$25 Deck Chairs from IKEA

May 23, 2013 by mymateriallife

Samantha and I ate lunch at our favorite spot yesterday, the IKEA cafeteria*.  Because we were at IKEA primarily to eat, I spoke those words that are so often said, but so not often lived by, “we’re just going to look; we’re not going to buy anything″.  We made it all the way through the showroom, the newly remodeled marketplace, and the warehouse with not one single thing to purchase, but right before we got to the registers, we found […]

Categories: Furnishings, TV & Movies • Tags: beach chairs, deck chairs, easy to assemble, ikea, illeana douglas, sling chairs

Midwinter Mobile

January 20, 2013 by mymateriallife

It’s warmed up in the San Francisco Bay area this weekend, but we just came through an unusual cold spell.  You know it’s cold when you see people in coats in the middle of a sunny day in this part of the world.  Anyway, I have a few good things to share with you in this post.  I made the mobile you see above using a wonderful product by Kikkerland Design, their hanging photoclip mobile.  So simple, so elegant, such […]

Categories: Furnishings, Kid Stuff, Paper, Reading Material • Tags: crystal snowflakes, diy mobiles, flensted mobiles, harbin ice and snow festival, kikkerland hanging photoclip mobile

Sweet Potato Fabric Printing

July 14, 2012 by mymateriallife

I had a very enjoyable lunch yesterday with three good friends I used to work with; this is a project I started the night before and completed yesterday morning to hide the state of my 1980s era Danish Teak dining table top.  I used a sweet potato from Trader Joe’s to print the design down the center of my table mat.  Most of the lunch (and two bunches of flowers) also came from Trader Joe’s, but I’ll tell you about […]

Categories: Furnishings, Other Textiles, Sweets • Tags: coffee granita, marimekko, sweet potato fabric printing, table mat, trader joe's

A Simple Flanged Pillow

June 2, 2012 by mymateriallife

If you’re looking for a first sewing project you really can’t go wrong with a flanged pillow.  Samantha and I made this one together. What makes the flanged pillow perfect for beginners is that it’s so straightforward to make, so forgiving, and so good-looking when finished that it will certainly inspire confidence and motivation to continue with sewing.  Samantha chose this fabric from my stash; it’s one of the newer IKEA designs that you can find on so many of […]

Categories: Furnishings, Kid Stuff, Sewing • Tags: beginning sewing, flanged pillow, ikea textiles

Classic Camp Furniture

May 24, 2012 by mymateriallife

I saw the previews for Moonrise Kingdom last week and when this image hit the screen my pulse started to race.  Oh my goodness, the red plaid mat on that cot and more of the very same plaid lining two sides of the tent!  Camp furniture (preferably old-fashioned wood) and red plaid are two of my very favorite things.  And with summer approaching, I’ve got wood and canvas folding furniture on my mind.  I’ve already been thinking of laying in […]

Categories: Furnishings, Other Textiles • Tags: byer of maine, cabana beach collection, gallant & jones, moonrise kingdom, pangean glider, telescope casual furniture, wood and canvas deck chairs, wood cots

Swedish Design Inspiration from Hästens

February 1, 2012 by mymateriallife

As a domestic-minded, textile-loving kind of person, European bedding shops have always made me swoon.  So imagine my delight when I spied that bed in the first photo through a new shop window at Santana Row while on a Paper Source mission.  So Swedish!  I’d seen ads from this company in the interior design magazines and I couldn’t resist going in even though I knew these beds were completely out of my price range.  What I did not yet know […]

Categories: Furnishings, Other Textiles • Tags: Hästens

More Marimekko: Surrur, the Book

November 21, 2011 by mymateriallife

Now that’s my kind of sewing project.  I found this wonderful book, Surrur, Make Your Own Marimekko, at the Crate and Barrel Marimekko Shop in Union Square last week.  I actually visited the shop twice; the second time (during our annual pilgrimage to the San Francisco Auto Show) I brought along a Crate and Barrel 15% off coupon that I received at home in a catalog.  That helped quite a bit with the sticker shock I experienced the first time […]

Categories: Furnishings, Other Textiles, Reading Material, Sewing • Tags: marimekko, surrur

Make Things More Beautiful with Pen and Photo

October 27, 2011 by mymateriallife

I love this image from an HTC magazine ad.  This is a great old designer’s trick that I learned from my favorite German interior designer, Christa, when I was her assistant.  Only Christa used actual photo prints of her clients’ interiors to draw on.  I just thought that was so clever of her.  I must say this HTC device looks pretty fun.  I wonder if you can do this kind of thing with an iPad – if not, I wish […]

Categories: Furnishings, Reading Material • Tags: david hicks, design technique, drawing on photos, garden design

Miscellaneous Material Goods

October 13, 2011 by mymateriallife

  As a reward for pulling off that anniversary party in such a short amount of time, I treated myself to one of my favorite and expensive (because it comes from Ireland) magazines yesterday, Image Interiors and Living.  Just for fun, take a look at some of the things I found in it. The Pimlico Print Wallpaper comes from Laura Ashley; it contains images from the Laura Ashley catalog’s history.  I used to love that catalog!  Funny too, because this […]

Categories: Furnishings, Other Textiles, Reading Material • Tags: anthropologie, boconcept, crochet birdhouse, dressmaker chair, laura ashley catalog, pimlico print wallpaper, spool candleholder