Boing Boing » housewares

Boba Fett mixer

Cory Doctorow — Wed, 22 May 2013 02:15:29 +0000

DeviantArt's TommyFilth modded a KitchenAid mixer and gave it a perfect Boba Fett makeover: "I asked for a Kitchenaid mixer for Christmas, I pointed my wife toward a broken one on eBay so that I could refurbish it, as I was taking it apart I got some inspiration for the paint job and this is what came out of it, still needs a phase board for speed control and two decals to be applied to the sides but I couldn't wait to share."

Boba Fett Mixer (Thanks, Fipi Lele!)

Haunted Mansion wallpaper and fabric

Cory Doctorow — Fri, 17 May 2013 02:19:50 +0000

Kristen sez, "The DoomBuggies website has released a version of the Haunted Mansion Corridor of Doors wallpaper in fabric, wallpaper and gift wrap, and according to the DoomBuggies facebook page, it's the same graphic that has been used by Disney. 'This is created from the same artwork that we created for Disney's official Haunted Mansion 40th Anniversary CD box set and CD insert,' according to Jeff Baham, the owner of DoomBuggies.com."

DoomBuggies Eye Fabric

HOWTO make a spiral oak staircase out of cheap IKEA countertops

Cory Doctorow — Sun, 28 Apr 2013 00:41:20 +0000

Bryce Phelps made himself a beautiful oak spiral staircase and saved a ton of money by cutting up cheap IKEA oak countertops for the treads:

I went with a 4" steel pipe from the local steel yard buying 18'. Also purchased some angle and flat steel to frame out the stairs. My treads needed to be 22" long making the whole staircase 4' including the center pipe. The treads are 30 degrees, so you can fit 6 on one side or 180 degrees together. I had a total of 7 treads or runs and about a 9" rise. Take the overall height and divide by the runs = the rise needed. Once all this was welded back supports aren't needed and the stairs are very rigid.
For the treads I headed to Ikea and picked up the 8' NUMERÄR Countertop in Oak, traced and pattern and laid out the cuts in pencil with the grain all going the same direction. I cut the straight lines with the skilsaw and round cuts with the bandsaw. Took the router to the edges and followed up with some sanding and stain. Attached the treads with lags and wiped everything down.
It really turned out better than I thought and for a fraction of the price + you get to tell people you made it.

Spiral Staircase with Numerar

Mid-century modern kitchen

Cory Doctorow — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 18:07:21 +0000

Now that's a kitchen!

1950 Armstrong Mid Century Modern Kitchen

Bookcase/staircase/slide!

Cory Doctorow — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 16:21:30 +0000

Architects Moon Hoon designed a house in Chungcheongbuk-do, South Korea, that uses a staircase as a slide, a library and a room-divider. My goodness, it is lovely.

The basic request of upper and lower spatial organization and the shape of the site promted a long and tin house with fluctuating facade which would allow for more differentiated view. The key was coming up with a multi-functional space which is a large staircase, bookshelves, casual reading space, home cinema, slide and many more…
The client was very pleased with the design, and the initial design was accepted and finalized almost instantly, only with minor adjustments. The kitchen and dining space is another important space where family gathers to bond. The TV was pushed away to a smaller living room. The attic is where the best view is possible, it is used as a play room for younger kids. The multi-use stair and slice space brings much active energy to the house, not only children, but also grown ups love the slide staircase…An action filled playful house for all ages…

Panorama House by Moon Hoon (via Neatorama)

Wooden chef's knives

Cory Doctorow — Tue, 16 Apr 2013 15:59:44 +0000

I have no idea if FDRL's "Maple Set" knives are practical or even useful, but they are extremely beautiful.

With this project we wanted to explore an alternative emotion to the standard kitchen knives you see every day. The focus is drawn to the high polished blade, while the rest of the knife's Maple wood body sits warmly in the hand and blends in to its surroundings. The wood is sealed and food safe to allow for easy cleanup. The knife gives the appearance of being lightweight; however their weight is balanced to ensure that they can be used by any level of chef.

Maple Set (via Core77)

Convertible coffee-table/sofa/dining room table + stools

Cory Doctorow — Tue, 09 Apr 2013 03:21:32 +0000

Julia Kononenko, a designer in Kharkiv, Ukraine, created a clever piece of furniture that converts from a coffee table to a sofa to a dining room table with chairs. It's more small living-space porn for me -- the perfect thing for your 130sqft apartment.

In our apartments we are always in the confrontation with furniture for the living space. It is so important, that the Interior items possess little space, are multi-functional and small in size. I created a sofa for the living room, that can easily be transformed into a small dining-table with 6 padded stools. In terms of ergonomics it gives maximum comfort and convenience to the user. While transforming the sofa, the seat turns into six padded stools, and the backrest - into a countertop. From one small sofa, we can get a dining-table for 6 persones. Transformation furniture - ideal for limited space.

Сonvertible sofa

Tiki Room mugs

Cory Doctorow — Mon, 08 Apr 2013 18:59:28 +0000

Designer Kevin Kidney's posted more of the awesome Tiki Room stuff he and Jody Daily designed for the Disneyland Tiki Room 50th Anniversary event this summer (he posted his Luau Bowl earlier). This time around, it's a pair of lidded mugs paying homage to two of the idols of the tiki garden outside the Tiki Room in Disneyland: Pele and Tangaroa-Ru.

New Tiki Room Collectibles Coming to Disneyland This Summer (Part 1)

Clever, 130sqft Paris apartment

Cory Doctorow — Mon, 08 Apr 2013 12:13:12 +0000

Inthralld showcases a 130 square-foot apartment in Paris, where a set of insanely clever design decisions allows for a full apartment's worth of amenities to be jammed into a teeny weeny space. I love the drawers in the steps, but of course I really love the hiding bed/sofa. Basically, I want to live in a Murphy apartment and/or houseboat.

What was once a master suite of an apartment in the Montparnasse neighborhood is now a 130 square foot micro apartment that houses all of the necessities. There’s even an extremely creative way to house the mattress-slash-sofa. The bed doubles as seating space for lounging and entertaining, which rolls away discreetly underneath a set of steps on the floor. The Magis One stools add some much needed contemporary pizazz to the inner environment, while the storage really looks like art and functions just perfectly.

130 Square Foot Micro Apartment in Paris (via Core77)

Ice-cube-tray in a bottle

Cory Doctorow — Sat, 06 Apr 2013 15:58:13 +0000

The "Polar Bear Ice Tray" is a sealed bottle that makes icecubes and then facilitates their easy removal. The sealed container keeps freezer flavors away, and once it's all frozen, you can dislodge the ice by giving the bottle a whack on a countertop and then pour it out of the mouth. Looks like a clever way of solving an old problem, though I haven't tried it myself.

polar bear ice tray (via Red Ferret)

Stainless steel, refillable Sharpies

Cory Doctorow — Wed, 03 Apr 2013 18:38:11 +0000

If you love Sharpies (as I do), but actually manage to hold onto them until they run out, rather than losing them at the rate of several a week (as I do), then you might benefit from the refillable, stainless steel Sharpie ($5.78), which would spare you the sad sensation you get when you drop your dead Sharpie into the trash.

There's only one time in my life that I actually used up a Sharpie: when I was signing the title-pages for something like 5,000 hardcovers of this graphic novel, and I had the curious sensation of uncapping a fresh Sharpie and signing until it ran dry -- it was something like using up an entire chapstick, a weird kind of accomplishment.

Sharpie Stainless Steel Fine Point Permanent Marker (via Core 77)

Disney World Luau bowl

Cory Doctorow — Sun, 31 Mar 2013 13:49:29 +0000

Kevin Kidney and Jody Daily designed this beautiful Polynesian Luau Bowl for an upcoming Walt Disney World special event. It'll sell for $35, but the on-sale date isn't announced yet.

Summer's coming...

Kalashnikov made of bones

Cory Doctorow — Thu, 28 Mar 2013 02:35:17 +0000

New Zealand artist Bruce Mahalski has put a new sculpture of an AK47 assembled from animal bones up for sale, with a starting bid of NZD3500. It's quite a beautiful piece of work.

The latest bone gun by New Zealand bone artist – Mahalski – is a life-size AK47 machine gun(330mm x 940mm) featuring found animal bones from rabbit, stoat, ferret, sheep, hawk, pheasant, wallaby, snapper, snake, blackbird, tarakihi, hedgehog, broad-billed prion , shear water, thrush, seal ,cat and possum (plus part of a skull from the extinct moa ). The gun is made entirely of bones mounted on an invisible wooden frame and is displayed standing upright on two rods on a piece of recycled matai timber (1130mm x 2000mm). You can see more pictures at - www.mahalski.org

KALASHNIKOV - AK47 (LIFE-SIZE REPLICA) Brand new item (Thanks, Bruce!)

Glitched out blankets and tapestries

Cory Doctorow — Sat, 16 Mar 2013 13:20:57 +0000

Phillip Stearns is an artist who commissions blankets and tapestries woven in the USA with glitch-art patterns he generates with broken digital cameras. They're for sale! $200+

Tapestries

Blankets

(via Kottke)

Glitched-out armoire

Cory Doctorow — Fri, 15 Mar 2013 00:54:57 +0000

Spocko sez, "This piece of furniture looks like an alien made it after looking at a frozen frame on a VCR."

In his second year working with Fratelli Boffi, Ferruccio Laviani has created yet another fanciful world from the depths of his prolific imagination. A concept that goes beyond individual products, it combines the expertise of a company that specializes in full-feature and tailor-made projects with the creativity of a designer who can strike a balance between the past and the future, blending the harmony and magniloquence of the classical with the charm and allure of the contemporary.

Good Vibrations Storage Unit by Ferruccio Laviani (Thanks,Spocko!)

Tetrisoid slot sofa

Cory Doctorow — Thu, 14 Mar 2013 03:14:44 +0000

Designer Matthew Pauk's "Slot Sofa" is pure doctrovian catnip -- a marvel of kentucky. Basically, I want to live in a Pullman car.

Slot is a dynamic furniture piece. The sofa system finds new value and diverse functionality by blending the sofa, coffee table, and ottoman. It utilizes the common constructional gaps found between the cushions of the sofa by converting them into tracks for which the table can slide in and out. When slotted, the table acts as a console. When freed, it acts as a coffee table. The magnetically retained sofa cushions always find and keep their optimal position either atop the table for an ottoman or below for a coffee table. Slot features traditional construction with textile upholstery and finished bent plywood.

Slot Sofa (via OhGizmo)

Expanding table with interesting mechanism

Cory Doctorow — Fri, 08 Mar 2013 18:26:54 +0000

This table, from Nick Dearden, does a sweet expanding trick. It's the sort of thing that's pure housewares porn for small-apartment-dwellers like me.

Deardens Expanding Table

Wunda Weave carpets: 1963's must-have area rugs

Cory Doctorow — Sun, 03 Mar 2013 19:42:59 +0000

The world got a little less beautiful after 1963's Wunda Weave carpets went out of vogue.

1963 Wunda Weve Carpets

Best. Harlem. Shake. Ever.

Cory Doctorow — Wed, 20 Feb 2013 04:03:32 +0000

JWZ's law: "Every program attempts to expand until it can read mail."

Doctorow's law: "Every meme advances until it destroys white goods."

Best Harlem Shake EVER (Thanks, Fipi Lele!)

Chest of drawers that looks like a woodpile

Cory Doctorow — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 02:03:04 +0000

Facecord is a chest of drawers disguised as a woodpile, with hidden drawers:

the vision of a stockpile of wooden logs, brings forth visions of fueling the fire and keeping warm by the hearth on cold winter's night.
american artist mark moskovitz translates this into 'facecord', a chest of drawers using the irregularities and haphazard geometry of cordwood,
and the accidental poetry of its stacking to camouflage the storage furniture's actual function. the work is included in new york's museum of arts & design
exhibition against the grain which features projects that examine the age-old medium of wood, and how it can be transformed into
a contemporary object.

hidden log drawer - facecord by mark moskovitz [DesignBoom] (via Neatorama)

Video game china pattern

Cory Doctorow — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 00:04:28 +0000

Olly Moss's new personal tableware remixes the classic Willow Pattern with a video-game motif. I'm assuming it's a shoop, or at least not available in the stream of commerce, which is a durned shame.

I had some downtime so I decided to make myself a new set of dinnerware based on The Willow Pattern. (via Neatorama)

Astronaut duvet cover

Cory Doctorow — Thu, 14 Feb 2013 23:25:26 +0000

€60 is a lot to spend on your kid's duvet cover, but there's no denying that this astronaut bedding from Snurk is pretty wonderful.

Astronaut (Thanks, Fipi Lele!)

Millennium Falcon toilet seat: why isn't this real?

Cory Doctorow — Thu, 14 Feb 2013 20:22:45 +0000

Back in 2005, High Admiral Enchurito posted this great shoop to the Rebelscum forum depicting a Millennium Falcon toilet lid and a lightsaber plunger-handle. The fact that 7 years have gone by without this becoming reality is a sad comment on the state of our society.

Master replicas Sent ME the new falcon prototype! (via Neatorama)

Grotesque creature housewares and jewelry

Cory Doctorow — Sat, 02 Feb 2013 03:43:28 +0000

DeviantArt's dogzillalives is makes jewelry and housewares studded with eyeballs, tentacles, yellowing fangs, stitched faux-skin, and more. She's got an Etsy Store, too!

Stitched eyes cuff side (via Neatorama)

Spiral staircase inspired by a whale's spine

Cory Doctorow — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 22:56:31 +0000

Spiral staircase? Yes please. Spiral staircase modeled on the spine of a whale? Hell yes!

Andrew McConnell conceived of this system as a modular set of components that can be deployed in a spiral, each element supporting the next – the only variation would occur in the top and bottom pieces that connect to landings.
...From the designer: “Inspired by the spine of a whale, the Vertebrae Staircase is not simply mimicry of organic form but an exploration in shaping structure. Much of the design work went into refining the single component, or vertebra, that mate with each other creating a unified spine running from floor plate to floor plate. These interlocking vertebrae provide a rigid structure for the steps, railing and its users. And the railing is reinforced by connections that help the staircase resist rotational forces caused by the cantilevered steps.”

Spinal Staircase: Bare-Bones Steps Inspired by Vertebrae (via Neatorama)

Tentacle plunger

Cory Doctorow — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 02:36:12 +0000

From Art Lebedev studios, the "octopus" plunger, which creates the amusing illusion of a tentacled poop-monster's questing appendage reaching up out of the pan.

Вантуз «Октопус» (via JWZ)

Tiffany glass lampshade of Master Chief's helmet

Cory Doctorow — Thu, 24 Jan 2013 14:00:55 +0000

Etsy seller Michael McLane made this smashing Master Chief Helmet Tiffany-style stained-glass lampshade, and is selling it for a mere $840.

This is a full size Halo Master Chief Helmet made from Stained Glass. It is assembled in the Tiffany Glass Technique (Copper foil and solder). Over 40 hours went into construction and assembly of this unique piece. The shade itself measures @ 9" tall by 9" wide and 14" front to back.

Halo Master Chief Stained Glass Desk Lamp (via DVICE)

Pirate sheet-set

Cory Doctorow — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 14:00:49 +0000

$110 gets you a set of Beyond Bedding's Treasure Cove Pirate bedding -- comforter, shams, and a collection of appliques. It's markketed as "Children's Bedding," but a) it comes in queen size, and b) grownups make better pirates than kids do. As IO9's Annalee Newitz says, "Basically you can turn every object in your immediate vicinity into something aaaaaaarrrguably more awesome."

Treasure Cove Pirate Childrens Bedding (via IO9)

Furniture that looks like it's made from steamer-trunks

Cory Doctorow — Mon, 21 Jan 2013 19:06:58 +0000

I've turned old steamer trunks into furniture before, and while it looks great, it's often a bit impractical. Restoration Hardware has released a line of nicely turned out, usable furniture that looks like it was made from steamer trunks. It'd be cooler if it was actually recycled from real, vintage pieces, but it would cost titanic fortunes, and the world would be poorer for the loss of all those great trunks.

Trunks | Restoration Hardware (via Neatorama)

Deco tiki drinks cabinet

Cory Doctorow — Sun, 20 Jan 2013 14:08:39 +0000

A couple of cities back, in another century, I lived in a giant, illegal warehouse loft with tons of space, and in that loft, I built a most wonderful tiki-bar, with novelty bottles and stools that looked like bongo-drums and pennants from defunct cow-colleges, and swizzle sticks from bygone eras and more besides. I no longer have room for anything of the sort, but I still find myself seizing up with lust when I see something that would have fit it perfectly, such as this stonking 1959 deco tiki cocktail cabinet, for sale on eBay. I tried to convince myself to bid on it last night, tried to think of a place to put it, but honestly, there's nowhere for it. Plus there's no way I could ship this from southern California to London. But still.

We are pleased to present this vintage George Zee Cocktail Bar for your consideration. Manufactured in Hong Kong, this gorgeous piece opens to reveal a spacious Cocktail Bar that is loaded with storage. There are four (4) hidden compartments at the sides for stemware. Double doors on the front open to reveal two (2) drawers plus two (2) shelf areas. The front folds down to create a counter space, and the hinged lid opens to reveal a large compartment with a removable bottle holder.
In addition to plentiful storage space, high relief carvings of a Bamboo design are found on the door fronts and inside the top lid. What a great piece to compliment your Tiki or Hawaiiana themed room! Made from solid Mahogany with a blond color, we date the piece to 1959.

GEORGE ZEE Carved COCKTAIL BAR CABINET Vintage TIKI HAWAIIAN Polynesian ART DECO