Signs of Spring

We must be getting close to spring if the cherry blossoms are coming out. This beautiful photograph by Raymond K. Gehman captures a cheery warbler perched on a cherry blossom tree near the Tidal Basin in Washington, DC. The striking colors and delicate composition could inspire a wallpaper design I'd like to have at this address all year long.

Universal Design as Nouns

Free, fun, educational and loaded with really good designs - that's a winning combination. And you, the design savvy followers at 973 Third, can be part of the effort.

Check out the the Noun Project - the mission is "sharing, celebrating and enhancing the world's visual language."

"The Noun Project collects, organizes and adds to the highly recognizable symbols that form the world's visual language, so we may share them in a fun and meaningful way."

Click here for more on universal messaging.

Thanks to Grain Edit, a print design blog, for introducing us to the Noun Project.

Red Velvet Valentine Treats

Make a delicious gift this week for Valentine's Day. Here are some beautiful inspirations. Click on the images for more info, recipes, and ideas.

Romantic Fonts for Valentine's Day

Looking to make a sweet Valentine greeting for someone special? Try one of these inspiring romantic (and free) fonts to get you started.

For more Valentine's Day card ideas, click here and here.

http://www.dafont.com/james-fajardo.font (Happy Valentine's day)
http://www.fonts2u.com/windsong.font (Please be Mine)
http://www.dafont.com/fiolex-girls.font (Love from 973 Third)

17th Century Private Museums Revealed

A new exhibit at the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC features rare and meticulously rendered catalogues of private collections dating from the 16th and 17th centuries. The documentation includes detailed engravings reproducing the works of art, natural history, and curiosities of these wealthy and sophisticated collectors. Some of the catalogues even include views of the museum rooms and galleries, offering a peek at their curatorial sensibility.

Collections Frozen in Time
Selections from the National Gallery of Art Library
February 5-July 24, 2011

Ikea Bookcases as Built-ins

If Ikea style may seem a little too much like grad student furnishings or first apartment hand-me -downs, take a look at the clever things Ikea Hackers have done. You'll be inspired to head to Ikea this weekend.




Click on each photo for more info.

Green Transportation

On a recent visit to New York, I happened upon this delightful confection of a bicycle on the sidewalk outside of ABC Home. I only saw it at rest, but can imagine the scene it creates when loaded with a Coco-mat mattress and heading across town en route to a delivery.
The custom made transport bicycle was created by a Dutch company, Fietsfabriek.


Click here for more on bicycles as a sustainable alternative to getting around. Click here for artful bicycle racks.

Faux Bois - Painted Grain Floor

Although I live with warm white oak floors throughout my house, I have always admired the fantastic effects of painted floors. If your floors aren't in great shape and their maintenance is an issue, an artful finish might be a beautiful solution. There are lots of successful examples of floors painted in soft and solid colors on porches or sunny rooms, or painted in two contrasting colors in a checkerboard pattern, and set on the diagonal in kitchens or entrance halls.

The bold white grain on the black painted floor above is one of the most visually exciting I have spied in an extensive personal history of admiring faux finishes. It brings a lot of fun into the room.

Faux Bois - imitation or fake wood, now refers mainly to the finished surface, but originally was used to describe the work of late 19th century French furniture makers starting with wire frames, building up a composite in the shape of the furniture piece and then painting it to resemble wood. More recently, it has become fashionable on decorative accessories as candles, tableware, paper goods and textiles.

Click here and here for more inspiration and instruction on faux finishes. Click here for DIY decorative staircase ideas.

Crochet Covered Smart Car

What do you get in Rome, when you cross a smart car with a crochet hook? Fabulous.

Happy New Year from 973 Third!

Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas

Vintage Christmas cards are great fun to share online. Click here for more vintage imagery. Click here for our favorite creative Christmas trees.

Creative and Green Gift Wrapping

Gift wrapping can be beautiful in its simplicity. Here are some ideas for inspiration from the goddess of good things, Martha Stewart. Above, brown craft paper tied with string works nicely with a fresh sprig of greens tucked in and a red bordered sticker label for a tag.

Recycling the drawings or doodles of your resident artist makes a cheerful and personal wrapping tied up with a bow.

A solid color paper or tissue looks elegant with a pretty bow and a little greenery attached.

Japanese style wrapping, furoshiki, with a piece of fabric or scarf self-tied as a carry-all is a thoughtful practice of the 3 Rs.

Natural materials as leaves and pods wrapped in rafia or grasses add an organic touch for your gifts.

Newspapers, maps, and strips of paper can be layered for an entirely recycled and creative wrapping.

Twist a sparkling or contrasting pipe cleaner into an initial or monogram to personalize your packaging.

Stamps and stickers, with a touch of red or green, make ideal tags for marking your gifts.

All images from here.

Luminarias - Lighting for Christmas Eve

Make your own luminarias (lights) or farolitas* (small paper lanterns):

Gather a handful of brown lunch bags, a bucket of play sand, a trowel, white votive candles, and a candle lighter. Open bags, fold over the top edge to shorten the height, flatten the bottom, scoop in some sand to weight the bottom and double as a fire retardant and nestle a candle in the center. Lay out your filled bags to flank the outside entrance, or line a path to the door. When darkness falls (or at the appointed hour and before guests are expected) carefully light each votive with a long handled lighter.

Beautiful, festive and very easy!

Image for inspiration: Holiday Open House at Spruce Tree House, an ancient Anasazi cliff dwelling at Mesa Verde National Park near Durango, Colorado

*Farolita is the diminutive form of farola, the Spanish word for streetlamp.

Easy Peasy Holiday Decorations

These are frantic days at 973, as Christmas is less than 4 days away, and I am scrambling to finish putting on the holiday touches.

Still to be done: (admittedly last-minute) green, minimalist decorations


I consider this the antithesis of the NYT article in last week's Home" section, "Even the Tree Has a Stylist." If you missed the article and you are the type who can manage your own holiday decorations, don't fret. Consider yourself fortunate enough to have the creativity, vision and leadership to do what some others seeking to find beauty and comfort at home at Christmas must pay dearly for.

Images for inspiration: plain glass ornaments filled with simple compositions, from Country Living, burlap (or other recycled household textile) makes a charmingly provincial stocking, from Better Homes & Gardens.

Catching Up in Time for Christmas

After a series of real world distractions, it's nice to be back at 973. There is much to do this week and I need all the holiday short-cuts I can get!

Here's the minimalist to do list:
Trim the tree - check, Hang wreath on door - check, Send holiday cards - check, Holiday music on ipod - check, Party foods on hand for surprise guests - check, Party drinks - check, Gifts for family & friends - not finished yet! Easy decorations - to be done!

Easy decoration idea/inspiration #1: Take a white bowl and fill it with pretty red ornaments. Ta Da! This would be pretty with any monochromatic assortment of ornaments. Having something with a little white on it helps visually connect the bowl with its contents.

More to come, very soon!

Simple and Rustic Autumn Party

With the refreshingly crisp weather and beautiful colors of autumn, perhaps it's not too late to host an impromptu harvest lunch party this weekend?

For more ideas on keeping it simple and rustic, click here.

Revisting Old Packaging

Revisiting: Scotch Tape

Originally known as cellulose tape, the product was made from strips of cellophane coated with an adhesive. The clear tape launched on this day in 1930 by the Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Co., hence the 3M moniker, in Saint Paul, Minnesota.

For more on the history of this indispensable product, click here.

Rethinking the Pavilion

This summer, the 2010 Serpentine Gallery Pavilion in London's Kensington Gardens has been designed by French archititect Jean Nouvel. The period from invitation to completion was only six months for this fabulous creation. The temporary structure opened on July 13 and will be open to visit and enjoy until October 17. Admission is free.

Click here for more info and photographs.

Photograph: John Offenbach

Sweet Green Dreams

Inspiration: Four beds all lined up with matching coverlets look fun with contrasting shams amidst the three shared night tables with matching lamps. The striped wallpaper pulls all the colors together and creates a visual lift from the dramatic horizontality of the beds in handsome alignment.

Image from Merimekko.

Who Bought the Sewing Machine?

Five generations ago, my family purchased a new and modern Singer sewing machine. The machine still sits on its handsome table, fitted with skinny drawers. Some drawers contain parts, but no manual survived. In 2010, we weren't sure exactly how old it was or which great-great-great aunt had hemmed the most stitches from pumping its treadle powered base. So the search began.


Between 1887 and 1891, Singer improved and further refined their newest invention, calling it the No. 2 Vibrating Shuttle Sewing Machine. The vibrating bobbin was also known as a boat or bullet shuttle.

The style was altered slightly about 1891 to change out the fiddle base to a rectangular base. These models later came to be known as 27 and 28 after 1891 and in the 20th century they were put into production again as models 127 and 128.

The serial number gave us some clue, but several online resources for tracking serial numbers provided contradictory information. Back to the books again and comparison shopping of documented late 19th century machines.

The exciting results: our Singer was made in late 1891 and is in its original condition.
The best news: it still works.

Singer timeline
Dating sewing machines
Vibrating shuttle

Love That Tartan

When the Macdonald boys were captured on oil in their various tartans, it was around the year 1749.

A century later, Isaac Singer started making sewing machines in 1851 in America. I. M. Singer & Co. opened its first overseas factory in Glasgow in 1867.


In a recent research adventure trying to date a beautiful antique Singer Sewing machine in the family, I came across this delightful antique tartan covered needle case from Singer's.

I just had to share it with you.

Thanks for your patience, it's good to be back at 973.

Fun and Easy Outdoor Lighting

Here's a great idea from Martha's magazine years ago. Start with a wide drinking glass, at least 2 colors of colored sand, a votive candle and its holder. Add some sand first in the larger glass to set the votive holder with the candle centered inside the outer glass. Then continue with a funnel adding sand in layers of color to fill the space between the containers. The outer glass also serves as a hurricane shade.

This works well with a concealed vase for flowers, too. Easy and fun!

Click on the photos for Martha's directions.

Environmentally Sustainable Behavior

National Geographic has just completed its second annual study on personal choices toward making the world more sustainable. Working with GlobeScan, an international polling company, the results are presented as their Consumer Greendex.

A total of 17,000 consumers in 17 countries answered questions on their energy use, conservation, transportation choices, food sources, use of green vs. traditional products, attitudes toward sustainability and the environment and knowledge of related issues. The study will continue annually to track the changes and progress.

You can test your personal Greendex, too. Click here to measure your own sustainable behavior.

Greening the Champs-Elysees

Over the past weekend in Paris, the Champs-Elysées was covered in grass, plants, trees, cattle and sheep along the 3/4 mile stretch from the Arc de Triomphe to the Place de la Concorde. The event was organized by the Young Farmers Union to encourage French consumers to reflect on "what they have on their plates and how it got there."

The transplanted countryside offered a showcase of Gallic agriculture and biodiversity. Visitors also enjoyed tastings of regional specialties and selections of plants and produce for sale. The organizers hoped to attract about two million people.

For more images, click here.

Why Design Now?

Discovering beauty and wisdom in simple forms that use minimal resources. Enabling people around the globe to generate and share wealth. Powering the world with clean energy. As designers tackle these concepts with new products or prototypes they help us address globally relevant social and environmental issues.

Why Design Now? is the title of the fourth installation in the National Design Triennial series, started at the Cooper Hewitt, National Design Museum in 2000. Amongst the sampling of contemporary innovation, the exhibit itself is an environmentally responsible design. Very inspiring.

Reduce, reuse, recycle. Click here for information on the exhibition.

Colorful Interiors Win

Not surprisingly, the boldest and brightest hues were winners last week in Benjamin Moore's contest for best use of color in architecture and interiors. A lifetime achievement award was presented to the NY design team of William Diamond and Anthony Baratta. Above, an entryway in Captiva, Florida, by Diamond Baratta Design.

Are you suddenly thinking of a tropical getaway? Or maybe a blue box from Tiffany's?

Is This Spring?

Earlier this week, my dear and talented photographer friend Susan sent me this photo. I marveled at the colors, her composition and the oddly sweet juxtaposition of tulips capped with snow.

When I spoke with her later that day, I casually asked how long ago she had taken the photo with the flowers and the snow. I knew they had experienced a big white winter this season. Had their April showers brought more snow last month?

She quickly clarified that the flowers dusted with snow were the scene she'd captured that Sunday, on the first weekend of May near her home in southwestern Colorado.

I didn't want to mention that we had been enjoying unseasonably warm and sunny weather all week. Fruit frees are flowering and shrubs are blooming. Even people seem to be happier.

Visiting Pompeii Before Dinner

Need a little archaeology fix today? Take a stroll on Google's Street View of Pompeii and don't worry about the crowds of tourists, your passport or the exchange rate. The 360 degree panoramic street-level service of Pompeii is so fascinating to visit, you'll probably want to make several excursions.

Life in the ancient Roman city was wiped out by the catastrophic eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 A.D. The volcano deposited 20 feet of ash, killing everyone in Pompeii and nearby Herculaneum. The disaster preserved the remains of the city until it was rediscovered in the 18th century. Archaeologists of the last 250 years have been studying the ruins to better understand Roman life in the first century.

These are the actual buildings and ruins that survive today. No need to rely on sterile looking reconstructions or sharp, linear computer generated images to imagine for yourself the texture and scale of the houses, storefronts and civic structures. One perk of virtually visiting Pompeii, is seeing the real thing.

Bon voyage and don't miss the wall paintings!

Happy Earth Day

There has been a lot of talk about the last 40 years of Earth Day and the progress we have made. What started as a grass roots project to bring attention and clean-up efforts to the horrible pollution of our air, water and land has made the Earth a better and cleaner place.

Sure, there are new concerns and challenges, but we are better equipped to deal with them, not only as a concerned nation, but a global community.

Here are two interesting short videos on the history of Earth Day and our progress:

Click here for an animated tribute, Earth Day turns 40, from the Mother Nature Network

Click here for a Washington Post video, Unfinished Business: Earth Day at 40

We believe in celebrating Earth Day every day at 973 Third.