Manolo for the Home

Difficult spaces make organizing… annoying. Having no logical places to put things makes it hard to keep anything for any length of time without clutter taking over. Luckily, one can create logic in a difficult space, sometimes using craftiness alone, but more often with a little money and the help of a clever contractor. To inspire those readers who deal with difficult spaces on a day to day basis, here are four fab solutions to problems of organization.

An under the stair wine rack might be particularly enticing for the homeowner who loves a glass or two or three but has a kitchen that simply won’t accommodate a little wine cooler.

Is that a bike up there? Why, yes… It might not be entirely convenient a place to store one’s bicycle year round, but perhaps it could live up there during the winter when it wouldn’t be in use much. Think of a storage loft as a smaller garage alternative. Those without bikes could store luggage or a fire safe or linens without anywhere else to live.

This is a great idea for those who, like me, work from home but don’t have the space or inclination to put together a private home office. I’m actually typing this at the writing desk in my living room because my home office has been taken over by baby supplies, so I know this solution works. Putting the writing table behind the couch isolates it to some extent from the rest of the living room so you can maintain that work/life divide.

And then we have the stairway bookcase, which is a classic solution to the very real problem of possessing too many books. I think this one is rather novel, however, as each stair simply wraps around at a ninety-degree angle to create a shelf. Plus the stairway itself is narrow and steep, making it a great way to access upper floors without losing a lot of first floor real estate.

(Photos via micasa)

Manolo for the Home is one of the younger blogs in the Manolosphere — did I just write that? — so I don’t get nearly as many reader e-mails with leads on cool stuff to feature as I do over at Manolo for the Brides. A recent communiqué from Sterlingspider brought this to mind, so before I tell you what she wrote me about I wanted to remind you that I want your tips! Bring ‘em on!

So what was the lovely Sterlingspider so excited about? Sternocera aequisignata. That’s right, a beetle. But not just any beetle! This beetle, eaten in Thailand, happens to have a exquisite wing case that is as durable as it is beautiful and has attracted the notice of artists and craftspeople, particularly contemporary Belgian artist Jan Fabre. In 2003, Fabre used the used the glowing beetle carapaces to create an awe inspiring mosaic that covers the vault ceiling and chandelier of the Hall of Mirrors in the Royal Palace in Brussels.

Called Heaven of Delight, a nod to Bosch’s Garden of Earthly Delights, the ethereal green ceiling was made from 1.6 million beetle shells, glued by hand to the vault, niches, and formerly gold chandelier. As you might imagine, Fabre didn’t work alone, but instead employed 30 assistants who worked with him full-time for four months to complete. One glance at the detail tells you why…

I can’t imagine that I’d guess what the ceiling and chandelier are made from; most likely I’d wager it was something like green opal. But Fabre knew what he was doing when he chose his unusual medium. As he told the New York Times:

He is convinced that this skin will last far longer than paint: ”The wing cases of the jewel beetles are made of chitin, one of the hardest, most imperishable materials we know. They consist of wafer-thin platelets that capture, reflect and transform light. Oil paint fades; the carapace will keep its original colors.”

As an aside, Fabre is no stranger to using materials sourced from animals. In the course of his work, he has covered columns in marbled ham, as well as bones and other sorts of beetles before settling on the sternocera aequisignata for this very large work.

Curious about sternocera aequisignata? Here’s the little edible jewel up close.

Among the many books I received as a gift this Christmas, Wary Meyers’ Tossed & Found by Linda and John Meyers was a definite favorite. The husband and wife team visits places where furniture goes to die and brings that furniture back to life in awesome ways. It’s very. very cool.

So imagine my delight when I discovered that the Meyers have on their web site not only pictures of the spaces they have designed and decorated for others, but also photographs of their own home, which they call “a work in progress.”

Color, color, and more color defines this space — but it’s not overwhelming, balanced as it is by the muted couch and unusual but unobtrusive coffee table. This is just one corner of a living room that is elegant and beautiful, but also obviously made for living. It doesn’t look like a cut-out from a magazine; it looks like someone’s home.

Love the table. Love the chairs. Love the sideboard, exclamation point. Love the wallpaper. And love the way this dining room exists seamlessly between the living room and the kitchen.

And don’t even get me started! This guest room reminds me so much of a childhood spent in the house of a determined art book collector that it’s not even funny. I used to go to sleep surrounded by books upon books in a cozy room with mod furniture and eclectic artwork on the walls. Does this room’s familiarity make me love it more than I might? Just a little, but I like it plenty fine anyway.

I found this image hiding in my computer this morning, and I loved it so much I wanted to share it with you. Fair warning: I don’t know where it came from or anything else about it. All I know that this pink and green room is awesome.

You probably already know I love pink decor. And if you read Manolo for the Brides, you know I’m a huge fan of pink and green weddings. This room is like a distillation of some of my favorite things. Would I want to live there full time? Maybe, maybe not. Is it cheerful and bright and fun? Oh God, yes.

When I lived in Berlin back in the day, the tiny kitchen we had in our otherwise massive flat contained a refrigerator that was orange. I mean bright orange. None of this white, cream, black, or stainless bunk for the Germans. Though I can’t recall if our stove was equally colorful, I can remember being surprised and delighted by the orange refrigerator that complemented our orange kitchen. That room in particular could easily be described as retro-modrn, and that was just the built-ins!

It’s a shame that the only places selling very colorful kitchen appliances here in the States seem to be Big Chill and Northstar. And then, of course, they’re quite expensive and really only work if you’re a fan of retro kitchen appliances.

I do like them, but wouldn’t it be nice if some of the European kitchen appliance manufacturers would decide to sell to us here in the U.S. of A. so we could all have colorful refrigerators and stoves without having to opt for retro kitchen appliances. Of course, everything would still be quite expensive, but at least there would be some variety beyond the usual four-color palette!

“Little Joseph is a hand-painted, porcelain candle holder.” Okay, I can handle that. “We can’t decide if he’s sinister or sweet.” Uh huh, sure. Basically I’m pretty good until Generate Design starts talking about how you can use candles to give Maxim Velčovský’s freaky-deaky doll heads something approximating hair.

That sure don’t look like hair to me. Am I the only one who thinks there’s just something seriously wrong with these?

I’ve never imagined a hamster’s life to be anything but repetitive and a tad dull, but I could be wrong. Maybe human beings are truly missing out by not stuffing our cheeks with food for later or munching on pellets? The truly curious can now find out, for $150 per night plus plane fare to France because a hotel in the French city of Nantes is offering the chance for people to become hamsters. You read that right. People. Becoming. Hamsters.

Or something like a hybrid human-hamster with a flat furnished with a bed of straw and an exercise wheel.

It is the latest venture from owners Frederic Tabary and Yann Falquerho, who run a company which rents out unusual venues to adventure-seekers. Both architects, the men designed the room in an 18th century building to resemble the inside of a hamster’s cage.

“The hamster in the world of children is that little cuddly animal. Often, the adults who come here have wanted or did have hamsters when they were small,” said Mr Falquerho, who was dressed as a hamster.

I think that last bit says it all, but since a picture is worth a thousand words and a moving picture a thousand more, here is a video.

Unfortunately, the Hamster Villa video is in French, but you can probably get the gist. There are cedar shavings here and there. The big wheel exerciser, of course. One drinks not from a glass, but from what the gentleman who created the Hamster Villa envisions a giant hamster bottle tap to look like. The things that stand out as missing to me are those tubes hamsters enjoy running through and flavored wood to chew.

I’m loving the 1840s farmhouse the painter Sean Scherer shares with his partner, Marc Mayer. It’s rather deceptive — outside it has all sorts of rustic charm, while the inside is home to botanical, zoological, and anatomical artifacts. Mercury glass shares space with transferware and precise renderings of human guts. Where else can you find an old slaughterhouse table share space with midcentury Scandinavian ceramics and newsprint wallpaper all in one space?

I think I may be hallucinating…

It is more than possible to take a pattern too far. So don’t do it. Seriously, just don’t.

I adore people who know what they like, which means I have a real thing for John Webster of Kitsch’n. He gets his kicks with kitsch and isn’t afraid to take his flair for retro chic decorating and DIY to the next level.

Ooh la la! I’m loving that little wall clock… and how about that mantel? Gorgeous! (I’ll leave it to you to decide what you think of the other odds and ends.)

Lots of the furniture you see here has backstories that can be found in the archives, like the weirdly shaped coffee table and the pretty blue side table. Anyway, Webster’s entire blog is delightful, and I thoroughly recommend that you give it a read.