i’m so happy to end the week with an update from my park slope neighbor, wayne pate . wayne re-designed his website and is now selling a beautiful selection of home goods along with his sweet prints. if you’re looking for something special for someone, or just want to perk up your own space, click here to check it out! we’ll be taking monday off for the holiday, so i’ll see you …  Read More →

*Image from All About You . Growing up, my mom was continually redecorating our surroundings. Although we moved rather frequently, once we were situated somewhere, it wouldn’t be long before my older brother and I would come home from school only to hear mom’s inevitable “What if we moved the couch to the other wall and put the love seat over here?” I picked up the rearranging fever from her, continually tweaking and... 

okay, i’m going to be honest and say that sometimes my opinion on a project is heavily influenced by the styling and quality of the photos. what can i say? as a visual person, i freely admit that packaging is everything. i like good design and pretty things; guilty as charged. when i saw the quirky and beautiful after shot of this chair, i had to stop and question if the image’s charm was…  Read More →

i pass by chairs like these so often at thrift stores and yard sales. i consider myself to be someone with a good amount of creative vision, but when my brain takes in the wrinkly leather and the overly varnished wood it says, i give up. i have to commend courtney, not only for braving the removal of such well maintained upholstery, but for choosing such an unexpected fabric for the shape of the chair. the result is eclectic and actually looks... 

good morning! it’s so nice to be back and brooklyn after our little getaway to catskill, ny. as much as i love waking up to the sound of birds (and wild turkeys in the yard!) it’s also nice to wake up to an email with adorable wooden birds. these “ morning birds ” (engraved in sustainable bamboo) are from cole at option g and are available right here for $30 each or $120 for a full set.  Read More →

in an attempt at minimalism, i decided to sell off my poorly treated, disorganized collection of cds, receiving a mere fraction of what i paid originally. apparently, nobody needs a scratched copy of depeche mode’s violator with a cracked jewel case and SO many memories and feelings attached to it…okay i’ll keep that one! but freeing up the space a cd collection takes up doesn’t really work if you still have all the boxes,... 

it seems i am always in need of extra storage space.  i have an abundance of art materials and supplies that just keeps growing. i am already storing boxes of paints, paintbrushes, paper, pens and scissors, and a multitude of glues behind a linen curtain beneath our built-in desk. it is a great storage place for the things i don’t necessarily use all of the time, but what about the things I use constantly, like my watercolors and rulers,... 

i’m smack in the middle of a major effort to freshen up my own bedroom – and as i get ready for the big reveal,  i’ve been totally immersed in all things sleepytime related! so i thought it would be fun to take a little look at the often-overlooked, yet frequently used nightstand! as you look through these nightstand options, you may notice that i’m not really into the traditional versions (particularly the under $100... 

i’ve been learning so much from the consulting sessions i’ve been doing with independent business and blog owners lately that it’s really inspired me to get a bit more involved in the biz ladies section of d*s. so many of the same issues and concerns keep popping up, and rather than keep the solutions between just two of us, i thought i’d share some of the advice i’ve given clients with everyone. last week it sort... 

from this little apartment in colombus , ohio, jen and omar are mapping the world -  when the couple couldn’t find the perfect colorful minimalist world map, they decided to design their own , which kicked off a map designing storm because it turns out that other people were looking for the same thing! i’m super excited for this peek because jen and omar have only…  Read More →

joel holland has called brooklyn home for over 10 years now, and most of it has been spent in this apartment in one form or another. he’s dreamt of having an office with a door like the ones described in the fountainhead: “joel holland, hand-letterer/illustrator/pizza maker” in gold leaf on frosted glass. but he likes working from home, so he does, and today we have a great peek into that space. {thanks, joel!} – anne... 

i feel like i spend most of my furniture day dreaming time thinking about long farm tables for my dining room. well, the dining room i’ll hopefully have one day. right now we’re lucky to fit a tiny ikea table inside our dining area, but one day i’m going to have a huge wooden table with a dramatic chandelier where all of my friends and family can gather to eat…  Read More →

just a little morning eye candy to start the week. and by little, i mean tiny . dalton ghetti is an amazing artist from connecticut who carves tiny works of art into pencil lead. he’s been in the press for some time now, but d*s reader jerica sent me an email about his work this weekend and i ended up falling in love with his work all over again. i’d never seen these awesome letters he carved into pencil nubs so i thought i’d... 

Because I am an ardent lover of desserts, people are always surprised to learn that I’m not a fan of chocolate and definitely not gooey chocolate.  This recipe by food blogger Justyna Anna Miziolek, of the blog Love Lives in the Kitchen , however, was so good I had to instantly freeze the cakes so that I wouldn’t eat them all at once!  I believe the tortino al cioccolato , or chocolate cake with the molten center, is like the little... 

Since so many of our posts here on design*sponge share with you the everyday-ness of our flower business lives, we thought it only fair to finally share with all of our readers a new big part of our lives in the past few months. You may have noticed a few months ago we started talking about “the shop” in our posts here. After a soft opening in February, we just recently celebrated the “official” grand opening of our brick-and-mortar...