Power Struggle

I've decided that a nutty three year old girl lives within Karim Rashid's colorful candy shell. Her name is Karina, and she likes to assert her tyrannical childishness by forcing him to indulge in attention seeking acts of blobby decorating, while using all the colors of the crayola rainbow. I can imagine it must be a PR nightmare trying to keep both halves of a schizophrenic designer together during photoshoots... does Karina pull at Karim's glasses and demand apple juice and Dora the Explorer?

Dear Karim, the pink Converse shoes Karina picked out for you are rather natty, but I'm concerned about those Alexander Girard tattoos... Oh wait, those are "your" designs. I think you have only yourself to blame for that judgment call. On the other hand, I'm kind of liking what she did with your extra special Fisher Price weekend house.

She's a Barbie girl, in a Barbie world.

Kid friendly leather, soft rounded edges, and a magic marked up carpet, all suggest Karina's tiny helping hands. But what's up with the big red question? A plea for recognition, perhaps? A subliminal stamp on the room?

Toys and tvs in the bathroom -- a kid definitely designed this place. Plus, it's looking a lot like Yo Gabba Gabba up in this hizzy. You be the judge:

Can you even tell which one is the cartoon, and which is the house? I didn't think so.

Still, there are a few signs of adult life in this home. I'm sure this followed a major Karim/Karina showdown, wherein Karina whined for 678459 hours straight, and Karim plugged his ears and belted out some Moby tunes, which would undoubtedly destroy any child's will to power.

And then Little K let Big K have a grown up(ish) office space.

And also this artwork that keeps threatening to reveal some very adult information... or maybe that's just me.

I'm not sure which K is responsible for the world's most amazing diving board, or these glorious windows, so I guess I'll have to award both a shiny gold star.

I suppose K squared make a pretty good team, all things considered. The both share a love of dress up, and you know they like to get together and talk about Me Me Me. I'm really not sure why Karim doesn't just embrace his inner Karina, and shout it from the rooftops that he loves having a little girl inside him... Well, maybe not in exactly those words.

Dude, you're not fooling anyone.

(all photographs by Richard Powers)

Want

While sifting through the New York Times slideshows yesterday, I came across a room from this slideshow that made my heart skip a beat:

The object of my love and affection?

The Patrick Townsend Orbit Light.  At only $300 I feel like I could give it a really good home if only the internet would put the black one up for sale.  All I can seem to find is white and grey.

On a side note, I realized that yesterday I did not link to either of the NYT slideshows I wrote about (thank you btw for all the amazing feedback, you dudes rock!) You can read about the yurt here and the sleepy time boring pad here.

See you dudes Monday!

New York Times Slideshow Mash-Up

I love the New York Times Home slideshows.  Even homes that aren't my taste are always made interesting by excellent lighting and relevant commentary.  This week's line-up, however, looked more like the makings of an episode of Wife Swap then hard-hitting journalism.  First up we have a genuinely interesting, if not insane, article about a couple living in a yurt.  Yes.  A yurt.  Directly next to that on the Style homepage was what could easily be considered the most boring home-shoot ever to hit the interwebs, and I'm even including google "boring home" image search in my ranking.  I couldn't help but hear the snarky voice of the anonymous Wife Swap narrator when sifting through the images.  Let's see if we can make this work

Meet the Higman-McKittrick family:  Mother, Erin and father, Bretwood live in a yurt 90 miles from civilization in the Alaskan wilderness.  The Higman-McKittricks have forsaken running water and indoor heating in exchange for life in a $14,000, 400 square foot tent, which can only be reached by plane or boat.

This week on Wife Swap, Erin will be flying over 3,000 miles to swap places with a woman she's never met who lives in the Bronx.

Meet the Khinda-O'Donnell family:  Elizabeth Khinda is an algebra teacher while fiance, Thomas, is a telecommunications worker.  The Khinda-O'Donnells live in a standard size apartment outside Manhattan, Elizabeth claims to love anything pink and girly while Thomas wears a windbreaker.  The Khinda-O'Donnells engage in a rare interior design activity known to few as "seasonal decorating."

Without the benefit of an accessible grocery store, mom, Erin begins her day with a quaint round of front-yard ice fishing.

Back in the Bronx, Elizabeth admires the Ikea light fixture her electrically-inclined fiance hung over their holiday table.

Father, Bretwood prepares for the long winter by building a fire from the wood he hand chopped this morning and lining the yurt with quilts woven from angel tears

The season is well underway back in New York for the Khinda-O'Donnell family, who, again, pride themselves on their seasonal decorating techniques.

With baby Katmai strapped to her back, Erin cooks family meals on the only working electrical appliance in the couple's home.

Back on the east coast, someone finds this photo of the Khinda-O'Donnell family kitchen relevant to seasonal decorating.

After a long day of trekking through snow and chopping wood, the Higman-McKittrick family settle into bed on their shared futon nestled behind a curtain hand-woven by Erin.

The Khinda-O'Donnells take one last look at their bedroom dressers, one appropriately bare, suiting his masculine sensibilities, and another with a mirror and wind-up ballerina reflecting her girly outlook, before snuggling into their boring bed with only one nightstand.

This summer, the Higman-McKittrick family will be embarking on a 200 mile journey by inflatable raft (this is real) to unmined coal repositories in northwest Alaska

Meanwhile, Elizabeth Khinder will be swapping out her holiday decor for this target pillow to usher in the new season.

See what happens when these two families swap lives for two weeks:  new husbands, new children, new rules.

So, are you dudes tuning in?