Hipster Havens - Design Styles of the Poor but Crafty

DIY - Making a lampshade is fucking hard!

     Have you ever wondered how in the hell other people's DIY projects always turn out so perfectly?  Do you spend countless $$ in materials only to produce an item strikingly similar to one you made in 3rd grade?  Relax, some of us suck too. In case you happen to also be DIY challenged, I thought I'd let you in on a little project of mine that turned out like shit.

Make the world's crappiest lampshade in

                only eleven easy steps!

Step One:  Buy an old funky lamp at your local thrift store. $15 is more than I'd have liked to spend but it's cool, dirty and I need a bedside light.

 

Step Two:  Realize that the shade you had in mind is cheesy and think, "Hey, I write a design blog - I'll make one myself!"

Step Three:  Bask in the thought of your readers witnessing your mini-miracle of creation.

Step Four:  Get out the construction paper, wire hanger, elmer's glue and anything else you used in 2nd grade. Pour yourself a congratulatory glass of wine.

Step Five:   Attempt to bend the freakishly strong hanger into something mildly resembling a circle.

Step Six:  Keep pasting layers of cardstock on top of each other until it could pass for a shade.

Step Seven: Finally understand that one hanger and a bunch of paper do not make a lampshade. Dig around your house for anything else that holds shape. Have another glass.

Step Eight:  Attach old origami paper and janky metal strip to exterior of shade.

Step Nine:  Decide that metal and paper can not be held by .99 cent glue. Screw strip in place.

 

Step Ten:  Take cute antler salt shaker you got for Christmas and rest it on the top like a finial.  This will fall off the second you breathe so don't.  Take Hipster Havens photos...........

 

                                   .............and, viola!

Step Eleven:  Drink 'til she's pretty.

It looks better from far away. Hope this helps the rest of you not feel like losers.  Maybe my mom will tape it to the fridge.

 

 

Finally -a DIY for those of you on house arrest.

Yeah, it took two weeks. Yeah, it's completely useless. I don't care. I love this totally handmade, plush Nintendo system. Designer blueblythe from crafster.org dyed the felt, hand-sewed and embroidered all the details.  She even made interchangable Duck Hunt and Super Mario screens for the television. Definintely ranks right up there as one of the most enjoyable wastes of time I've ever seen.

Mustaches again? That's right - suck it.

How clever is this wallpaper by Natalie Wright? I'm going to hang it everywhere and watch my friends congratulate me for being so cool. You should too.

Vintage Resurrection- Praise Jesus!

Interior designer Nicole and artist Kate invited me over for dinner and then pretended not to mind while I snooped through their house taking HH photos.  Now that is friendship. Pretty much everything you see is a thrift-store rescue, handmade by one of them or a vintage heirloom. 

This Jesus coffee table is my favorite piece in the apartment. I always try to set my drink down around the halo but sometimes I get the face. Yet another reason you may see me in hell.

You know how in elementary school there was always the one (strange) girl whose hair was too long, pants were too short and love of horses was a tad bit obsessive?  She's finally validated.

Matchbox cars instead of dried-out butterflies. Genius!

Hay, another horse!

Even the closets are stylish. Do you feel bad yet?

B-I-N-G-O!

If you live in San Francisco, Brooklyn, or Portland you may want to play a few rounds. You know, in case you finish so fast you can't fully enjoy your cup of organically-grown coffee from the fair-trade bean fields of Guatemala.

Playing with dolls is not just for 6-year-olds and mental patients

Myspace friend and doll maker extraordinaire Cody Thompson agreed to share pics of his insanely original apartment and to answer a bunch of lame questions from my nosy ass. Check him out - it's always good to see where the creative magic happens.

Q: what inspires your art?

A: everything ever. seriously. but mostly nature and humans.

Q: what is the self-portrait flag made from? why was it made?

A: the flag is made from beads and sequins mostly, in the Haitian Vodoo tradition. google it! i made it for forever.

Q: i see a lot of collections - what is the significance? where did you acquire them?

A: i collect things, mostly textiles, cut paper, folk art, carved and painted wood and figures just 'cause i like them. i frequent thrift stores and flea markets.

Q: what is the signifcance of the Adidas tee in the display (which I love by the way)?

A: the ratty Adidas shirt used to get passed around between all my friends about 7 years ago. we all wore it to death. it was lost for a few years then was found by my friend's brother after cleaning out his room at his parents. the shirt was then lost again, in a field near the banks of a small fishin' hole. after a few weeks i saved it from the dirty bank, took it home and washed it. i found the case at the flea market and thought the old relic t-shirt made a great fit for it.

i recently made this pillow and am pretty proud of it.

Q: what inspires your house design?

A: i like saturated colors and bright light. i don't like cleaning.

some cut paper.

Q: what's with the plants on the window sill?

A: i got some nice little apothecary jars from a yard sale and was using them as lil' greenhouses to grow cotton in.

finally, my new pup.

If money has no meaning buy one of these!

If you're still spending countless hours stapling papers only to later regret the act -  these cool-as-shit staple removers might be right up your alley. At only $55, I can't think of a better purchase moneybags.

Are you talking to me?

DIY - Turn your heartache into poetry (and fridge art)!

It's a universal fact: break-ups fucking suck. They worse than suck. They are heart-wrenchingly, expectation-shattering, mind-numbingly painful. You try and remember all the bad things about the person who broke your heart but images of the two of you running through a field of daisies keeps annoyingly popping in. Well, here is a project to help you remember that sometimes break ups can be a good thing.

                        6 simple steps for making your smooshed

                 soul laugh again (all while making fridge magnets).

Step One:  Take your therapists advice and make a relationship pros/cons list. Then, cross out the pros and add to the cons. Write down every horrible, wicked thought you've had since the big break. No matter how ridiculous or petty, being nice here won't score you any points. In fact, the more outrageous, the more you'll laugh and the better you'll feel.

Step Two:  Transfer to a computer program. Here we used InDesign. Make sure to include words like: He, She, We, is, had, and, a.  It will help your poetry flow like Wordsworth.

Step Three:  Choose a background color that matches your mood. Print on photo paper.

Step Four:  Unwrap Self-Adhesive Magnet Strip - Can be found at any hardware store.

Step Five: Attach magnetic strip to the back and cut strips to size.

Step Six:  Attach to fridge and make all the funny little sayings your brain was telling you all along anyway.  Have a little laugh and give yourself props for being creative. You'll live!

This coffee will kick your ass!

 

At last! British designers thabto have finally come up with an innovative solution for all the extra brass knuckles we Americans have lying around.