CSI Style

By now, many of you have probably seen the DNA art and more recent fingerprint art from DNA11 .  Great idea, still a bit pricey, but cool.  For your own fingerprint, I’d recommend buying Photoshop or another good photo editing program and taking your print to be professionally output at a photo store or a sign company for an oversized piece.  For less than half the price you’d pay for one print from DNA11, you’d have the program to make other things for years.

If it’s not your own fingerprint that’s so important, just the look, then some other alternatives are available.  Ferm Living has a wall sticker of a single print that is quite striking for $96. For a more abstract and artistic approach – I love the print by Ky Anderson from 20 x 200.

$490 from DNA11
$490 from DNA11
$96 Wall Sticker from Ferm Living
$96 Wall Sticker from Ferm Living
$20 for 8.5" x 11" at 20 x 200
$20 for 8.5" x 11" at 20 x 200

Keep ’em Guessing

Need a fun, unpretentious Valentine’s Day gift?  Talk about a bargain, Fred Flare’s ring yes, no, maybe is pretty cute, not to mention and big and chunky to give it the mod vibe.

I love the idea of the groovy OrienTales box filled with something personal from Unica. Designed for Alessi, this whole line is fun and affordable.  Check out the egg cups on their site.

Lucite and Zebrawood Table

I really wanted a Karl Springer lucite table, but kept getting outbid by interior designers on e-bay every time a good one came around.  So I gave up that approach and started thinking about how I can finagle a new glam coffee table for no more than $200-$250.  I found the lucite base on e-bay – came with a giant glass top that made it look oh, so 80’s…but I was able to purchase just the base.

Next came making our own top….In discussions with my crafty counterpart – he decides 2 pieces of MDF glued together is the perfect base on which to apply our veneer.  I went to the local woodworkers shop and picked out a nice piece of zebrawood veneer – from there, we built the tabletop to be the exact width of the veneer so we won’t have any seams on the top. We cut small strips to use on the sides and left the underside alone. Sealed with a few coats of polyurethane and it’s done.

Lucite Base
Before Veneer
2 Pieces MDF
Unsealed Veneer On
Complete

Luminous Floor Flowers

I’m obviously in a high/low lighting mode these days.  Another fabulous lamp that’s expensive, another budget version from Ikea.  This time it’s the Lily.mgx (or the Lotus.mgx for that matter).  Gorgeous, especially the red ones.  Janne Kyttanen’s design for Materialise is high tech… and high priced at $1129 from Unica.  I have seen it as low as $899 on gnr8, but…you know.

It looks cheaper, (they usually do) is waaay cheaper, but fills the same empty spot in the room with a conversation piece.  Ikea’s Knappa Tulpan is a mere $50.

Bubbles and Light

I am really inspired by the bubble chandelier in this month’s Readymade magazine by Jean Pelle.  It has a Christian Astuguevieille vibe to it with the rope that I think is a clever touch.   It’s a $75 alternative to those who might be longing for the Lindsey Adelman bronze bubble chandelier for a mere $13,400.  Adelman’s work is spectacular, but let’s face it, not in reach for most of us.  Jean’s take is more casual, but, frankly, I like it.  If you wanted to change the cord covering to a more formal material, by all means, put your stamp on it.  If you can’t find the magazine, the step by step instructions are available on Jean Pelle’s website.  Love, love Readymade magazine, but their website is really not up to scratch….pity.