Send the kiddos back to school with some awesome love (and jam) filled treats: homemade pop tarts on on a stick, via Craft.

The Brick House has started a new obsession for us: vintage Dutch Tomado shelving. Beautiful!

It looks like this fuzzy Dedo message board is ripe for some heavy petting, in a totally appropriate way. Spotted at Swiss Miss.

More modern house number delights from Apartment Therapy — this time in bent metal and bright powder coat finishes!

Snacking in the Kitchen, one of our new favorite food blogs, shares her secrets for a sweet-and-savory sage scented challah french toast. Sounds perfect for a labor day breakfast, yes?

Check this DIY bedframe design made easy, via Make magazine. And not a shipping pallet in sight.

If you pine for the tangy taste of old-school, bright orange, bottled french salad dressing (like some of us do), then find out how to make your own version with fresh ingredients at the NY Times.

See CasaSugar’s great post gleaning the stealable design ideas from the September Anthropologie catalog. Things are looking brassy for fall!

Celebrate Labor Day by shopping the End of Summer Sale at Click! Design That Fits. Through September 5, enjoy 20-50% off all ceramics, 10-40% off home accessories and 25-40% off personal accessories.

The Container Store’s annual shelving sale is here. Now through October 17, take 25% off their entire collection of shelves and receive 25% off your Elfa installation service. Shop this weekend to catch the end of the Organized Home Sale, which ends September 6.

Stock up on summer favorites for next year (sigh) at the Fishs Eddy End of Summer Sale, featuring 50% off select items through September 12.

Visit The Company Store through September 13 to take advantage of their Fall Preview Sale and semi-annual Pillow Sale. Luxury bed and bath items are also on sale through October 13.

Well, certainly leaders of the free world need a neutral space in which to make decisions, but I can’t help being disappointed with the White House’s Oval Office redesign. Replacing the yellow carpet? Okay. Some creamy neutral stripes on the walls? Sure. But those sofas! Was Value City Furniture having a sale? (No doubt they cost a bit more than that, however.) For a space that hosts Prime Ministers and the like, I guess I was expecting something a little more stately, and a little less “Make it a Blockbuster night.” Thoughts? — Mary T.

Though it’s not a new idea by any means, the local foods movement is gaining momentum. We’ve posted before about joining community supported agriculture programs, and here in New York, our grocery delivery service has been promoting nearby farms with special shopping sections and discounts for buying locally. I’ve also had my eye on the Local Foods Wheel for the region. Available for the San Francisco Bay Area, the New York Metro Area and most recently the Upper Midwest, the wheel is an illustrated guide that details foods that are grown locally by peak season, so you can tailor your local buying to your taste. As a resident of a congested city it’s hard to know where my food originates, but these incentives have inspired me put more thought into the issue. What about you? Do you buy with local farms in mind? – Sarah C.

Each wheel is available for purchase on the site for $12.95, or you can also find yours locally (of course!) by consulting the “Places to buy” section on each region’s page.

If you thought the hot shop was cool, then what’s coming up is really gonna excite you. Lots of glass (of course), lots of collections, and lots of big, bold design choices. Chihuly actually received his first degree in interior design, and this training reveals itself in how he set up the space. The boathouse manages to successfully blend a huge range of styles — Native American, vintage, industrial, and Venetian opulence, to name a few. All of these elements, combined with a breathtaking Lake Union backdrop create a truly magnificent experience, one I’m incredibly thankful I got to enjoy! –Megan B.

Above: a detail of a chandelier in the Evelyn room. Click for more from the Boathouse! Read the rest of this entry »

When Delta offered to send me a new shower head to review for Shelterrific, I took one look at my icky, slightly rusted current shower fixture and headed to their website to pick out a new one. Truth be told, I was already enamored with the company thanks to the easy-to-navigate website and easily found a pretty product that would fit in with the rest of my bathroom. I choose the raincan shower head because it boasted H2Okinetic technology- a feature Delta has been kicking around that involves using larger water droplets that hold their heat longer to make your shower warmer and “more massaging” while also using less water (36% less according to their site).

Were the water droplets warmer and more luxurious than those from my old shower head? Maybe. For me it seemed like it was too delicate a thing to judge, so I’ll have to get the Princess and the Pea over to stay for a weekend and see if she notices a difference. More important than the technology for me ended up being the sheer size of the fixture! Comparable in circumference to a hearty personal pizza, the shower head released a torrent of water that felt like those of the fancy hotel spa showers I’ve been lucky enough to stand under. Pair that with the gorgeous modern curves of the fixture and I’m in bathroom heaven! It surprised me just how much my mundane morning shower was spruced up by the lavish new addition. –-Katie D.

These lil’ babies are so good I made them three times this week. No joke! Slightly labor intensive, perhaps, but oh, so worth the effort, especially for guests, who are sure to rapaciously devour them all before you can even taste them (which is why my photos aren’t my best work)! Here’s what it takes for you to make your own:

1) Procure yourself some squash blossoms. I recommend the farmer’s market. Or your neighbor’s backyard (See above photo for reference). Make sure you get them they day they are to be eaten, as they don’t keep well.

2) Get some cheese. I like a mix of fresh ricotta and Italian truffle cheese (from Trader Joe’s) or pecorino romano, but I suggest the truffle cheese if you can find it.

3) Fry up a little bit of bacon and a shallot. Mix with the cheese. Add some pepper and fresh thyme. Stuff those blossoms!

4) Dip in a simple beer batter and pan fry until golden. Watch them disappear!

It’s something you can really only enjoy for a fleeting moment once a year, so why not buy a ton, grab a couple of big skillets, and have a squash blossom party? Their gently sweet and delicate flavor is not exclusive to the savory side, oh no. They are scrumptious as a sweet fritter too, just lightly battered and dusted with powdered sugar, reminiscent of funnel cake from the fair! –Megan B. Click for Beer Battered Stuffed Squash Blossoms! Read the rest of this entry »

Even in a pretty green workspace — and mine is one — it seems we still use a ton of paper for printing, presentations, and note-taking. But I’ve been working on a project recently where we’re using presentation binders that are made from 100% recycled carboard. The three-ring binders are from ReBinder. They’re surprisingly heavy duty and you can replace the covers and re-use the inner workings if they do start to show some wear. ReBinder has a full line of office and school supplies like folders, CD holders, journals, and even labels that you can buy at their site or find in supply stores like Office Depot. In fact, they have a back-to-school kit ready to go. And all are recycled! What’s even cooler is that I’ve learned while working on my project that the company also partners with groups that provide jobs for developmentally disabled adults. These products really are good all around. — Mary T.

Originally designed for in-door use on apartment doors, the smart people at Manufactum.com have given the old hand-crank doorbell an update. This version fits exterior doors up to 2.36 inches thick, can be heard throughout the house and unlike my uber-annoying doorbell, will never short out. With no plastic parts, it’s a deal at $33.75 plus shipping. –Sarah L.

Last week, I was fortunate enough to score an exclusive (albeit whirlwind) tour of famed Seattle glass artist Dale Chihuly’s Boathouse on Lake Union. Say what you may about his work, but I was blown away by the space — the colors, the glass, and the collections (oh, the collections), as well as the design aesthetic. I’ve got so much to show from such a quick run-through I’ve decided this *has* to be broken up into appropriate parts. We’ll start our journey the way I did: through the hot shop, the studio portion of Chihuly’s live/work space.

Seen above: samples of Chihuly’s forms and his custom molds. Click for more photos of Chihuly’s Hot Shop! Read the rest of this entry »