); The Stir; The Style Files; The Tiny Life; Tinyhousing.ca; Design Boom (3); Dwelle; Not Martha

The post 20 Tiny Houses We’d Be Happy to Squeeze Into appeared first on EcoSalon.

Today’s consumer is playing striptease with their packaging: how minimal can you go?

Trending right now in package design is minimalism: clean, simple, graphic-free, often recyclable packaging for our daily essentials. By virtue of being minimalist – listing only the need-to-know basics – a new generation of designers is recognizing that the less distraction they put on the outside of a product gives consumers greater license to become more engaged with what’s on the inside.

Brands that rely on minimalism to sell their wares assume the best about us: that we can make informed decisions without the influence of swirling rainbows and fairy dust. Here are seven household brands and concepts that use the simple kind of straightforward, minimalist packaging we can’t wait to see on a shelf near us.

NEVET (Hebrew for “sprout”) is a conceptual company that manufactures DIY home growing hydroponic kits, the idea being that you can grow your own edible plants when the going gets tough, or the produce gets too expensive. The concept and minimalist packaging was designed by Israeli college student Or Smarli.

Egg Box recreates the egg crate in as minimalist of a way as possible without compromising functionality, by Budapest-based designer Otília Andrea Erdélyi.

The packaging for BluePrintJuice (check for availability here) was designed by Doubleday and Cartwright, listing simply the ingredients in a boldly contrasting font offset against (you got it) blue print. Minimalist food packaging at its best.

The Origami Food Box, designed by Michealle Lee for an eatery in Manila, Philippines called Guactruck, is meant to resemble a bud that blossoms into a flower. The minimalist packaging uses only one piece of paperboard with no glue or plastic.

Red or White was designed by Peter Bankov and Julia Nevstrueva of Design Depot to take the guesswork out of distinguishing between French, Italian or Spanish wine, whittling the choice down to a Good White or Good Red.

Designed by Australian student Lesley Morris for a conceptual boutique tissue, toilet paper and sanitary product company called dryer*, the packaging itself is meant to create brand desirability particularly for the fashion conscious consumer or perfect minimalist out to spruce up a gray palette.

UK designer Ruth Pearson came up with this packaging concept for Tesco, for when a bean is really just a bean.

Image: Antrepo

The post Pared Down Packaging for the Minimalist Obsessed appeared first on EcoSalon.

Sustainability through simplicity.

For minimalist shoppers, MUJI is the holy grail – an emporium of Japanese-inspired simplicity offering everything from hangers to notebooks to striped cotton tees.

MUJI’s mission is similarly minimalist: “to offer the opportunity of a Pleasant Life to people around the world.” Its products are simple, well-designed, and built to last using streamlined manufacturing processes. Though MUJI doesn’t specifically brand itself as a sustainable company, the sustainable principles of simplicity and self-restraint are a key element of its operations, along with a “no-brand” philosophy that discourages excessive consumerism.

MUJI got its start in 1980 as an in-house brand for the Japanese supermarket chain Seiyu. Initially called Mujirushi Ryōhin, which translated means “no-brand quality goods,” the company specialized in consumer products that were well-made but affordable. Using the tagline “lower priced for a reason,” the company was able to offer cheaper prices to consumers through careful material selection, streamlined manufacturing processes, and simplified packaging, according to the company website.

At that time, Japan enjoyed a prosperous economy, and expensive international brands were all the rage, while at the other end of the spectrum, cheap inferior products hit the market. The MUJI concept was born as a criticism of this state of affairs – a fresh look at quality and price of truly useful quality goods with a no-label philosophy.

Now owned by Ryohin Keikaku Ltd., MUJI produces more than 7,000 products and operates more than 400 retail outlets worldwide. The company has four U.S. stores, all based in New York City, and also sells products through the MoMA Design Store.

The Good

In MUJI’s messaging, social responsibility seems less a marketing stunt than a simple approach to doing business.

The basic principle of MUJI merchandise development is to create products that are fundamental, practical and really necessary in daily life, and to ensure efficient and minimal manufacturing processes.

In true minimalist form, the company outlines just three viewpoints for product development – “problem solving through design, examination of materials and processes, and simplification of packaging” – and three criteria for manufacturing – quality standards, a code of conduct for business partners, and a list of major materials to be eliminated or controlled.

Much of MUJI’s innovation springs from its focus on the traditional Japanese values of simplicity and self-restraint. In a published conversation, MUJI President Masaaki Kanai said that MUJI operates under the principle of “this will suffice” – a concept that he says is vital for consumers to adapt in this rapidly changing world.

Now, the world’s population has risen to a little more than 6.8 billion people, and it is said that the number of people who enjoy the same level of life as we do has increased to approximately 2 billion people. It’s also reported that a further 2 billion are waiting in the wings. If the number of consumers hits 4 billion, the earth’s thin skin will be blown off. When we had this discussion, we thought again about the ‘simplicity’ that had been prized by the late creator Ikko Tanaka, who built the MUJI concept. That is, the way of thinking that says ‘this will suffice.’ Simple is good. Resources should be used as little as possible. It’s not a matter of being resigned to something, but rather of wanting to make things that ‘will suffice’ while being full of self-confidence. Since ancient times, Japanese people have specialized in holding back personally for the sake of their surroundings. This is the ‘this will suffice’ concept.

Putting the concept in practice, MUJI says that it aims to exercise self-restraint at every point in the design and manufacturing process, constantly asking itself: “Is this necessary?” or “Is this going too far?”

Some of the results of this questioning process were recently displayed as part of MUJI’s recent Product Fitness 80 exhibition, which debuted in Tokyo in March and is currently traveling through Asia. The exhibition takes a look at select products and examines the long-term implications of rethinking products to minimize waste. Cotton buds, for instance, “don’t have to be that long,” nor does tape have to be that wide or toilet paper rolls that thick. And credit cards? Simply halving them could have profound impacts on plastic usage if the practice was adopted worldwide.

The Bad

While MUJI incorporates many sustainable principles into its operations, there’s still a long way to go before it can be labeled a truly environment-friendly brand. Its products are composed primarily of unsustainable materials like plastic and polyester, and most of its product manufacturing is done in China, Indonesia and Vietnam, countries with controversial labor practices.

On its website, parent company Ryohin Keikaku outlines a 41-point outline of the corporate social responsibility initiatives it has in place to “create a Pleasant Life,” but many of them strike me as soft.

For instance, to ensure that outsourced manufacturing partners understand Ryohin Keikaku’s standards, the company says that it includes the “Ryohin Keikaku Environment, Labor and Safety Management” document in contract paperwork and checks on implementation twice a year through questionnaires. Judging from these statements, compliance with ethical standards is enforced through little more than a pamphlet and a questionnaire.

As for the standards themselves, the company says that it has established its own Ryohin Standards that are stricter than current laws, but it fails to mention what those standards are.

To be fair, Ryohin Keikaku also has three separate website sections dedicated to corporate social responsibility that are available exclusively in Japanese: a Laboratory for Discerning Living, which discusses environmental themes and initiatives; an Articles section, with posts from an Environmental Team staff member; and an Environment Atelier, with reports from different partners from around the world, compiled between 2005 and 2010.

The Questionable

It’s often said that in order for true change to occur in the consumer goods sphere, the approach to sustainability needs to be holistic and integrated into every aspect of business. MUJI seems to be a great example of this. By embracing the Japanese value of self-restraint, MUJI exhibits many of the trademarks of a sustainable brand, even though its cotton is unorganic and its plastic unrecycled. Its focus on simplicity naturally leads to less waste. Its focus on quality means that products don’t have to be replaced as much. Its “no-brand” approach to marketing means that less is expended on packaging and advertising – which incidentally leads to greater customer loyalty from people who dislike being marketed to. It’s social responsibility, without all the fuss.

Looking at MUJI also raises the question: if a company designs responsibly and focuses on quality, does that also make it somewhat sustainable? As it stands, customers are often forced to choose between a recycled fair trade wallet with cheap zippers and too many pockets, and a more functional, long-lasting wallet made from high-quality materials that may not be sustainable. When considering the cradle-to-cradle impact of a purchase, it’s unclear which is the better option. Similarly, one has to wonder if MUJI’s pared-down approach to product development and marketing is more impactful than that of brands like Levi’s and Puma, with their highly-publicized, large-scale social responsibility campaigns. In this case, less might be more.

SEE ALSO:

Behind the Label: West Elm Green

Behind the Label: Design Within Reach

Read more Behind the Label here.

Image: Soon Koon

The post Behind The Label: MUJI appeared first on EcoSalon.

Step 1: Declutter. Step 2: Picture yourself [here].

Minimalism. It’s about more than throwing $hit out. It’s a state of mind. It’s an extremely conscious way of being, a hyper-awareness about consumerism and its impact on the most macro and micro of living spaces, the macro being this fine green planet we all call home and the micro being our living rooms, dining rooms, bedrooms.

Are you a minimalist? Do you aim to be? If so, this is a reprieve you’re certain to find transcendental, insomuch as an internet browse can be. While these rooms are material, clean lines and an abundance of space (not stuff) make them breathable, livable and thus minimal.

Exhibit A, part of the Minimalist Project by Js Interiors Group.

A blessedly devoid “black fumed-oak staircase with a custom-made aluminium handrail” via Elle Décor.

Kitchen in a minimalist London home featuring Hans Wegner Wishbone chairs, also via Elle Décor.

Space to breathe, room to ride. Little yellow tricycle space via UserDeck.

Parisian minimalism, from DustJacket.

Plus claw tub, also via Dusk Jacket.

Outdoor Tuscan Luxe, care of The Cool Hunter.

An inspired bedroom from Apartment Therapy.

Dorm chic via The New Black.

Reformed minimalist from Planete Deco, a Danish architect transformed a former fisherman’s house into a minimalist cabin.

From Desire to Inspire, interiors photographer Justin Alexander‘s photography that reflects to the subject.

The space is defined by clean lines, not moody lighting and fuss.

Color-blocked minimalism via Rafi Rafi.

A Shell in a Forest, ultra-modern sculptural minimalism by Japanese firm Artechnic.

Minimalist dining, also from A Shell in a Forest.

From Remodelista, Camper Van Minimalism at the Hotel Daniel in Vienna.

Comfort driven minimalism by Katie Lockhart.

Minimalism you could dive into, via Apartment Therapy.

Abundant minimalism, via The Selby.

Questionable minimalism from Unhappy Hipsters.

The post Inspiration: A Peek Inside 25 Minimalist Rooms appeared first on EcoSalon.

Apart from sexy, tropical minimalism is a fusion of bold Brazilian design mixed with modern, clean contemporary lines.

Weather patterns across large swathes of the United States this summer – replete with derechos and dripping wet heat – are downright tropical. Climate change, or really bad weather without the added benefit of a sandy white coastline? Who’s to say? But for the avowed minimalist, the new American tropics inspire a fusion of Japanese minimalism with Brazilian design. The philosophy behind tropical minimalism is using natural daylight, passive ventilation, few partitions so that the interior of the house integrates with its surroundings, convertible spaces and, if you can afford it, swimming pools of the infinity sort.

First, take a look at Arthur Casas’ residence in Iporanga, located in the middle of the Brazilian forest. It’s constructed from concrete and Cumaru. Two large symmetrical cubes define the space with the interior blending into the exterior via the warm Cumaru decking.

The basic palette of this house, then, is brown contrasted with white stucco surrounded by lush greenery, the perfect palette for the tropical minimalist home.

Meanwhile, the Belvedere Residence by Anastasia Arequitetos uses exposed concrete as its canvas. The 370 square meter residence is situated at street level, taking advantage of “zenithal and indirect natural light that besides avoiding artificial lighting during the day, also avoids excessive heat from direct sunlight.” Natural ventilation streams in via wind from the street, “thus the entering doors work as regulators of wind speed.”

Finally, Casa Mirante Do Horto by Flavio Castro, an urban tropical dwelling in Sao Paolo, Brazil. Living space is maximized through convertible spaces and connecting the interior with the exterior. The result is a large monolithic structure, highly contemporary but warm with wooden furniture and richly hued wall art and accents.

To give your home a tropical minimalist bent:

• Stick to natural materials and finishes
• Use accents leaning towards sprightly yellow, blue and tangerine
• Keep window textiles light so natural light can sift through
• Green it up with bamboo floor mats, low-impact materials and interior or vertical gardens

The post Minimalism Goes Tropical appeared first on EcoSalon.

Big box shopping gets a new spin.

Shopping malls usually have a similar vibe: the same big-brand stores, a large and badly-lit floorspace, mediocre fast-food choices and an overall lack of street-cred.

The recently opened BoxPark Shoreditch, named for the East London neighborhood where it is located, is notably lacking in all these elements. Director Roger Wade says his creation is the world’s first “pop-up mall” and is intended to serve as a seamless addition to the community where it now sits, at least for a while.

BoxPark’s clean and minimalist design aesthetic along with free WiFi and spacious outdoor patio seating attracts a young and artistic crowd, owing to Shoreditch’s reputation as the center of the UK’s digital economy and as a hub for creative individuals. Tired of the fact that nearly every high street in the UK offered the same retailers, Wade was keen to give independent brands a platform in East London.

“We like to see the rebirth of independents in the UK market because we believe that’s the rebirth of creativity,” Wade says. “If we destroy our independent base then we’re destroying an important part of the creative community of the UK – the high street will have nothing to look at anymore.”

Unlike the gargantuan Westfield shopping center development in East London’s Olympic city – which is Europe’s largest urban shopping mall – BoxPark went from “tip-site to shopping mall” in just under 12 months and is designed to have a far less permanent impact.

Built on top of railway sleepers using re-purposed shipping containers, BoxPark will occupy its current location for 5 years, though some of the stores and brands present will undoubtedly change within that period. In addition, 90 percent of BoxPark’s materials and components can be reused for another project or location, leaving the land unchanged once the structure is removed.

Offering affordable rents and flexible leases lasting from 1 to 5 years, Wade says BoxPark uses a very different business model than most shopping centers.

“We don’t look at financial strengths or the size of their business, we just look at the strength of their brands,” Wade says. “What that allows smaller brands to do is dip their toe in the water and see if retail is for them because many of them have never retailed before.”

The tenants of the roughly 50 tiny units are a mixture of independent brands, cafes, restaurants, and off-shoots of larger brands, such as FiftyFiveDSL and Puma. The Levi’s Commuter Range, which offers clothing designed specifically for urban cyclists, has opened a temporary bike shop in addition to their clothing store while a Nike iD design studio offers a space where customers can design their own custom kicks. In addition to a wide variety of street-wear brands, Amnesty International has a floorspace as well as Farah Vintage and a Phaidon bookseller.

The emerging trend of pop-ups in urban centers like London has been aided by the recession, as vacant land and empty storefronts leave landlords eager to fill space, even if it’s just with a short-term tenant. But Wade, who spent 20 years running his own brand and working in street fashion, says tough economic times are not where the original idea of a pop-up shop came from.

“Brands like Adidas in the early stages had pop up stores in places like Carnaby Street and they were only there for a few days, offered limited edition products and had a thousand kids lined up,” Wade says. “That one message is a consumer driven message – it’s quite pure.”

Wade, who has worked with popular streetwear brands such as Carhartt and G-Star, says he’s always felt more comfortable in a street wear environment rather than a designer one, which is what inspired the vibe of BoxPark.

“I’ve never wanted to be a victim of elitism,” Wade says. “I felt like when get a lot of designer brands it’s all about making an elitist statement and doing that is quite easy: you charge a lot of money, you act quite aloof and you’re very selective about who you sell to. I just believe that all people are equal and that we should make fashion accessible to everybody and that we should let the products do the talking.”

Images: BoxPark Shoreditch

The post BoxPark: Recycled Shipping Containers as the New Shopping Mall appeared first on EcoSalon.

Redefining the West Coast hostel in the age of the savvy travelette.

Artful lodgers have long sought after the ultra cool hostels of Berlin, Lisbon and Copenhagen, which clearly defy the dingy dorm image of sharing bath and bunk with questionable hobos. Travelettes, one of a number of websites now catering to the new hostel traveler, tells us the gap between these low budget accommodations and certain boutique hotels can be very slim, while “providing you with a high quality stay and a full wallet.”

The trend in locating those quality, $35- a -night pads and pods is spreading to the West Coast as backpackers in high heels and urban minimalists in Olukai flipflops take advantage of the sexy year-round rates as globetrotters grapple with the broken economy.

Here are a few favorites on the coast rounded up by thrifty city nomads on the go:

Stay on Main, Los Angeles, CA

Considered the hippest hostel in downtown L.A., the Stay on Main hostel is a hotel within The Cecil Hotel and renovated from a bare bones dorm to mod Scandinavian style in 2008 to attract a wide range of travelers. A short walk to the jewelry district and flower mart and a short bus ride to Hollywood, USC or Santa Monica beach, it boasts a menu of accommodations including: continental breakfast and complimentary wifi in public areas, flat screen TV’s in the rooms , a community kitchenette and rentable lockers.

(Runs $35 for dorm beds for backpackers to $65 for a twin or queen with shared facilities and $85 for a private queen or twin.)

“We offer the best value in the city,” offers sales manager Hosselyn Castro, who adds you can book months ahead or on 24-hours notice. How do you know you won’t have to bunk with eccentric strangerss? “We have our way of screening,” Castro assures.

636 South Main Street, Los Angeles, CA 90014: 213.213.7829

USA Hostels, San Francisco, CA

A recognized award winner in the world of hostel awards or Hoscars  (yes, this is a big deal in the industry), the USA Hostel in San Francisco is a happening hanging spot due to its groovy atmosphere, plush duvets, free popcorn for munching in its 50-seat theater and featured add-ons like wine and cheese, karaoke and quiz nights. Of course, the free all-you-can-flip pancakes and oatmeal and coffee keeps hungry travelers coming back for more.

(The 4-bed dorms go for $37.50 per night with shared baths. Located on Post Street with plenty of public transportation to get to Union Square and other destinations.)

711 Post Street, San Francisco, CA 94109: 415.440.5600

The Pod Share, Hollywood, CA

Not to be a Hollywood hostel elitist, The Pod Share crowd insists they are not running a hostel but “a platform, an incubator, a globalization stimulation.” More apt, these nightly nooks are coined “Bento Boxes of goodness.” Safe, private and easy are the buzz words attracting guests to the property which holds ten at a given time. Situated at Hollywood and Vine, The pods feature three walls to wrap around your Tokyo-scale 90″ long x 50″ wide x 5 ft-high nest feathered with a foam mattress and pillows and chalk board moldings for marking your stay. Flat screens in the rooms, a slick, modern kitchen and wifi/computer access keeps it real, but guests must follow the four rules of pod politeness: no crumbly chips, awkward sex or outlawed smoke in your pod.

(At roughly $35 a night depending on which box you hole up in, it truly delivers as the pod for the mod squad.)

1617 Cosmo Street, Los Angeles, CA 90028.213.973.7741

USA Hostels, San Diego, CA

Bright doesn’t quite cover it when it comes to this USA Hostel San Diego, earning ratings in everything from character to security to sand and surf location and cleanliness. This plus the lure of the new privacy pods with reading lights and the hot surfer dudes congregating on leather settees in the distinctive South of the Border mezzanine. This is the Gaslamp district’s best kept secret for communal lodging plus Tuesday $2 Tacos and Margarita nights and Saturday Tijuana tours.

(A private bedroom with shared bath is only $40 per night on the weekend; If you can take a bit more chatter, a 6-bed female dorm is $32.)

726 5th Avenue, San Diego, CA 1.800.438.8622; local 619.232-3100

Elements Hotel,  San Francisco, CA

Touted as gay friendly and emerging pretty flashy as hostels go, the renovated Elements is clean and modern, situated in the indie foodie Mission District of San Francisco, walking distance to ethnic eateries, shops and nightlife – and for venturing out, it is smack in the transit corridor between Bart and three major bus lines. A major attraction is the rooftop lounge with a 360 degree view of the city, along with the mezzanine lounge and balcony. Guests may partake in free movie nights and high speed internet.

(Functioning more like a reasonably priced boutique hotel than hostel, it offers private spaces, starting at around $75 per night.)

2515 Mission Street, San Francisco, CA; 415.647.4100

Pigeon Point Lighthouse, Pescadero, CA

More earthy- crunchy than the new pack of haute hostels, at least this one is on the sustainable track and rated one of the hippest of the greenest  by Treehugger. Hey, at least they can get away promoting “the most spectacular hot tub on earth.” Scenic beyond the panoramic views of the Pacific from its perch on a cliff on the central coast (a mere 50 miles south of San Francisco), the shared or private rooms are found in the restored lighthouse keeper’s quarters. The green certified hostel offers the usual good stuff, from cozy indoor/outdoor lounges, fully equipped kitchens to satellite Internet, free WiFi and free parking.

(Rates start at $25 a night and when you aren’t gazing up at one of the tallest lighthouses around, you can whale watch in season or explore the Pescadero Marsh.)

210 Pigeon Point Road, Pescadero, CA 94060; 650.879.0633.

Main Image: StayonMain

The post California Redefines Hostels for the Urban Minimalist appeared first on EcoSalon.

The monastic and ordered realm of the design perfectionist.

Last week, the world learned of a certain breed of human known as the design perfectionist. They’re a type driven by symmetry, aesthetics, distinct lines and extreme minimalism. So extreme in fact, that many who eschew design most, consider common sense in favor of streamlined simplicity.

Steve Jobs was one, as evidenced by the ever-decreasing convolution of Apple products. Evidenced, too, by an anecdote from his widow Laurene Powell referenced in The New Yorker and recalled in his eponymous biography.

“We spoke about furniture in theory for eight years,” Powell told Walter Isaacson. “We spent a lot of time asking ourselves, ‘What is the purpose of a sofa?’”

A topical question: one that would really throw the Jobs’ household into a tizzy? The purpose of a sofa that takes up an entire room.

The design perfectionist has never met a sheet she couldn’t tuck.

They also debated washing machines for two weeks at the dinner table. The table itself was undoubtedly a painfully acquired object in its own right. Though, perhaps not as painfully perfect as Todd Waturbury’s apartment per The New York Times.

“It’s not simply that his book collection is restricted to titles with black, gray or white bindings, and stacked jacketless, in neat horizontal rows,” Penelope Green writes. “Or that nearly every item here is also either black, gray or white, including the paint on the walls… there’s an even deeper level of ‘perfect’ at work in this large one-bedroom apartment near Central Park South.”

The money shot of Waturbury’s cherry-picked perfection can be sighted by standing in the “sweet spot” of the apartment, wherein all the lines come together to form some kind of wood accented typographical vortex.

One can only speculate the impact extreme minimalism can have on the health of one’s sex life, though handsome Waturbury is one of the only apparent bachelors in the Times article. Besides, while a date night parlay into the vortex would be a deal breaker for most, for a New Yorker, being featured in The New York Times is natural aphrodisiac enough.

The design perfectionist does not attract dust. 

The Times also mentions Klaus Biesenbach, director of PS1 in Long Island City, Queens. When he travels, he puts anything that moves, including furniture, colored pillows, desktop accessories, into the closet. His own Lower East Side apartment contains a mattress, television and sofa sprung upon him by a houseguest, who also happens to be an artist. As such, the sofa has gained the status of “performance” as opposed to couch, the spectacle being gift giving.

Green delves into the homes and psyches of many other perfectionists, including a minimalist architect who forced his interior designer wife, an admitted hoarder, into living without a sofa for twenty years; an academic whose friends play a dinner party game involving moving objects from their permanent installations in order to see how long it will take their host to notice its misalignment (presumably before he runs off and washes his hands half a dozen times); and another architect who hilariously refers to radiators as “wall acne” and the maximalist who loves him.

The design perfectionist does not need doors.

Psychologically speaking, perfectionism “is a personality trait expressed in a spectrum of behaviors that range from adaptive to maladaptive, appearing as an element of obsessive-compulsive disorder.”

These perfectionists are the maladaptive kind, aesthetes to an almost supernatural degree who would sooner sit on a cold marble floor mindfully before defaulting to anything from Ikea, as so many do, unquestionably. These are also the devout opposites of New Antiquarians who acquire with intent and purpose, but accumulate nonetheless.

The design perfectionist is a fascinating and complex blend of principled aestheticism, exacting indecisiveness, clinical OCD and minimalist snobbery. To be a design perfectionist is very much a state of being, of living very distinctly in a clutter immersed world.

The design perfectionist knows that every object has its place and every place has its object.

Would you want to live with one? Probably not. But they do have their consciousness in check. Why clutter when you can minimize?

Images: Arch Daily; Kaye Tan; Home Interior Design; deluxearch; Convoy

The post The Perfect Minimalist appeared first on EcoSalon.

Clever solutions for stylish clutter control.

Estimates show that we use about 20% of our objects 80% of the time. Why, then, are our lives so cluttered? It could be that we have an overabundance of stuff – here’s a hint: we do. Or perhaps we haven’t yet discerned the fine art of fitting all those bits and pieces seamlessly into our personal sanctuaries.

A word of caution: I’m a proponent of downsizing – even purging – to get to a minimal way of being. But there is a better way, a cleaner and prettier way to selling off that 80% horde. Indeed, these clutter solutions prove that there is a sexy way to stick your stuff where the sun don’t shine.

Hidden compartments behind expensive works of art are typically reserved for grand houses under investigation by Sherlock Holmes. Now thanks to iBride, you can bring some of that nineteenth-century style and mystery to your own abode.

From the series “Les Dandys,” these hidden bookshelves depict a trio of Baudelaire-era gentlemen in immaculate dress and rams’ heads. Sexy beasts, if I do say so myself.

These mile-high bookshelves are deceptively tall. Designed by London and Germany based architecture team Kraus Schoenberg, this integrated and stylish book cranny is one of the main storage features in an affordable, prefabricated low-energy house.

Repurposing staircases as storage drawers was, I’ve read, invented by Japanese cabinet makers. They called them kaidan tansu; I call them very cool.

Another variation on staircase storage, this serves both form and function.

If you’re lucky enough to land an antique mail sorting cabinet, turn it into a gorgeous storage opportunity. It’s an enviable solution for shoes, hats, and scarves.

Had I grown up with this cloakroom under the staircase, I’d be a much more organized person today. Certainly our most family-friendly clutter solution.

Yet another inventive use for our trusty friend, the mirror. It’s a logical arrangement: jewelry, makeup and other flair tucked tidily inside a sturdy floor-length.

Try as we may to meld the modern television set with the wall, it nevertheless detracts from the quiet simplicity of our homes. Perhaps by tucking it discretely behind the stairs, we’ll forget it’s even there. Out of sight, out of mind…until it’s time for True Blood.

Now that the clutter’s sorted, how about a therapeutic purge?

Images: Storage Geek; iBride; Kraus Schoenberg; The Lennoxx; Spoon & Tamago; House to Home Pinterest; Department of the Interior via Kim Ficaro; HB

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