She's A Betty

Guggenhouse: Small Spaces Links

More links for small space lovers:

• I like this food warmer/radiator combination (although I like central heating more).

• A NY couple renovated their 400 sq feet studio for $12,000. The guy actually lived there during the renovation--he had to vacuum his bed every night before sleeping. Love him!

• not martha has a nice DIY storage idea for small kitchens.

• Finally, a surprisingly attractive coffee table/bench/magazine rack.

See the full set of Guggenhouse posts for more small space ideas.

Inspiration: Writers' Rooms

Workspace of Beryl Bainbridge, from the Guardian.

The Guardian has a nice feature on famous writers' workspaces, with photographs and commentary from people like Seamus Heaney and Alain de Botton (via Anh-minh). As a writer, it was comforting to see the abundance of books and papers; I sent it to my dad, and his response was only, "They're all messy, aren't they?"

Guggenhouse: Small Spaces Links

More links for small space lovers:

• Dirk Dieter's 250 sq ft house.

• A well-decorated 472 sq ft apartment.

• Freshome has 5 decorating tips for small rooms (via Lifehacker).

• Free Spirit Spheres sells mind-boggling spherical treehouses.

• Awesome! found a picnic table that fits into a briefcase.

• Which goes with these briefcase-like portable grills.

• Extra storage for small cars.

Deborah Bowness Wallpaper

Thank goodness, I finally put two and two together.  I'd seen Deborah Bowness' clothing wallpapers everywhere, but had only seen her bookshelf paper at Designers' Block UK.  To me, the two products existed in separate universes.

Of course, that was before the geek blogs discovered the bookshelf paper, and I discovered that both papers came from the same brilliant mind.  Sweet stuff.

No word on prices, but I'm sure they're heartbreaking.  See more photos and products at Bowness' official site.

Small Spaces: Hanging Gardens

A long time ago, I did a post on urban gardening.  As I mentioned in that post, limited space is the biggest challenge for city gardeners; here are four novel approaches to that problem: 

First, there's PingMag's article on vertical gardens.  Botanist Patrick Blanc creates amazing, self-sustaining "organic wallpaper," usually for businesses, but also for private residences (left image).  The wallpaper functions without soil and only needs maintenance three or four times a year (via Your Daily Awesome).

Another idea: the Bouroullec brothers created these Teracrea Treilles, available at greenergrassdesign for $370.00 (via Design*Sponge).  I love the design, but wonder if you could assemble a DIY version with a normal trellis and some containers.  Something like this rolling trellis?   

Finally, two more affordable ideas:

• a space-saving balcony planter.
• a short guide to container gardening (via Lifehacker).

Guggenhouse: Links for Small Spaces

Here are five links for small-space lovers (and those who just make do):

• Ingenious staircase storage.

• Ceiling height's effect on the brain.

• Cool, stupidly expensive stacking chairs.

• Apartment Therapy's Smallest Coolest Apartment Contest (scroll down for entries).

• Brilliant renovation of a 550 sq ft apartment (NYTimes).  Love the curved shower rod, fallen leaf carpet, and floating bookcases.

Guggenhouse: Designer Climbing Wall

Believe it or not, this is an functional rock climbing wall (located in the Illoiha Fitness Center, wall design by Nendo).  Obviously, this was a custom job, and isn't for sale; still, I'd love to see something like this become available to homeowners.  The space-savvy combination of wall decorations with personal gym is pure awesome (via Core77).

Guggenhouse: DIY Wall Calendar

Cropped scan from March 2007 issue of Cottage Living (click for full size).  Photo by Robbie Caponetto.

Cottage Living has instructions for this wall calendar.  I love the idea--my main frustration with month calendars is the boxes aren't big enough, and this solves that problem.

However, I would change the color scheme.  The brown works for this space, but otherwise it's a bit dull. Some ideas:

• Use a patterned wallpaper.  Alternatively, use a dark or jewel-toned solid wallpaper for drama.  The instructions recommend a paper with texture to hide holes.

• Play with ribbon size, texture, and color.

• Modify the push-pins.  I have a French memo board with pearl push-pins; another idea are flower mods.  I also like the idea of gluing on massive fake gems or plastic bugs.
  

• I'd ditch the month and day headers for something bolder.

Check out the full instructions at Cottage Living's site, then mod away!

Guggenhouse: Another Anti-Smoking Ashtray

A few months ago, we did a round-up of quitter-friendly ashtrays.  Here's one more (left), via Core77.

The designers, Finding Cheska, have many excellent designs (other favorites include their tangram plate and coffee cup series).   I can't find their designs for sale online, but hopefully blog buzz will change that.

Guggenhouse: Table & Chair Sets for Small Spaces

A long time ago, I wrote a Guggenhouse series for small spaces (if you missed it, here are parts one, two, & three).  To return to that theme, here are three compact table & chair sets.  Clockwise, starting on the left:

• First, a privately commissioned (not for sale) project by Jim Hannon Tan.  Called "Spin System," it can seat up to eight (via swissmiss).

• Next, from British retailer A Place for Everything, the well-designed Lovers Breakfast Table, £85.00.  International delivery is available, but rates will vary (via one+infinity).

• While technically available for purchase, the Blue Desk by Paul Kelley is $30,000 and produced in units of 10.  I think that crafty DIYers could make something functionally similar, using a thrifted file cabinet, chair and desk.  Then again, as core77 suggests, maybe you could just "slide your stool underneath the desk you do have."