Bathroom Inspiration + A Blog I Read

My other final project (for my Design Communication I class) is to render a plan, elevations and a perspective drawing for a bathroom. Ideally, we are supposed to use our own bathroom for the dimensions and general layout with perhaps some dream design embellishments. I'm not sure if I'm going to use my bathroom or K's or a combination, but if I use mine, I probably won't change the surface materials too much since I've got a lot of the original Art Deco tile and fixtures. If that weren't the case, I'd probably do floor-to-ceiling tile like the jade bathroom featured today in Apartment Therapy, a blog I read.

I'm a big fan of intricate and mosaic-like tilework on walls, on floors, on benches, on everything. Honeycomb, penny round, subway, mini, bowtie or glass, I love it all.

Another thing I love is reading Apartment Therapy, a multi-city interior design and lifestyle blog. Its mission statement sums up why it's so awesome, in particular:

Simplicity and luxury are not mutually exclusive.

So true! I'm a firm believer that luxury does not necessarily equal excess, which is probably one of the reasons why I enjoy this blog so much.

Blogs I Read: Oh Happy Day

Is it wrong to love a blog because of its perfectly charming header?
There is just something about the yellow stripes, the silhouetted figure and the typography of Oh Happy Day's header graphic that make me...HAPPY. Of course, the daily posts of items that strike blogger Jordan Ferney's fancy usually bring a smile to my face, too.

Blogs I Read: Knife Tricks

A couple of years ago, Paul Lukacs, a friend of mine, took a sabbatical from entertainment law to embark on a roving journey through Asia:

"I am taking at least a year off from work and have decided to use a blog to diary my travels and keep people informed of my general whereabouts. I am the 87-millionth person to have this idea. To further the cliche, I have purchased a backpack and filled it with Heart of Darkness, Burmese Days and several Graham Greene novels. Still working on the Tilley hat."

What originally set his blog, Knife Tricks, apart from those other 87 million travel blogs was Paul's intelligent writing, his often droll insight on local and global culture and politics and his refusal to lapse into the banal. He also offered up his take on the numerous books that accompanied him. Now back in L.A., he has continued to comment on politics, travel, literature and law in his usual erudite fashion.

I am recommending this blog mainly because it inspires me to be a better blog writer. I often feel smarter after reading one of Paul's articles because a) the writing is so good and b) he expands my consciousness of what is going on in the world, macro and micro, important and irrelevant.

I suggest starting from the beginning of his blog just to make sure that you've read all of the posts from his trip. However, many of his travel posts stand alone, serving as mini but complete peeks into the world of a wanderer.

Blogs I Read: Curbed LA

I chose to be an Urban Studies major in college because a) it was the one program at Cornell that I thought I had a chance of being accepted into as a transfer and b) I genuinely am fascinated by urban development. Despite the fact that I spend a good deal of time supporting historic preservation, I love the excitement of change in a city. And when I want to get my fun fix of real estate and development news in L.A., I check out Curbed LA.

Curbed LA features posts on real estate, architecture, design and neighborhood news, usually with a playful spin. For example, every year, it holds a Broker Boys and Babes contest to pick the hottest brokers in the city. Usually, my favorite posts are the ones that discuss anything having to do with new restaurants (its sister site, Eater LA, covers this exclusively), new lofts/apartment buildings and new retail developments. (Another blog I like, Angelenic, covers the same topics, but focuses mainly on the Downtown area.)

Curbed LA's own description:
"From the studio lots to the downtown lofts. From the beachfront bungalows to the canyon views. From the south bay to the valley, from the westside to the eastside—Curbed LA covers our sense of place, and the neighborhoods we call home."

I spent a lot of time in school studying what gives a city a sense of place and a major factor is a sense of community. Curbed LA and other L.A.-centric blogs help to create that by fostering interest in everything that shapes the city, whether it concerns the built environment or the diverse group of people that live in it.

Blogs I Read: Cute Overload

I read at least 30 blogs everyday and that's on days when I'm busy. On lazy weekend days, if I'm not reading a magazine or doing a sudoku puzzle, I can read more than a hundred. Not that that's terribly difficult but that's the beauty of blogs. They offer easily-digestible bits of information or insight usually every day. Mostly I read topical blogs, though there are several personal blogs that are very interesting. Every Tuesday, I'll share a blog that I think is worth a peek. Feel free to share a blog with me that you think is cool or that I would enjoy.

Cute Overload is one of the blogs that I turn to when I need an immediate pick-me-up. Dedicated to sharing cute pictures of animals with the world, it consists mainly of photos that readers send in, with the appropriately precious comments from the editor, Meg. This blog is definitely not a secret, having won several awards and scored mentions in the national mainstream press. However, I'm featuring it today, because yesterday, I checked it out (click here for the post) and saw this little guy:

I adore baby Boston Terriers! If I wasn't so allergic to dander, I would have gotten one already. I love their eyes, their batty ears and their black and white markings (yup, I like graphic statements.) In any event, you can bet I will be accessing the site several times today just to see those huge doleful eyes.