i’ve always been a fan of oversized typography. growing up, i had a friend whose father collected old movie signage and i always imagined somehow inheriting a few of his giant letter posters for my first real home. until that day comes, i’ll be lusting after these new prints from new york’s oddhero studio. oddhero is a small company of UK based magazine designers and artists that have just launched a range of huge limited-edition font and graphic prints. each 25-print edition is printed on heavyweight watercolor paper and measures around 44 inches wide by six feet tall. oddhero’s font collection includes bodoni, helvetica and morgan tower, a new font created by portuguese type designer mario feliciano (shown above). the big prints are around $700 but oddhero will produce smaller versions for around half that price. click here to check out their full selection and shop online. [thanks david!]

when ac and i lived in williamsburg we lived in a crowded, albeit nice, studio apartment that i constantly dreamed of waking up to find transformed into a breezy, sunny home. something like this new kithaus that was just installed in williamsburg, brooklyn. available through dwr, this kithaus’ location required each module to be carried, by hand, through a 3 story brick rowhouse. the builders then added custom decks and wedged it in between warehouses and light industrial buildings to create this compact urban oasis. if we could have one of these houses maybe i’d consider moving back to our old neighborhood. that deck is really calling my name. click here for more information on the kithaus.

My segment has been delayed, I should be on within the hour.

Design*Sponge founder Grace Bonney was featured as a guest expert on Martha Stewart Radio on Monday, August 25th, 2008.

i’m off to find a sunny place to lay in the park and read. it’s far too pretty to be in front of a computer so i’m going to try and soak up the last bits of summer before fall kicks in and it’s unacceptable (and too cold) to wear flip flops with everything. i hope you all have a great weekend and i’ll see you monday. a summary of this week’s highlights is below. xo, d*s. [images above and below: fall 2008 fabrics from marimekko]

• tune in: design*sponge on martha stewart radio, monday august 25th at 7am
• new: d*s video and hamptons guide!
• anne’s australian regional roundup: melbourne part 3 and part 4 + melbourne city design guide
• new sneak peeks: tiselle and michelle armas
• things i’m loving: greens and silvers, french accessories
• new before & afters: alischa’s brisbane house, olga’s nightstand
• diy projects: felt coasters
• eco-friendly event design: david stark and the robinhood project
• misc: wooden silhouette carvings from bride and wolf, krisatonic graphic plates, felt accessories from etc. media, karen gelardi’s assembly project, artwork on the streets of SF, new: designlab shop, mustache cups from bread and badger, stationery from chickprint
• in the kitchen with: fred flare’s red devil’s food cake

just a quick note- this coming monday, august 25th, at 7am i’ll be live on martha stewart radio talking about design. the theme of their broadcasts next week will be “back to school” so we’ll be talking for about half an hour about ways to redecorate rooms after kids leave for school, current design trends, and any questions viewers have related to back to school design, or just design in general. my segment starts at 7:05 in the morning so if you’re up getting ready for work and want to laugh at my radio voice, you can check out the show on sirius radio, channel 112 this coming monday. i don’t have sirius myself so i’m downloading the free three-day trial, which you can get you right here. see you monday!

I love the idea of finding an old cake recipe and making it. Those are usually the best ones, and the ones we find today are just trying to recreate what grandma used to make! Chris and Keith of Fred Flare found this recipe at Hable Construction and thought it would be perfect to share with you! As I’m always looking for the next best chocolate cake recipe (the best two I’ve tried so far are from the Guru of Ganache, Marcel Desaulniers, and believe me I’ve tried hundreds!), so I will try this one out, too. If any of you try it first, let us know! Click here for the full recipe or just click “read more” below. -Have a cool weekend (because it’s hotter than the 4th of July in Rome!), Kristina

About Chris and Keith (in their own words): We’re Chris Bick and Keith Carollo. We have run fredflare.com now for ten years which I really can’t believe. Chris was formerly an architect and I was/am a graphic designer but now I’d say we see ourselves as retailers, trying to make the world a happier place with the cheerful items we sell and the goofy things we do. OMG, we’re opening a real live store in Greenpoint! Just got the keys last week. It will probably open in late Sept/Oct. Should be fun. (To listen to a podcast with Chris and Keith just click here)

Click here for the full recipe and some truly adorable photos…