DIPPED

I am loving these sweet wood bowls by Araya of Wind and Willow. The bottoms are hand dipped in electric neon colors while to top half is left natural. The colorful and slightly transparent portion is made out of a soft rubbery plastic that is durable and non-stick. The combination between natural wood and the drippy electric paint is beautiful and perfect for a fresh summer salad!

photo credit

IPHONE MEGAPHONE

This sexy amplifying Megaphone comes from en&is, a product design company founded by Enrico Bosa (interior designer and product designer) and Isabella Lovero (jewelry designer). The Italian duo has designed some innovative products including; lighting, furniture and a very unusual textile called Silently. The Megaphone is ceramic with a light weight wood base. The shape naturally amplifies your iphone without electricity. The design is a lot of fun and would make such a cool statement piece!

Found via Private

THE SHOPS

The Shops at Target is a really interesting concept that's launching this Sunday. Target so eloquently describes the program as "The Shops we fell in love with, collected and curated for you". It's an ongoing collection of shops that will partner up with Target to create affordable, exclusive lines. The first run of The Shops features 5 retailers from across the country. There are close to 400 products being introduced, ranging in price from $1.00- $159.99. It's an interesting evolution for Target; a big box store that has been very successful at collaborating with admired high end designers such as Jonathan Adler, Rachel Ashwell, Dwell Studio, Missoni, and Gwen Stefani. 


Private House is a home decor store from Connecticut, founded by Richard Lambertson and Suzanne Cassano. Their store features vintage furniture, antiques, art and garden accessories. They've create a line of tableware, and home & garden accessories with Target.

Cos Bar opened it's first store in Aspen in 1976 and since then has opened 11 more locations in 8 states. They sell European purfume and luxury beauty products and for their collection with Target, they've designed a line of brushes and cosmetic bags along with bath and body products.

Sadly, I'm probably the most excited to see what The Candy Store has to offer. Founded by Brian and Diane Campbell in San Francisco, this boutique candy store has put together a collection of their most popular sweets (including a Gummy Fried Egg).

The Webster is a multi-brand fashion boutique owned by Laure Heriard Dubreuil and Milan Vukmirovic.  They are based out of Miami Beach and their merchandise of clothing accessories and photography caters to both men and women. The line of Miami inspired clothing and accessories they've created with Target will be for men, women, children and babies.

The Polka Dog Bakery (obsessed with that name) comes from Boston, Mass. They sell healthy dog treats and really cool pet accessories like bowls, collars and toys. Their Target collection will consist of baked dog treats and a line of fantastic accessories!

Check out The Shops individual documentaries on Target.com to learn more about these local retailers and where they came from.

URBAN HERBS

Last weekend I finished up a little home project inspired by a photo I found on Pinterest via a post from Apartment Therapy. I have a coffee table on my patio that has seen better days; the wood slat top is rotting but the metal base is in great condition. The image inspired me to transform my table into an rustic herb garden. For my pallet garden to fit on the table I had to cut down one end, this gave me an extra board that I used to create a small drink ledge so the planter would also function as a side table. 

Below is a real simple step-by-step to help you create your own "urban garden" with a pallet. Pallets are really easy to find; ask your local hardware store or grocery store if you can take some or keep an eye out for them by commercial dumpsters (no shame in dumpster diving people). The lumber is great for small crafty projects because in most cases it's already distressed and the components are small enough for most people to manage. 

When you get ahold of a pallet make sure you remove any splinters and loose nails and sand down the edges. I wrapped the back and exposed sides of the planter with weed barrier fabric and then stapled it in place starting from the middle and working my way out. When you are trying to figure out where to place your fabulous new garden, make sure you consider drainage. My existing table was a great option because the top was loosely slated wood and would allow for rain water drain out, in my inspiration photo on Pinterest they rested their planted against the wall. When your planter is sealed tight fill it with potting soil plant your desired herbs or flowers. It took me close to 2 bags of soil to fill the pallet and I based the amount of herbs I planted on the distance required by each plant. When the pallet was full and planted I hosed it off and added my final board that would make up my drink ledge!

 Here are a few other creative uses for recycled pallets...

pinterest via Amber Mccardle

pinterest via Elena Frances Nava

by Katrin Arens

pallet chair by Studiomama via Color By Numbers

THE VIEW FROM ABOVE

If you haven't discovered Fab.com, today is your lucky day! There are loads of daily deal sites for home goods and fashion; RuLaLa, The Foundry, One King Lane, Jack Threads and so on. In my opinion, Fab.com kicks the competition's toosh! One of the sales going on now is for high quality prints from photographers Brent and Sara of Denver based studio, Patterns from Above. They photograph landscapes from a plane to create really interesting abstract images. I love maps and globes, so this style of aerial photography really gets me! Check out Brent and Sara's work, 18" x 18" prints are for sale now for $70.00 on Fab.com.

Here is some similar aerial photography from artist Matthew Moore. You can find this artist on another badass website 20x200. This site is a really cool online store that features limited and affordable prints from a handful of artists. It's a great middle ground between buying mass produced art (lame) and original art (expensive). The site is broken down by Price, Category, Color or Artist and each artist has a brief bio and link to their personal site so you can get into the idea of collecting art. 

matthew moore

While we are on the subject- I've been dying for the chance to use one of these really unique rugs I first found in Dwell Magazine. Landcarpet is an Australian wool rug collection designed by Florian Pucher. The thick and three-dimentional texture is so well made and the color palettes would suite a lot of different rooms and finishes. 

europe

africa

italy

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HEY ATLANTA, NEED SOME HOLIDAY HELP?

I hope everyone is as excited for Thanksgiving as I am. After you have your pumpkin pie tonight, you may plop yourself in front of football and start thinking about the next month of shopping and preparation, don't stress to much! Kayte Designs is offering Holiday Decorating and Gift Wrapping Services. I can be pretty meticulous when it comes to craftsmanship, once a design teacher told me "to step away from the model before you go cross-eyed". So wrapping presents is no joke to me; clean lines, straight tape, handmade bows and original color pallets. I love to decorate my house and tree with a different theme each year, AND that doesn't mean dropping a few hundred dollars at a decor shop. Holiday decorations can be crafted on any budget and for my house, the farther outside the traditional box the better. I also like to incorporate family traditions and heirlooms in new ways. Who says the Santa Village has to be placed on the same counter year after year? is red and green the only way to express the Holiday Season?