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DIY or Buy: Kitchen Knife Holder
Sally Schneider We saw this knife holder in a friend's kitchen and thought: seriously clever. It's simply a tall, narrow box filled with vertically-standing wooden skewers. The skewers hold the knives...
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Tasting Spoons: Essential Kitchen Tool and Welcome Gift
Maria Robledo A tasting spoon is an essential kitchen tool, allowing you to add flavor experiments directly to the “taste” to see if you like them. Over the years I've collected —and given — quite a...
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Improvised Life’s Thoughtful Un-Gift Guide
Sally Schneider Here's our list of things we think are worth giving for the way they expand minds/hearts/creativity, or are just downright useful...
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Find: Red Steel Bookends (via FIT)
Sally Schneider The bright red bookends we saw at FIT's library totally transform the common bookend into something both graphic and stylish...and practical. We wondered if we could find them.
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HomeMade Modern: Smart Stylish DIY with a Mission
We’re smitten with HomeMade Modern’s stylish, DIY-able home goods — from beds to planters — and really smart, detailed designs that empower you to improvise.
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A Cheap Chic Black Bag to Rival Ikea’s and Balenciaga’s Tote
After the designers at fashion house Balanciaga knocked off Ikea's iconic big blue 99-cent tote (in leather for $2,145), frequent contributor Susan Dworski jumped into the fray with a chic, cheap...
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Hi/Low: Round Porthole Mirrors for a Haiku-like View
schoolhouse.com You have only to search MIRROR on Improvised Life to find evidence of an obsession. Not to look at one’s self. But to angle them in such a way as to SEE a bigger view. Take these...
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Test-Driving Portable Coffee Systems: Brux vs Makeshift Thermos and Cone Rig
Sally Schneider / Improvised Life For me, just-right coffee is a necessity that helps me get into my day, especially when on the road. So I compared portable coffee systems: the BRuX vs my trusty...
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Makeshift Mortars and Pestles Make Sublime Walnut Pesto (and Other Delicious...
Sally Schneider Although a real mortar and pestle is a lovely tool to have, you can achieve their rounded flavors and elemental textures with makeshift ones. Take this Walnut Pesto, for example…
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Paper Shades Give a Community Soup Kitchen a Noguchi Touch (That We Love at...
Refettorio Felix We’ve long loved paper shades, pioneered by Noguchi, to give soft modern shapes to home interiors as well as jazzing up public ones like this community soup kitchen in London
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Brandless’ Will Deliver Some Seriously Good $3 Bargains, and Ideals, to Your...
brandless.com Brandless is a unique e-commerce platform that sells its own food, personal care and household items for $3 each. Intrigued by its premise and high ideals, I placed an order. Better...
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Endlessly Useful, Morphable, Stylish Photographer’s Apple Boxes
via Japanese Trash When I worked as a food stylist in photo studios, I came to appreciate the endless ways apple boxes could be used. They are just as useful at home. Witness Le Courbusier.
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Favorite Things: Really Big Cotton Dish Towels
We’ve used these these HUGE dish towels for many things in addition to drying dishes…
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Ephemeral Curtains and Room Dividers Strung on Wires Are Easy to Do
@_aurelielecuyer In these images of gauzy curtains hung on simple wires via Clothier Aurelie Lecuyer, the lack of an imposing curtain rod achieves a pleasingly minimalist and ephemeral quality that’s...
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