apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

This are my LAST Shaker pics for awhile, I promise. Here's another great idea, however. In the Shaker kitchen (on the ground floor of the house), they used pieces of stone and marble to create a burn proof, cool and super tough floor that could withstand cooking for dozens and dozens of people a day. It's beautiful....

Product: Penguin Home Soda Maker
Designer: SodaStream
Price: $199.95
Rating: Strong Recommend*

Just days after I'd gotten deep into replacing our cans of fizzy water at the office with an entry level SodaStream soda maker (which I really like), Sara, Ursula and I visited with friends for the weekend, and got to use their high end Penguin machine. Despite its bulkier appearance, this thing is very cool and works much faster than the one we have...

Insta-wallpaper for renters? I've loved Shaker peg rails for a long time, especially because they are so multi-purpose. BUT I'd never known that the Shakers also used them during the winter to help cut down on drafts. This is a really cool design feature — hanging "wall-curtains" were hung from the peg rails in bedrooms during the colder seasons...

Title: Reclaimed wood table and bench
Name: Ted Gore
Time: 2 weekends
Cost: approx $75 for wood, $200 for legs (depends on the legs you get), $10-15 for hardware

This project is a bit bigger than most, but totally doable in two weekends! Click above for the pics and head below for all the instructions...

These dining chairs had short backs ("Low Back") and were my favorite. Look how they fit under the table in this main dining room - Hancock Shaker Village

After over a week of being away, there is so much to share. Where to start? First of all, I want to let you all know that it's officially Art, Crafts & Collections Month here at Apartment Therapy, so to kick things off, I want to highlight a number of pictures I took during the past ten days of Shaker chairs and give you some good sources...

Materials: Sandblasted Porcelain
Price Point: $30 to $40

"This plate is made by dripping melted wax onto the surface of a porcelain plate and sandblasting away the exposed areas. The original winter scene is partially erased, which forces the viewer to look harder to see it..."

Materials: Reclaimed native Maine cherry
Price Point: $5000

"The Brix console is made out of lumber normally destined for the scrap bin, called shorts. Shorts might be leftover wood from other projects, or boards which are too small to be of interest to buyers. The ones used here were salvaged from a local woodshop and lumber dryer...."

Materials: LEDs, Copper, Circuit Boards
Price Point: $6,000

"The Constellation chandelier blooms with excitement. Like a bouquet of many tiny flowers, its lights settle across space like a star shower. Think of Queen Anneʼs Lace, think of fireworks, think of a field of wild flowers..."

Materials: Painted Medex, FSC-Certified Cherry, Maple, Walnut and White Oak
Price Point: Painted: $70/unit; Cherry, Maple, Oak: $135/unit; Walnut: $170/unit

"Say Hello to a versatile modular system that offers a wide variety of décor options. In the horizontal “H” position, the Hello Blocks can be stacked in an infinite number of arrangements to create a unique and customizable shelving system..."

Materials: Dupioni silk and organic cotton
Price Point: $600 (crib quilt) to $3200 (queen-sized quilt)

"Soft-Maps are handmade quilted maps of cities, neighborhoods and parks that represent someone's unique place in the world. These heirlooms are meant to be used: wrap your children in them, have a picnic, pull them close during the next Nor'easter. Not only beautiful, these blankets can be used as a mnemonic tool..."

Materials: Reclaimed wood, waterbased non-VOC Bioshield stain draped with organic cotton gauze.
Price Point: $1,200 - $4,600

"The follow up design to our “Pure White Four Poster Bed”. A room within a room suitable for reading, sleeping, daydreaming … in small or large spaces. Our special touch: LED lights in the headboard in a stellar constellation. The wood for the prototype was entirely reclaimed from a salvage yard and finished with a Bioshield stain..."

Materials: Reclaimed wood, steel, clay, and a jade plant
Price Point: $450

"My husband and I have a studio in an old dye factory in North Philadelphia, where we make furniture and design objects with our dog, Old Bill. The wood used for this project was 3x5 tongue and groove wall boards from our space that we milled down. The ceramic ring sits into the wood and is home to the small Jade Plant..."

When Sara and I ate at Chez Panisse (in the cafe) two years ago, they brought sparking water to the table. Rather than serve it in glass bottles (i.e. Pellegrino) that would instantly become waste, they carbonated it themselves and served it in lovely glass carafes...