Hasta La Ideas

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In this funny Late Late Show sketch, host James Corden and actor Kevin Bacon spoof Calvin Klein’s classic “Obsession” cologne ad while unveiling Kevin’s new cologne, “Bacon by Bacon.””The only smell that captures the essence of both your favorite cured meat and favorite actor.”..(Read…)

Wyoming architecture firm Carney Logan Burke has created a vacation estate for a New York family that is oriented to provide dramatic views (+ slideshow).

Shoshone Residence is a 4,500-square-foot (325-square-metre) property that sits a the foot of Wyoming’s Teton Mountain Range.

The house is surrounded by vast expanses of rolling hills, and has privileged views of the state’s typical rugged scenery.

“The clients – a family of four part-time residents from New York City – wanted a contemporary house, but not urban contemporary; a mountain home, but not a log cabin,” said Carney Logan Burke.

To separate public and private areas, the architects created two distinct volumes. “Two zones maximise family interaction and personal privacy, and encourage flow to the outdoors,” said the firm.

A larger, L-shaped volume encompasses the public spaces. Visitors enter through this single-storey structure.

A key element is a centrally-located space that includes the kitchen, living room and dining room.

This vast room opens out onto the central courtyard, establishing a connection to the outdoors.

A narrow, glass-walled walkway leads to the home’s secondary volume: a smaller, rectangular block that encompasses private spaces.

Three bedrooms occupy the ground floor, while the upper level contains the master bedroom and a home office. On this storey, the owners have access to two outdoor decks.

One faces east and is accessible through the office. The other is to the north, and offers panoramic mountains views from the bedroom.

Throughout the residence, deep roof overhangs shield the floor-to-ceiling glazing from the elements. The home was clad in dark-stained cedar planks, laid horizontally.

Accents like a masonry chimney and galvanised steel were used in key exterior areas to highlight the building’s massing variations.

The interior finishes comprise a palette of wood, steel, stone and glass. The architects chose to leave these materials bare rather than paint or cover them.

Carney Logan Burke has completed another Wyoming mountain getaway, which was informed by the positioning of a nearby boulder.

Another house separating public and private functions via a glass walkway can be found in Connecticut, where local firm Allee Architecture designed a lakeside family residence made up of two distinct volumes.

Photography is by Audrey Hall.

The post Remote Wyoming retreat by Carney Logan Burke faces the Teton mountains appeared first on Dezeen.

Order a copy today of ​Never Too Busy to Cure Clutter​ by Unclutterer’s Editor-in-Chief Erin Rooney Doland.

Reader Happy Mum asked the following question in the comment section of my prior post, The power of 15-30 minutes per day:

What are considerations re: offering via freecycle vs. donating to charity shop?

For those unfamiliar with freecycle groups, they are local online communities whose members offer things to each other, for free.

Happy Mum, while you got many good responses from other readers, I thought I’d share a list of questions to ask yourself when making the donate-vs.-freecycle decision.

Which method is most meaningful to you?

I’m often donating on behalf of clients, some of whom are interested in the tax credit for making a donation. Some are happy to support the charity running the thrift store, too. But others prefer knowing their items are going to someone who can use the item, right now, and they enjoy seeing the thank you notes from freecyclers who get their items.

What is convenient?

I happen to have a good freecycle group in my neighborhood. (I’m biased, since I’m one of the group owners.) I also have a charity thrift shop very close by, with hours that work well for me. There’s also another charity that does curbside pickups of donations every month or two. But not everyone will have all these choices, and sometimes picking the easiest method is the best.

Is it worth a little extra effort to donate to a specific charity?

There’s a group in my area called Be a Dear and Donate a Brassiere, where the bras it collects go to women in homeless shelters. I keep a donation bag going and drop it off when I happen to be driving near a drop-off site. My neighborhood also has an annual charity book sale on Labor Day weekend and accepts donations throughout August, so if it’s getting close to August I might set aside books to be donated there. Another example: If you have a functional but unused activity tracker, you might like to send it off to RecycleHealth.

What items does the charity shop take?

Mine will not take toys, electrical items, large furniture, etc. But it’s a great place to donate clothing and kitchen items such as glassware and serving pieces.

What items go well on freecycle?

This will be location-dependent, but I know that craft items, non-fiction books, and pet supplies are some of the things that go quickly on my group. Women’s clothes can be challenging to freecycle due to fit issues, so I almost always donate those.

Freecycle can be useful for getting rid of things most thrift stores won’t take. For example, my own group has recently found new homes for moving boxes, amaryllis bulbs, cans of coconut water, a frozen turkey, and a console (missing the back panel) with a non-functioning tube radio and a record player. Freecycle is also good for getting rid of bulky items that are hard to move (and often not accepted at charity stores), such as file cabinets and exercise equipment.

To find your local freecycle group, simply do an online search for the word freecyle and the name of your city. Freecycle.org lists many groups, but some excellent freecycle groups chose not to be part of this network. For local giveaway alternatives, you can also look into Nextdoor or the free section of craigslist. In the U.K., you might look at Freegle. And in some neighborhoods, just putting something at the curb with a “free” sign is a good way to give things away.

Post written by Jeri Dansky

The New York Times is cutting off its coverage of local art galleries, restaurants and theaters. The move is designed cut costs and reduce the number of freelance writers the Times uses.

Kurt Wenzel, one Times freelancer who reviewed restaurants, noted how this decision will impact local businesses.

“This is, in my opinion, the real shame of ending this part of the Metro section (beyond the livelihood of writers),” Wenzel wrote in an email to Deadline. “The fact that there is now much less oversight of local culture and entertainment. Local communities are the biggest losers, since a new theater run or restaurant won’t get the opportunity to reach the sophisticated audience that the Times attracts.”