Interior Design Video - Making Handmade Modern Furniture

Irwin Weiner ASID - The process of making fine furniture fascinates me. That's why I loved today's featured video showcasing the Edwin Blue company and the thought and process behing making their handmade modern furniture.

Individual materials are crafted to their minimalistic best; hey, it's not everyone's look, but if you're truly into sleek, contemporary, and barely-ornamented furnishings, the Edwin Blue off-the-shelf and custom furniture line is probably just right for you.

Bonus

Click here for Classics in Contemporary Bedroom Furniture.

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Interior Design Field Trip: African Pride Hotel, Cape Town, South Africa

Irwin Weiner ASID - This April I visited my hometown, Cape Town, South Africa. One impressive change since my last visit was the new African Pride 15 on Orange Hotel in the downtown area. Part of a major revitalization around government, museum, and other civic buildings, the hotel is a showcase for what I refer to as "international hotel style."

Contemporary, sleek, boldly designed, and brightly colored - this is the new hotel style sweeping the globe, and it's had a major impact on home design. Go to a mass-market consumer goods website like Overstock.com, for instance, and you'll find objects that could fit easily into hotel rooms and modern-look home decor. And regular readers will know my advice on hotel style: if you decorate in hotel style, remember that hotel rooms have no personality; they're like theatrical stage settings; you must add your personality into your home decor - whether that be family photographs, your collections, travel mementos, or family heirlooms on display in a more interesting eclectic mix.

But I won't steal any thunder from the African Pride. It's a first-rate hotel; absolutely lovely. Enjoy this slideshow of hotel scenes, and also click on this link to see my South African Details scrapbook, design impressions and other "slices of life" from my recent family vacation to South Africa - in it, you'll see an Indian Ocean resort, a tour of an almost-complete luxury home, and neighborhoods and streets in Cape Town.

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Decorating Video: How to Set Up Your Baby's Nursery

Irwin Weiner ASID - To quote Gone With the Wind, "I don't know nothin' 'bout birthin' no babies" - but as an interior designer, I've set up more than my fair share of nurseries for my expecting clients. In today's featured video from PB Kids, you'll learn how to create a nursery, select high-quality and durable key pieces, and keep in mind the needs of growing children; that means, it's nice to have furnishings that grow with the advancing ages and stages of your child. Other helpful hints from PB Kids:

• The crib is the most important piece in your baby's room. Select cribs that will eventually convert to toddler beds.

• Look for dressers with toppers that transform the pieces into changing tables. Once your baby is older, lift off the topper and you've got the more age-appropriate stand-alone dresser.

• You also need a bookcase or a storage case in the nursery. Use it for books, baby toys, storage tubs and baskets, and the start of your child's library. The library shelf is the perfect core for a cozy reading corner when your child is older.

• Furniture shown in this video include the Madison Changing Table System and the Fillmore Crib and Toddler Bed (with conversion kit).
  
  

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258-Square-Foot Apartment in Former Pigeon Coop

 

Irwin Weiner ASID - I'm all for turning wasted space into something comfortable and livable - but a pigeon coop? Literally perched on top of a Barcelona building, this tiny space was reclaimed by Austrian photographer Christian Schallert, and architect Barbara Appolloni shows how his apartment "works" in the following video. The space was inspired by the ingenuity of

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