All I can say is it’s good to be back in cyberspace! Geez, it really stinks when your internet is down for a couple of days. Puts a cramp in a lot of things!
Today I’d like to talk about some of the wacky stuff that’s out there in “design land”. I like to read magazines and subscribe to a lot of design magazines. If you ask my husband, he claims that there’s a semi that backs up in our driveway once a month and unloads all of them. It’s really not that bad, he just isn’t into magazines, and it’s only a small van!
Anyway, I got an invitation to subscribe to a magazine that I hadn’t seen before called “ReadyMade”- a magazine that claims to help you turn your space into a place that’s unmistakably yours! Yeah, because most other people wouldn’t want it! Here’s some of the “unusual” (being nice here) stuff I found. The first one is a hoot- make your own iPod speakers from a pair of old headphones, some playing cards and a couple of Altoids tins. Those instructions were my “free gift”.
The flyer offered me two years free when I paid for a one year subscription! Woo hoo! It was chock- full of strange and not wonderful things that you could make yourself. Like taking a galvanized steel shelf and hammers and making a table. The hammers are the table legs and the business end of the hammer is what sits on the floor. Looks kinda dangerous not to mention “thrifty”. It’d be ok for a dorm room or frat house.
After seeing the flyer, I was so intrigued I had to go on the website and take a look at some of the other projects designed to help you “save a bundle” and “guaranteed to set your place apart from the rest”. Here’s some of what I found: Plaster your refrigerator with old newspapers and then use yardsticks for the handles. Wow, what a look! Think that’ll call some attention to your old, crappy refrigerator? 
Or how about this? A table made from pallets! Think about it- what a great look and you needn’t worry about crumbs staying on the table (or any other small things)
. And I love how they left places open for plants and things!
Or, how about taking a section of floor and covering it with old Scrabble tiles? Actually, this one could be fun for a wall application in a play room or something if you didn’t just stick them directly on the wall. Getting them off might be quite the challenge. The reader that designed this said that it has lasted several years as the floor in their foyer. Must be some tough Scrabble pieces! Now I’m all about helping the environment by re-purposing and re-using things, but some of this stuff reminds me of the 70’s! 
So, what do you think? Am I just being a diva, or is this stuff pretty awful? Have you seen any other really bad stuff out there in your friends or neighbor’s homes- or even worse- stuff you made for your own house that’s frightful? Let me know! Share! Don’t they say that confession is good for the soul?