what if...?

what if you could live IN an ikea?? or rather, a home made up entirely of things found in an ikea store?

but what if that home was only 52 square meters... and in the middle of a Paris metro station??

well that's exactly what 5 Parisians did for 6 full days last month! check out the assembly of the apartment and the roommates living together (not to mention being on public display 24/7!) below:

do you think you could live in this sort of situation, even for 6 days? i think it would be super exciting at first, and then become fairly claustrophobic and uncomfortable.

but honestly, if offered this unique opportunity, who could turn it down!? so neat.

map it out

i have some sort of odd fascination with maps... though on second thought it might just be an extension of my constant wanderlust.

around every corner in amsterdam, for instance, i would walk into an adorable dutch shop and find (and subsequently fall in love with,) several dozen beautiful map prints. while those prints mostly depicted the romantic, dutch golden age of yore, there's definitely something to be said about more modern, "design-y" maps like these colorful silkscreens from These Are Things.



while i love the bold color of the "statement map" above, i think something more understated, with only a flash of optical excitement, like the central compass rose below, would be a perfect, mature choice for an office or den.


i also couldn't ignore the San Francisco neighborhood map, (don't worry, These Are Things also has prints of LA, DC, NYC, Chicago, and even Columbus!) partly because of my love for my city by the bay, and partly because it makes the visual thinker in me very happy. don't you think this could make a wonderful gift?? a print of the city a friend was born in for her birthday, or a print of the city a couple met in for their wedding??

kitchen love

just a little kitchen love to get your 3-day weekend started!

(sparkling here)

here's to a happy 4th of july and hopefully more time spent at the grill than in the kitchen.
even if yours is this beautiful.