organizing my pinterest account

It's no secret that I have a real obsession with Pinterest. As a designer, it has become one of most valued resources - a constant source of inspiration, an important part of client communication and a main attractor to the blog. Since joining, I have done my best to keep my boards organized and not have too few or too many boards floating out there. Recently, however, I was noticing that things were getting a little overloaded and not as user friendly as I would have liked. So I took some time and did some re-sorting. In alphabetical order...

Blog|A Pin A Day: A remnant from the roughly year long series that I have since discontinued.

Blog|The Place Home: A repository for the images associated with blog posts.

Design|Details: All pins related to finish carpentry, joinery and material detailing. This is one of my favorite boards as I just love the craftsmanship and ingenuity that is expressed in some of the images. Plus its where you will find my image collection of dutch doors...

10" x 42" Live Edge Cedar Bench by Quarter Twenty

Design|Fireplaces: Another favorite as fireplaces represent that beautiful balance of function and aesthetics. 

Design|Garden: One of my most pin to boards and one that is probably in need of subdividing. This boards includes everything related to outdoor spaces, gardening and landscape design.

Design|Intervention: A board dedicated to large scale and experiential art. Some amazing images of land art that I find awe inspiring. 

stone piece by Andy Goldsworthy

Design|Kids: A board for kiddo spaces and products. 

Design|Private: Exterior images of well designed homes - traditional, modern, historic and more. 

Design|Products: A sort of mix match of images including graphic design and branding as well as just cool business ideas. 

clipnest by root design office

Design|Public: A collection of exterior and interior public spaces - restaurants, shops, multi-family housing units, barns, factories etc.

Design|Representation: A selection of amazing artists' works. 

Design|Quilts: This is one of my new boards as I decided this obsession needed its own space in my collection.

Design|Stairs: I love stairs for the same reason I love fireplaces - form and function. 

Home|Accessorize: An old board that I subdivided - this large collection now includes textiles, rugs, homewares, hardware and styling. 

Home|Bathrooms: Currently 100 pins of this highly used space.

Home|Bedrooms: A new board dedicated to one of my favorite rooms in a house. 

bedroom via House & Home

Home|Finishes: This board includes images of materials (largely flooring), paint and wallpaper. 

Home|Furniture: My go to resource for beautiful pieces - lots of rattan, walnut, brass, linen, leather...

Home|Holidays: This collection should probably just be called Home|Christmas.

Home|Interiors: Basically images of inspiring interior spaces that aren't bathrooms, kitchens or bedrooms. 

Home|Kitchens: A new board dedicated entirely to this design beast of a room. 

Home|Lighting: Another newbie full of form and function - lots here as I am not a big fan of overhead can lighting.

plaster lamps by Jacques Grange for Yves Saint Laurent via 1st Dibs

Living|Seasonally: An inspiration board for summer, fall, winter and spring.

The rest of the boards on my page are related to style and beauty, clients and just a few other random things. If curious follow me and if you aren't already on Pinterest you can sign up for an account here.

firm feature: bocci

On Friday, I somehow got on a tangent of searching for lighting made of ceramic and porcelain. This lead me down a wonderful wormhole of discovering both traditional and modern forms of lighting. One of my most exciting discoveries was BOCCI. BOCCI is a "contemporary design and manufacturing company based in Vancouver and Berlin". Founded in 2005 by Omer Arbel, the firm "explores the intrinsic mechanical, physical, and chemical qualities of materials as fundamental departure points for making work". Structuring their work as chronological projects, BOCCI makes inventive and ethereal lighting that is both custom and installation based as well as available for consumer purchase.  

My first BOCCI love is 21. It looks amazing in multiples but comes in the affordable option of a singular pendant.

Probably my second love is 14 although it comes a tight race at this point. This, I also love in multiples but I also think a pair of singular sconces could be amazing as well. 

Not a lighting piece but rather an illuminating object of sorts, 19 is a beauty as well. 

So is 73...

And 28...

And 16...

There really are too many amazing products and images to share here so definitely make sure to check out BOCCI's website. Also each series has an interesting video that explains how the product is made. And for my architect and designer friends Omer Abel gave this lecture at the Art Institute of Chicago that is worth a listen. 

rediscovering print

With a seemingly infinite amount of information and images on the web, it can be easy to think that the internet is all anyone really needs to stay informed and inspired. I can easily slip into this mentality, but recently, I feel like I have been rediscovering the value of print.

I have always loved books and am a bit of a snob in that I like to own my books. At times, this affinity can become a bit of a barrier to expanding my reading list. This becomes especially true when it comes to design books - big, beautiful and expensive design books! That is why I sort of feel like I have hit the jackpot in our local library. I know it sounds old fashion and obvious but our library is just three blocks from our house and has a well stocked design section. I also sort of love going because there is something about the smell of a library that just brings me back to of my childhood. And - just knowing I can leave with an armful of books and not have spent a penny!

So far I have checked out and read Nate Berkus' The Things That Matter and American Farmhouses: Country Style and Design by Leah Rosch. Berkus' book is an amazing read that I would recommend to anyone.  His approach to design is one that really resonates with me and to read it so well outlined and explained in his book was very inspiring. 

“I believe your home should tell the story of who you are. What you love most collected and assembled in one space. All your objects, finds, hand-me-downs . . . spelling out who you are to the world. Fact is, there isn’t a single item in my own home that doesn’t have a story behind it. This book celebrates the philosophy that things do matter. They have to. They’re what we live with and touch every single day. They welcome us home at night and greet us each morning on our bedside table. They represent where we’ve been, who we’ve loved, and where we hope to go. They make us happy, and I can’t think of a more beautiful way to live than that . . .” - Nate Berkus.

And of course, there are some amazing images as well...

American Farmhouses is a quick and informative read for anyone with a farmhouse obsession like myself. It also has an extensive resource list in its index which I have slowly been making my way through. It also has some great eye candy...

Greek Revival farmhouse preserved and restored by V. Romanoff and Associates

Other print sources of inspiration are magazines. And in particular, the new breed of independent publications. Ones I currently subscribe to (some independent and some not) are Inc., Taproot (read a more detailed review here) and Modern Farmer. Ones I plan on adding to my list include: Trouvé (thanks for the referral Emily Suzanne), Kinfolk, Sweet Paul and Anthology. 

Happy reading and have a good weekend everyone!