A little more nightmare fuel. Because apparently for every 100 super chic or cute or comfortable furnishings or accessories for the home, there are frightening things being produced by small artisans for those who don’t find the real world scary enough. Like pillows featuring children’s heads with empty eyes or even, for the outdoorsy types among us, vegetables with faces. So you want a wall of art? How about a whole wall of these:

It's trying to get in!

An up close and personal view of your worst nightmare

From the shop listing:

A wooden support structure is built. To this, styrofoam is added and carved into the basic tentacle shape. It is then closely covered in aluminum wire mesh. In the meantime, newsprint is boiled, then whipped into a mush. The mush is allowed to dry over a period of several days, then it is ground into a fine powder. This is combined with sawdust, glue, starch, linseed oil and a bit of bleach and applied to the mesh by it pushing into the mesh to form a very solid base coat. After this coat dries, it is refined with rasps, and a finer mixture of pulped tissue paper,glue and gypsum is applied and allowed to dry. This makes a very nice finish coat. After it dries, the whole piece is sanded and further refined. Each sucker is built in a 3 stage process over a period of several days. Once the piece is thoroughly dry, it is painted in many thin layers with an airbrush. The depth of the color is further enhanced by a finish coating of highly glossy shellac. The end product is both lightweight and quite durable.

And a steal at $1,100! Okay, not really, but it’s pretty obvious that a lot of work goes into one of these bad boys! Would you buy one?

Much much better than the wall of empty frames is the art wall. Much more grown up. Much less five minutes ago. The art wall is classier, too. Here are some great examples of real-world art walls. Remember, art doesn’t have to be expensive! You can even DIY it!

All the Best by Ronda Carman™: Deconstructing the Art Wall

from James Leland Day

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I should say first of all that this particular sunburst mirror was a cheap and relatively easy DIY project undertaken by Monica Ewing, Sunset Home senior designer. Okay, okay, so she’s got some home decorating cred that most of us don’t have, but the posted instructions seem pretty simple. And it obviously came out gorgeous, so there’s no reason we can’t try it.

Amazing what a little paint can do, no?

But this totally fun play on the traditional starburst mirror started out its life in plain white, and that wasn’t thrilling Ms. Ewing. A few coats of a trip of blues by Benjamin Moore, and this was the end result. Love it! Isn’t it cool what just a little paint (and a steady hand) can do?

So I just found out that barely-there lampshades – wire lamp… shades? – are totally a trend and super hot and everyone must have them now now now. Good to know, I guess. But seeing as that naked light bulbs make my eyes really sad, I think I’ll just be letting this one pass my by. What do you think?

Seen on Skona Hem

Buy it at Ruby Roost

Now that my daughter is getting older, I’m starting to understand the kid’s artwork conundrum. I remember when this NY Times article and this post in the San Francisco Chronicle’s Mommy Files attracted a lot of attention, both supportive and derisive, because the authors admitted to throwing out the majority of their kids’ artwork. Where do I stand? On the one hand, there’s a part of me that would like to save every little everything that La Paloma does so I have a perfect picture of her childhood. On the other hand, our house is only so big and like all kids, she tends to draw two lines on the paper before demanding a fresh piece.

If nothing else, it's the cheapest art around!

I think if you’re going to toss your precious creation’s precious creations – and I am not ashamed to admit I’ve recycled a few early masterpieces myself – why not highlight the best of the best of your kid’s artwork by actually framing it and then hanging it somewhere prominent in your home? Admittedly, it’s not a look that will please the aesthete in everyone, but parents tend to look at kid’s artwork through rosy glasses and if it happens that your little darling puts out a few pieces that coordinate with your decor, all the better!

What do you do with your kid’s artwork? Save it all? Snap digital pics and then stealth it out to the recycling bin? Or maybe save the best and toss the rest?

(FYI: If you have any interest in winning a $155 gift certificate to any CSN stores, head over to my personal blog and enter my latest giveaway!)

…or should I call them starburst mirrors? I’ve seen the two terms used, pretty much interchangeably and with equal frequency. So I hope we can agree that both labels are correct. Sometimes what’s labeled a starburst mirror looks more like a sun, and what’s labeled a sunburst mirror looks more like a star, but I think that’s okay. I think they’re keen no matter what you call them!

Blue Room

Tobi Fairley

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Took me a moment to figure out what I was looking at here.

Windows upon windows

It’s easier to see up close, though it doesn’t look nearly as pretty without the illumination from within.

Just a little off in the best possible way

As described by Trendland:

The construction of this awesome Rotterdam house a.k.a Black Pearl has degenerated in an architectonic spectacle, in which is experimented with time and space. The 100 years old facade has been entirely reworked by Zecc Architects & Studio Rolf.fr. Painted in a shiny black oil, the brickwork, the window frames and the glass of the existing facade is painted black. Because of this black layer you can say a shade aroused on the old façade. This shade has been taken as a basis layer in which is modern steel frames have been placed to form new windows.

The interior is pretty cool, too, and can be seen at the Trendland post.

Just fantastic, no? I really get a kick out of this sort of thing.

All you need to replicate this cool heart mosaic photographed by Goode Green Photography is your choice of original 3″ X 3 1/8″ Polaroids (or something similar in a non-Polaroid format) and a picture frame or canvas. If you opt for the former, you can paste down your photos on the matting, and if you opt for the latter, just paste your pics directly onto the canvas. Which you can’t paint first or not, as you like it. Easy! And doubly good since it’s yet another way to deal with all those pesky snapshots taking up space.

I’m loving these super cute hand screen printed pillows, cushion covers, stockings, and cozies from Robin & Mould! Everything they sell is printed using water-based inks on natural linens and cottons at their little shop in the UK. Yellow and teal seem to be the colors they favor, but they’ve taken custom orders in the past!

Industrial chic can mean so many things, from the upscale repurposed factory loft with a trend-conscious price tag to a simple bed with plenty of storage. Exposed brick? Recycled pipe furniture? Lots of metal? Or maybe the original lino floors and metal cabinets. Whatever it means, it’s good to remember that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. And this girl’s eye has spied some fun industrial chic things for the home on her recent travels… things like:

A low, locker-like metal sideboard – in a gorgeous red, zow – seen in Marie Claire Maison and elsewhere.

Factory-friendly pendant lamps in cool colors from West Elm.

And the Travail Quatre Office Organizer by Aidan Gray – it’s made of weathered, recycled sheet metal for a broken in, well-used look.

Speaking of this girl, she likes the industrial look best when it’s softened with stuff that doesn’t fit that aesthetic. In other words, I don’t want to live in a factory; I just want a few pieces of the factory (useful ones, especially) giving my space a bit of spark. What’s your favorite distopian indulgence? A brushed metal step-stool flecked with paint? A worn metal cabinet in your craft room?