...a partridge made from recycled furniture??
Holiday songs echoing in my ears, I saw these and fell in love. Each little bird is re-crafted from a salvaged chair arm or table leg or some other discarded piece of wood. The artist is Lars Beller Fjetland from Norway. He was inspired to create the Re-Turned creatures by all the detritus in local dumpsters.
Images from It's Nice That. Via Pinterest.
As our reading becomes digital and the paper book becomes obsolete, I'm seeing more and more artists using old books as raw materials. Brian Gennett is one of these, and his mosaics stand on their own as stunning works of art. It's not until you look closely at the details that you see the raw materials--book covers and end papers. Click through to his site for more furniture, objects, and even tile. Each piece is sealed with layers of poly acrylic.
Thanks to Design Sponge for highlighting this work.
Images from Brian Gennett. Via Design*Sponge.
If you're a crafty DIY type, you should know about the amazing team and HomeMade Modern. They regularly post easy, well documented, and industrially styled DIY projects for you to add to that list of "I'd like to make that!" Fond of simple materials--concrete, plywood--they come up with some really interesting and modern shapes and provide enough detail for you to modify the projects for you own needs. In this case, easy instructions to size the cubby to fit your own particular size dog. Currently on their site they have several projects using faceted shapes, but I wanted to share this fantastic dog house.
I don't have a dog, but if I did, I would be so tempted to make this charming pet bed for him.
*Before the pronunciation police get onto me, I know the traditional phrase is dog-eat-dog, but this is one of my favorite mis-stated cliches.
Images from HomeMade Modern. Via NOTCOT.
Tricia found this great image on Pinterest, but the source link was broken. I managed to track down a credit (thank you Google image search) on a Czech website.
I don't know anything about it, but thank you Tomáš Vacek of STUDIO VACEK for designing such an interesting twiggy modern bench.
Image from Pinterest. Via Tricia.
Tricia has been doing some very cool weaving projects (details and photos to come very soon), and I've been succumbing to my weakness for chairs in need of love. I started to mash the two together and have been exploring weaving and chairs and reclaimed materials. In my website wanderings, I found some really lovely examples.
I'm headed in a more modern direction with my project, but there's something about these vintage chairs and woven necktie seats that warms my little Alabama heart. And when the color palette is restrained, the result can be sophisticated.
Enjoy!
Update: After writing this post, I kept coming back to Alabama Chanin, who I blogged about a couple of years ago. Apparently I've fallen for necktie chairs before. At that time, there was something sentimental about it. This time around, I'm inspired by the pattern and texture.
Images from
1. ToolGirl Mag Ruffman
2. Etsy shop preserved
3. Peter Russo Design
I'm a sucker for industrial signage. This is a bit over the top, but it's just my speed. And thanks to the kindness of internet strangers, the full project is documented on Instructables.
Instructables contributor Seamster rescued a hand-me-down dresser with a trashed finish and quality construction by adding street signs to the fronts. As a bonus, there's some great, donut-related advice on how to legally acquire a pile a street signs for your own furniture plans.
Images from Instructables. Via Apartment Therapy.
Your elderly aunt Zelda may have trouble getting up and down off the pouf version, but everyone else will think these are a fun addition to your decor. The best part, it's all recycled. The wrap is upholstery fabric, but are you wondering what's the bouncy fun inside?
I'll give you a hint.
Yup, it's your basic lake-side inner tube. Great work from Camilla Hounsell Halvorsen.
Images from Camilla's website. Via Apartment Therapy.
Apartment Therapy just did a post on the latest material trends from Paris' Maison et Objet show. The whole post is good, but check out these newspaper tables. The tabletops are compacted newspaper. They look so sophisticated for such a modest material.
The tables are by Dutch studio VIJ5. I'm not crazy about the legs, but those tiles are great. would love to see one in person. Do you think it's soft? Smudgy? Does it smell like the crossword puzzle?
Images from VIJ5. Via Apartment Therapy.
When I was a kid, I went through a phase of wanting to be an architect. I remember spending hours drawing floor plans of my father's imaginary lake house. I never really sketched the house itself, just the floor plans. I found it satisfying to figure out where everything would go, and how all the rooms would fit together.
My own kids draw mostly zombies and explosions (with the occasional rainbow thrown in for good measure), but no matter what the subject, this drawing board desk Ninetonine would be a cute place to draw. The pencil cup chimney is very clever, and the dual use as desk/playhouse is charming.
Images from Ninetonine. Via Remodelista.
Sometimes the best sculpture is made from the imperfect. Brazilian designer João Paulo Scigliano rescues discarded timber from logging companies. I couldn't get better photos, but I love these cubes with the holes inside. It's a modern take on all the redwood burl coffee table.
Images reposted from Recyclart.
I'm loving this Street Seats project. Architectural firm Bade Stageberg Cox collected abandoned chairs from the streets of New York, then painted them a glossy taxicab yellow. Each chair is marked on the bottom with the details of when and where it was found. From the designers: "Like the city’s residents, the chairs are an eclectic mix."
I especially like how this project is so very New York, reference the way people both furnish their apartments with street finds and abandon furniture at the curb. The Street Seats chairs were installed at the coffee bar for 2012's Armory Show. They are now available for sale.
Images from Bade Stageberg Cox. Via Apartment Therapy.
As you may know, I go all weak at the knees for repurposed vintage drawers. This version by Kara Paslay just sends me. I like the white enclosures for the drawers and the little bits of mirror and color mixed with the aged wood surfaces.
Kara was kind enough to provide a tutorial for Design Sponge. Make your own!
Images from Kara Paslay. Via Design Sponge.
One of the first posts we did here at the Lab was about Seattle design firm Graypants and their doodle lighting. Now they've designed a very cool looking chair made from a single sheet of plywood.
The Graypants team is working hard on all aspects of their low-waste approach. Their Slice Chair gets 3 chairs out of each sheet of FSC-certified plywood, and their low-VOC finish is actually a by-product of cheese. You can purchase one (or three) via their website.
Images from Graypants.
Ariele Alasko is, of course, in Brooklyn, but we could be such good friends. Her work is all salvaged wood awesomeness, and it's just stunning. I am (uncharacteristically) speechless. Choosing 3 photos to share with you was almost impossible. Please, click over to her blog, Brooklyn to West, and admire the work.
For you West Coasters, she designed her father's restaurant in Pacific Grove (il vecchio), if you want to see some of those amazing tables in person. Next time I take the kids to the aquarium, you can bet we'll be eating here.
Images from Ariele Alasko. Via Design Sponge.
I spotted one of these tables in a Houzz tour and wanted to know more. Unlike most Houzz posts, this one gave the artist details--Brent Comber in Vancouver, BC. One quick click, and I was in love with these Alder rounds. There's a lot of great sculpture here, but it's the pieces comprised of smaller bits that really send me.
If you're lucky enough to live in or visit Vancouver, you can see some of his work in person at the Salt Tasting Room or Yew restaurant. The glass-topped tables above are at Salt.
Images from Brent Comber. Via Houzz.
Every so often I'll be struck but some object's aesthetic, only to learn the designer is in Germany*. That happened today when I stumbled across these fantastic stools made from reclaimed chair legs and new concrete seats.
I clicked through to find a&ré design and their world of new concrete and reclaimed wood.
* In this case, the designers are based in Berlin and Toulouse, which I realize is not anywhere near Germany. So only half German. Despite my American public school education, I was able to get a few basic geography facts to stick in my brain.
Images from a&ré design. Via Recyclart.
