The Hang and Level is a pretty great tool for hanging pictures, mirrors and the like.
Every piece of art I hung in my near-an-active-fault-line home would go crooked in days, or hours. I got a Hang and Level, and now most of them stay in place. With built in levels, and easy press tabs to mark the wall, it is hard to go wrong -- but I still can.
Hang and Level picture hanging tool via Amazon Read the rest
I chanced across Emoh Store's gorgeous astronomy rugs while googling for the daytime-TV conspiracy science classic "Fabric of Time," and immediately ordered one.
This week on HOME: Stories From L.A., a member of the Boing Boing Podcast Network:
Some stories don't end when you think they do. Some stories just pause. And then they sneak back around and whap you across the back of your unsuspecting head. So here's one I didn't expect to revisit, although maybe I should have: Part 2 of Episode 7, "Unmaking A Home."
If you like what you hear, please drop by the iTunes Store and leave the show a rating and/or review. And don't forget to subscribe:
iTunes | Android | Email | Google Play | Stitcher | TuneIn | RSS Read the rest
Not a hotel, not a dorm, not quite a hostel, open by design and communitarian in spirit — Los Angeles-based PodShare is something else. And, potentially, something bigger: An affordable way to foster community in a city that’s increasingly stratified by class. This week, to start Season 3 of HOME: Stories From L.A., it’s the story of one young entrepreneur and her unstoppable enthusiasm for her big idea.
HOME is a member of the Boing Boing Podcast Network.
Subscribe: iTunes | Android | Email | Google Play | RSS Read the rest
Deece27 bought 4,000 random books from Books by The Foot and fastened them to the wall by nailing each one to the book underneath followed by two nails angled into the wall. Check out more images of the project here. (via r/DIY)
For just under $4 million you can live in Frank Sinatra's Villa Maggio, a five acre home on a mountain above California's Palm Desert. Read the rest
The pitch: it kills bacteria, instead of breeding it, and adjusts automatically to maintain a specific relative humidity in the room. Also, it looks cool. Read the rest
A nice idea from Australian startup Memobottle. The price is good stiff too though:
just $5 $25. Read the rest
Pretzel going bonkers for the Treat Triad dog puzzle on a rainy, indoors day.
These past few rainy days, I've been trying to entertain my dogs with puzzles. The Treat Triad is a clear winner.
Both a Great Pyrenees and a Cavalier King Charles, dogs large and small, love smacking the spinner around and then figuring out how to open the treat bay doors. It is light, simple and hasn't broken apart after hours of battering.
Treat puzzles are no way to get the dog to let you sleep, but they certainly keep them busy when its too nasty to go out!
The Vessel is a hanging bathtub. Designed by SplinterWorks, it's constructed from carbon fiber and empties out the bottom into a floor drain. Sadly, it does not swing. "The Hammock Bathtub" (Homes & Hues, via Neatorama) Read the rest
Architect/developer Sebastian Mariscal designed and is expecting to build a 44-unit apartment building in densely-populated Boston where most of the space you'd expect to be used for parking spots is instead given over to a variety of gardens. There's a 7,000 public garden on the ground level and a roof that's 70 percent dedicated to community gardening. Meanwhile, each living unit includes a 144 square foot "outdoor room… full of vegetation."
"The Apartment Complex of Tomorrow—0 Parking Spots, 46 Personal Garden Spaces" (TakePart)
While Mariscal's original design only had six parking spaces, meant for rentals, and he only planned to rent to tenants who didn't own cars, the community was concerned that tenants would own cars anyway and park them on the street. So the architect added 35 spots to his plans and has apparently received preliminary approval to build from the Boston Redevelopment Authority. (Universal Hub, thanks Lis Riba!) Read the rest
As Boing Boing has outgrown both our converted ICBM silo and air park and secret lair in the Alps we expect to purchase this stately castle in upstate New York, built in 1894 for the National Guard Amsterdam. It is quite a steal at $1 million although our planned improvements will be costly, starting with the piranha-stocked moat. We intend to leave the billiard room and basketball court as-is but the, er, "basement toy room" needs some help. Perhaps we should do a Kickstarter. Upstate Castle Amsterdam, NY National Guard Armory for sale (Thanks, Lindsay Winterhalter!) Read the rest
Lovely example of a garage converted into a modernist apartment. Of course, it begs the question: Where do you park? (I'm kidding.) The home, in Bordeaux, France, was designed by architectural firm Fabre | de Marien. And here's a video about it! (via Reddit) Read the rest
Jake Von Slatt tells Boing Boing, "I got an email this morning from Flaminio Bovino, a young Italian designer who though I might like this amazing blimp lamp he made. He was correct!" Read the rest
I really dig creative work that turns a sense of place into art. That's why I'm really getting a kick out of WoodcutMaps.com, which uses Google Maps to create really great geometric art—some clearly map-like, others much more abstract.
It all depends on what view of the map you choose to have turned into a woodcut. You can do a tight crop, or wide pull-out. Basically, you choose the view that matters to you. They make it art. Above is what my neighborhood in Minneapolis would look like as a woodcut.
At $100 for an 8x8 square, this isn't cheap. But it is very cool and strikes me as something that would make a nice housewarming gift for a special friend, or an anniversary gift for parents who've lived in the same place for decades.
Via Flowingdata and Ryan Sager. Read the rest
