Southern Pimping

Incase you found an empty New York Times bin after waiting in line for hours this morning hoping to grab your commemorative edition of the PRESIDENT OBAMA headlined paper, don't despair, there's still plenty of relevant and historical reading material gracing the newsstand shelves just waiting to be slipped into a plastic sleeve for you to love and save forever. Take, for example, that beacon of hard hitting journalism, Southern Living. Oh yes, it is a brand new day, the start of a new era: for the first time in our nation's history the term design-crisis.com was printed on to a piece of glossy paper a million times over and mailed out to the masses.

Proceed with caution: if you live above the mason dixon line, chances are that you won't be able to pick up this hot collector's item. Southern Living does something a little wonky: they put out a Texas edition. If you're Texan by the grace of god (yes, an actual phrase they use in these parts) then you can flip through this most recent issue to page 12 of the **bonus*** Texas Living supplement and take a visual tour de force through our first(ish) piece of printed press.

I say first(ish) because this is actually a story about another sexy group of ladies with which I am associated:  the austin craft mafia.  But if you look closely to page 15 you'll see this:

ouch, let's get that pesky ad out of there and focus on the important stuff:

scheesh!  i am so glad my hair dresser has completed her stay in Chicago and is now safely back in our care in Texas so my hair no longer looks that shade of dishwater blonde.  I suppose I should have photoshopped this.  

And, zeroing in on the really important stuff, let's check out that sidebar (with slight edits provided by me):

Huh?  What?  Where's Erin's name?  Well, it's kind of a long story, but, basically, I joined the ACM 6 years ago, roughly 4 years before Erin moved here.  But it's all good, that sister is guilty by association.

Don't worry guys, I'm going to stop blowing smoke up my own skirt straight away and will bring you a second blog post later today filled with delightful images... and bunnies!

In the mean time, go check out my fellow ACM-ers blogs:

(listed in order of photo appearance)

Susanne:  she just had a baby, no bloggy for her, but her clothing can be found here: all dressed up and shy

Jenny: sublime stitching (the blog)

*Jennifer: naughty secretary club (the blog)

*Jenifer: no bloggy blog, here's her awesome vinyl site: jna designs

me!  You're already here

Hope: hot pink pistol

*Vickie: Vickie Howell

Jesse: Bread Baby

Tina: Tina Sparkles

* denotes pregnant ACM members.  Do you see what I'm up against here, people?

Remember, come on back now later today for more DC goodness

Let's Hear it For the Birthday Boy

Happy inauguration eve everyone!  I know that I should be posting a bunch of red, white and blue decor and singing my heart out in celebration of the last day of eight very, very long years.  But, first things first, today is my friend Ben's birthday and we need to give him a shout out before tossing our baton and taking our first inaugural day parade steps.  Our birthday boy is a sound guy, as in, holding boom mikes and recording voice overs.  All of his equipment is pretty ugly (save one speaker case that I stickered for him) and consists of a bunch of techy boy stuff and wires.  I think if Ben really wants to look pro, he should probably give his own personal sound system a boost with any of today's speaker choices.

This universal plug and play system for audio devices was designed by Per Brickstad as his design degree project.  I don't know about you kids but when I was in art school I was surrounded by a bunch of stoners chopping up shopping carts.  I think I might have gone to the wrong school.  Anyway, I hope Brickstad makes these quick, when he does, for Ben's birthday, I will suggest to him that he buys one.  What?  Typing this isn't enough?

If Ben's grandma sends him a check for $2475 for the big 3-7, he could have an MP3 playing iball chair made to his specifications.  Hunter green shell with mint interior?  Whatever you say, birthday face.

These speak-ers are my very favorite speakers ever.  I think Ben should get me 2 for my birthday (psst, ben, may 29th!)

If Ben wants to lay down some bass, he could compliment any of the above sound systems with these precious woofers.  

The next time our birthday boy has a few days off between shoots and is feeling crafty, he could even follow this DIY guide for making his own Munny Doll Speakers.  He will easily be the coolest man on campus if he marches back to set toting these gems.

But, then again, he is a boy, so he would probably prefer to paint something a little more like this for himself:

These custom illustrated speakers by Get The Egg would be a lovely addition to any bachelor pad and shouldn't scare the ladies off at all.

If Ben is more interested in showing his sensitive side he could always go here:

This Concerto Table is sure to woo any young lady Ben decides to invite a lady in to "see his record collection" or "meet his new cat" 

See Ben, aren't you just so glad we're friends?  What on earth would you do without all of my wonderful advice?  

Girl, You Trippin

When it comes to home decor, I have 2 basic rules: 1. Form should follow function and 2. Everything looks better with a couple coats of gold spray paint. I generally shy away from pieces that are quirky for quirky's sake and stick to the basics, items like gold panther cocktail tables (see rule #2). However, every once in a while a clever design crosses my radar that is perfectly simple in it's design yet evokes an element of the surreal that screams please take me home and love me forever.

Pike Bergmans' voluminous bulb would make a perfect reading light for Salvador Dali while Thelermont Hupton's Blown Up lamps are geared up to send any hippy into an acid trip nightmare.  I really wish he'd called them Dog and Lamb On a Stick, though.  

A-hoy hoy, Andre Breton calling!  Le Telephon from Sunday land makes me want to give 1920 a call alerting them that, almost 90 years later, their predominate art movement is still alive and well.  Perhaps I could even award the surrealist forefathers with this Best In Show Mirror by Phil Cuttance?  Or maybe I could extend my ridiculously long list of things to do by adding knock this sucker off somewhere near the top.  Wouldn't it look divine in my new bedroom?

While I do not condone trompe l'oil Tuscan frescos (never, ever!) I would be delighted to spend an evening with friends around Vanessa Su's table.  If we could figure out how it works.

After dining we could retire to the lounge for cocktails and all fight over the Today and Tomorrow sofa by Lila Jang:

I believe Erin showed you this before, but who doesn't want to see it again?  

Twists and turns seem to be all the rage in the surrealist furniture trend:

I love how Pablo Reinoso's Aluminum bench is typical on both sides with a seamlessly woven center creating just enough interest to remain thoughtful without being overwhelming.  On the less practical side is his Melting Thornet chair, which, admittedly, would rock on my porch.

If your littlest family member expresses interest in a drug and art induced lifestyle at an early age, you may want to jump start the revolution with this (ahem, $5,600) Accordian Dresser

Always the purveyors of trippy home furnishings, the ladies of Front Design have a dresser built to satisfy even the most ADD among us

The (cleverly named) Changing Cupboard rotates it's facade at regular intervals to constantly reflect a different pixel pattern.  Don't believe me?  Watch the first ever video posted on Design Crisis:

If your concerned that the cupboard may throw you into convulsions, you can still bring the drama while remaining static:

The Anne table by Gareth Neal cleverly hides a queen anne table inside a basic square structure, perfect for the (am I about to say this?) transitional home.

And now that I've used the term transitional home, I think it's best for me to quit for the day.