Man Made DIY

A decade ago, office organization looked the same as it had since the advent of the personal computer: inbox/outbox, some filing cabinets, storage boxes on shelfs for extras, and drawer organizers.

Now, in the era of smart phones, tablets, multiple computers, all sorts of input devices, electronic bill pay, Stamps.com, docu-scanners... (should I keep going?), staying organized in your home office is very, very different.

Professional organizer Angela Kantarellis offers her seven roadblocks to an organized workspace in 2012, and what to do about them.   … read more

When most of us walk, drive, or worse, bike, over a pothole, we do what anyone would: curse, promise yourself not to do it again, and swear you're gonna write a letter.

When British artist Steve Wheen comes across a pothole, he plants a mini-guerilla garden in it. And the results are awesome...and often adorable.

     … read more

The neck tie can have a big effect on whatever you're wearing. It can dress up a pair of jeans, add punch to a blazer, and generally up whatever shirt you're wearing...provided it has a collar. 

But sometimes, you wanna control the "up." There are lots occassions where your finest silk is a little overkill, or that perfectly balanced double-windsor can actually make you overdressed. In those occassions, when you need just a bit of extra style, give the just-casual-enough knit tie a shot...and while you're at it, make it yourself.    … read more

Last summer, during my-mom-is-so-awesome-she-bought-me-a-trip-to-Columbus-Indiana-which-is-full-of-amazing-modern-architecture trip (see here), we visited the Indianapolis Museum of Art, which features a pretty great collection, given its size. In the contemporary wing, on the fourth floor, we were fortunate enough to see (and stand on) "Floor" by Do Ho Suh.

And it was terrifying.   … read more

The bachelor pad. That quintessential moment of adulthood. That space inhabited when one truly learns what being a grown up is like, and prepares for the eventual sharing of a home. Or perhaps it actually serves the pinnacle environment, where living alone as an adult man is the best fulfillment of identity.

Either way... it can't look like your college dorm room. Step it up a notch, guy.   … read more

LA-based artist Alex Gross came across a collection of cabinet cards from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. With them, he did what any of us would do...

He turned them into mixed-media super heroes.

   … read more

When Queens, NY-based artist Nicholas Ruiz had finished up the work for the Picasso: Guitars 1912–1914 exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art, Ruiz decided to pay tribute to the artist by creating a custom bowtie from guitar picks and super glue for the exhibit opening. 

On Tuesday morning, Patton Oswalt awoke to learn that, despite the potential buzz, he had not been nominated for his solid performance in Young Adult. 

So, he did the next best thing: he hit up Twitter, and imagined a scenario in which he and other performers snubbed for the awards, such as Tilda Swinton, Albert Brooks, Ryan Gosling, Kirstin Dunst, and Leonardo DiCaprio rent out Legoland for an alternative soiree.  … read more

That's right. The day has finally come…taxidermy meets interior lighting. Personally, I wouldn't be too keen on having a couple of dead squirrels hanging on the wall above my bed, but that's just me. Oh and just wait until you see the rat swarm lamp... … read more

My favorite project to build with anyone--including my son--is the fast-catch boomerang. First off, boomerangs--in their flight pattern and behavior--are just really beautiful and exciting; even a toddler gets that.  But slightly older folks--from about elementary age on up to retirees--are just thrilled when they see you make a working boomerang out of a piece of scrounged poster board.  By the time you hit first grade you've probably already grown jaded about the boomerangs: You've gotten a cheap foam one as a party favor or a little present from an uncle, and it never worked, and you basically assumed that boomerangs were either really … read more