Colour + Design Archives - Page 19 of 60

Cute Pet Tags – Blanket ID

February 10, 2011 By Paola 7 Comments

Unlike fancy pants litter boxes, here is a cat accessory we can all get behind.

Cate is a long time commenter on this blog and runs a Blanket ID which provides super smart ID tags for dogs and cats.

Her idea is as nifty as it is simple. Each tag comes with a unique code number which you use to register your pets details online. If anyone finds your pet, they simply go to www.blanketid.com, put in the code number and lo and behold, they can find all your pet’s contact details and any other useful information such as special diet or allergies and vet contact details.

It’s better than microchipping (though our cats came chipped from the shelter) as the tags can easily be read by members of the public, and the online data storage allows you to store a lot more information than would fit on a normal collar tag. It’s also easier to keep information such as phone numbers and email addresses up to date rather than having to have collar tags re-engraved.

As final bonus, if your pet does go missing, the online service means you can quickly print off ‘Lost’ posters, and BlanketID automatically contacts vets and shelters in your area. Your first year’s registration on the site is included in the price of your tag. Thereafter BlanketID charges a small annual subscription that includes a donation to their own pet charity.

Aside from all this goodness, the tags are also beautifully designed, and come in a bunch of colours and styles.

The Minx of course chose the girliest ones she could find for Flora and Harriet, which proved to be a bit of a mistake as we have recently found out that Flora is in fact Prince Florian, though we will still be calling him Flora for short (yep, you’re probably as confused as I am, and he is, by this).

Here’s Harriet modelling her tag.

I think Flora, on the other hand, may be rather embarrassed by his, as this was the only unblurry picture I was able to get.

Full Disclosure : Cate sent me a couple of tags to try for free. Don’t tell her but she didn’t need to do that as I think it’s a fabulous idea and would have bought some anyway. Thanks Cate!

Goldilocks and the Sky Blue Ceiling

February 7, 2011 By Paola 4 Comments

Welll, that was trickier than I thought it would be.

Last Friday the walls of the Minx’s room were painted in Benjamin Moore’s White Vanilla and from the picture rail upwards in BM’s Morning Sky Blue. However, when it was done, the ceiling read much lighter than the tops of the walls and looked more like a greyish white than a true blue.

So then we painted just the ceiling and not walls in the next darkest colour- Benjamin Moore’s Tear Drop Blue. And this time the ceiling was very obviously a darker blue than the tops of the walls.

So finally we mixed Morning Sky Blue and Tear Drop Blue in about equal percentages and again painted just the ceiling. And this time it was just right.

It’s interesting how the angle of the light changes everything.

Here’s a reminder of what the room looked like before. That purple (chosen by the previous owners) could look very dark and forbidding on a gloomy Seattle day, such as we have very occasionally in the winter months (hahahahahahahahaha).

There’ll be more updates from the Minx’s room as we piece it all back together and assemble her super duper big girl loft bed.

When Acrylic Looks Good

February 3, 2011 By Paola 3 Comments

A lot of knitters can get very snobbish about acrylic yarns, and having been knitting since the days when most yarn had a high acrylic content, I’m not exactly a fan of the squeakiness and dayglo colours.

Valerie Anne Molnar, however, makes fabulous use of acrylic yarn and acrylic paints to create stunning knitted art installations. Certainly one way of using up your yarn stash.

I love the clever colour transitions and the randomness of the knitting – what fun to just go where the spirit takes you instead of following a pattern.

I also love the the work on the right is entitled ‘Smoked Ham Risotto, Pea and Mint Salad with Shaved Black Truffles’. Of course.

{via Design for Mankind}

Things I Am Loving – ModKat Litterbox

February 2, 2011 By Paola 12 Comments

So I’m a bit embarrassed about this one.

I haven’t had pets since Bubbles the goldfish committed spectacular suicide by throwing himself out of his bowl when I was a kid, so I’ve launched myself into the world of pet accoutrements with some trepidation.

When you acquire cats, the very next thing you need to buy is a litter box, and if you’ve been in the market for litterboxes recently, you’ll know that, although they come in all shapes and sizes, they have one thing in common. They’re all remarkably, hideously ugly.

With one exception that I’ve been able to find.

The Modkat litter box is the iPhone of litterboxes – a cool piece of thoughtful modern design, and available in an array of contemporary colours to match your decor or your cat.

The cat climbs inside the box to do its business and then has to walk on the litter catching tray on top to get out, so excess litter is caught and it reduces tracking and mess to a minimum. It comes with a sturdy reusable tarpaulin liner and an integral scoop that clips to the side.

I’m a firm believer in making sure that things that will be on display in the house are as nice to look at as possible (especially for something like this which we will hopefully have for the next fifteen-twenty years), so of course I bought one. Even though it costs $180. Yep, $180 just to buy a litterbox that is well-designed and doesn’t look like sh*t as well as smell like it.

Fortunately we love it. It’s big and sturdy, looks great, is super easy to clean and does a great job of reducing litter mess to an absolute minimum. Which is a good job as I think we’re going to have to get two – Harriet refuses to do her business anywhere near where Flora has been.

But why does good design have to be so freaking expensive? Am I crazy or would you buy this litter box too?

If you’re tempted, you can buy the litterboxes at Modkat.com or with free shipping at Nest Living.

poll by twiigs.com

Downton Abbey – On Location at Highclere Castle

January 26, 2011 By Paola 4 Comments

Late last autumn the UK part of my Twitter feed started buzzing with chatter about Downton Abbey, a new ITV period drama, set in the halcyon years of the Edwardian era just before the outbreak of the First World War.

We managed to er, acquire it just after Christmas and loved it, though it hit every single ‘missing England like crazy’ button I possess.

It’s a typically English class-ridden frothy costume drama, about the fictional aristocratic Crawley family and their servants, with a fine, witty script by Julian Fellowes (Gosford Park); Maggie Smith, being Maggie Smith at her most imperious; a stellar cast of well-known British actors and ridiculously exquisite costumes. It’s currently being shown in the US, and the US part of my Twitter feed is now similarly alive with love for it.

The star of the show though, is Downton Abbey itself, or more properly the splendidly overwrought Highclere Castle in Berkshire, the seat of the Earls of Carnarvon, which was rebuilt in 1842 in High Elizabethan style, by Sir Charles Barry after he’d finished building the Houses of Parliament. The gorgeous park is by Capability Brown.

Here are some of the spectacular locations – the costume designers and camera folk must have thought they’d died and gone to heaven. Literally every frame is a visual feast. The last episode airs on Sunday in the US, but I think it’s available to download from iTunes and from PBS.org. A new series is coming this autumn.

More stunning photos of the locations are here.

Life Calendars – BrigadaCreativa

January 20, 2011 By Paola 6 Comments

I’m trying to work out whether these ingenious poster-sized Life Calendars from BrigadaCreativa are a fabulous or downright scary idea.

You can start on any day of the year, and every day you fill in the appropriate emoticons until you end up with detailed pictorial record of your year, before your eyes. In black and yellow.

Even more terrifying is the The Love Calendar, where you’re supposed to fill in portions of the hearts according how much conversation, caresses, time together and sex you’ve had with your partner that day.

I can see this becoming exhibit one in divorce cases the world over.

If you’re brave enough to get one of these, (and I’m actually tempted to get the emoticon one, as it would certainly be extremely revealing), they’re available from Brigada Creativa’s Etsy shop. Go on, I dare you!

101 Things – Food Photography with Clare Barboza

January 17, 2011 By Paola 7 Comments

Over the last week or two, I’ve been dealing with a severe case of ‘I’ve got so much to do in every direction that I must go and hide and gibber quietly to myself in a darkened room’ which I’m finding is not the optimum solution to my ever-lengthening to do list.

So it’s mostly going to be pretty pictures until I emerge from under the layers of work, admin and clutter which are currently overwhelming me.

On Saturday I took some time off from the insanity, to do yet another photography class to keep me going on my 101 Things list. (By the way, I have apparently inspired Lara at Food. Soil. Thread and Helen at CountrysideWeddings to similar madness, so please go and encourage them too).

Clare Barboza, whose Child Photography class I recently took, is also a mega-talented food photographer and works out of the same awesome studio as Lara Ferroni.

The class was extremely useful. We talked about lighting and basic technique; critiqued photos Clare had taken; took shots of beautifully prepared and plated food cooked by Chef Becky Selengut and Marc Schermerhorn; tried plating and styling our own shots, critiqued our shots as a group and then got some tips on post production.

Here are some of the shots I took. My hit ratio of good shots to crap is still frustratingly low (and these had to be significantly worked on in Lightroom) but I feel like I’m starting to grope my way towards a style. The lighting and the studio props make everything so easy though.

I know I always say this (hey, what can I say, Seattle is STUFFED with prodigiously talented photogaphers) but again I can’t recommend this class highly enough if you’re into food photography. I believe Clare has got another couple of classes coming up, check on her blog if you’re interested.

Facebook Page Giveaway – Atelier LZC Mirror

December 9, 2010 By Paola Leave a Comment

I have FINALLY managed to get my act together and set up a ‘Page’ for ‘mirrormirror’ on Facebook. This is a page for fans of both the blog and the shop and I’ll be using the space to post up news of new product arrivals, our progress in opening the shop in the US and exclusive offers and giveaways just for Facebook fans. Come and ‘like’ us here.

First up we will be giving away your choice of an Atelier LZC Screen Printed Mirror worth £36 (approx $57) when we get 150 people ‘liking’ us on Facebook. Here’s the link to the mirrormirror Facebook page. Please hit the ‘Like’ button and also share the link with those friends you think may be interested. When we hit 150 ‘likes’ we’ll do a random giveaway to all Facebook fans.

If you want to buy the mirrors instead they’re available in the UK shop. We’re offering free delivery on all mirrormirror orders – international or otherwise – to Facebook fans too. Simply choose the ‘Free Delivery’ option when it comes to check out and mention ‘Facebook’ in the the ‘How did you hear about us’ section of the order form. We will double check you against the list of Facebook ‘likers’ though, so do make sure you’ve signed up. Here’s that link again.

I’ve been terribly neglectful of the shop this year, but I’m now back to it with a vengeance. Expect lots of new products in the New Year.

I’ve also finally been cleared to work in the US which means I will also be opening the shop in the US, probably some time in the summer AND I’ve been accepted to do a course in Advanced Intereactive Marketing at the University of Washington over the first six months of the year, so hoping to get a ton of new ideas. Very excited for what 2011 will bring.

Oh and one of the items on my 101 Things list is to ‘set up a Facebook fan page and get over 1000 fans’ so you’ll be helping me out with this as well. There’s still rather a long way to go on that one!

Things I Am Loving – Orla Kiely Reusable Shopper for Tesco

December 2, 2010 By Paola 2 Comments

So US peeps, you may not want to read any further.

See this beautiful reusable shopping bag by Orla Kiely? Well, it’s apparently a Limited Edition reusable shopper available only through Tesco’s (one of the big British supermarkets) in the UK. The price is £4 with a portion of the proceeds going to some of Orla’s favourite charities.

Has anyone in the UK seen one yet to report back? I have a horrible feeling that a lot of these will be going straight to Ebay.

Speaking of Orla, we had the last of our stuff in the UK shipped over last month (yes, I’ve finally come to terms with the fact that we’re here in the US for the foreseeable future) and I used the opportunity to ship over some of the gorgeous Orla Kiely bedding they have at Heal’s.

Here’s a crappy picture of it on our bed this morning (yes, it does look better ironed) and here is a picture of the beautiful boxes the duvet cover and pillow cases came packaged in, which are almost nicer than the bedding itself.

Things I Am Loving – Jonathan Adler Pop Menagerie Christmas Ornaments

November 20, 2010 By Paola Leave a Comment

It would be so easy to go crazy over Christmas decorations, but every year I try and limit myself to one very special ornament for the tree.

This year I have fallen in love with Jonathan Adler’s Pop Menagerie Christmas ornaments, even though I must have missed the bit in the Christmas story which mentioned the Christmas lion, the Christmas elephant and the Christmas peacock.

The good news about these ornaments being not remotely Christmassy is that they can sit on my mantelpiece for the whole of the year. The even better news is that they come in the most gorgeous coordinating patterned boxes, which are almost more desirable than the creatures themselves for a packaging sucker like me.

Honestly, they saw me coming a mile off.

Pop Menagerie Ornaments $28 each from www.jonathanadler.com

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