More Halloween Art and Craft Projects for the Home

Irwin Weiner ASID - OMG. I usually refrain from using texting abbreviations in my post, but Oh My God doesn't begin to cover my reaction to the crafty, thrifty, enthusiastic Do It Yourself Halloween decorations coming from Barry Belcher. Today's featured video is a mash-up of his craft creations and inspirations from this year and last year, and you'll like his craft-craziness.

He's one part zany and two parts clever, and you might find some great take-away ideas - and you can click on the links in the video to see tutorials on how to make the projects that you see. Visit the Barry Belcher Art and Design website and blog for more information.

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Video: Discovering Design Through Furniture

Irwin Weiner ASID - The thrill of designing a piece of custom furniture is almost indescribable. When I'm creating a custom piece for a client, I'm looking at many elements, including scale, materials, period, detailing, sculptural quality, and utility. I recognized this familiar (to me) process in today's featured video from the University of Tasmania (Australia); UTAS faculty and students in their furniture program put together an exhibition entitled Discovering Design Through Furniture. I enjoyed hearing each designer talking briefly about their discoveries, their process, how they chose materials, what inspired them, and what they learned in the process. One of these students just may be producing a piece for your home in the future! (Pictured above, program director of furniture design at UTAS and exhibit curator Simon Ancher's Clipped Wing bench.)

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Columbus Day Video: Visit to a Fishing Village on the Italian Riviera

Irwin Weiner ASID - As a South African, and essentially a long-term guest in the United States, it's fascinating to me that we celebrate Columbus Day throughout most of the country. Of course Christopher Columbus didn't "discover" America - it was always here, native americans were here first, other explorers may have traveled here long before, and so on. But the holiday has morphed into more of a celebration of Italian American heritage, focusing on the Genovan Cristoforo Colombo, and it's in that spirit that we feature today's design video on the architecture and street scenes of the small Italian fishing village of Camogli, not too far from Genova (near Portofino, on the Italian Riviera). The video is beautifully photographed by noted nautical and sailing photographer Onne van der Wal (Dutch born, he grew up in South Africa, and now lives in Rhode Island).

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Young House Love Celebrates the DIY Life (and Halloween)

Irwin Weiner ASID - It's really wonderful to see the variety of interior design and decorating blogs online! You can find snarky, funny takes on design, inspirational posts from top designers, and amateur "I love to decorate!" folks who blog about the evolution of their home building or remodeling or decorating. Young House Love is a great blog, and if you haven't seen it, click on the link and experience it now. Sherry and John Petersik share their DIY adventures in Richmond, VA, turning a ranch home from bland to hip, fab, West Elm-y cool.

They shop at Michaels and Target and other stores, and they get inspiration from home decor gurus like Martha Stewart (just like the rest of us). And they put out some fun videos, like today's featured duo of vids where they share some original Halloween decorating ideas, tricking out their home in black and white, and then paint pumpkins in a very artistic and creepy-crawlie way. Click here to learn more about their new book, too: Young House Love book.

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