To add to our posts about libraries, other book-related matters, and wine-related repurposing, there’s this:
An obsolete card catalog repurposed as a minibar.
Need we say more?!
(photo via The Sugar Monster on Flickr)
Today, in “things I love.”
mollyblock asked: Hi, Brian, Molly Block here. I’d love to join NWK in pinning items to your Mad Men-themed Pinterest board. I’m knowledgeable about, and have a deep appreciation for, furnishings and other vintage items from the 1950s-early 1960s. I’ve been on Pinterest for over a year, pinning items to both my personal boards (@mollyblock) and those of @Unconsumption, a mindful consumer-behavior project with which I’m involved. Let me know if I can lend you and your colleagues a (pinning) hand.
Molly! Ka-pin! You’re in. Looking forward to your pins on the Mad Men-era Decor board.
Psyched to be a contributor to Newsweek’s “Mad Men”-era decor Pinterest board!
Fellow pinners, “Mad Men” fans, and fans of all things mid-century/Eames era, be sure to follow that board.
And, if you haven’t already done so, check out the retro ads featured in Newsweek’s special “Mad Men” issue. Isn’t the signage in the Dunkin’ Donuts ad super-awesome?
Phone booths re-purposed as micro-libraries in New York City. (via Designboom)
I love urban interventions, especially when books are involved. (Check out this newspaper stand converted into a community lending library, if you haven’t already seen it.)
Anyway, this NYC phone-booth-turned-book-swap is a great addition to the group of repurposed phone booths featured previously on Unconsumption (here), which includes other micro-libraries in various cities.
Are there other repurposed phone booths that we — your friendly Unconsumption hosts — haven’t yet come across?
Have you wrapped gifts in cloth, perhaps in scarves or other fabric items that are reusable? (It’s like giving the recipient a second gift!)
For some beautiful cloth-wrapping ideas, watch this how-to video demonstrating several furoshiki wrapping variations.
For other furoshiki folding patterns, check out the diagram in the Unconsumption archive post here.
[The video (by RecycleNow) also may be viewed here. Thanks, Green Thing — another great find!]
File under: Things I love.
Via gardensinunexpectedplaces:
Via steveleathers:
For PARK(ing) Day, my company created an Urban Farmlet on SW 2nd Street in Portland (between Taylor and Yamhill).
It’s only two parking spots, but it feels like a lot more. If you’re in the area, come by and check it out. Have some lemonade. Enjoy some space that you normally wouldn’t have the chance to.
Happy 2011 PARK(ing) Day, y’all.
PARK(ing) Day is an annual, worldwide event that invites citizens everywhere to transform metered parking spots into temporary parks for the public good.
Click here to view a map of cities where residents have set up pop-up parks.
See also: Earlier Gardens in Unexpected Places post here.
Today, in “things I love.”
Via gardensinunexpectedplaces:
Plantbombing!
Yarnbombing — or the cozying up of the urban landscape with random acts of gorgeous knitting — has already been seen popping up in a number of cities. Now San Francisco-based urban knitter and guerilla gardeners Heather Powazek Champ and Derek Powazek have publicly come out with yarn bombing’s next evolution: planting low-maintenance species in beautifully hand-knitted yarn pockets all over their fair city.
Inspired after this year’s International Yarn Bombing Day, the husband and wife pair call their project “Plantbombing,” and it combines Heather’s love of “urban knitting” and Derek’s skill at gardening. Using yarn, a bit of soil, and some hardy plants, the result is a hands-off, smile-inducing work of art.
For those of you who want to try making your own plant pockets, Heather’s site provides the instructions to get started.
(via Plantbombing: Colorful Yarn-Wrapped Plants Soften Up The City : TreeHugger)
Today, in “things I love.”
Via spotblogger:
Mesmerizing: a massive-scale drawing by Jim Denevan in the sand on a California beach. More to see here.
Today in “things I love.”
(Also love his Outstanding in the Field project.)
Via unconsumption:
Why not use vintage rulers and yardsticks to dress up an old table?
(via Beth Schaleben’s Patina White blog)
For other ruler-repurposing ideas, see: http://unconsumption.tumblr.com/tagged/rulers.
Today, in “things I love.”
Via futureoflistening:
“The graphics are musical notations for the correct level of liquid to produce the perfect pitch when a user runs their finger along the rim of the glass.”
Functionality, y’all.
Set of Musical Glasses — ACCESSORIES — Better Living Through Design
Today, in “things I love.”
Via 100bostonsigns:
Built in 1933, this 68-foot high piece of history is displayed on Magazine Street in Cambridge along the Charles River. Although the station is still pumping gas, the sign has been not been illuminated for over two years. So many of the bulbs burned out that it appeared to spell the word “HELL”, and offended residents petitioned for it to be shut off.
Today, in “Things I Love.”
Design matters:
I have to confess I’ve kind of had a thing for GreenpointWorks’ Acapulco Chairs — I really like their lightness, transparency (great for small-ish spaces) — and have considered buying one to use in my living room, though wasn’t wild about the colored vinyl webbing options. At last, as Design Sponge revealed this week, GreenpointWorks is producing a version with leather webbing. I think I need to start a chair fund now.
(via Design*Sponge)
Via junkculture:
The Art of Un-Thinking
Artist Nancy Fouts creates intricate and original pieces of art from unlikely combinations of things…more here
![From Hotel Haiku:
La Classe in Belgium
Less holiday rental / More a design museum / An old school reborn
“Written and curated by Garri Rayner, Hotel Haiku is a collection of the world’s most interesting hotels and notels where the only description for each one is expressed as a haiku.”
[hat tip to Marilyn Maciel, @MarilynM]](http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lhp6niO9ja1qzgg3to1_r1_500.jpg)
From Hotel Haiku:
La Classe in Belgium
Less holiday rental / More a design museum / An old school reborn
“Written and curated by Garri Rayner, Hotel Haiku is a collection of the world’s most interesting hotels and notels where the only description for each one is expressed as a haiku.”
[hat tip to Marilyn Maciel, @MarilynM]
Via goodkarmahandmade:
Clementine Granita
Clementine juice, sugar, and rum. I’m so making clementine granita this weekend.
