Weekend Project Inspiration: 4 Ways to Give Your Stairs a Makeover — Real Simple

Creating successful interiors is all about paying attention to the details. Whether you are going for a classic look or something totally unexpected, time spent focusing on how to elevate the little things to a new level always pays off.  Real Simple shares four not-too-difficult ways to make the most of an oft-overlooked spot in any home - the lowly stair riser. 

From ombre to chalkboard to wallpaper to a little bit of bling, jump below for all the links...

From Real Simple:

(Image: Jonny Valiant / Real Simple)

View the original article here

Mound of Rounds Cumulus Project

Mound of Rounds Cumulus Project | Apartment Therapy MainStyleDIYHomekeepingFamilyTechRenovatingShopping The KitchnMarketplaceLogin Mound of Rounds Cumulus Project

I like furniture I can envision my whole family using. I'm also partial, as most of us are, to space efficient designs. And it doesn't hurt if I can see myself catching a catnap on it. So naturally this floor cushion set inspired by the iconic children's stacking toy caught my attention. Not only as a unique piece itself, but possible DIY potential.

Mound of Rounds is the latest nifty object created by concept gang Cumulus Project based out of Vancouver.

It comes with a $1,400 price tag. But, as with a lot of great design, it's made up of simple components - a round tabletop, a set of lockable casters, and some floor pillows, or DIY poufs of various sizes and colors. Presto! A handy sculptural arrangement for entertaining guests of all sizes for both real and imaginary tea parties.

(Images: Culumus Project)

comments02.29.12 5:15PMBen PartridgeCategories:Family,Pillows & Throws,Furniture Design,Color,Style,Main,ShoppingComments (5)To be on trend for this year an ombre set would be neat!

posted byjessman85m on 02.29.12 at 05:19PM If I lived in a daycare centre, sure.

posted byJasmineIsDomestic on 02.29.12 at 05:21PM Although I doubt it would be sufficiently comfortable and supportive to use as described, kids probably would love playing with it.

posted byMiami's Elaine on 02.29.12 at 05:33PM Sure, kids would love it. But at age 18 they'd probably like to have that $1400 plus interest in their college fund. Ridiculous.

posted bymjs7640 on 02.29.12 at 05:47PM LOL@Jasmineisdomestic comment. So true :)

posted byAmna on 02.29.12 at 05:59PM Post a commentComment

are allowed, and line breaks are automatic. Please be aware of our comment policy. Seeing spam? Let us know.

   

Logged in as  |  Sign out. Please sign in or register to comment. Apartment Therapy ToursStudioApartmentHouseRoomsBathroomBedroomDining RoomEntrywayKitchenLiving RoomOutdoor SpaceWorkspacePlayroomNursery & KidsProjectsHow ToBefore & AfterCraftingDecoratingRenovating ProjectsPaintingGardeningCustomizingOrganizingCleaningCollectingSpace PlanningTips & TechniquesWoodworkingReusingLife at HomeBudget LivingEntertainingLuxury LivingPets at HomeHealthy LivingSmall SpacesSetting Up HomeParentingMindful LivingGreen LivingDecor StylesEclecticHandmadeModernTraditionalVintageBefore & AfterSmall SpacesGood QuestionsBudget LivingGreen LivingProductsAppliancesFurniture & AccessoriesGarden SupplyHardware & MaterialsHome TechHomekeeping & CleaningToys & GearLocalUSAustinBostonChicagoLos AngelesNew YorkPhiladelphiaPortlandSan FranciscoSeattleWashington DCInternationalCanadaEnglandFranceItalyClassifiedsBostonChicagoLos AngelesNew YorkSan FranciscoWashington DCAll Categories Top Tours The Fleet Family's Modern Craftsman Mix Nicolas & Fabienne's Quirky and Colorful London Home Liv's Crafty Colorful Office Shannon's Soothing Mix of Styles David & Christopher's Lively Vintage AbodeSee more tours Top Posts Best Home Design Blog Nominations Best Family Blog Nominations The 8 Books Every Home Decorator Should OwnBest DIY Blog Nominations Before & After: Bold Color in the KitchenEmail UpdatesSubmit a StoryGot a tip, home tour, or other story our readers should see?

Tell us about itFollow Us@AptTherapyLike us on FacebookRSS Feed See more options Read Our Books Good Food to Share (2011) The Big Book of Small, Cool Spaces (2010) Apartment Therapy Presents (2008) The Eight-Step Home Cure (2006) Maxwell’s Daily FindMatryoshka Dolls Pr...VIPP 13 Limited Edi...Kikkerland Biodegra... Saving the world, one room at a timeAbout UsOur TeamContact UsEmail UpdatesApartment TherapyTop Posts Best Home Design Blog Nominations Best Family Blog Nominations The 8 Books Every Home Decorator Should OwnBest DIY Blog Nominations Before & After: Bold Color in the KitchenTop Tours The Fleet Family's Modern Craftsman Mix Nicolas & Fabienne's Quirky and Colorful London Home Liv's Crafty Colorful Office Shannon's Soothing Mix of Styles David & Christopher's Lively Vintage AbodeThe KitchnTop Posts 12 Hearty, Healthy & Colorful Salads to Brighten Your Winter LunchBest Food Photography on a Blog Nominations Best Recipe Blog Nominations Best Healthy Cooking Blog Nominations Emily's 5 Essential CookbooksTop Recipes How to Make Potato Chips in the MicrowaveRecipe: Ginger and Cilantro Baked TilapiaSummer Recipe: No-Bake Strawberry Icebox CakeHow To Make Cake PopsHow to Cook Moist & Tender Chicken Breasts Every Time © 2012 Apartment Therapy AdvertisingJobsLegalPrivacy PolicyComment Policy Powered by the Parse.ly Publisher Platform (P3).(function(s, p, d) { var h=d.location.protocol, i=p+"-"+s, e=d.getElementById(i), r=d.getElementById(p+"-root"); if (e) return; e = d.createElement(s); e.id = i; e.async = true; e.src = h+"//static.parsely.com/p.js"; r.appendChild(e);})("script", "parsely", document);

View the original article here

Development Watch: "Sister" Project to Infinity Towers Back Before Planning Commission

× Like us and you'll find top breaking news in your Facebook newsfeed. Sign up for our daily email newsletter and get top stories and breaking news delivered to your inbox. Wednesday, February 8, 2012, by Alex Bevk

[Super old rendering of 201 Folsom, seen here with Infinity design pre-Arquitectonica intervention, via SF New Developments]

Tomorrow the Planning Commission will hear an informational presentation on the "sister" project to the Infinity Towers. Approved back in 2003, the project is for two residential towers, 350 and 400 feet above an 80-foot podium, at 201 Folsom Street across the street from the Infinity I & II. The original approval motion recognized the potential for design of the project to change before construction and included a condition of approval that the Planning Director approve the final design after an informational hearing at the Planning Commission. The new design reduces the number of parking spots in the podium section, originally included for the neighboring US Post Office sorting facility that's now defunct, so the podium has been redesigned. There will be less dwelling units than originally planned, but more commercial spaces and open space. And oh yeah, the project architect is totally new (from Heller Manus to Arquitectonica). The agenda didn't include the new plans, so we'll fill you in after the hearing tomorrow.
· Memo for Informational Hearing on 201 Folsom St [Curbed SF]
· Hope Yet for Rincon Hill's 201 Folsom St [Curbed SF]
· Infinity's Cousin Still Coming, One Day [Curbed SF]
· Past Coverage of The Infinity [Curbed SF Archives]

201 Folsom Street, San Francisco CA

View the original article here

Going Back to Finish a Project … Eventually

I'm sure I'm not the only one guilty of this. I get really, really close to the end of a project and then I simply peter out, often leaving a bit of touching up to be done later. Sometimes that later comes around pretty quickly and other times it can take months (or even years!) to swing back around for completion…

Chalk it up to impatience, a short attention span, or the fact that most of my projects are camera-ready but may show some flaws in real life. Whatever the reason, most of my projects end up almost finished, if not for a few finishing touches. Take the Rope Wrapped Hanging Clothes Bar, for instance. When I was working on the project I was a bit crunched for time so I didn't bother filling in the extra hole I had drilled into the ceiling and I also didn't bother to patch the holes and peeled paint caused by the drawers hanging on the wall.

It was fine to have the hole in the ceiling when I was just photographing the project to write about — I could simply Photoshop the mistakes out of the image. Oh, if only there was a Photoshop for everyday life! Since there's not, I finally went back and properly finished the project over the long weekend. I filled in the holes and then sanded and painted both the ceiling and the wall.

Now the project finally looks really finished — whether seen online or in real life. Surprisingly, it took me less than a month to come back to this project. Now I just have those other projects that have been sitting mostly finished for the past year (or two).

(Images: Jason Loper)

View the original article here

Off the Market: Here's Mary McDonald's Project From Million Dollar Decorators

× Like us and you'll find top breaking news in your Facebook newsfeed. Sign up for our daily email newsletter and get top stories and breaking news delivered to your inbox. Friday, June 10, 2011, by Sarah Firshein

On Tuesday night, we watched with baited breath as designer Mary McDonald finished the guest house of a longtime client who, readying for a divorce, had plans to put her Beverly Hills, Calif., estate on the market. In response to the Realtor's request that the space be kept minimalist, McDonald said, "I’m not really interested in Realtors! Sometimes you have to teach people what they think they want!” Fast forward to now: listing photos of said property have surfaced on The Real Estalker, showcasing McDonald's work in its entirely—she decorated the main house, too. Some vital stats: the manse measures 5,545 square feet, has seven bedrooms, and sold for approximately $7.773M to a producer/director in December 2010. No word whether McDonald still considers the house "hers."

· Episode Two: Hypnotism, a Pickup Truck, and Really Old Tile [Curbed National]
· Mary McDonald Sunburst Madness in Beverly Hills [The Real Estalker]
· Episode One: the Osbournes, Divorce, and Snotty Guacamole [Curbed National]

View the original article here

Development Watch: The Fillmore: MUNI Sub-station to Become Grad School Project

× Like us and you'll find top breaking news in your Facebook newsfeed. Sign up for our daily email newsletter and get top stories and breaking news delivered to your inbox. Monday, May 2, 2011, by Philip Ferrato

[Photo Credit: Sf Redevelopment Agency]

Yet another plot twist in The Chronicles of Adaptive Re-use, with the announcement that graduate students at USF would undertake an assessment of the vintage MUNI sub-station at Fillmore and Turk Streets. The Redevelopment Agency bought it in 2003 but was unable to find a deal or developer. Meanwhile, they apparently shifted funds earmarked for the building to subsidize the long-suffering reincarnation of Yoshi's. The city bought the building back in 2009. No report is expected from the students until next year, but they're working with Brothers for Change. And there's more housing happening a block away. Baby steps, people.
· Brothers for Change [Brothers for Change]
· USF to Tackle Future of Old Muni Substation [SF Examiner]
· The Fillmore: Affordable Housing on the Way [Curbed SF Archives]

View the original article here

Featured Project: Ike Kligerman Barkley's Villa on the Atlantic Finds Italian Inspiration

× Like us and you'll find top breaking news in your Facebook newsfeed. Sign up for our daily email newsletter and get top stories and breaking news delivered to your inbox. Wednesday, February 9, 2011, by Sarah

Today Curbed sits down with John Ike of NYC-based Ike Kligerman Barkley Architects, a firm that currently holds rank on Arch Digest's AD 100 list and recently chronicled its phenomenally diverse portfolio in Houses (Random House 2010). "John Ike, Thomas Kligerman, and Joel Barkley speak architectural languages of the past with a sure command of grammar and syntax and a rich vocabulary of form and detail," writes architect Robert A.M. Stern in his forward. Here, we chat about one of IKBA's newest projects, a family house on the New Jersey coastline.

Photo: Durston Saylor

Curbed National: What was the first thing these clients asked? Was this built as an entertaining house? For family?
John Ike: A great house for entertaining was the first discussion. Of course, the family was key, but the floor plan is very simple and transparent, lending itself to having a great party.
CN: You've said before: "Just as novelists and filmmakers gravitate toward genres that suit the themes they choose to explore, we look for the historic style that represents the best vehicles for the architectural story we wish to tell." Was there a specific historic property that inspired you here?
JI: The great Italian Renaissance architect Andrea Palladio’s Villa Trissino served as the inspiration for this house. The interior is decidedly more modern in keeping with the owner’s taste. The story line we adopted was of a modern intervention within this classic old villa, much as the great modern Italian architect Carlo Scarpa did in alterations to the Museo Castelvecchio in Verona. This combination of the antiques and modern pieces is both visually exciting and functionally illustrative.

Photos: Durston Saylor

CN: So this really does, in fact, illustrate IKBA's signature "old meets new" style.
JI: Yes, and very matter of factly. A stainless steel-and-glass curtain wall separates the conditioned living/dining room from the front and rear loggias. The rustic beamed ceiling marches unobstructed through all three spaces.

CN: Let's re-imagine this as a one-room house. Which room would you hang on to?
JI: The room I just described. It’s a room for all seasons with a great number of daily functions accounted for.

CN: Can you pinpoint a single favorite building material?
JI: Probably wood. Although it’s the juxtaposition of different materials together that heightens their natural qualities.

CN: And what can you add about the overall interior design?
JI: It's predicated on the architecture—the conversation between old and new, interior and exterior, smooth and rough. Although these aren’t exclusively modern themes, the overall tenor is modern. One piece of note, the wood center hall table, is by Italian Sculptor Mario Ceroli and dates from 1970.

CN: If you had to create a soundtrack for the house, what songs would you include?
JI: Gilberto Gil and some classic Brazilian bossa nova from the '60s.

CN: How would you describe the general experience of walking in?
JI: It's totally transparent from the time you turn in the driveway. If it weren’t for the privet hedges surrounding the sunken tennis court in the front of the house, you’d be able to see all the way through to the ocean.

CN: Finally, please describe the finished project in five words or less.
JI: Transparent in intention and execution.

· Ike Kligerman Barkley Architects [official site]

View the original article here